Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Cabbage Hands, a reduction print in progress



Cabbage Hands in Yellow
Linoleum block print -- two blocks, four colors
8" X 10"
2016

Here's how I did it:


First I carved out all the white areas -- background, cabbage veins, fingernails. 
Then I printed flesh color.



I decided I wanted the option of printing a colored background, so I had to carve a new block for that as I'd already carved out the background on the first block. I printed the background in four colors -- yellow, blue, green, and silver. 

Then I carved out the hands on the first block and printed purple.


I decided that the purple was too dark so I reprinted it in a lighter color.  
Finally I printed the black key block.



This is just the black key block.


Cabbage Hands in Blue
Linoleum block print -- two blocks, four colors
8" X 10"
2016


Cabbage Hands in Silver
Linoleum block print -- two blocks, two colors
8" X 10"
2016


Cabbage Hands in White
Linoleum block print -- one block, three colors
8" X 10"
2016

BTW, that's Tom's home-grown cabbage and, of course, his hands!



Twisted Carrots

Twisted Carrots
Reduction Linoleum Block Print
One block: five colors
4" X 6" 
2016

Tom has decided he likes vegetable art for a change, so I carved this lino-block print for him for our 33rd wedding anniversary. Yes, he grew the twisted carrots! 

I'm fascinated with reduction prints because they're such brutal brain teasers. One block. Five colors. Multiple printings. Painstaking registery. I just wonder when I'll ever get the hang of it!

Three Jack Russells

Seamus
Rough-coated Jack Russell terrier
4" X 6" colored pen-and-ink
2016

Otis
Smooth-coated Jack Russell terrier
4" X 6" colored pen-and-ink
2016

Lucy
Broken-coated Jack Russell terrier
4" X 6" colored pen-and-ink
2016


Three Terrier Triptych

These are the first PenPets portraits I've drawn in our new town (Belfast, Maine), in my new backyard studio, in a new size (4" X 6"). They're perfect examples of the different coats Jack Russells come in -- rough, smooth, and broken.