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Monkey Business- Greyhound Woodcut Relief Print

Monkey Business- Greyhound Woodcut Relief Print

Description

"Monkey Business" is a 4-color reduction woodcut on Stonehenge paper. The actual image is 10 x 8" and paper size is approximately 14 x 11".

Block printing is an ancient Japanese art form that entails carving an image into a block (traditionally a wood block, but more "contemporary" materials include linoleum, rubber, styrofoam, etc); rolling ink over the carved block; and then pressing the block against paper to get a reproduction of the image. Additional colors are added by "reducing" (carving away) more of the block as you print. All of this is done with a block of MDF, inks, and a small hand-cranked printing press in my art studio, under the strict supervision of my two retired racing greyhounds Lucy and Clifford. :o)

"Monkey Business" was inspired by my friend Tracy's greyhound Cosmo... he is toy crazy and LOVES his monkey! In fact, most greyhounds I know have a serious obsession with stuffed toys which made this piece a joy to create.

Images:
1-The final, hand-pulled print
2-My first step: Sketching my drawing on a block of gessoed MDF, and carving away the first layer (reduction)
3-Cranking the block through my small little press (the block is inked, and face-down on the paper)

Please note: Because each print is from a hand-inked and hand-pressed block, no two are exactly alike. They are also individually numbered and signed (edition number available may vary from photo). These slight differences are a unique quality of the block-printing art form.

Added on Oct 18, 2009