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. 

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. 

"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. 

"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?

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.

"Mr. Peabody"

I made this print for the owner of the dog's birthday and also printed an edition of 23 for the Baren Forum for Woodblock Printmaking Exchange #77. The image is 9" x 12", paper is 10" x 15", and it was printed with oil-based Gamlin block printing ink on fawn-colored Stonehenge paper.

Highlights from Baren Forum Exchange #76 3/3

Harmony by Anne van Oppen

Final highlights from Baren Forum Exchange #76. 

A small spider dangles from a bit of web stuck to an index finger. In a moment the bug will land on the foliage beside it and crawl away into the folds of the leaves, and the person will serenely watch them go. 

Memory by Theresa Martin

Upon seeing this second print, I wondered who Wiesel was. I googled and quickly found Elie Wiesel, and knew that was the correct person because something about this print had made me think of Holocaust survivors. The aged and weary face that looks out with such an expression of gratitude speaks volumes. It is the expression of one who can feel immense appreciation for all of life's moments, however small - such as a brief and peaceful encounter outside with a garden spider. 

Highlights from Baren Forum Exchange #76 2/3

Humanity by Brad Ladwig

More highlights from Baren Forum's Exchange #76. 

With these two prints, the theme of humanity is represented in the abstract. Brad Ladwig's people remind me of Leo Lionni's picturebook Little Blue and Little Yellow, as all the people are shown as circles of color. In Lionni's story, the colors are at first separate, but then they mix, and become unrecognizable to those around them. 

Conversely, in Ladwig's print, the circles are all together in the same bowl, still, static and distinctly separated from each other. As Kahil Gibran wrote On Marriage: "let there be spaces in your togetherness." 

Interconnected, You & Me by Diane Cutter

Diane Cutter's print perhaps shows what happens if the circles intermingle but instead of blending their colors, they create new shape, rather like the intermingling of oil and water. The shapes morph like a lava lamp, creating new shapes as they go, though it seems no matter how much they intermingle, creating ever increasingly complex designs, the even percentages of stark black and white will persist. 

Looking longer at these images, they both seem to illustrate a sort of pluralism, where participants of equal value manage to meaningfully retain their differences as they share the same space with each other. 

Highlights from Baren Forum Exchange #75 2/2

Part 2 after yesterday's part 1. For my second post highlighting some of my favorite prints from Baren Forum Exchange #75 I've decided to feature two landscape: Sauvie's Island by Barbara Mason and Saou by Abel Dewitz 

We've been here many times before. It's so familiar, we keep designating it as a place to meet up. It only exists in our mind's eye, a memory of a few shapes and colors. The details aren't important for our purposes. It is a sudden grasp, a deep inhale, a purposeful opening of our eyes after a period of dark retreat inward. The world is still out there. In there. Over, out, and above.

This will all fall away. Break up, drift apart, and disappear.

Highlights from Baren Forum Exchange #75 1/2

I'm rather late posting these highlights of Baren Exchange #75 (I've already also received the prints from #76 - will post those highlights later this week), but they also were delivered late, and big whoop, later is better than never.

I've selected these two to feature first - if I'm  honest - for personal reasons, both sentimental and existential.

Wait, don't I always do that?

I spent a lot of time around children or by myself, and so I'm perpetually hungry for contact with other adults. Not boring small talk, but intelligent or at least juicy conversation. So when I looked at Therese Krupp's Over Coffee... I couldn't help but identify with the figure on the right who seems to just be yap yapping away, while the figure on the left looks ahead, sipping coffee. There's no clear indication of how either of these people feel or what they are discussing. I don't know if the person sipping is all that invested in what she's hearing her companion say or not. It's all just sounds, and a big, red rectangle, and steam rising up from mugs, and the smell of coffee, and this is the wallpaper of one sort of human experience.

So then there's this Still Life - Bananas and Coffee, by Brad Ladwig, and I'm in my kitchen, alone again, staring at this carafe I use every day, this fruit I bought at the grocery store yesterday, and I'll buy another bunch next week, and the week after that, and I'm just utterly struck by this pretty, but lonely, awkward, and incomplete moment, that is so much like many others, and yet it is this moment, right here, now, and never again.

