Linocut and Woodcut Engravings, Part 4

Well, just a woodcut this time...

So, this past summer, I took another woodcarving class with instructor Nobuko Yamasaki, doing a Japanese woodblock, with two colors. A challenge, to be sure!

It all started with a couple of sketches. I had just finished reading a bio about the aviation pioneer, Antoine Saint-Exupery and was filled with an adventurous spirit and wanted to portray the Frenchman in some way. I’d love to say that I flew a bi-plane down the African coast, but that would have been a fantastic lie.

Then, I did a simple line drawing to show how the shapes would look before carving. Getting all my ducks in a row beforehand, so to speak.

I then carved the image of Saint-Exupery first. I did not, for some reason take a pic of the completed carving before applying ink. But, here is one after the black ink was applied, just before printing the first stage.

Then, on to carving out the parts that needed a second color. A whole new carving had to be done, revealing those areas to be printed blue.

The sky blue color was then applied.

And then, viola!, the finished print (that you may have seen earlier in the year).

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American peeps!