Trout Lily Studios

It's been awhile - New Print!

2012-01-23T15:31:00.000-08:00

I haven't taken time to post anything since August. That doesn't mean that I've not been working, though; it's just been extremely hectic late summer/fall/winter.

I've been working on a couple different prints this winter, with the goal of combining what I've been doing with my reduction woodcuts with what I've learned about the moku hanga technique. The result(s) are prints that are as visually full of depth as before, but with the added versatility and aesthetic appeal of the traditional Japanese woodcut. At least, that's my own thoughts on the matter...

So here's the latest:

This is a 9 block moku hanga type woodblock print. I carved a new and different block for each color, starting from the lightest grey and ending with the black.

The technique is pretty straight forward - I used a master image to trace each color area onto an exactly sized piece of maple. I then carved each one out by hand with various shaped/sized gouges:

I apply the colors in the traditional manner, using a boar and deer hair brush. The ink I use is made by a company called Akua Kolor. My friends at Wet Paint have been my local source since stocking them last year.

There are a couple darker colors that were printed that I didn't record, but you get the point. These are artists proofs, printed on a relatively cheap paper. My task now is to decide on which, if any color layers I want to get rid of, and make final prints on good quality paper (which will change the appearance somewhat, usually to the better....)

2011-08-23T05:56:00.000-07:00

I finished up the last block for this Swallow Tail yesterday, but on printing, it looks like I've go to go back into the blue block and do some more smoothing - the two dark lines are caused by two "bumps" running across the block. These in turn are caused when the rough-stock lumber is ran through a planner that has chips in the blade. Usually I sand these all out, but once in awhile I miss one (or two)...

I didn't want to muddy either of the back ground colors for the dragonfly print, so I carved another background block for it to see what orange would look like:

I've inadvertently created a controversy in the household, Deborah likes the blue one better, but Sophia and I like this one.

Dragonfly

2011-08-18T08:22:00.001-07:00

I finished up the dragonfly/cattail print I started last week.

I printed all the color blocks in succession up until the grey wings (I wanted to print them last, over all the other colors, to give a sense of transparency) and stopped because I wasn't happy with how it was progressing, and slept on it. I printed the wings this morning, and it looked better. I then printed the whole black key block over everything and was extremely disappointed.

Hmmmmm......

I went back to my books on Hiroshige and Hokusai, and really looked at how they did things, concentrating on how they used black, particularly as an outline, or in this sense, how it isn't used.

I thought at first that I'd carve another black block, because I didn't want to wreck the keyblock. but i found that I can ink just the portions of the block that I need to, and with selective burnishing, get pretty much the results I was looking for. I'm going to experiment with the background colors just a bit, maybe add some orange to compliment the greens, but overall, I'm extremely please with this print!

A week of work

2011-08-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

I finally got a break in between shows and hot, hot weather to get some studio work done. It's too hot to work in the indoor studio on the 3rd floor of the house, and the outside studio isn't insulated, so it get's pretty warm (and humid!) out there, too. So it was with great relief that I took advantage of the gorgeous weather we've been having to get some work done with the Dickerson out in the shed.

I've been printmaking under the name of Trout Lily Studios for some time now, so I thought it time to print an image of some Trout Lily's. It's hard to get a decent image to work with, because the flowers tend to look straight down. But I got some good ones to work with this spring, and of our less than abundant yellow ones, too boot.

I decided to go with a reduction on these, to go along with the Trillium I did several years ago. It came out "interesting"; I'm fairly happy with it.

I also printed an image that's been swimming around in my head this summer, that of a Bee on a Purple Cone Flower.

This is a multi-block print, done in the Japanese style Moku Hanga. Again, there's things I don't like about it, but I'm finding myself really liking the colors. The nice thing about these types of prints is that I can work with them more until I'm satisfied: add a block, change colors, etc.

Finally, tonight I finished up the key block for another Moku Hanga print, this of a Dragonfly:

I'm really liking this image - very simple, but very elegant. I cut up the rough color blocks, and will be carving them and proofing them this week. Stay tuned!

Influences

2011-07-08T19:17:00.000-07:00

I opened a new show of my work at Gallery 120 in River Falls last night. We had a great turn out, but I was especially surprised when a couple folks that I haven't seen for several decades walked in.

