Saturday, January 23, 2010

Year of the Metal Tiger


Although I had already printed some tigers, they were the wrong color to represent a Metal Tiger, which is the elemental tiger for this next Chinese or Lunar New Year starting on 2/14/2010. The color of metal is white. I fooled around with white or rather not printing the body of the tiger, even making some light Sumi ink shadows on the body, but wasn't really happy.

My scanner doesn't do well with the blues, the blue here is a Prussian Blue. This design uses four blocks.

The poor fellow seemed cold. The tiger is an active Yang animal, he needs to be warm, so I tried printing the stripes and trees block in red oxide and was more satisfied.

The blue here is a Cobalt Blue and the tiger has a wash of Titanium Blue Oxide which you can't see on your monitor. Image size is 7 by 5 inches and it is printed on Nishinouci paper, which has a warm natural tone.

The Year of the Ox is winding down with the month of the Ox so you may see the fruition of projects you have been working on this year. January 27th will be a triple Ox day; year of the Ox, month of the Ox and day of the Ox. Maybe an Ox will pull up to your door with a wagon of treats. Most animals have been pretty exhausted by the relentless plodding of Ox as he plows the field and uncomplainingly pulls the heaviest of carts. The Tiger year will bring a whole new look, but don't spring ahead too quickly, be sure to get rested of the Ox year before you jump into the kaleidoscope of opportunities served up by Metal Tiger.






9 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

these are gorgeous tigers, what a difference to the whole feel of the pictures by changing the colours...

Annie B said...

Great tiger! I like him in the red oxide, too. Happy new year to you and the rabbits.

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Annette Tait said...

I like them both Diana!
a Siberian tiger at the top patrolling the far North!
lovely to see more of your amazing Sydney and Tyler prints in your shop!

RG said...

I'm for the first tiger. If many of my projects are about to reach fruition I better get busy!

And - if an ox pulling a cart draws up to our door on Wednesday, there are going to be some mighty curious neighbors and probably a reporter or two! (Hmmm - I wonder how I can pull this off ...)

PJ said...

That tiger looks like he's steppin' out. What a handsome devil.

d. moll, l.ac. said...

P- I watched lots of tiger vids before I drew this guy. Tigers have an interesting walking dynamic; the front paw as it lifts and steps forward comes towards the midline and the pad goes from being horizontally oriented to being vertically oriented. I was skeptical but found a couple photos that caught the front paw just like that.

Unknown said...

I love white tiger and his blue eyes! But then I am drawn to white and blue together with just about anything!

Maria Pinto said...

Both are fantastic, but I prefer the blue one!