Nautilus and Ammonite: The Tropic Life

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. This is the third stanza and also the third double-page spread.

And theirs was a bliss more fair than this
Which we taste in our colder clime;
For they were rife in a tropic life--
A brighter and better time. 

Dancing in the Garden: Fourth Duet

White line woodcut (unique print)
Watercolors on 140 lb Canson watercolor paper
9" x 12" (image) 11" x 14" (paper)  

My 2 week residency at Soaring Gardens continues! Today I completed the fourth (and final) duet woodcut for the Dancing in the Garden series. The poses were partially inspired by my daughters' creative movement classes, particularly when they try to move like various animals. Here I'm seeing a sloth and a frog just hanging out in the shade. 

Dancing in the Garden: Fuschia Solo

White line woodcut (unique print)
Watercolors on 140 lb Canson watercolor paper
9" x 12" (image) 11" x 14" (paper)  

Day 5 of my 2 week residency at Soaring Gardens. This afternoon I completed the next woodcut for the Dancing in the Garden series. There are four children in the visual narrative, and each child gets a solo. This girl maintains a stalwart composure as an array of colorful notes, chords, and arpeggios sound behind her. I debated using her leotard color for the border, but in the end I decided in favor of it. It ads to the flat, surrealism of the style and medium being used. 

Dancing in the Garden: Third Duet

White line woodcut (unique print)
Watercolors on 140 lb Canson watercolor paper
9" x 12" (image) 11" x 14" (paper)  

After 3 days of rain and gloom we finally have a sunny day here at Soaring Gardens! Right after I post this I'm taking a walk.

I continue my residency with this next woodcut for the Dancing in the Garden series. I'm having fun deciding how to translate the complex imagery of plants I photographed a year and a half ago into this medium. In this image I'm very  much enjoying the rendering of the tree tops and branches and how they leave so much up to interpretation with regards to what is part of which tree and how far away the various swaths of green are. White line woodcuts are so distancing, but in a warm, floaty dream-like way. 

Dancing in the Garden: Hopping Down the Path, Revisited

This is a new printing of a woodcut I made for my Dancing in the Garden series. Hopping Down the Path is where I left off a year and a half ago. Now that I'm focusing my residency at Soaring Gardens on this project, it seemed necessary to continue with this image.

It's funny, when I first printed this work, I felt deeply disappointed with it. But maybe I was too close to the project or in a bad headspace at the time, because now I like it much better. For this new version I changed the color of the path to a cool grey rather than brown. I also added more texture to the grass and stripes of green shadows behind the figure. I do feel this version fits in better with the others in this series; although I accidentally made the boy's complexion more pink than it is in other renderings of his character. Above all, I'm moving in the right direction, and it feels good to be back on the Garden series.

Residency at Soaring Gardens Begins!

I arrived at Soaring Gardens Artist's Retreat yesterday. I'm spending two weeks here to get my head back into creating artwork for the book projects I've started. It's a rather secluded, beautiful place, surrounded by farms, gardens, and lots of nature. After setting up my studio I was greeted by a local rabbit, and today I watched two groundhogs chase each other around the back yard.

So far it has rained almost nonstop all weekend - which is great for getting work done in the studio! I've done quite a bit of drawing and carving and even some printing already. I might have something finished tomorrow or Tuesday, and when I do I'll post more. Until then, here are some photos of the studio I'm working in and its gorgeous view of the grounds.

Joëlle Jolivet's "Zoo-ology"

Yesterday I experienced the joy of leafing through Zoo-ology, a giant-sized (12" x 18") picturebook by French illustrator Joëlle Jolive. I discovered a copy while visiting a local nature center's library. The book is largely made up of double-page spreads of animals, boldly and colorfully rendered in linocut. Each grouping is united by eclectic themes, unrelated to each other, such as "Large and small", "Underground", and "Close to us all". Obviously I was drawn to this book initially by the relief print illustrations. Instantly I'm reminded of Christopher Wormell's stunning animal alphabet books. However, this book especially delighted me with its unusual and clever organization. There are so many animal-themed picturebooks for young children, and while many are beautiful, I rarely find one that surprises and amuses as much as this one. How could anyone not be impressed by an author/illustrator who can sensibly group a praying mantis with a whale?