The first was my printmaking professor from UW River Falls, Mary Barrett.

Without a doubt, Mary was a huge influence on my printmaking career - I learned everything from lino cuts to stone lithos with her, but what really stuck were woodcuts. I was even honored with receiving a press from her last year when she closed her downtown St. Paul studio - I can't thank her enough for what's she's done for me.

Not long after Mary left, a former mentor who I haven't talked to for 20 years, Bill Ammerman, walked in:

Again, Bill is a retired Art professor from UWRF. He taught drawing and watercolor, both classes that I never took, so I in fact never had a class with him. Never the less, he was a wise and steady council that I could always talk to. Again, I was deeply honored when he walked in to see my work.

New print

2011-06-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

As much as I like to do my own thing, especially with artwork, I need to have some guiding principles when it comes to what I do next. One of the main principles, I've come to learn, is "LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS"...

So, after getting asked yet one more time at the Stone Arch Festival if I had any prints of Walleyes, I've taken the hint and started a Walleye Whiteline. As with the trout, the first step is to get the image onto a block of wood:

the next step is to carefully trace all the lines with a V-gouge:

stayed tuned for the next steps...

Shows, shows, shows...

2011-06-23T12:28:00.001-07:00

...and more shows.
The summer has been taken up with shows. We had a great time at the Stone Arch Festival last weekend (our first year there) and even received an Award of Excellence at the Edina Art Fair two weekends before:

Coming up, I've got a gallery opening at Gallery 123 in River Falls, Wisconsin on July 7th. We'll be at the 38th Annual Stockholm Art Fair July 16th, booth #23 (same as last year), and at Art at St. Kates on Saturday, July 23rd.

It's hectic, but as I've said before, we're having a terrific time meeting some truly great artists and art aficionados...

The Return of the Dead

2011-04-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

Day of the Dead figures, that is...
a busy spring schedule this spring kept Deb from working on the next series of Day of the Dead figures, but just in time for The Creative Drive, she got 4 new figures added to the collection:

The Bee Keeper:

The Happy Couple:

and finally, Uncle Sam and Napolean BONEaparte (along with the sole remaining fly fishermen...)

outside at last

2011-03-21T17:27:00.000-07:00

I opened up the outside shed this week, finally ran some power from the house through the wire we buried three years ago, and viola - Trout Lily Studios is officially inhabiting it's new (non-winter) digs.

But since it's not to warm out yet, and I need to keep ink sort of liquid (until of course when it's hopefully pressed into it's proper spot on a new print and supposed to be drying...) I need to keep things warm out there.

Nothing better than this mother right here:

Once it's get's going, it takes about ten minutes to make thing nice and roasty toasty.

It's still pretty rustic out there - it's far from rodent proof, so I don't store anything out there, and of course I don't keep anything I don't want to freeze out there, and instead haul stuff back and forth as I need it. But the light is fabulous, and even with the extra bee hives and such stacked about, there's loads of elbow room.

I'm midway through a quick little reduction woodcut of a fly fisherman casting on the Willow River, back when there were three dams. This image was taken in the shadowy half-light right below the upper most dam above Burkqhart. There used to be a ton of brookies that like to hang out were the water seeped around the dam.

Folks ask me if I mix my own colors. Why yes, yes I do mix my own colors. I have four cans of ink - white, black, red, yellow and blue. All my colors are mixed from these.
It's takes time and practice and lots of wasted supplies figuring each manufacturers inks out, and how they will work for you. I'm finally getting a handle on Daniel Smiths colors - I wanted a nice "springy" green to pop through the grays and browns that will eventually dominate this print.

Yellow straight out of the can, printed lightly over the green for the looping flyline:

And if I do say so myself, tonight I mixed the prefect flesh tone (300 prts White, 1 prt Yellow, 1 prt red, .05 prts blue...):

there's a fisherman emerging from the print - can you see him?

2011 Calendar Off and Running

2011-03-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

I finished up the carving today of the first of our Calendar prints for next year. I went so far as to run a few proofs on my bottle jack press.

