Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Pitbull Puppies Woodblock Print




Most of you know me as a colored pencil pet portrait artist http://robinzebley.com/. But I've mentioned my new medium that I'm trying to master, woodcut printing.

Today I'm working on the finishing touches of a woodcut print of two pitbull...or some type of pit or bulldog mix puppies who were found abandoned and were rescued. You know I love pitbull mix pups!

After playing with woodcut tools, for the most part, I really like a straightedged razor blade for the details. This started as a piece of white pine. I drew the white parts with a pastel pencil...they all got cut out. And the dark parts you see now were drawn on with a dark pastel pencil. Cut out the white, leave the dark. Opposite of how you draw! After I did most of the cutting, I did a quick "proof", which is a test run of sorts. Amazing how you can see more you'd like to get done!

So now I think this is done and ready to print. I'm tearing my Japanese print paper today and inking up! This is the first time I'm printing at my own home studio. I was lucky enough to take classes this summer at Fleischer Memorial in South Philly from the very talented printmaking artist and teacher, Jeff Dentz.

Anyway, off to printing! So check back to see how this comes out! If you'd like to automatically receive an update, click on "Followers" on the box to the right or subscribe. If you missed my post about my Otto, here's the link.

http://artandanimals.blogspot.com/2008/08/otto-boxer-bull-mastiff-who-turned-into.html

2 comments:

Michelle Wrighton Artist said...

Wow Robin the woodcut looks great, I can't wait to see the prints. I remember (vaguely) doing a linocut in art during high school, I think if I did it now though I might cut a finger off!

Robin said...

Thank you so much Michelle, I hope you get to take a look today!