Shepherd Boy

"Shepherd Boy" (Dedicated to Samson)
8.5" x 11"
Oil-based inks on handmade Japanese paper

I made this for my cousin's new baby boy, Samson. His mom mentioned that she likes lambs, which made me think of both actual shepard boys and little kids with their stuffed animals. I wanted to make an image that plays in the space between pretend and real life. My favorite thing about this finished image is that I didn't overwork it. I didn't try to cram too much in. It's just the little boy with his stuffed sheep superimposed over a wolf howling at the moon. I also like that it has the little kid subject matter, but the color palette is fairly masculine instead of baby-cutesy pastels.

Wolf Study

 Wolf Study 
4" x 4" (image) 6.5" x 6.5" (paper)
Reduction woodcut, watercolors and water based ink on Stonehenge paper
Edition of 4

This is a small study I did for a friend. I wanted to mess around more with printing with a combination of watercolors and water-based block printmaking ink. This is a four layer reduction, and I documented the printing of each layer as I went along (see below.) The first layer I painted watercolor onto the block, separating the background from the foreground with a thinly carved line. The second layer was a solid silver, the third a solid brown, and the final layer I did a gradation from a deep burgundy to a dark bluish-purple. I wish a little more of the wood grain came through, and overall I didn't expect the piece to come off quite this flat. I sort of wish I had pushed more deliberately in that direction and made it weirder - more bright and surreal color, less line-work and more abstract/expressive. I never know exactly how these things are going to turn out, but I always learn something. That's what I like about this medium.