For those not familiar with these, Deborah does the drawings, based on her year-round work at Maple Leaf Orchard, and I take the drawings and print them (along with all my woodcuts) She then takes them back and hand colors them. Finally, we pick out the best ones and electronically layout a calendar and have it commercially printed.

I forgot to put a border on this one; otherwise, we're liking it a lot. The night sky will be dark blue with the moons glow, and we're debating on what to do with the fore-ground. Our original idea was shadows of trees on snow at night, but leaving it black is a possibility, too.

Finished

2011-03-14T17:25:00.001-07:00

... and with the black block printed, this print is finished!

I'm pretty pleased with this one. It was a complex image, but pretty simple print - it has only 5 colors. I really like the way the Daniel Smith inks finished off on the Rives; a very different feel from previous work. I'll definitely be doing more.

Progress on new reduction print

2011-03-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

I made huge progress on a quick reduction print that I've been wanting to do for some time. It's an image that I've done before: a trout swimming with reflections shimmering on the surface of the water. I'm not too worried about over-doing the image, which is actually more of a theme, per say, as each new print will be so much different than the last.

I "married" two images that I have in my archives, a swimming brookie and some trees reflected on the surface of some water. The trees I shot a couple years ago on the upper Prairie while on a grouse hunt with Joe. He was wondering why I was throwing pebbles in the water and taking pictures of it...

I went ahead and transferred the married images to a block of maple, carved out a bit of white, and printed the blue background. I didn't pay close attention to how the background printed, as I wanted it to be somewhat blotchy and erratic, since it was supposed to be flowing water.

It came out satisfactory, but when I went to wash up, I discovered that in my haste to get the project underway, I had forgotten to "fix" the image - my image had peeled off with the ink.

I had no choice but to cut another block and start over.

But at least I had a start. Cutting a new block and transferring the images took up only a hour of time, so I was back on top of things fairly quickly. Things slowed down again when it came time to carve out the background that I had so recently printed:

I took a good solid day to carve it all out, and I was able to print the first color , the light colored parts of the trout, this morning:

I quickly followed with red, which actually started out pink, but since it was going over two colors already, I knew it would darken into the red I wanted:

Next came the dark green/blue of the brookies body. I decided to go ahead and print the whole block, as the new color would be dark enough to give me an idea of what the finished print is going to look like once I print the black (I'm impatient)and any mis-registration between the green and black blocks would give it sort of a shimmering look. That's my theory, anyway.

It's looking pretty good.

Covers

2011-03-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

I got word a couple weeks ago that my work is appearing on some magazines this spring, most notably Gray's Sporting Journal, and the Yale Angler's Journal.

Keep an eye out - you'll see this one on the back cover of the Gray's Spring Fly Fishing issue:

These two you'll see on an up-coming issue of the Yale Angler's Journal, a fine literary magazine produced by the Yale University Press:

New Blocks

2011-03-08T14:16:00.000-08:00

I've started several new blocks in the past week. Like I said earlier, I haven't done much since Christmas, so it's time to get busy.

I started a new reduction, this one on a block of maple. It's off myself casting on the Willow River. At the time, there was pretty good brook trout fishing right below the upper dam. The water squeezing around the dam through the porous limestone created a tail water effect, and brookies could be taken right below the spillway.

Anyway, there was terrific lighting, and a friend of mine took some gorgeous pictures for something we were doing at work at the time. I've got this block already to print the first color, the lightest, as soon as it get's nice enough to get out to the outdoor studio with the press (now with new wiring! yeah!)

I got a good start on a small Japanese-style block, that will be a print of a group of mayflowers that I took last spring. Lot's of work involved with this one:

We even got started on next years calendar. Deb assures me she's got all the images down in her head. This is the first one, a Great Horned Owl in mid-winter:

A New Year - there's a lot to do

2011-03-08T13:37:00.000-08:00

A new year, and with it, a "new" entry. It's been a while since I've had any updates: I took a small hiatus from printmaking since my last show in December. I was a bit burned out from a steady schedule of shows in the late summer and fall. And with the coming of a cold and snowy winter, I was less than enthused to start any new projects on the new press in the unheated, unwired outdoor studio (though more on this later...)

So I did other things.

