As I explained in my last post, this print was a "reduction" linocut. That means the plate is carved away a bit more with every color. In other words...the plate is slowly destroyed. Knowing that, I went a little crazy with the photography so bear with me on this post.
As you can see below, the third color was a brownish-red color. In the final print you will see that only the seeds will remain red so most of the red you see here will get covered by the final color.
Here is a video of me applying the red ink to the plate.
I took over a hundred photos of the plate at this stage and had a VERY hard time whittling it down to a reasonable number. I just loved the drama of all those curvy lines and the way the orange ink still lay in some of the grooves.
I also sprinkled in a few quotes to keep it interesting.
The video below shows me unsnapping my registration pins (they are called Ternes-Burton clips) and pulling the paper away from the plate to reveal the print.
The last photo is an upside-down shot of the prints drying. It seems they take longer and longer to dry with each color applied. The final print is available at NessyPress.com. Check out the final carving in my next blog post!
A couple years ago George and I were hiking and we came across these beautiful seed pods. I loved the shape of the pod and the way the dried seed pods opened to expose the seeds inside. I took lots of photos and, as usual, uploaded them into my giant folder of plant photos.
This January I was trying to decide the subject for my next print and I had a vague memory that I had liked a seed pod from that walk. Sure enough, I found the photo deep in the depths of my computer and decided that this was my next subject. I didn't even know the name of the plant... although it is common around here. I emailed my botany friends and they told me it was an Illinois Bundle Flower, Desmanthus illinoensis. (Thank you Ken for the ID!). The plant is a member of the pea family, has compound leaves that are sensitive to touch, and has hallucinogenic properties. The shape of the plant also reminded me of a many-eyed feathered cherubim character in a Madeleine L'Engle book I read when I was little.
So that began my almost three-month journey working on a linocut of this plant. Part of the reason it has been such a long project is that I decided to
depict the bundleflower using four colors. That means you either have
to use four plates, or print one color and then continue carving the
same plate, then print the next color, and carve again and so on. That is why it is
called a "reduction cut."
This post will show the first two colors. Below you can see both the plate and the prints for the cream and burnt orange colors.
The only sad part about doing a reduction cut
is the plate is slowly destroyed along the way. I think that is why I
took so many photos of the plate.
In the image below you can see my "helper" who either continually tries to hop on my lap while I am carving or paws under the door while I am printing. Here, he has mercifully taken a five-minute break as he was distracted by a squirrel.
The video below shows me rolling the ink onto the plate. It is fun to watch the image magically appear as the ink is rolled.
The most exciting moment comes after inking the plate, laying the paper down and burnishing, burnishing, burnishing. This video shows the big reveal.
I liked the plate at this stage so much I decided to buy more paper to print the plate before I destroyed it by carving more.
In my next blog post I will share photos of the plate after carving the next color. The final print is available at NessyPress.com.
The inevitable finally happened...my paperwhites fell over. A couple weeks ago my neighbors gave me some paperwhite bulbs (thank you Pat & Terri!). I dutifully put them in a low, wide vase with some rocks so their base would touch the water. And sure enough, the next day they had sprouted some serious roots. And about three days later the green shoots were already about 6 inches long with buds! If you think about it, it really is quite magical. And after about 6 or 7 days we had full-on blooms!
But as is always the case with paperwhites the beautiful green shoots outweigh the strength of their impressive root system and they eventually fall over. I came downstairs and George had take them to the kitchen where they lay on their sides. I propped them up against the kitchen wall, tied a string around them, and made sure their roots could reach the water. All day I kept walking by them knowing if I didn't photograph them that day I might as well let go of that idea.
Finally around 3:30 I decided it was now or never. I brought up my light from the basement and brought the flowers over to the wood bench. As you can see below I had lots of help from a boy or two. They LOVE to help me when I have a project like this. Lots of licking of plants and general getting in the way.
But we had lots of fun playing around with angles and lighting. And check out these roots! I think I liked them even more than the flowers!
Today, the flowers are still slumped against the wall in the kitchen looking a little worse for wear after their photo shoot (and cat licking). But they have given me so much pleasure and reminded me how important it is to take a break from the computer and play for a while. Thanks again Pat and Terri for such a lovely gift.
Last week I visited the Mercantile Library in downtown Cincinnati with my friends Roy and Tiffany. As you may know, Cincinnati has an incredible public library system and quite a history of breathtaking libraries. If you have never before seen the photos of the old public library check it out here (jaw-dropping...straight out of Harry Potter!).
I had never been to this library before and it did not disappoint. It is located on the 11th and 12th floors of the Mercantile Library Building at 414 Walnut. When you step out of the elevator and walk into the main room you are greeted by beautiful, old, wood magazine and book racks and gorgeous domed windows that span the entire space. Below you can see the main room and the book stacks at the far end.
If you visit the library it is worth climbing the old stairs to walk among the stacks. It is hard to tell from the photo but the floor is made of thick glass panes that are semi-transparent. If you are scared of heights it might make you feel a little weird. Plus the whole structure of stacks appears to float, seemingly held up from pipes from the ceiling.
And if that isn't magical enough for you there is a spiral staircase that leads to the 12th floor!
And on the twelfth floor is a GORGEOUS reading room decked out in the arts and crafts style.
I didn't even mention the main draw for many people. They serve coffee and although I don't drink coffee my friends said it was delicious.
So if you are looking for a nice outing for the day I highly recommend visiting this amazing place. As I stood looking out from the stacks over the main room I couldn't help but feel like a student at Hogwarts looking for a book on advanced potion making. I didn't find that book but I did find a nice one for muggles on how to tame dragons.
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”― Stephen King
As you might already know I am a sucker for repetition in form. So you can imagine my joy when I was walking the other day and discovered this fungus growing in the middle of my neighbors yard on an old stump. I walk that street almost daily and never noticed it. In my defense, it was growing on the far side of the stump but when I walked around and saw what was growing my jaw dropped. I literally oogled this stump for about half an hour...climbing all around taking photos from every which way. I'm sure if you had been watching you might have thought I was a total weirdo.
But if being excited about rotting wood and their dazzling decomposers makes me a weirdo than I am happy to wear that badge because LOOK AT THESE GUYS!!! The burnt orange and grey-blue are such a lovely complimentary pair along with the neutral cream edging. And the ruffled repetition is stunning.
The photo below was one of my favorites. I like the color
in the foreground and the contrast of textures between the bark and the
fungus in the background.
I wasn't sure if the fungus in the photo below was a different kind or not, but the color was certainly a bit more green. This fungus was growing on the top of the stump so the color may have been different because it receives more sunlight.
When I was looking at this photo it reminded me of photographing barnacle and mussels down by the beach in New Jersey... so much repetition.
It is a lovely thing to witness such beauty. As I walked away from the stump and continued my walk I couldn't help but smile. I love that even though I've walked that path a thousand times...every time is different and a subtle turn of my head can lead to something spectacular that was right before my eyes the whole time.
After I finished writing this post I re-read it and had the thought that all my posts sound the same. I had the urge to delete all the text and just let the images speak for themselves. But then I decided to listen to what the post was trying to tell me and thought..."repetition, repetition, repetition."
“Beauty is seen in repetition; keep repeating your beauty even if your beauty is not all that beautiful, you shall still leave a mark and there shall come a moment when the beauty will be seen.”
