reduction print

I haven't posted much work recently, mostly because I haven't had much time to make art. I did start a large woodblock print this week, and thought I'd share the process as it goes along. This is a reduction print, so for each color I'll carve away a little more of the block. I started by printing a blue background for the sky using the whole block, and then carved away the areas that are going to remain sky to reveal the tree and hillside. One of the cows is showing up on the horizon at this stage. The picture shows the block inked and ready to print on my press. I only inked part of the block to make a green hillside, the rest of that tree will be printed in the next color.


After printing the green grass of the hill, I started carving away to reveal the rest of the cows, and the shadows of the cows and trees.

Painting a week

"Streamside" oil on panel, 11x14, $425

I headed off to one of my favorite parks intending to paint the oak trees, and ended up perched on a rock painting the creek. It's amazing how quickly the light can change on a few rocks. I intended to focus on the wonderful shadows of leaves playing over the surface of the rocks, but by the time I sat down and started painting, those shadows were already gone.

Painting streamside

"Stream Sketch" oil on panel, 8x10, $320

I did this little painting with my painting gear sitting in my lap, while trying not to slide down the bank into the stream I was painting at Sugarloaf state park. The sun was setting in line with the canyon, so a great beam of light was hitting this big rock covered in moss. I had a harder time capturing the light bouncing off the bottom pool in front of the rock, but I'm really happy with the contrast between the brightly lit rocks and the dark background.

Stegosaurus

"Stegosaurus In Situ", 7x9 linocut, available at my Etsy store.

Here's the most recent dinosaur print. It's a stegosaurus, probably one of the most iconic dinosaurs. This dinosaur is so familiar I wanted to do something a little different, and represent it as an articulated specimen found in place. I used a fair amount of artistic license, as it's unusual to find such a large dinosaur so perfectly laid out, but I like that it's not a perfect reconstruction like you might see in a museum.

Palm at St. Jean

"Palm at St. Jean", oil on panel, 8x10, $320

I did this painting a few weeks ago at the Chateau St. Jean winery. It's a beautiful place to paint, and the weather was perfect. I won't be posting very often in the next month or so as some home repair projects are going to be claiming my time. I'll be sharing new paintings and prints as I find time. And of course once we get the house in order, I plan to be painting a lot as I just heard I've been accepted for the Danville Fine Arts Faire in June, and I'd like to have some new work to show.