I joined my good friend Joe K up on our other good friend's land in January for an awesome late season grouse hunt on snowshoes. Herb couldn't join us, but we appreciated his kindness in giving us unfettered access.

It was without a doubt, a great year for snow sports. The skiing was pretty good this year, and I even got out on the snowshoes a couple of times this year.

In mid-January, friends gathered for what's come to be an annual event: the original Lie-n-Tie, held at our good friend Larry Aamodt's shop. I've lost track of the number of years we've done this, but all will agree it's a great time.

I of course did some cooking:

And I even started some new wines; to be specific, a couple of Port-style fortified wines. I have two carboys of Black Currant/Blackberry/Pinot Noir port bubbling quietly away in the basement, with some more Blackberry fermenting at my good friend Brad's house. Time will tell (if we can wait that long, 4 years or so)if we're successful, but preliminary taste test indicate these will be nothing short of spectacular.

Today I started a project that I've long put off: I started wiring the outdoor studio for electricity. Since the new press runs on a 1 hp motor, and with some "distinguished guests" joining me for the Creative Drive, I thought it high time to run some power out there (other than a loooong extension cord.)

So with that, it's time to get busy; there's a lot to do...

2010-11-30T15:15:00.001-08:00

2010-11-12T13:26:00.001-08:00

I've been accused of ignoring my upland hunting heritage in regards to my artwork, and instead concentrating on that other diversion we use to kill time when the bird seasons are closed.

I've dabbled a bit, to be sure, but nothing real serious, or that get's me excited.

So I finally made it a point to make room for some hunting pieces this year. Here's the first one:

"Gray November Day" a/p

Ok, so it's a ditch parrot. Specifically, it's a friend of mine missing a ditch parrot. I wanted to start with a simple image, and this one seemed to fit the bill. A gray fall day, a bit of snow on the ground - not much color except the hunters jacket and the red patch on the pheasants eye. It's not printed the best yet ("a/p" stands for Artists Proof...) either.

Here's some images of the blocks used to print the piece:

I've got a pile more that I'll be working on this fall/winter.

Now Showing at the Mable Tainter Center for the Arts Main Gallery

2010-11-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

Deb and I took most of Tuesday afternoon and set up a show of my work at the Mable Tainter Theater, wich will run through the rest of this month until the 22nd. It was a bit intimidating when we first walked into thew seemingly huge, cavernous room that serves as the Theaters main gallery, but thanks mostly to Deb's patient help, we were able to come up with a beautiful show.
The theater is hosting an artists reception on Friday, November 12th, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Whoever's reading this, is of course warmly invited!
Here's a sneak peak:

Entrance to the Gallery Room:

To the right:

To the left:

End of the Day fini

2010-10-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

I didn't get down to my favorite trout stream this year;

not once, not at all.

Which, of course, is a shame. What ever pressing errand that stood in the way this summer, whatever seemingly important, dire event that took place, preventing a visit, is of course now forgotten.

My best days trout fishing have been spent here. A tiny little creek, flowing through an improbable valley of farms, lies like a dream on the edge of the landscape. Wading slowly up through it's crystal clear, icy cold water, ducking around and through the thick vegetation, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that just over there, with-in a stone's throw of where I'm wading, lies it's potential doom: industrial agriculture lies unchecked along her banks like a bullying thug, ready and willing to foul her waters with a vindictiveness that exceeds mere greed.

I finally finished this latest reduction woodcut. It's been a trial of patience, a battle of wills, a real SOB and PITA the moment I started on it. Looking back, I had problems with mixing the correct colors, and the block cracked not just once, but twice. I had almost completely given up on the print and wrote it off, but then I got the new press up and running, and decided to finish it off. It's not my favorite, by far, but I'm satisfied with it.

Printing with the new Dikerson Combination Press

2010-10-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I got a call from my Printmaking Professor from UWRF, Mary Barret. I hadn't seen Mary in at least 20 years, so I was happy, if not a bit baffled, with the call. She indicated to me that she was shutting down her studio in downtown St. Paul, and if I was interested in her press, an electric Dikerson Combination Press. I of course said certainly, but at the same time silently wondered just how I was going to pay for something like a full sized printing press. Mary then explained that she was giving it to me, because she knew I'd put it to use.

