Kensington Woodcut Print Wins Award!

Remember "Kensington" the life-sized woodcut print I created from a photo of a rescued feral cat? She's now an award winner! I am thrilled and humbled...my print won the "Printmaking Award" at the annual student show at the Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia!

She is on display in the gallery, along with my reduction cut sheep. I hadn't seen the show hung yet because the "big day" is closing day, not opening day. I stopped by last night and there it was! She won over all of the prints entered from woodcut printmakers created over the past year. Incidentally, the winner for the non-woodcut prints was a gorgeous dog...animals rule!!

How encouraging for me. I am currently working on a woodcut print of 4 boxer puppies.

Now the good news is that as a woodcut print, there's more images of "Kensington" available! If you'd like one of your very own of this award winner, just click on "Etsy" at the top right corner of my blog. She'll come to you signed by me, titled and numbered.

If you'd like to see my pet portrait website, it's robinzebley.com. TO get updates on my blog, just click on "Follwoing this blog" to your right. And if you found this post and want to read my whole blog, click on the banner at the top. Thanks for visiting!! Come again!

Animal Woodcut Prints for Sale at Penn State Brandywine!

Preview! What I'm showing at Penn State Brandywine show on Sunday, March 8 from 10 - 4. Route 352 just above Route 1 in Media, PA. Besides portrait samples, I'll have my woodcut prints and doing demos. Here's my small series of original handpulled woodcut animal prints. If you can't make it...you can purchase directly from me online and I'll take care of the shipping. Prices are between $20 to $45 for the life sized feral cat which is about 10" x 19". All prices and full descriptons on my site: http://robinzebley.com






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Woodcut Cat Print - A South Philly Girl

Last night I started my second woodcut print class at Fleisher Art Memorial on Catherine Street in South Philly. I cut this woodblock last summer, but just printed it last night. It was really fun for me to be around other artists again, and especially those who are interested in this medium. Everyone in the class seemed really dedicated to learning the art of woodcut printing, and we have a great teacher who really encourages us to get creative and experiment but is available for technical help. Experimenting and just pushing myself creatively is really important for me, because when I do portraits, I don't have that luxury!

I printed this on mulberry paper with Daniel Smith oil printmaking ink in black. The image is about 6 x 6.

As far as the image of my South Philly Girl, I really ramped up the contrast. Love dramatic lighting and I really pushed it. I used a "V" gouge, razor blade and for the details I used a mini wirebrush tool. I love to show how light hits the eye and travels through to subtly light up the opposite side. Easy enough to do with pencil or paint! To make that happen in a woodcut, I used the wirebrush, which I also used on the fur in spots. I love how it makes the eye look so "3D"!

I printed a bunch last night, this will be an open edition, each numbered, signed by me and titled, "A South Philly Girl" and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. $18 for each print, and I pay the mailing costs.