Winter Chickadees 
10" x 15" 
Printed on Canford Card in Imperial Champagne with oil based black ink
Edition of 16 

This was made for Baren Forum Exchange #102 

Plump chickadees perch
on icy branches, seeking
midwinter bounty 

"Fox and Mouse" (There But For the Grace of God)

 

Fox and Mouse (There But For the Grace of God) 
Watercolors and water-based ink on snow white Canford paper 
Hashira-e (28 x 4.5 inches) 
Edition of 34 

This is my print for the 100th Exchange for the Baren Forum for Woodblock printmaking. It was supposed to be a Mokuhanga print. This is a traditional Japanese technique for woodblock printmaking which involves water-based pigments which are brushed on, printing with a traditional baren, multiple colors with careful registration, and using Washi paper. This print is more inspired by traditional Japanese printmaking as I do not have any formal training in Mokuhanga and don't have all the traditional tools and supplies. That said, I'm very happy with these results!

The background colors for this print are the most in line with Mokuhanga - they were brushed on watercolors, hand printed with my trusty wooden spoon. I tried a couple with my glass Iron Frog baren, but it didn't work as well as my spoon. The fox, mouse, and coneflowers were printed in 2 layers, both with water-based block printing ink which I did roll on with a brayer and then print with the spoon again. I thought about trying to do it all as brushed on watercolors, but that wasn't going to work out as well with the drawing I have come up with, so I went with the method that I thought would serve the image better. 

Sadly, the only reason the paper is Canford and not a type of Washi is because I'm broke. I'm a teacher who gets paid much less for 2 months in the summer and I got 2 teens who eat like adults. I had this lovely Canford paper in my studio and it is soft yet strong and didn't distort after being wetted, so it seemed a suitable alternative. 

Regarding the paper dimensions and imagery, what I enjoyed the most about this exchange was the challenge of coming up with a drawing that would fit into the tall, skinny rectangle. Even though I live in the city, we have a lot of foxes that I've seen stalking around at night on occasion. And of course mice are always a problem in big cities. I deliberately drew the pouncing fox smaller so it would seem that he is farther away and thus focused on some other prey outside of our view. The subtitle refers to the little mouse hiding behind the flower - she is safe at least for the moment. 

"Four Season Finches"

 

Four Season Finches 
Linocut with oil based ink and chine collé on white Stonehenge 
10" x 15" 
Edition of 34

This was for Baren Forum Exchange #99. When I bought my first house, one of the first things I did was plant sunflowers, and I was thrilled to find that they attracted beautiful yellow finches. I didn't know then that the finches lose their bright yellow plumage in the fall/winter. Now every summer I look forward to seeing these beautiful little birds in their summer coats. 

Pickles and Bert

 

"Pickles and Bert" 
7" x 5", linocut on Stonehenge 

This is a little print I made of my kids' two small dogs for Baren Forum's Exchange #94. The theme was loved ones. 

Dragon Eye Accordion Book

 

This is a little 4 page accordion book I created for Baren Forum Exchange #92 (Click link to see the gallery with all the books from that exchange.) 

4" x 16" when unfolded, Woodcut, Gamblin ink on Pacon red and black card stock, edition of 14. 

I chose to do this for the exchange because I have a summer teaching artist fellowship working with children to use relief printmaking in creating a dragon-themed giant accordion book, and I thought it would be nice to have this as a small example of such a book. 

Year of the Rabbit 2023

 

My Year of the Rabbit print for a card exchange with Baren Forum. The one I mailed out was printed in black ink on fawn-colored Stonehenge with white paper chine colle for the rabbit. But this version I made for myself, with chine colle for all the sections. We haven't had much of a winter in PA this season, so I wanted a brown hare, not a white one. 

This is my 6th year participating in  New Year's Exchanges with the Baren Forum for Woodblock Printmaking. Here are my prints from previous years' trades: 

Year of the Tiger, 2022
Year of the Ox, 2021 
Year of the Rat, 2020
Year of the Pig, 2019 
Year of the Dog. 2018 

"Tiger Mandala" (Year of the Tiger 2022)

 

My Year of the Tiger print for a card exchange with Baren Forum. This is a hand-colored linocut printed on white Stonehenge. 

I've done a few hand-colored mandalas in the same style as this before. It's simply the same image rotated and repeated 4 times. The difference with this one is that this whole image is a single carved block. 

Originally I was going to do something simpler. I wanted to do a tiger chasing it's own tail. But the more I fiddled around with ideas, the more I just wanted to make another elaborate mandala. It's much more time consuming, especially when I color them, but so worth the final product. 