Well, what can a person say to that, other than "Thank you!"?

So, in the spirit of putting the new-to-me Dikerson (it's actually as old as I am...) to good use, I took up where I had left off on my latest reduction print. Interesting enough, this print has given me nothing but fits of frustration ever since I started it, including a cracked block. This happened not once, but twice. I "solved" the problem by gluing another block onto the back (Thanks to my friend Vince), but now have a double-thick, double heavy printing block. I was seriously thinking about throwing the towel in on it completely.

The press has made the whole process a whole site easier, letting me concentrate my efforts on getting the colours I want and on carving the tiny details of the foliage surrounding the fisherman. here's a short video I shot this morning, showing the steps in printing:

Like I said, the press makes things sooo much easier. A couple more colour layers, and we'll be good to go. So far, so good:

2010-09-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

We took delivery today of the first printing of Calenders;
the 2011 'Year at the Orchard' Calender can now

be purchased at the Trout Lily Studios Website.

Get them while they're hot!

September, October and November

2010-08-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

Deb finished up coloring September, October and November this week.

September apple picking crew

October Songbirds

November woodcutting

New Reduction - "Black Stones on the Nam"

2010-07-31T19:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a reduction print for a bit, so decided to pick up with an image I took last spring and run with it.

My good buddy Dan had called this last spring to see if I wanted to fish the Namegagon for trout. The 'Nam is noted to have some really large browns in it, but it's notoriously difficult to find them, as it's only fishable for trout early in the spring, and their whereabouts are erratic at best - one day you'll find them, the next they're gone.

So I met Danno in Hayward, and we headed out. Armed with info from our good friends Wendy and Larry, who own the flyshop in Hayward, we actually found some feeding fish, and had a fantastic day catching some nice trout. I also caught some nice images of Dan. I really like this one, of Dan casting, from straight above him on a bridge.

Here's the prints as I work my way through the colors:

First step - the block:

First colors:

A little darker - can you see him?

A couple more to go...

Almost done...

Fin! Time for a Beer!

I didn't get photos of the brown/grey runs, but you can get an idea of the progress.

I'm pretty pleased with this one. Interesting - there's enough of the block left that I could run B&W prints off it, if I wanted.

I used a variety of papers on this. I used Revere, which I think remains my favorite, but I also used Arches and UICB. I didn't like the Arches, but I am really liking the UICB (University of Iowa Center for the Book Arts - I believe I'm using the BHC paper) paper, and recommend it along with the Revere. Prints very clean off from the irregular wood block, and the Daniel Smith inks layer up cleanly and easily.

2010-07-20T18:02:00.001-07:00

Well, we made our art fair debut at the Stockholm Art Fair this last Saturday, right on the calming shores of Lake Pepin.

This was our first art fair in over 20 years. Coincidence enough, Stockholm was the last art fair we had done. Boy, has it changed!

All for the better - the last time we showed work here (left over glass projects from college, some pottery, hand made paper) we were parked next to a guy selling crocheted beer-can hats and windmills made form beer cans. I try not to be snooty about this type of stuff, but.....

Anyway, the show has matured gracefully, is well ran and well attended.

Like I said, Lake Pepin was right out the back door:

So, even though it was 90+ that day, we were mostly in the shade and had nice breezes coming in off the lake.

We also had a hatch of huge mayflies:

Half my time was spent explaining the life-cycle of mayflies, and half explaining woodcuts and printmaking. I was the only printmaker out of 120+ artists.

Sales were OK (not great...) I put this down to the extream heat, plus the fact that we're brand new to "the circuit" - I've found with the fishing shows that these things have a way of picking up their own steam as they get going.

Deborah out-sold me, and sold first ( her maple sugar print went first...) proving once again who the better artist is. Another coincidence; she out sold me last time, too.....

Next month, Duluth and Eau Claire!

January, March and August

2010-07-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

Three more prints for the calendar project:

January: skiing by the light of a full moon

March is maple syrup season:

Grapes start to ripen in August:

May

2010-07-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

Deb finished adding color to a couple prints of the May block today. We were both wondering how the Akua Kolor was going to work on the Revere paper, as a friend had had trouble getting satisfying results with other water color on it. But the Akua Kolor works great:

One of the finished prints:

11 more to go! So far, we've got 12 final drawings, 7 blocks cut and proofed, 3 blocks final printed, and one block printed and colored. Cutting the final 5 blocks will take the most time, but I'm confident we can get this to press before our September deadline.

