Practice Rocks

I engraved a Chris Daunt made boxwood round , images of flint-knapped rocks that I had photographed in Patagonia, Arizona, at Jeanne’s sister’s ranch. I wanted to work out some ideas I had for techniques to use on my larger “Storied Stone” wood engraving.

The engraved boxwood round.

The block surface seen with a raking light. When printed the engraved lines will appear white.

The first proof. Here the rocks are seen against a black background. After printing a few more proofs, I decided I was going to remove all the black background away to see how the rocks looked different on a white background (the paper color).

It takes a bit of an effort to clear large areas of a block.

When printed the rocks look different.

"Three Graces" Printed

I printed "Three Graces" and the wood engraving will soon be available at the Artistree Gallery in Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin. I will get to updating and improving my website after I return from spending a few weeks in Washington and Oregon, visiting friends as well as attending the Wood Engraving Network Workshop.

Stone or Nestled

I finally got around to printing a wood engraving that I have been making, on and off, for over a year. I am still thinking of a title as the ink dries, thinking either, "Stone" or "Nestled".

I was asked what was the inspiration, and the answer was finding photos I took at Little Girl's Point, on Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, years ago (2011?).

It's such a beautiful spot, a walk from the park up the agate beach to where these large stone formations are found (holding nests of rocks).

There is enough inspiration here for more wood engravings, though the water seen in this photo would be challenging.

Ah! Such beautiful models.

As the stones fit where they belong, being relocated sometimes by Lake Superior's waves.