Friday, December 26, 2008

Year of the Ox Proofings

Been working on the Year of the Ox print. Actually this is the second one, I started over having had a bit of a slip with the big chisel. I took the accident as an opportunity to re-design the whole thing. The first image here is a proof of the re-design, it's OK but I don't really see anything in it that would keep people from throwing it away. It's just a bit flat and maybe even a bit boring after a minute or two.

This is four blocks and four impressions.

Mr. Ox got a makeover with some carving and fancy printing techniques. Somewhat jazzier, though the moon is not quite round, I think I can fix that. Hmm, just a bit more carving here and there and maybe this Ox will be ready to fly!

Here I carved away the green that was inside the Ox, added some flecks and did Bokashi (gradation printing) on the mountains and the top of the sky. Four blocks and six impressions.


10 comments:

Deb Cushman said...

Fascinating...Year of the Ox. The Ox is strong, maybe that bodes well for the economy!

Crafty Green Poet said...

I like that ox, lots of character. I also like the not quite round moon.

Anonymous said...

I like the jazzed up print! There's more contrast to the ox, and the red mountains are a nice touch :) Didn't notice that the moon wasn't very round, my eyes were drawn to the ox!

Erin said...

Hope you had a great holiday!

RG said...

Amazing .. again. The odd moon is pretty cool in thee.

Glenna said...

I like the moon, and the white speckles, which look like stars in the sky and snow on the ground and the ox.

PJ said...

I like the background in the first print best but like the gradations in the mountains of the second. Either way, like Deb said, the ox looks strong and is a reassuring image. I looked it up here and Obama was born in the year of the Metal Ox and this is the year of the Earth Ox. I like it. Is this an etsy offering?

RoadBunner said...

Very nice. It's amazing how your few little tweaks really changed it! I have ininji socks, too!

Unknown said...

Beautiful !!! The year of the Ox marks full circle for Emilea, she's 12 this year and growing so fast...I wished she's only 5..

Anonymous said...

I like the colors and contrast of the second version. Everything seems crisper and stronger. Great print!