Cottonwood Pool

2010-07-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

Truth be told, I've never done very well at the old cotton wood pool. Oh, I know there's some good fish in there - real nice. We shocked a 28"-r years ago during a DNR survey that I helped out with - the first real 28" brown I'd ever seen with my own eyes. I'd caught plenty of 28" fish (northerns and the like) but I'd never seen one like that come out of this creek. I'd heard about them, but then I've told my share of fish stories, too.

Anyway, it's a nice place, regardless if the fish are cooperative, as in my friends case, or not (being my usual lot...) There's this huge cottonwood tree parked right on the corner - the river has been gnawing at the trees root ball for so many years now that it's almost fully eroded. Some day soon it's gonna fall. When it does, I 'd like to be there, because it's a going to be one hell of a show. And it would solve that stupid old question once and for all - you know: if a tree falls in the woods, yaddy yaddy yadda...

This is a Whiteline woodcut. An image is transferred to a maple block, the line then carefully traced with a small V-gouge. The resulting raised portions are individually inked with a tiny paintbrush, and the paper is burnished with a wooden block by hand. Printed with Akua Kolors on Revere Polar White Silk paper.

New Project: Orchard Calendar

2010-06-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

Deb and I have been kicking this project around for about a year now. A calendar depicting the people, plants, animals and seasons of an orchard; we want it to show what is rarely seen by the public back at the shop or at the farmers market, but what is integral to the life of the place.

I at first figured I would produce the whole thing myself with woodcuts, but as projects piled up, it became obvious that it wasn't going to get done. And since Deb was the one closest to an actual orchard (being she works at Maple Leaf Orchard), she decided to jump in and get things started by presenting me with a set of thumbnail drawings.

So it was decided: Deb would do the drawings, I would transfer them to blocks and print them, and then Deb would take over and paint in the colors with water colors. Since we are working under a self imposed deadline of September 1st, I decided the quickest way to carve/print a dozen blocks would be to produce them on linoleum blocks.

A week later, 10 drawings are done, a stack of lino blocks is ready, and two proofs have been printed:

January cross-country skiing by moonlight

May apple blossoms pollinated by the orchard honey bees.

A New Press

2010-06-23T18:06:00.000-07:00

Folks often ask me what I use for a press. They are always amazed to find out that I don't use a press, or at least a western-style wheel-and-rollers type of press we're all familiar with. Since I pick up block printing after a small hiatus back in 1995, I've used nothing more than either a wooden spoon or a simple barren, which translates to "hand press".

But circumstances change, and when Deb proposed this latest calendar project, I knew I wouldn't be able to hand-burnish a dozen 8x10 relief plates onto thick print-making paper without wearing out my shoulder. I knew I needed a press.

But printing presses are expensive. Real expensive. Prohibitively expensive on our tight budget ($$ available for a printing press = $0.00) What to do, what to do?

The internet to the rescue - I'd heard a lot of talk about a thing called a bottle jack press, about how it's easy to build yourself, about how people have been using them for years, about how great they work.

I tracked down said press, and found building plans through printmaker Charles Morgan
The plans are free, easy to follow, and provided you can saw a 2x4 and cut some metal angle iron, you'll end up with something that looks like this:

I broke down and bought a new 6 ton bottle jack, hardware and a sheet of 3/4" MDF, all for under $50.00 (far cry from the $6,000.00 for a new combination relief/intaglio press...) I used salvaged oak 2x4s for the base and the upper and lower bars. I modified the recoil system to use heavy duty springs instead of bungee cords. This thing weighs about 70 lbs and is solid as a rock. I ran a test proof of an old wood block and the thing works great - I only need to add some press blankets.

Brace of Brookies

2010-06-03T20:11:00.001-07:00

Some of you will recognize this image - this is the third print I've done of the two brookies next to a creel. I like the image - something timeless about it - and each time I print it, something new happens.