Year of the Dog Exchange

This was the first year I participated in the Baren Forum for Wood Block Printmaking's Chinese New Year exchange. I finished and mailed out my contribution at the end of January. The trickle of small prints from the other participants began that month and finished up about a week ago when I received this last one from Leigh Beatty titled Waiting. It turned out to be one of my two favorites. My other favorite below is Cemetery of the Innocent (32) by Linden Langdon.

I like both of these prints because they are not cute dogs. I'm a printmaker who has made a lot of cat prints that are explicitly not cute, and now I'm working my way into making dog prints, and I'd like those to not be cute either. Which is to say, I'd like get a little more to the heart of what these beings are as animals. Yes, they are affectionate household companions, too, but they were bred from fearsome predators, and their relationships with humans are far more complex and interesting than could be ascertained by most cat and dog posters and gift books.

In Beatty's dog print, the dog is staring up at presumably the owner. I guess it is the owner because of the intensity of that almost desperate stare. The title is "waiting", and indeed the dog is in great anticipation of something. Maybe food, maybe a walk, or maybe some simple affection from that person they are most devoted to in the world. Any way about it, this desire is a deeply-rooted yearning, and the red and black colors with the zigzag carpet pattern help to convey the primal nature of this animal's patiently-endured hunger.

Langdon's image is more subdued, but equally serious. I feel there is something otherworldly about this image, as if I could float right through the landscape like an unseen spirit. The dog is turned away, not hearing or perceiving my observation of them. They seem focused on something else beyond my own vision, maybe small and in the grass, or perhaps farther away. This dog is in many ways the opposite of the one above; distant, dark, and self-possessed.

"Hand, Human"

Hand, Human
Reduction woodcut with 2 blocks, 2 colors each
6" x 9"
Limited edition of 30

I made this print for Baren Forum Exchange #76. While contemplating the theme "Humanity" I kept thinking about the time I was at the Columbus Zoo and a gorilla put her hand up on the glass, and I was struck by how much it resembled my human hand. Googling images of gorilla and other great ape hands, I kept finding scientifically cataloged specimens, cut off at the wrist and set on a table to be photographed or illustrated and labeled. So for this print I decided to make an image of my own hand severed at the wrist, set on a table, and titled as a sample specimen. I thought of doing it as a black and white woodcut or engraving, but that seemed to narrow the concept to a one liner. Instead I wanted to use color bright complimentary colors (that are commonly found in many of my reduction color woodcuts) to give the piece another dimension to interpret. The unnatural, flat purple hue on the hand emphasizes the graphic depiction while obscuring the race of the individual, and the yellow can seem both cheery and garish or alarming.

The broader concept will be to create a small series that includes other primate hands (at least the great apes) depicted in the same way and then exhibit them as a set.

"Choban" in Color

This is a hand-colored version of the woodcut I made and posted about a few days ago. I actually designed the cut with the intention of adding color. Not sure how I feel about this version. But that's always how I feel after I make a color version of a black and white print.

My Year of the Dog Woodcut

This is a little 2.75" x 4" woodcut of one of our new family dogs - "Mary" (a little, black chiweenie) that I did for this year's Chinese New Year Exchange through the Baren Forum for Woodblock Printmaking. It's the Year of the Dog. I'm going to try some hand-coloring before I decide whether the cards I send out will be black and white or color.

Highlights from [Baren] Exchange #74 (Part 2 of 2)

Here is the second half of my highlights from Baren Forum Exchange #74. The first half I wrote yesterday.

Of her print Tightening the Boom, Jennifer O'Keefe merely comments: "New England cranberry wet harvesting." Nicole Schlooser is even more enigmatic, offering no commentary on her untitled woodcut of sleeping rabbits. We viewers are left with an image on a square piece of paper to contemplate.

I paired these two prints, with such dissimilar subjects and styles, for a reason, although finding to right words to articulate why is a challenge. The connection I see seems to rest in both composition and aura.

Regarding the former, there is a horizon across the upper-center of the pictureplane - explicit in O'Keefe's and implied in Schlosser's. In both, natural elements such as trees and water suggest gentle, wavering movement. A partial oval anchors the scene, and depth is suggested by the diminishing scale of figures in the background compared to those in the foreground.

Regarding the latter, there is a stoic anonymity of beings who quietly pass the moments engaged in the flow of activities both repetitious and indispensable. It is the heartbeat of life itself when at rest.