Thursday, December 20, 2018

In-Process

A friend wrote and asked me about our process on this piece.   First my friend and I immersed ourselves in research about the history and pre-history of this little slackwater bayou we both used to live near.  Then we got together every few weeks and began brainstorming and sketching layouts.  We also started carving eraser blocks of early flora and fauna from an 18th century book we managed to find about this very bayou!  Eventually I sawed up a large piece of birch plywood for the background print.  We spent a couple of afternoons printing the sawn block.  Then we would sit together and work side by side on two of the proofs using our collection of stamps and dome water soluble crayons and watercolors.  We’re still at that stage, going very slowly on our two proofs.  Here’s mine propped up still in process in my kitchen.