"Jenny and Eleanor Take A Tumble"

8" x 12" (image)
5 layer reduction woodcut
Available for purchase here.

This is my second stab at this image. The first was in my opinion a dreadful failure.This is better, but I still have so much farther to go.

Everything is so pretty on the outside, like a bright, pastel Easter egg shell around a spoiled interior.These two sunshine gals just didn't know what they were getting into. They thought they could ride a creamsicle steed to a better world. Now the memory of their dusty life on the shelf fades away as they tumble into the purple chiffon abyss.

"The Flood"

Woodcut (reduction)
11" x 16"(image) 12.5" x 18.5" (paper)
Watercolors and waterbased printmaking inks on heavy Arches paper
Available for purchase here. 

This was a commission for some friends, with which I had a great deal of creative freedom. I played around a lot with some new materials (watercolors applied with brushes instead of only block printing inks applied with brayers) and used the highly emphasized wood grain in a new way. I am quite pleased with both the process and the final products. I did a total of four unique versions of the image from the block. This was my second favorite version, but it looks the best in digital reproduction, so I decided to use it instead of my favorite one for this blog post.

I thought I'd write something deeply poetic about this print on this blog post as I often do, but I just can't. The print itself is just so fantastically bizarre and colorful that I don't want to narrow anyone's perceptions with my own ideas about the meaning and narrative. Hell, I don't even want to narrow my own by committing the ideas that happen to be passing through my head right now to paper. Er, screen. I'll just say I'm really glad I made this. I love my babies and cats and toy prints, but I needed to do something more ambitious and, well, weird. I hope this will lead to other interesting avenues with regards to both subject matter and technique. We shall see...

"Sun Hat"

White line woodcut printed on Stonehenge paper. Image is 4" x 3".

If one thinks in terms of overall composition and color, it is easy to make 2D works of art that look better from a slight distance, and which look more fantastic as a digital photo back-lit on a computer screen, or shrunk down and professionally printed on a postcard. And so I feel rather odd having made a print that looks so much better close up and in person that from a distance and in reproduction. This is the sort of image that is best held in one's hand like a book, and looked at in very close proximity, as one would peer into a tiny window. A grace is found in the subtlety of textures and gradations, and few, but oh-so-finely cut lines. Which in a way fits the subject matter, because while most kids are at least somewhat cute, there is a certain magic found only in the unique interactions we have with the children with whom we are especially close.

"Untitled" by Sandesh Nicol

Image posted with permission by the artist whose website can be viewed here and works for sale can be purchased here.

Two androgynous figures embody two faces of winter under the cool and still branches of trees. 

One blond and composed, a gentle finger offered as perch for falling snowflakes. In solid, lanky blue, he casts a solid shadow on the bumpy mounds of snow-covered ground, a slight cock of his head, a serene smile on his face. 

The second, white-robed and exuberant, arms flung up in greeting of the rising sun. Slanted, grey marks stripe her entire body, almost as if in an attempt to scribble her out of existence. Like a translucent specter, she employs dramatic gesture to boost up the horizon, lined with blackened trees. In one graceful sweep she summons the very sun up from behind the earth.  

In memory of Griffin

I did this little 3" x 4" 6-color reduction woodcut of a friend of mine's dear cat who passed away. I know how incredibly painful it is to lose a long-time animal companion so I wanted to make a fitting tribute. He was a gorgeous striped cat with big, beautiful green eyes and striking white fur accents including a white tip at the end of his tail. He was also blind, but had a friendly and easy-going personality, which well-complimented the (charmingly) neurotic personality of my friend's other cat. Rest in peace, Griffin, having given so much joy and comfort to your owner.

"Rooster" by Helen Ogilvie

I tried, I really tried to bring those wood planks back to life. I soaked them long in water so they'd loosen up and warp into long, curved clusters of grain, like the long, curved clusters of feathers around the regal rooster's neck. I dipped my pen over and over into a pool of black ink. (I don't know how deep; I never felt the bottom.) A branch from a fern reaches out with its countless, repetitious leaves, mirroring the rooster's foliage-like tail feathers. A gentle wind passes by, picking up a few stray needles of hay. Slim leaves and feathers quiver alike. The ferns and grass and trees, alive (as were once the planks of wood that make up the rickety fence), but they can't move about, or peck, or cock-a-doodle-doo! 

"Sick Kid"

White line woodcut
Watercolor on Stonehenge paper
6" x 8" inches (image)

I taught my first white line woodcut workshop these past two weekends. (If you're curious about what white line printmaking is, check out this excellent, illustrated description.) Met a lot of kind, creative people, enjoyed myself, and learned a lot about how I can improve on the class. Check out some of the students' work on my website. 

Since I purchased some new liquid watercolors that I thought might be more practical for teaching a short-term workshop, I tested them out by making this little demo print. I did three different color versions, and unfortunately each one had strong and weak elements and none popped out clearly as the strongest image. In the end I decided to post this version to this blog because I feel the overall color and composition works best in the abstract. That said, I think it is too bright and cheery to fit with the subject matter and what I wanted to convey (I was going for more warmth and hope, and this is more a day at the circus.) The intensity of the green couch especially bothers me. But hey, that's the beauty of making prints - I can always try again with the next version.