"Tulips" by Blanche Lazzell

Had to post one more Blanche Lazzell woodcut. (If you'd like to read more about this truly accomplished, American artist, click here.) The first three this week were landscapes, but this still life really excited me today.

Delicious fragrance
Blossoms like open fruits or
Red clouds over seas 

"Backyards Provincetown" by Blanche Lazzell

I first saw this wonderful white line woodcut on the cover of the book Blanche Lazzell and the Color Woodcut - a book that presents a rich selection of reproductions of the artist's work. Many artists have been drawn to draw, paint, print, or photograph townscapes such as these that present a layering of architectural structures with the trees and other larger landscape elements that are interwoven into the scene. The uneven rhythm of the rows of walls and roofs is not only lyrically pleasing and interesting; it also unifies a place while maintaining the unique individuality of each abode, and that is comforting.

"West Virginia Hills" by Blanche Lazzell

I'm looking at a lot of Blanche Lazzell again this week because I'm interested in venturing back into white line woodcuts and specifically landscapes. Although as of yet I've only created one true landscape using this technique that doesn't also feature figures.

I am amazed by Lazzell's ability to make her landscapes somehow fantastical and yet also warm and familiar. The misty textures combine so elegantly with the motley of color choices. The bands of color that arch across the skies in so many of her landscapes are an especially intriguing decision for both describing the rich atmosphere and visually connecting the land formations that form the dynamic horizon with the otherwise static sky.

"The Monongahela at Morgantown" by Blanche Lazzell

I consider autumn to be the most beautiful time of year. Cool and crisp, yes, but most of all it is the rust-colored foliage set against the blue beyond that captures my attention. I feel I am flying over a world set in balance.

"The Blue Jug" by Blanche Lazzell

The rain has caused me to stay inside, but it is spring, and so flowers still dominate my thoughts. Turning their heads downward and dying here in this vase, the yellow pedals are none-the-less vibrant. Indoors just doesn't flow like outside. Indoors is darker and full of sharp-edged objects. So easy to bang myself black and blue. But these sunshiny flowers give some relief.  

"The Monongahela" by Blanche Lazzell

A curved road at the bottom of the composition, and strange arch at the top (a transdimensional bridge or muddy rainbow perhaps?) form a great oval turned on its side, which bulges way out of the picture frame. These two borders form a giant's eye, within which we see icy blue mountains, loopy bridges, sagging houses, and a river occupied by strange yellow lanterns that bob on the surface. Round and round the eye is caught in a fast roller coaster ride. Thankfully the sharp, hard branches of a purple tree are present to slow the ride down, lest our gazes fly right out of the scene. More yellow lights dot the base of the hills and lights in the window of houses; it's dark and cold outside and people are busy doing what people do. We can see from the glow on the horizon that the sun is either rising or setting, or perhaps that is simply the ambient light from the urban center penetrating the night sky. Light pollution (what muddied the rainbow?) some would say. One more way diurnal humans impose ourselves on the universe. Then again, in the season of darkness who's to enjoy all this cool blue without illumination of the hue?