The Complete, Original "Owl and Cat In Love" at H.A. Brown Elementary

 

This week I went to H.A. Brown Elementary School in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Kensington, where I spoke to about 100 K-5th grade students about creating my book Owl and Cat In Love. 

I published the book in 2015, and in 2018 an art collector named James Testa bought 80% of the original prints after seeing them displayed in an exhibition at Metropolitan Bakery in West Philly. (I highly recommend artists show in cafes, restaurants, and any other place where people will be hanging out and thus are likely to look at the work longer than they would in a gallery!)  A year later James contacted me and purchased the rest of the series. 

In the years since, I have sold or lost enough of the prints that I no longer have a complete set of the whole series. I only made 4-8 copies of each color reduction woodcut since it was very labor intensive and I didn't have a press at the time, so I printed them all by hand with a wooden spoon. Therefore I was quite happy that at least one entire set of the original prints existed together in one place. 

This year James contacted me to invite me to a little reception at his home to view and celebrate the collection. I was thrilled to see how beautifully they were framed and displayed in his dining room. At that reception, I found out that since he was down-sizing to a small home, he would be donating the entire collection of Owl and Cat prints to a Philly public elementary school where it would be displayed in the library. I couldn't have been more thrilled about this. 

This week the faculty and staff who welcomed me into the school were so kind and enthusiastic about my visit. The children were attentive and had many great questions about illustration, book-making, carving woodcuts, and Edward Lear. State Rep Joseph Hohenstein also stopped in for a visit to the school and offered some supportive words. It was such a lovely time. When I published the book 10 years ago I never imagined the whole series would be permanently installed where generations of school children could enjoy it. This might be the most gratifying event in my artistic career yet. 

"The Wedding" Re-created

 

I re-created "The Wedding" print from my book "Owl and Cat In Love" recently. Click here to see the original. This new version is a 5 layer reduction and only an edition of 2. It was special made for a collector. It's also the mirror image of the original because I drew the image directly on the block.

It was definitely an interesting experience to re-create a print I first made 7 years ago. When I started, I really didn't want to do it. It felt like forcing myself to do something that I'd long moved on from. But about halfway through I kind of got into it. It felt a bit like visiting a place from my past that I don't go to anymore and that has changed, but of which I had very fond memories. 

Not that I want to do this again. It took a long time, and I am generally way more interested in finding time for my current projects, especially since my studio time is so limited. But yeah, glad I did this once just for the experience. 

Exhibition: Selections from Owl and Cat In Love at Metropolitan Bakery

Through the month of August I'm exhibiting 16 of the 20 color woodcuts from my book project Owl and Cat In Love at the Metropolitan Bakery at 4013 Walnut Street in University City. Here's some photos of the display. The menu is full of delicious items, so if you're in Philly in August, I recommend having lunch there.

Owl and Cat In Love is now for sale!

Announcing the release of Owl and Cat In Love! 

Edward Lear's nonsense poem "The Owl and the Pussycat" is the most familiar, published, and illustrated of all of the nineteenth-century, English artist's works.

This version is a wordless reimagining of Lear's poem through fine art woodcuts. While the imagery is inspired by Lear's text, it frequently presents unique interpretations and embellishments.  You can view all of the woodcuts from the series in this Pinterest album. 

The book is 10" x 10" Smythe sewn case bind (hardcover,) color offset printing, 40 pages plus printed end sheets. First edition of 500. Retail price of $20.00. 

Get a signed copy (FREE SHIPPING for US customers) by contacting me directly at marfknox (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject line "Owl and Cat In Love."

Or purchase it online through my Etsy Shop (cheaper US shipping) or my Amazon Store.

"Sunset" Art Card for Owl and Cat In Love Pre-Sale Campaign

This is the fourth and final 2.5" x 3.5" art card I created for the Owl and Cat In Love Pre-sale Campaign. The first two cards are posted about here, and the third is posted about here. Anyone who pre-orders the book before its release will receive his or her choice of one of these cards.

This card is a white line woodcut. This is a process of woodcut printmaking where a line drawing is made on the woodblock, the lines are carved out, and then it is printed one section at a time using water-based paints. More can be learned about the process in this illustrated article by Jeanne Norman Chase. White line printmaking is also the method I am using for my series of eight male nudes and my recently started Dancing In the Garden picturebook.  

Fans of Words On Woodcuts Press can also support the publication of this second book by lending money through my Kiva Zip business loan campaign - which as I write this is up to 98% funded! 

"Love At First Sight" Art Card for Owl and Cat In Love Pre-Sale Campaign

This is the third of four 2.5" x 3.5" art cards I am creating for the Owl and Cat In Love Pre-sale Campaign. Here's a link to the post featuring the first two cards. Anyone who pre-orders the book before its release will receive his or her choice of one of the cards.

This card is hand-printed in water-based black ink on lime green card stock. My inspiration for illustrating Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat originally came from the image of the owl and cat first looking deeply into each other's equally large, round eyes, so this seemed an appropriate phrase to include in one of the art cards. 

