Proof of "Firefly"

Linocut
8" x 8" (image)
Oil-based ink on Subi paper

Last year I made a couple 1" x 1" stamps to print in a circular pattern such as this (view those attempts here and here), but they weren't really going anywhere, so I moved on.

Last week I heard about a call for entries into a show at the University City Arts League where I teach. The exhibit is called "Waiting in Hades" and is open to all ages. The only requirement is that the works of art emit or reflect light. The lights will be turned out in the gallery for the opening on February 8 from 6-8pm.

This opportunity sounded like great fun, especially since my two daughters can enter their own pieces in along with mine. My eldest has created a Sharpie drawing on glow-in-the-dark coated paper. My youngest is creating a ceramic candle holder. I mulled the idea over in my head for a while since there was initially a flood of ideas, but as I'm mainly a printmaker, I decided to make a paper lantern with relief printing. It is going to be a small, square, box lantern, and this is a proof of the print I made for it. I like it quite a bit. I'll post more images when the piece is finished and after the exhibition opening.

"Naked Selfie No. 10"

Here's the last of 4 new woodcuts in this new series. All of the prints from this series can be viewed in this Pinterest album. Read more about the series in this initial blog post. 

"Naked Selfie No. 9"

Here's the third of 4 new woodcuts in that series. All of the prints from this series can be viewed in this Pinterest album. Read more about the series in this initial blog post. 

"Naked Selfie No. 8"

Here's the second of 4 new woodcuts in that series. All of the prints from this series can be viewed in this Pinterest album. Read more about the series in this initial blog post. 

"Naked Selfie No. 7"

It's a New Year! That means back to work - hooray! Now that the holiday season, with all its obligations and distractions is over, I'm throwing myself back into my studio work with serious energy and enthusiasm. 

I've been wanting to get back to the Naked Selfies series that I started in 2017 for a while, and last month I finally found the motivation. Here's the first of 4 new woodcuts in that series.

All of the prints from this series can be viewed in this Pinterest album. Read more about the series in this initial blog post.

And Happy New Year! 

"Two By Two"

9" x 12"
Caligo safe wash relief ink on Kozo paper
Edition of 30

I made this print for the Baren Forum for Woodblock Printmaking Exchange #78. I had taken some photos of my Australian Shepherd and Chiweenie dogs hanging out in the hallways and was having trouble deciding which photo to use as a reference for a woodcut. The technique challenge for this exchange was "multipanel", which I took as an opportunity to integrate both photos into a single print.

Student Linocuts Over Monotypes

My 2D mixed media class just finished a 3 week project where the kids:


1. First drew on a 4" x 6" piece of paper with pencil, then put the drawing under plexiglass and made monotypes, focusing on filling in the major areas with color.

2. Transferred the drawing to a linoblock and carved. NOTE: If you do this, be sure to transfer the drawing onto the block in a way so that when it is printed it will be the same orientation as the monotype prints. Otherwise the linocut print image will be backwards compared with the colored portion, as can be seen in the wild cat print below (which, incidentally, still turned out rather cool looking.)

3.) Print the carved linoblocks in black over the color monotypes.

I get a big kick out the fact that the most impressive prints were done by the littlest kid - a 6-year-old girl who did a print of her doll "Sophia".