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?

Owl and Cat in Love, "Finding the Island" (double page spread pages 15-16)

"Finding the Island"
Woodcut (reduction)
20" x 9.5" (image)
24" x 15" (paper)
Oil based inks on Subi paper
Limited edition of 3

Our protagonists have survived the stormy seas. After having lost their boat (thank goodness Owl can fly), they thankfully discover a welcoming shore, where the bong tree grows... 

I've been keeping to the formula of a four-layers-of-color reduction for this project. But you'll see that here the hues have dramatically warmed. It's not just because of the sunlight at this time of day. Things are (perhaps) looking up for Owl and Cat.

“In Those Days (A Quei Tempi)" by Marie Weaver

Image posted with the permission of the artist. More of Marie Weaver's work, which includes sculpture and artist's books as well as woodcuts, can be found on her website, here. 

I first discovered Marie Weaver's woodcuts in 2010 when they were featured on McClain's online gallery. I was immediately struck by the lyrical compositions.

In this image, sheep trot along and red birds deftly soar. Plowed fields seem to course like a river and the foilage of a nearby tree bursts up and out from its trunk like a fountain. Though on the move, the shapes of these living things interact so gracefully with the ground and sky, like puzzle pieces perfectly arranged. 

When I wrote to Weaver asking for permission to write this post, she told me that she did the drawing for this print while in Tuscany to teach a workshop. She described the landscape as "a magical place":   

We were located on the property of a 12th century tenuta, Spannocchia, a farm with a villa and sharecroppers' houses sprinkled across the acres. Current owners operate it as a farm and educational center. They farm traditional crops and animals, hence the olive trees and sheep, among other things.

Certainly Weaver has caught some of that magic in this image. You can also find a slightly higher resolution version of In Those Days (A Quei Tempi) on Weaver's website here. 

Tugboat Printshop's "Farm Barge" and "Surf"

Images used with the permission of the artists. Tugboat Printshop is the two-artist team of Valerie Lueth and Paul Roden. They are based in Pittsburgh and sell limited edition color woodcuts from their online store. Click the link above to learn their story and view/purchase more of their amazing prints.
The style of Lueth and Roden's collaborative images is always very tight and stylized, and I find it most fascinating and surreal when they depict vapor or fluid. I included a second print, "Surf" to further display the tendency to make that which is loose, solid. This has a particular logic to it when depicting a wave, as waves often behave as if they are solid objects, such as when they allow surfers to literally ride on top of them, or when they do tremendous damage to solid structures during a storm. The three-layered wave in "Surf" seems not only to be solid, but to have perhaps come alive, by virture of its feathery texture, lively colors, and animated position.

In "Farm Barge" the clouds in this sky seem like clusters of various-sized wheels, rolling along an invisible track. They appear to have so much weight to them, and I can't shake the feeling that they could suddenly drop from the sky, pummeling the floating farm into wreckage.

The waves unroll like carpets. Or maybe more like a roll of dense and heavy linoleum. Movement is slowed down to a crawl - I can almost hear a creak - and I more profoundly contemplate this particular moment in time. These forces (atmosphere and water) are captivating in their elusive movements and ever-changing forms. But they are intimidating for the same reason. They are tremendously powerful, and we are at their mercy. But we can learn to work with nature. Gather energy from the wind. Sail on the seas.  Today is a bright and colorful day.

Barry Moser's Uncommonly Expressive Animals

This weekend I stumbled upon a picture book illustrated with the most exquisite hand-colored wood engravings. The book was Ever Heard of an Aardwolf? and the illustrator was American artist Barry Moser.

Even though I found this book in the Children's library area of the Academy of Natural Sciences, it is hardly only for children.

Moser is a serious artist with a prolific career and his own imprint, Pennyroyal Press. Many of his stunning black and white original engravings (which sell for hundreds each) depict animals.


This book in particular included type designed by Eric Gill, lettering by Judythe Sieck, and was printed on Mohawk Superfine paper. I might have found it among many cheap, mass-produced, mediocre books for kids, but it was a gem among pebbles.


Most importantly, the imagery is certainly sophisticated enough to be enjoyed on a high level by an adult audience.


What most captivated me about the animals in this book were the emotions conveyed by the animal's facial expressions (especially in the eyes), and sometimes the gestures of the bodies. The okapi glancing down as if caught in a moment of wistful reflection. The zebu who stares down the viewer with a haughty frown.

Obviously I can't (or at least shouldn't) repost a significant portion of someone else's book here. But I can at least give a small taste with these three, low-resolution details of primates wearing tremendously human expressions. I highly encourage anyone who enjoys wood engravings and/or animal art to seek out this book and see the whole collection of works in its full glory.

"Quiet Night" by William Hays

Image posted with the permission of the artist. More about William Hays as well as images of his paintings and prints can be found (and purchased) at the Artist's Loft website.

A tangerine glow
Heat embraced by docile snow
An igloo's hearth, unbound

"Driving Snow" by Erich Heckel

Here's a little gem from Erich Heckel I just discovered. 

Sharp planks of light and shadow cut across the sky and into the tumbling landscape like bolts of lightning. Flat, silhouettes of trees seem more like over-sized dried leaves and naked branches stabbed into the snow-covered hill. I feel I am standing in a high place with nothing below to catch me if I fall. And losing my balance is likely as this whole place is rolling along at a ferocious pace. 

I really need to feature more Die Brücke artists on this blog. So many exhilarating woodcuts came out of German Expressionism.