Fans of Words On Woodcuts Press can also support the publication of this second book by lending money through my Kiva Zip business loan campaign - which as I write this is up to 96% funded! 

"Great Horned Owl" and "Margay" Art Cards for Owl and Cat In Love Pre-Sale Campaign

These are the first two of four 2.5" x 3.5" art cards I am creating for the Owl and Cat In Love Pre-sale Campaign. Anyone who pre-orders the book before its release will receive his or her choice of one of the cards.

These two are hand-printed in oil-based black ink on 90 lb. Natural-colored Stonehenge paper. They simply depict a great horned owl and a margay, the types of species after which I modeled the book's characters.

Fans of Words On Woodcuts Press can also support the publication of this second book by lending money through my Kiva Zip business loan campaign.

Pre-Order Owl and Cat In Love Today

I have just launched the presale campaign for my second book to be published by Words On Woodcuts Press. Here's the link to the campaign.

My regular readers know the project Owl and Cat In Love well, but for new readers, check out all the postings about the artwork as it was being created here.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported this campaign in any way over the years, even simply through your encouraging words and thoughtful critiques of the work. You all helped keep me going pursuing these artistic dreams. After seeing how beautifully Cats A-Z turned out, I can't wait to see Owl and Cat In Love in print.

Owl and Cat In Love: End Pages

I just finished the end pages for Owl and Cat In Love. I decided on a tessellation pattern of their faces in order to emphasize the similarities in their facial appearance, despite being a bird and feline species. Love at first penetrating gaze into each others' eyes.

I am pretty happy with this.

"Flora and Fauna"

8" x 10" (image), 10.5" x 13" (paper)
Artist's proof
Oil-based ink on Stonehenge paper

Now that I've published Cats A-Z, it's time to gear up for publishing Owl and Cat In Love. I'm about to start a pre-sale campaign for the book, and I made "Flora and Fauna" as a promotional print for the campaign.

It's a still life with two of my daughters' toys that I particularly love, and which are of course also an owl and a cat. I wanted two different types of flowering plants to parallel the animal pairing. I selected black-eyed Susans because I see so many of them this time of year and cherry blossoms as a quiet nod to Japan and its rich history of mastering woodblock printmaking.

Help Me Launch Words On Woodcuts Press!

Two weeks ago I announced that I'm launching Words On Woodcuts Press to publish beautifully-crafted books which will feature my woodcuts.

Today, the fundraising begins!

Check out my Indiegogo campaign here. There are all kinds of goodies, including original woodcuts from my studio and signed copies of the books if you can donate.

Keep checking up with this blog. Over the 42 days of the campaign, I'll create 8 original art card woodcuts to give as additional thank-you gifts for donors.

If you can't contribute funds, that's fine. Just help me spread the word. Thanks!

Owl and Cat in Love, Cover

"Owl and Cat in Love"
Woodcut (reduction)
11.75" x 11.25" (image)16" x 15" (paper)
Oil based inks on Sulphite Block Printing Paper 
Limited edition of 3

After over a year and a half, all the art for my visual re-telling of Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat is complete! Now it's time to put together a proposal package and begin seeking a publisher. 

Words can't express how much I've benefited from the encouragement of my friends, family (especially you, mom), colleagues, and this blog's readers. Even if you never comment here or on facebook, seeing the number of pageviews increase over time, and increase the most when I've been posting the newest images from this project, have kept my confidence high when I've felt overwhelmed  by other responsibilities and when I was slowed down by illness. Thank you all so much. 

I'll be taking about a 3 week break from studio work, and then I plan to maybe do some highfalutin serious art before diving into the next book. Not sure where the muse aims to take me, but no doubt it'll involve wood blocks and chisels. 

Owl and Cat in Love, "Dancing Under the Moon" (final image, page 29)

"Dancing Under the Moon"
Woodcut (reduction)
11.25" x 11.75" (image)15" x 16" (paper)
Oil based inks on Sulphite Block Printing Paper 
Limited edition of 3

After their wedding, Owl and Cat dance on the beach under the moon. I have to wonder just what kind of mincemeat is in that bowl. 

Now that the story is all told (although I do have the cover, which I'll post tomorrow) I'm thinking about the role that color has played throughout this whole journey. It seems the whole story is really about this couple holding on to the primal glue that binds them together as everything else, including their own bodies, constantly shifts in tone, distorts, or dissolves. While the colors and types of setting (field, interior, seas, forest) might drastically change from page to page, the protagonists are always woven into their environment. Here, too, they almost melt into the chaotic sky. They fit in wherever they go and make it seem easy and natural. They succeed in changing together, and that is the key to their Love.

Although I've used the emphasized wood grain in most of the images for this book, this is the only image where I use a knot as part of the composition. Given that they just got married, I know there's a bad pun in there somewhere. 

Owl and Cat in Love, "Wedding" (double page spread pages 27-28)

"Wedding"
Woodcut (reduction)
9.5" x 20" (image)
15" x 24" (paper)
Oil based inks on Sulphite Block Printing Paper 
Limited edition of 3

It isn't so much that the Land Where the Bong Tree Grows is the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos Islands are more symbolic than that for this retelling of Lear's poem. All of the animals indigenous to the islands and pictured in this wedding's congregation are famous for having undergone an evolutionary transformation that makes them unique from their ancestral cousins on the mainland. So, too, have Owl and Cat undergone a transformation through their union (just imagine the kids!) Also, there aren't any turkeys or piggy wigs found on the Galapagos.  

