Saturday, February 7, 2009

Woodcut relief print cat PROOF- another feral kitty


Back to woodcut printing! I actually cut most of this in my fabulous woodcut printing class I took last fall at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. Our excellent teacher, Jeff Dentz, was so good at listening to what I saw in my mind's eye and helping me develop a plan to accomplish it on wood.

This is the proof. Which means, sort of a test run. I see more areas I want to develop, so there's more cutting ahead today.

While I like the woodgrain to show, I don't like the darkest stripe of woodgrain that goes right through the center of this guy's eye, making it look like he has no iris.

The dark stripe is where the wood is harder, and therefore, the ink doesn't sink in as much. To compensate, I'm going to go back in and cut deeper. Of course, the eyes are scary to cut, one mistake and the piece is trash.

This piece is 19 x 10, my largest piece yet and virtually lifesize. I really like working larger.

Anyway, I thought I'd show you what I'm up to. I'm also working on another children's portrait in colored pencil. And the big news is I took apart the vacuum cleaner and found the giant clog of shredded paper that Otto so kindly decorated the rug with!

Comments most welcome...especially before I start cutting again!

I'm American Artist, Robin Zebley. My pet portrait website is http://robinzebley.com ...stop on by!

8 comments:

Jenna White said...

It looks great, Robin. :)

I awarded you an "I Love Your Art Blog Award". You can stop by my blog to pick it up...then you have to name 7 things you love and pass the award on to 7 other artists. So far, you're the only one I awarded it to... lol. :)

Jennifer Rose said...

you have done a great job with the fur texture on the kitty :)

Angela Finney said...

Wow, I really like it. Alto of different textures and very realistic. Impressive size! I agree about the eye -- could work, just so the eyes are more alike. Great job. Looking forward to seeing the next edition. This really makes me think about trying this!

Robin said...

Jenna, I will go "pick it up"! Thanks for awarding it to me!!

Jen, thanks for the comment on the kitty. He was really fun to do.

Angela, Thanks! You know, the size was great for the printing part. It was really easier to print by hand the larger size than smaller sizes where I had to keep shifting my holding hand around so much.

I REALLY love the woodcut printing. I tried to learn it on my own, and just couldn't get it. So I took one class at Fleisher, loved it so much I retook it and learned even more. So I highly recommend a workshop or class if you have zero experience in it, like I did.

Anonymous said...

Hi Robin, thanks for the comment on our little Tinker. I had to check out your site as I see you are an artist also. Keep up the great work!!

Edward Burton said...

Wow, wonderful job with the fur - beautiful job!

Robin said...

Thanks Judy. My dad and step mom have minpin twin puppies, I haven't met them yet but hear they are quite the characters!

Thanks for the compliment!

Robin said...

Ed! Thanks for visiting and thanks for the compliment. Stay tuned, I'll be uploading my photo of the edition I printed, with the additional cutting done.