Tea & Bees

So this is a woodcut I've been working on. It's gone through a couple of different forms already - printed in black, a solid block of wood with just the image of the bird, as well as figuring out if I wanted to use the whole size of the wood to print or not. These first few tests don't bode too well with me. The black did nothing for the image, nor did the empty spaces above and below the bird. It was just blah. Nothing special. Move on.

I was excited with the print though because, well, this was the first time I've printed in at least 2 years. And at home, none the less, where I had to be clever to figure out the space and tools I needed on a really, really cheap to nonexistent budget.

But with the excitement of an actual, real life print aside, I was unsatisfied with my print. It needed something else, something different. So I go on the wonderful world wide web and started to search woodcut images. Just to remember again, to get inspired, to help me figure out what else or more it needed. And here it is.

I am much more pleased with it. Though I'm wondering if people are having a hard time identifying the image as a bird. It's a pretty nondescript line drawing so,.....any opinions?

I'm not done with this though. I've only made 4 prints and would like to do an edition of 10. I would also like to print it in a reddish or orange color. There is much more work to be done. But it's got my blood pumping. Although I like the end result, the most rewarding part of printmaking to me is the process. Everything. Cutting the paper, stretching the ink, designing the image, hell, even cleaning up. And then after all that, you have this - a little piece of paper with a thing you made on it. All yours to show and hug and keep and give away. It's wonderful.

* So as a liner note, I'm still not entirely sure how these posts will be formated, if I will follow a format, if there will be a beginning or an end or text at all. So hold tight and just read what you read and see what you see.