Owl and Cat in Love, "Welcome" (double page spread pages 25-26)

"Welcome" (parts 1 and 2)
Woodcuts (reduction)
Each is 11.25" x 11.75" (image), 15" x 16" (paper)
Oil based inks on Sulphite Block Printing Paper 
Limited editions of 3 each

The pair who have been spying on Owl and Cat for the past three double-page spreads are finally noticed. They reveal themselves as ambassadors of the island bearing gifts of beaded necklaces which match ones they themselves wear. The message is this: We, the natives of this island, accept and welcome you to our tribe.

Up until this point, Owl and Cat have been a nation of two. Now, they have found a whole new community in which they can redefine themselves as a couple. 

Owl and Cat in Love, "Nesting" (double page spread pages 23-24)

"Nesting"
Woodcut (reduction)
9.5" x 20" (image)
15" x 24" (paper)
Oil based inks on Sulphite Block Printing Paper 
Limited edition of 3

Every once in a while I find a picture book that features a vertical double page spread that requires the reader to turn the book sideways. I just love that; the illustrator throwing out something a little unexpected, forcing me to move my hands, shift weight around, and really pay a little closer attention to what's in front of my eyes. I simply had to do it with this book.

Here Cat and Owl are going back to their arboreal roots, having built their own literal love nest on their new island home.

And still they are being spied on by natives who they have yet to meet. That's coming in the next double page spread.

Owl and Cat in Love, "Exploration and Discovery" (double page spread pages 21-22)

"Exploration and Discovery (parts 1 and 2)"
Woodcuts (reduction)
Each is 11.25" x 11.75" (image), 15" x 16" (paper)
Oil based inks on Sulphite Block Printing Paper 
Limited editions of 3 each

Cat examines the scattered skeleton of a lizard. Behind her, a mysterious stone hammer hovers. Owl munches on his latest prey while perched on brick wall ruins, hastily marked with the word "Oust." The dormant volcano which formed the island stands in the distance. Much closer, native eyes continue to watch the newcomers' every move. 

Hopefully this isn't getting too bizarre. Then again, it is a purely visual retelling of an over 100-year-old nonsense poem written for children, so, can it really get too bizarre? 

Owl and Cat in Love, "Entering the Forest" (double page spread pages 19-20)

"Entering the Forest"
Woodcut (reduction)
20" x 9.5" (image)
24" x 15" (paper)
Oil based inks on Sulphite Block Printing Paper 
Limited edition of 3

After watching the sunset on the island where they are now stranded, Owl and Cat enter the forest in search of food and find fluttering delicacies. Unbeknownst to them, the natives are still watching... 

Recent Work On Display at Briar Bush Nature Center

I hung my work up at the Treetops Art Gallery at Briar Bush Nature Center's Dede Long Nature Museum. On the walls are small woodcuts from the artist's books I made last November: Scarlett and In My Yard. Downstairs behind the desk at the main entrance are two prints of a Great Horned Owl, from my current book project, Cat and Owl In Love. 
The common thread in all these woodcuts is that they are inspired by fauna local to the area. 
The book In My Yard depicts scenes of plants and small animals seen in my yard in Philadelphia. The small scale and subject of these works connects with an artist residency I'm fullfilling this year with the Wagner Free Institute for Science. In that position I've been teaching woodcut printmaking inspired by insects to middle schoolers enrolled in after school programs. My art curriculum compliments a science curriculum taught by other educators and which focuses on insect lifecycles. 

The book Scarlett was specifically inspired by a rescued screech owl who now resides at Briar Bush (as seen in this photograph.) The real Scarlett is regularly featured in Briar Bush's nature education programs for children. 

All of the woodcuts in the exhibition plus more from my Cats A-Z book will be for sale in the gift shop. All woodcuts on exhibition and for sale are original art (not reproductions), which is to say hand-carved and hand-printed with a wooden spoon by me. 

The Dede Long Nature Museum is open Monday-Saturday from 9-5 and Sunday from 1-5. The Treetops Art Gallery is located on the second floor of the museum. Admission is free for Friends of Briar Bush members and Abington Township residents, and for all others, $3 for adults. $2 for ages 2-17, and free for children under 2. The address is 1212 Edgehill Road, Abington, PA. 

Owl and Cat in Love, "Watching the Sunset..." and "...With Company" (double page spread pages 17-18)

"Watching the Sunset..." and "...With Company"
Woodcuts (reduction)
Each is 11.25" x 11.75" (image), 15" x 16" (paper)
Oil based inks on Subi paper
Limited editions of 3 each

Finally safe on dry land again, Owl and Cat take a moment to enjoy the setting sun. However, this island is already inhabited, and some of the natives are taking a moment to watch them.

Are there any silhouettes you, dear reader, recognize?