"Emu Boy" Linocut

“The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.”

― Charles Darwin

My friends Tiffany and Brian are always up to some interesting mischief.  Whenever I talk to them Brian has some new piece of farm machinery and Tiffany is diving into a new glass-blowing, CNC, or programming project.  I would describe them both as "makers." 

I met Tiffany at a local gathering of creatives and immediately knew I wanted to be her friend.  She is funny, whip-smart and always tinkering with things I don't totally understand, like arduino and rasberry pi (and no, I don't mean the kind you eat.)  One of her interests is 3-D printing and this spring she sent me the most thoughtful gift.  She 3-D printed me a mini-press!  So for her birthday last week I thought I should make her a print using the press she made me.

When I was thinking of ideas of what to print I scrolled through our WhatsApp conversations and came across this photo of Brian.  Brian loves animals and this photo of him holding a baby emu shows him in his element.

“I’m youth, I’m joy, I’m a little bird that has broken out of the egg.”
– James M. Barrie

I started by sketching the photo.  On the left below you can see my first sketch.  I liked it because it really looks like Brian.  But I was worried about my ability to carve the tiny details in his face.  So I decided to stylize his face a bit and enlarge it.

Below you can see my sketch transferred to my plate.  I used "Safety-Kut" as my carving material.

It only took me half an hour or so to carve the image.

Below you can see my first test print on a piece of scrap paper.

"The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face."

— William Makepeace Thackeray

I kept tinkering with tiny details and made a few more test prints.

I knew when I started carving that the "Safety-Kut" material might mush under the pressure of the press.  Usually, if I am going to use a press I use wood or linoleum.  But I have always thought that if you had the pressure just right, maybe you could use a soft-carve material like Safety-Kut.  I decided now was the time to test it.  Below you can see the plate on the press. 

I pulled quite a number of prints trying to get the pressure just right.

I came pretty close to pulling a good print but I finally gave up when I ran out of paper.  I think if I had spent more time I probably could have gotten the pressure just right.  By the end, it was just a little light on the left side.

Luckily, I hand-pressed a couple good ones in the beginning, so I packaged one up and sent it off to the birthday girl.  Although my experiment didn't turn out the way I wanted I am so in love with this baby press (next time I use the press I will use real linoleum.).  If you are interested in purchasing or printing one of your own, you can visit OpenPressProject.com. 

A BIG thank you to Tiffany for my little press.  I wish you a year filled with joy, abundance, curious projects and emus, cats, dogs, bears, and mustelids.  A big hug to you and the "Emu Boy". 

“Delight is all around us you know, from the food we eat, to the night sky, to the dreams we have. It surrounds us with every moment, you just have to stop and take it in whenever you can.”

― Jonathan Maas, Horsemen 

Stone House Watercolor Portrait - Cincinnati

“Attention is the most basic form of love.
By paying attention we let ourselves be touched by life,
and our hearts naturally become more open and engaged.”

― Tara Brach

After posting photos of my last house portrait in our neighborhood Facebook group, I received a message from a neighbor asking if I would paint their house too.  He told me his address and when I looked it up I was so excited to see this was the house!  This is one of my favorite houses in the neighborhood.  I have always loved the massive stone facade and the gorgeous arches.  I also particularly like the aqua-blue verdigris color of the exposed rafters and gabled window.  The combination of that color with the orange-red of the tile roof makes me swoon. 

I asked my architect friends what the style of the house was and they said that "the house has some Mediterranean influences, but is basically an eclectic expression, typical to the pretty free-flowing fashions of the 1890s/early 1900s" and it could be described as a "rustic country villa."  

Below you can see some progress photos.  I always start by inking in my pencil sketch with a Micron pen and then slowly build up my color layers.

Once all the colors are laid in, the fun begins.  I keep darkening the colors until the house starts to pop.

If I have the time, I like to tinker with it for a couple days.  I work on it, then take a break, and when I come back I see something that needs more work.  I keep returning until I don't see anything that needs touching up.  It is best to give it time and go slowly until finally, it doesn't need anything else.  

Now, when I am on my walks I am starting to feel like I really know the houses in my neighborhood.  When I pass one that I have drawn, I feel like I am passing by an old friend who I used to know very well.  A friend who I have studied very closely and my eyes have taken in their every nook and cranny.  Perhaps, an old lover would be a better analogy.  Because, when I think about it, drawing these old homes (or anything for that matter) is an act of love.  Giving something your full attention and spending time with an object (or person) is certainly devotion.  And this kind of appreciation most certainly precipitates love in the case of me and these old homes.  I didn't think I could love my neighborhood more, but painting these portraits has shown me a deeper way...a delightfully slow and observant way. 

“When I slow down, I can dive deeper—and that’s how I prefer to live.”
— Cait Flanders  

“In an age of speed, I began to think,
nothing could be more invigorating than going slow.
In an age of distraction,
nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention.”
— Pico Iyer