12 YEARS OF WOODBLOCK PRINTS

 These are the twelve woodblock prints that I've made for Baren Forums New Years print exchange.  I began the exchanges in 2002 with the horse and completed the cycle this year with the snake.  In case you are wondering, the 2008 is intentionally backwards. 

I made the collage using the free tool at Picmonkey. Since they are different sizes, I first added a square around each of them with PS Elements so they would fit into the template.

A GLACIER AND A STILL-LIFE

Without the January challenge of painting a painting everyday, February has been a slower pace month.  I challenged myself to paint at least two paintings a week, and though I've done more than that,  only two of them are keepers.... at least for now.  More than a couple will get worked on some more.

watercolor about 9 x 5.5 inches

 This is from a photo of Lamplugh Glacier.  It was painted on BFK printing paper.... I think it's the "heavyweight."  After using this paper for my snake print, I tried painting on it and found it quite usable... in fact, very good.   I'll be using it again for watercolor.

watercolor 6 x 6 inches

One day I was really frustrated with my efforts to find something to paint from my photos and  I set up this still-life..... adding to the many from last month.  I like doing these, but am so much more wanting to paint landscapes.  Its either raining or snowing most days.  I did go out in the car and started 2 small paintings of the Chilkats, but clouds came and covered them before I got too far along.  That was over a week ago and the clouds are still there.
 
I started a larger than usual watercolor from photos that I've worked on, off and on.  I pulled out my water soluble oils last week and finished one snow scene from a photo (not so good) and started another yesterday, painting from my back window.  It seems I'm painting for the first time ever, like the learning curve has started over again.

I spent a few days last week matting all of my new paintings.  One of these days I'm going to start trying to sell paintings on line....... something I've been saying for a long time.  I don't know if any will sell, but it is worth a try.

YEAR OF THE SNAKE

  

woodblock  print 5 x 7 inches

This is my 12th year of cutting and printing a woodcut for the Baren Chinese New Year's Exchange.    34 of my prints are sent out and I have received a few already.   I began doing the exchange in 2002, the Year of the Horse and this year I have completed the 12 year cycle.

I have been so into painting lately and it was hard to change gears and make the print.  And the subject wasn't appealing at all.... I hate snakes.   But once I got into it, I enjoyed it.  

I used three blocks..... the yellow and green were done with the same  shina wood block, and another shina block was cut for the red.  I used linoleum for the black (key block).

I printed the yellow block and then the red block.

And here the green printing which was a reduction of the yellow block to just the numbers..

 I printed about 50 usable prints, mostly on BFK, a few on shin torinoko.  I used some chinese tube watercolor,  sumi ink and methyl cellulose and printed with a baren.

The snake is a coral snake.  
 

30 PAINTINGS COMPLETED!

January is over and I finished Leslie Saeta's  30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.  This is a collage of 25 of my 30 paintings.  You can see them over at my other blog.  It was a very satisfying experience and I was tempted to commit myself to another month of a painting everyday, but have too many things to catch up on.  And first on the list is my Year of the Snake print for the Baren Exchange.