#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...

#5 - 30 Prints in 30 Days (Cat In Hand)

"Cat In Hand"

Woodcut (four blocks)

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

Water-based inks on Rives BFK

Artist Proof (I'll be doing an open edition)

Available for purchase here.

Four years ago, while I was the art teacher for a Pre-K through 8th grade school, a second grade student brought in a box of kittens. These were tiny little things, maybe 5 weeks old. The girl's family was going out of the country for summer vacation and so her mother had sent the kittens to schools for "show and tell" as a ploy to get rid of some of them. It worked. Two teachers, myself included, took a kitten home that day. An adorable, little Tortoiseshell. I had planned to name her Nuala, an Irish name referring to fairies mythology. I put her in a large cardboard box for the long commute back to my house. Despite her tiny size, she displayed powerful lungs, yowling the entire ride, and about 20 minutes in, powerful legs, which she used to pop open the top of the closed box and attempt to leap out. As soon as I brought the box into my house, my cat Horatio - a twelve pound tabby, approached the box. The little spitfire popped out, took one look at Horatio, growled, and smacked him in the face. I realized she needed a name that better reflected such a bad-ass personality, so I started to flip through Uppity Women of Ancient Times, and settled on Kubaba - the only queen in the Sumerian king list. And she had started out as a barkeep!

I like to think that the bold colors and jagged lines in this print hint at an assertive personality ready to burst out, while the inclusion of human fingers provide a sense of scale, showing off the kitten's tiny size.

#4 - 30 Prints in 30 Days (Blue Cat)

"Blue Cat"

Linocut

6" x 4"(image) 7.5" x 6" (paper)

Water based inks on yellow Subi paper

Edition of 4

Available for purchase here.

This is another image I've been wanting to make but hadn't because it seemed to simple. I like it - the bold, primary colors, the simplicity of line and shape, negative and positive space - there is something satisfying about its Here I am presence. But it still seems like it needs something.

#3 - 30 Prints in 30 Days (Wide-eyed Red Horse Marionette)

"Wide-Eyed Red Horse Marionette"

cardboard and yarn relief print

water based inks on Subi paper

10" x 15" (image and paper)

Available for purchase here.

I'm just playing around with ideas and materials here. I'll be doing that a lot this month I imagine. I don't much like this finished print, especially for the amount of time and effort I put into it. Oh well. I made it, I've learned something from it, and that was the point.

ADDENDUM (Added a day after this was originally posted)

I actually made a second version of this print and didn't bother posting it. But having thought about it for another day, I sort of like it maybe even better than the first one. I'm adding the picture of it and links to where both of these prints can be purchased on my Etsy store. The second version can be purchased here. Enjoy!

#2 - 30 Prints in 30 Days (Just Passing Through)

"Just Passing Through" (original woodcut)

12" x 8" (image) 13.5" x 10" (paper)

Water based ink on black Stonehenge paper

Artist Proof

Available for purchase here.

Black cats are particularly stealth, even for cats. They seem to be aware of their special ability to slip and sink into shadows and almost disappear. They might completely disappear if it weren't for those large, round, wet eyes always giving them away. They think no one ever notices them staring out at us from under a chair or perched on a high bookshelf, but we do. Even when they close their eyes, only the slightest bit of light needs to catch on their swarthy fur, and they shimmer as the bulk of their bodies rises and falls with every breath. Still, they believe in their invisibility even while being stared down, and so they move quietly, gently. And when they really want our attention, they shout.

#1 - 30 Prints in 30 Days (Red Horse Marionette)

"Red Horse Marionette"

Woodcut (3 color reduction)

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

Water-based inks on Rives BFK

Edition of 6

Available for purchase here.

In my quest to keep my artist's hand moving, I have been inspired by artists like Sean Starwars and his One Woodcut A Week (20" x 30" each for a total of 52 weeks!) , and Kimberly Kelly Santini's Painting A Dog A Day (for 5 years now - you go, girl!) And of course the many other committed artist/bloggers who have taken on similar ambitious endeavors.

My current life, work, and art-making practice are not conducive long-term commitments, so I came up with a short-term, yet intense project of my own. So here it is: June 2011, I will make 30 prints in 30 days. Oh yes, I can do it! And here I present #1.

I stared at this little horse marionette I've had for years and had wanted to make a print of it for a long time. I finally did it back in March, but I've been unsatisfied with the results. It sort of fell into the category of "pretty pictures." So I've gathered some references of other horse marionettes, and I hope during this month to do a few, more spontaneous images that will hopefully tap into whatever it is that intrigues me about little wooden horses hanging on strings. This first attempt is okay. I like how the white in the eye and strings stand out. But the drawing just isn't expressive enough, and the colors just don't pop the way I think, in retrospect, they should. Ah art-making, so often it feels like just groping around in the dark without even knowing for sure what I'm looking for. But damn it, it's there. I just need to find it.