Oxen plowing a year late but plowing nonetheless

Well, here it is, a year late but sometimes the oxen run into troubles...

I dedicated this print to those who taught us to keep the plow in the ground no matter what life brings. After all, the fields can't wait and the harvest won't come if we don't keep working. So here it is, a little woodblock print in the Japanese tradition; must say I enjoy the change in process.



Aside from that, I wanted to do something to benefit Haiti and decided to use my ebay store to do just that. So from now until the end of February, maybe longer, who knows! I will donate pretty much all my profit from auction sales on ebay. The donation happens automatically when a purchase is made and it makes me happy to know that my art is being used for the good of all those poor people.



Two more prints already on the bench, an engraving and a puzzle collaboration print. It feels good to be back in the studio and this year I vow to keep the plow in the ground.
http://1000woodcuts.com

Me in a tree in progress

The key block, on the hanshita paper ready to be transferred. This hanshita paper is a huge time and head-ache saver! I just print the carved key block, kentos and all, as many times as there will be color blocks.

I pasted down my hanshitas with rice paste, ready made and purchased from Dick Blick http://www.dickblick.com/ , search for Nori. I then stack the blocks and put weight on them so the hanshita won't wrinkle. It dries perfectly flat. The hanshita is composed of two layers, a thick backing sheet and a thin sheet.

Once dry, the thick sheet peels off and the thin sheet remains on the block. A few drops of oil and the paper disappears (visually speaking) leaving just the perfect image on the block to be carved right through the paper.

The first picture is the key block printed in blue with the green block, leaves background printed as well. Fun working with such transparent inks and certainly very different from using oil-based inks. The second is the sienna block printed over the key block on the tree trunk. I printed the leaves and the tree twice to achieve saturation.

Lastly a purple block to get some depth on the leaves, a bit of shading on the tree, and a background for the "hiding place" behind the figure.

My favorite part of being a pritmaker! A bunch of prints all in a row. Next post shows the finished print and some details.

Goldwell pages updated with photo albums

Updated my photo albums section in the Goldwell Open Air Museum Residency pages.

Next on the project is to continue to carve the blocks, make some prints and publish a book with photos, journal entries, woodcuts and even some poetry. I'm well into revising my first few pages and the template so I can begin the painful process of getting it all together.

Here are the recently updated links:

Projects Index page:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/projectsindex.html

Goldwell Index page:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/goldwell_residency/index.html

Photo Album:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/goldwell_residency/photos/index.html

And don't miss the Panoramas page:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/goldwell_residency/photos/panoramas.html

Enjoy!

Woodcut puzzles

There's an activity I engage in every couple of years or so, and that is to bring printmakers together to make a print. These collaborations baffle those who know me as a loner, but nevertheless, they continue to fascinate me.

The procedure is simple, take a block of wood, draw something, chop it up into pieces and send the pieces to the various participants. Each woodcutter cuts their piece of wood and sends it back to me, I put it together, print it and send the completed prints to everyone.

IN progress is the Cairn, information is here:
http://www.1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

Completed is the first puzzle, a Web:
http://www.1000woodcuts.com/projects/puzzle/finalimage.html

Undoubtedly, there will be more...

Woodcuts in the desert

My temporary gallery at the Valley of Fire Visitor's Center. This is a small Nevada state park that is just beautiful to visit, especially (and almost exclusively) in the winter.

Compared to an art festival, this is an easy setup. I used my festival panels for the back wall and also the browse bins for information on woodcuts, business cards and, of course those portable matted works that hopefully will find their way into the suitcases of tourists.

The park benefits from the artist's sales and for the artist, it is a chance to show works to countless tourists and other desert loving critters.
Woodcuts are again at an advantage because they are so rarely seen in these parts. Of course I have free for the taking my standard "How to Make Woodcuts" handout. Knowing that the State Park gets a percentage is huge for me. As I grow older, I yearn for the days when the desert was a largely uninhabited place. More and more developers are building and building and it feels good to be a part of a preservation movement.

The weather forecast for the rest of February in these parts calls for spring-like 60's and 70's, and, of course... sunny and clear!