Here is the third, finished book to submit it to Ritual. The entire sheet of paper is 11" x 17" making each page when folded 4.25" x 5.5". Each printed image is 3" x 4". They are all white line woodcuts which means the lines were carved in a wood block and then each raised shape was painted with watercolors. I printed each by spritzing the entire painted block with water and then rubbing it onto the paper with a wooden spoon. It took approximately 10 hours to draw and carve all eight images, and another 3 and a half hours to print a single book.
The first photo here is the front and back covers. Next are the following three double-page spreads. And the last photograph is of the entire single sheet of paper unfolded.
The subject for this book is in fact my four pet cats, Aubrey, Horatio, Sasquatch, and Kubaba, and all of the drawings are from photographs I took of them around the house.
Together, apart...
begging, glaring...
peeking, crouching.
This is a proof of the back cover of the third and final single sheet book I plan to submit it to the exhibition Ritual. The image is 3" x 4" and a white line woodcut. This means that the lines are carved out of the block and then I paint in all the raised areas with watercolors. (The second photo is of the block after I printed from it.) Traditionally white line woodcuts are printed shape by shape. But that process is impractical for the printing of this book, so I'm trying another method which I read about on this post of printmaker Viza Arlington's blog. It involves painting the whole block first and letting it dry, then spraying it with a mist of water to reconstitute the paint for printing. Arlington used a press in her post (she was doing a large edition for a fundraiser), but since I'm only doing one-offs and small editions and I don't have a press in my studio, I'm using wooden spoons and elbow grease to print these kitties.
