1"x1": Hippo Eye and Seahorse

More 1" x 1" lino blocks printed in repeated patterns (over the weekend I posted a 1"x1" Jaragua Lizard). Still not sure what I'm going to do with this or where it's going. Time in the studio will tell. 

#12 - 30 Prints in 30 Days (Hippo Mandala)

"Hippo Mandala"

Collograph with foam pieces and then linocut stamping

17.5" x 18.5"

Water based ink on Kozo paper

Edition of 2

Available for purchase here.

Walking around in the heat, it is so nice to know the cool relief of the river is only a stone's throw away. Minutes from now, sink, and dive, and splash! Wet, wet, glorious wet. Depths of liquid that take away the immense weight of legs like trunks of trees, tremendous belly, and massive head. This flowing space in the landscape that transforms the lumbering beast into a graceful ballerina.

#7 - 30 Prints in 30 Day (Plastic Hippo)

"Plastic Hippo"

Woodcut (4 color reduction)

4" x 4"(image) 5.5" x 7.5" (paper)

Water-based inks on Rives BFK

Edition of 6

Available for purchase here.

Took another stab at depicting my daughter's new model hippo. Her love of hippos began with her many cleverly written and happily illustrated Sandra Boynton books, such as Hippos Go Berserk.

I'm rather pleased with this final image. The colors are so cheery, a fun contrast to that wide open mouth with giant canines and incisors. It is an odd thing that children so delight in cute toys and stories about animals, which in reality are quite dangerous. Real hippos have killed more people than lions, despite being herbivores (not to mention being such a cute, roly poly shape.) The Straight Dope has a rather colorful article on the subject. We like to protect children from such harsh realities. Like Boynton's illustrations, take the vicious hippo and replace the large, sharp teeth with a silly smile (and maybe some fuzzy pajamas.) Of course there's a logic to this sheltering. Children are too inexperienced to put things like a boatman being chomped to death for accidentally getting between a mama and baby hippo into a larger context, and particularly sensitive children might come to fear hippos in perfectly safe environments, such as the zoo. And by first acquainting children with appealing and benign images of animals, we establish positive associations that can motivate an interest in learning about animals, and a sense of love and respect for them. After all, are horrific these deadly encounters with them are, wild animals only do what comes to them naturally. If we love, respect, and learn about them, we'll find better ways to avoid getting chomped.

#6 - 30 Prints in 30 Days (Hippos)

"Hippos" (original collograph)

9" x 6"

Water based ink on green Subi paper

Artist's Proof

Available for purchase here.

This image is inspired by a plastic hippo toy I bought for my daughter this weekend. I'm just playing around again with collographs using foam pieces. This final image reminds me of batik, what with the bright color gradations within solid shapes surrounded by thick outlines. I did a second version of this print with corner pieces (click here to view on my Etsy store), although I think maybe I should add a lot more to it. Fill up all the negative space and really give these guys a habitat to roam and roar around in. I think I'll work on that...