Two Birds
An only art edition
In search of a distraction and proof of an accomplishment for the day, I spent a few hours carving on Friday.
I’ve been wanting to try my shaky drawing skills at birds for a while now. To do this, I decided it was time to carve into one of the 9x12 blocks I have. Bigger blocks feel more forgiving, that extra space allows some wiggle room for error as I sketched out the initial design. Also, whenever I use a large block the whole process seems to have a bit more ceremony, it’s more of an undertaking due to size and special because I only have a few of these sizes on hand.
My own birds kinda strayed from the reference images and they are definitely flawed propositions wise at an anatomical level. I really did not and do not care though. That inner critic had shut her mouth on this one, seemingly too engaged in the process of creating to scrutinize.
There is some chatter inside the bird’s bodies, but I am kinda chatter’s biggest fan. Chatter is the texture leftover by shallow carving. So basically when I was carving the design, I didn’t remove enough of the original block. I like the rough authenticity it adds — I’ve yet to go “wow that chatter really ruins this whole thing”.
I had originally wanted to carve some other elements like stars or a mini moon and overlay them onto the birds — and I still can do this. But what I was most excited about was incorporating a gradient with the inks. To do this, I used the widest brayer and inking plate I have. I added a bit of white ink, a sky blue I mixed up on my own, and some blue ink to the plate. Rolling these colors onto the brayers takes a bit of consideration; I just can’t get lost in the sauce like usual, I have to be intentional as to where I place the brayer and how I blend the colors together. I’m really happy with how this effect turned out on these prints.
arteest
love love love!