This is my 5th year participating in  New Year's Exchanges with the Baren Forum for Woodblock Printmaking. Here are my prints from previous years' trades: 

Year of the Ox, 2021 
Year of the Rat, 2020
Year of the Pig, 2019 
Year of the Dog. 2018 

"Musk Ox" (2021 Year of the Ox)

 

My Year of the Ox print for a card exchange with Baren Forum. This is a 2 layer reduction on Kraft card stock. It depicts an arctic musk ox.

Given that these are hard times (pandemic, global warming, worsening economic and other disparities) the musk ox seemed a good species to celebrate 2021. They are wild animals that live in the harshest conditions. They live in herds and the strongest among them protect the weakest. We could take some inspiration from these noble beasts. 

This is my 4th year participating in  New Year's Exchanges with the Baren Forum for Woodblock Printmaking. Here are my prints from previous years' trades: 

Year of the Rat, 2020
Year of the Pig, 2019 
Year of the Dog. 2018 

"Incalescence"

 

This is a print for Baren Forum exchange No. 83. The theme was COLOR FIELD. It is 6” x 14”, water based relief ink in 2 layers on white Bristol paper. 

"Bound for Pennsylvania"

"Bound for Pennsylvania"
5" x 7"
Five-layer reduction wood block print 
Oil-based Gamblin ink on white Stonehenge paper
Edition of 36

This is the print I submitted to Baren Forum for Wood Block Printmaking's Exchange No. 82. The theme for the exchange was "Exodus". About a year ago I adopted an old Redbone Coonhound. He had been found at a shelter in Georgia and would have been euthanized had he not been rescued by an organization that moves abandoned dogs from overpopulated areas to places where they are more likely to be adopted. We picked him out at the shelter in Media, Pennsylvania. He was wearing an aqua bowtie, which I guess had been put on to showcase him as a particularly handsome gentleman. He has turned out to be a very affectionate, friendly, food-driven guy, who even now seems baffled by his new life in the big city. We named him "Mutlu" which is Turkish for "happy". 

"Audubon and the Rat" (New Year's Exchange)

 

My Year of the Rat print for a card exchange with Baren Forum.

The inspiration for this image came initially from the great illustrator and naturalist John James Audubon. When looking for visual references to rats, I found myself pouring over his detailed works. Teaching at the Wagner, I walked past copies of Audubon's etchings of North American flora and fauna at work, and have referred to them many times while teaching my students. 

While surfing on line to look at more illustrations of rats by Audubon, I stumbled across this story about him discovering that a box of his watercolor paintings had been destroyed by a rat that had used the paintings to make its nest. The story was beautifully illustrated in a woodcut  (featured below) by an unidentified Japanese Meiji artist. 

This is my 3rd year participating in  New Year's Exchanges with the Baren Forum for Woodblock Printmaking. Here are my prints from previous years' trades: 

Year of the Pig, 2019 
Year of the Dog. 2018 

"Binge Watching"

"Binge Watching"
10 x 15 inches 
Woodcut
Open edition

This is the print I submitted to Baren Forum for Wood Block Printmaking's Exchange No. 81. There was no theme. I'd been watching a lot of Netflix late at night, so I made a self portrait of that. 

"Bee and Flower"

"Bee and Flower"
10" x 10"
Oil-based ink on Mulberry paper

This is the print I submitted to Baren Forum for Wood Block Printmaking's Exchange No. 80. The theme for the exchange was "Unity".

"Rainbow Leaf Beetle"

“Rainbow Leaf Beetle”, 3 block woodcut for the Baren Forum for Woodblock Printmaking’s Exchange No. 79, edition of 30. 

I wanted to make a print using process magenta, cyan and yellow because I‘ve been doing color printmaking with some of my students. What better subject for this than a rainbow leaf beetle?

"Pigs In A Blanket" (Chinese New Year Exchange)

Happy Lunar New Year! This is my Year of the Pig 2019 card for the Baren Forum's Chinese New Year Exchange. It is dedicated to my child Bebe who is currently obsessed with pigs.

This is a 4" x 5" linocut printed with black Caligo safe wash relief ink, hand colored with Prismacolor markers and watercolor paint. I still have 7 more to hand-color, so they will be sent out a little late, but worth the color.

Year of the Dog Baren Exchange

Tomorrow will be the Lunar New Year. According to the Chinese zodiac, the year of the dog will have ended, and the year of the pig will begin.

Last year was the first year that I participated in the Baren Forum for Wood Block Printmaking's Chinese New Year card exchange. For that exchange, I made this little hand-colored print of Mary, the chiweenie that we had recently adopted. I received most of the cards from other participants around January-March of last year, though some came later, and it's been fun to have them trickle in. I recently received the last of my dog cards (all that I've received are shown in this post.) Thanks to all of the artists who made these cards, some quirky, some quiet and contemplative, some bold, and some surprising. I absolutely love this little collection.

I am participating in the Year of the Pig exchange, and tomorrow I will post about my print for it.

"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.