Butterflies in Black and White (Student Work)

These are three images printed from woodblocks carved by middle school students enrolled in SNAP through the Wagner Free Institute for Science. I've been working with kids doing the visual art component of the program, after school at Meade Elementary. It was only a 6 week session, and I worked with the kids for a total of 6 hours. Not a lot of time to teach kids how to carve and print wood blocks. When these three kids didn't make it to class the day of printing, I just had to print them myself to see what they looked like on paper. So glad I did. These are some pretty freaky-awesome butterflies!

In My Yard: "Garden Spider"

Woodcut
Black ink with hand coloring with watercolors
3" x 4" (image)

This is the second in a series for a single sheet handmade book called In My Yard. The idea is to submit it to the exhibition Ritual taking place in December in Philadelphia. 

I think I found a nice balance between light and dark in this one. A bit busy and lots of chaotic texture to give the sense of having to focus and squint to see the spider and web, but she is still clearly there, being highlighted by her yellow, striped legs. My favorite part is how the silhouette of leaves in the bottom left quadrant suggest a shadow cast by the spider. 

Happy Halloween! 

Joshua Green's "Bats"

Image posted with the permission of the artist. More of Joshua Green's work can be viewed at his website Subjective Designs.

One bat with huge ears like a rabbit seems to scream as it flies. The second bat, furry like a rat, hangs upside down with his wings out, as if startled by his companion. Their long, skeletal fingers bend and curve like branches, and the webs in between them twist and wrinkle like bark. The sky is made busy with the movement of countless bits of debris, fog, small bugs, who knows what else. It is amazing that we even catch a glimpse of these winged rodents, much less a good, hard, and detailed look. But there they are, osculating, but clearly discernible. Oh, these creatures that  prowl in the night and seem like myths, absurd chimeras only based on truths. But no, these beasties are real!

"Self Portrait" by Oscar Guajardo

Image posted with the permission of the artist. More or Oscar Guajardo's work can be viewed on his Etsy store.

We all feel this way
Sometimes, and if we're lucky
The fire quickly dies.

In My Yard: "Millipede in Hand"

Woodcut
Black ink with hand coloring with watercolors
3" x 4" (image)

This is the first in a series for a single sheet handmade book called In My Yard. The idea is to submit it (and hopefully 2 others) to the exhibition Ritual taking place in December in Philadelphia.

I like that it looks like a child's hand, not only in relation to the size of the millipede, but in the finger proportions. And I mostly like that the lines to mark certain shadows in the fingers mirror the segments of the millipede. The color here is too orange. Needs more pink. But this was just a tester. In fact, some of the black ink bled because I printed this proof in water-based ink and then watercolored over it. I'll do the final version with oil based ink.

"Companions" by Paul Kidder

Image posted with the permission of the artist. More of Paul Kidder's prints can be viewed at the Etsy store KG Crafts, where he sells his work alongside that of Katie Galbraith.

Sitting together to stay warm. You are right here - my tail encircles you, my blackness embossed by your snowy pelt - but I am distant. I am gazing in the same direction that my whiskers, paw, and tail reach. I am obsessed with something which has nothing to do with you. You, sleeping so content and oblivious to my state of mind. Yet I am strengthened by the heat of your body, calmed by the vibrations of your purr. I am not thinking of you, and yet your presence has caused me to hesitate. Despite the heat we create, I am frozen, entranced by the object of my obsession, and anchored down by intimacy.

"Junior" by Alexis Mackay

Image posted with the permission of the artist. More of Alexis Mackay's work can be viewed at her blog and Etsy store.

He's a bit prickly. Not quite as dangerous as a porcupine. More like a hedgehog. Prickly, but still cuddly. Cuddly, except when he looks at me like that; hunger tinged with scorn. I can practically hear his stomach rumble. He knows I didn't have anything better to do, yet here he waits in silence. And glares.