This is the finished AP, or Artists Proof. With a multiple block print, the printer prints each block as it's finished, checking registration as each block is carved. The finished print is often signed off as an "AP", or artists proof.

The process starts off by creating and printing a block line block, called the key block. This printed on as many sheets of proofing paper as the printer needs color blocks. The separate colors are then inked in to the separate sheets, one sheet per color:

Once done, the stacked sheets will look like this:

"Plum Orchard" Artists Proof

2010-05-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

I finished off a run of proofs from the blocks I've been cutting this week.

This woodblock printing thing confounds me... I get several colors down the run, and it looks like it's all falling apart fairly quickly. Just when I think seriously about throwing in the towel and start wondering just what it is I'm trying to accomplish, I finish printing the last color and viola! it all comes together.

I've got some work to do yet: get rid of some lines on the black block and maybe, maybe cut a pale yellow block to print amongst the "white" blossoms as flower centers, but I'm really, really happy with how this turned out.

New Print: "Plum Orchard"

2010-05-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

It was "Bring Your Spouse to Work" day a couple weeks ago at Maple Leaf Orchard, were Deb works. Since she is the only employee right now, I was the only spouse to participate. I spent the morning wandering through the plum orchards, watching the morning light stream through the blossoming trees, while Deb and Mark went to work with the bees:

I later got the key-block carved. After a marathon day of carving tiny, tiny gouges, I now have a blister on the inside of my middle finger of one hand (where it rubs against the gouge handle) and a very deep, very "V" shaped cut on the end of the other one from when it slipped and jammed straight in. Stupid, stupid! Always use the bench hook! That's what it's there for!

But, four band aids later, I also got the block cut (ignore the blood stain...):

...and even ran some proofs:

next: the fun work starts of cutting and proofing the color blocks.

"Squaretail" White Line finished

2010-04-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

I think I could spend the rest of my days fishing for, catching and printing brookies.

Spent the last couple hours tonight finishing up this print. It took about 10 hours from start of inking to finish, but at least half that time was hemming and hawwing about which color goes where. I won't have that problem with the next ones, as the block is as colorful as the print itself, and all the colors are now mixed.

2010-04-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

A few more colors added, and it's starting to take shape...

Progress steps

2010-04-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

I finished up carving last night, and got the first few colors inked in:

Once the inking gets started, it goes pretty quickly:

Brook Trout White Line Print

2010-04-14T07:22:00.000-07:00

I started a new white line print, this time a brookie. I got the image from the last Great Waters Expo, from the folks at Three Rivers Lodge in Labrador. One of these days, I'll take my son, and together we'll fly up there and catch one of these beauty's. Until then, I'll have to make do with printing them...

I got the image transferred earlier:

now comes the tedious task of carving the lines:

Cherry Tree

2010-04-06T18:17:00.001-07:00

To go along with the botanical "theme" I've been working on this spring, I finished up an image of a cherry tree, to go along with the pear I pulled last week, and the plum I'll be doing soon.

I think a bright purple/blue plum is going to look good along side these cherries and next to the pear.

I've got some pretty good photos of our plum tree in all it's glory from the last couple years, but I can't find them. Gotta keep looking...

follow up to "Something new from something old"...

2010-03-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

I finished up the moku hanga print I started a couple weeks ago, after I printed a run of proofs off the the left over block from the reduction print "Brook Trout Yin Yang."

I like it. It's much simpler than the original (far fewer colors) and it's printed lighter, too, giving it a lighter, flowing feel.

And just in time for the Minneapolis Great Waters Expo, too!

on to the Fruit...

2010-03-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, as I get ready for the Flower and Garden show at the River Falls Library, the next series I want to work on is a triptic of fruit trees: pears, cherries and plums. First up, is the Pear.

a key block, some B&W proofs, and the first color block:

too green, but the registration is right on.

I carve the rest of the color blocks, proofing them as I go. I discover I need to carve and extra color block, to get the red/orange "blush" to the fruit.

The finished print:

More Flowers...

2010-03-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

After the Poppy, my next flower was to be a Purple Iris, also called the "Blue Flag". I see these in the early summer up along the Apple River. A beautiful flower.

the first step, of course, is to produce the key block:

from this I print a shot series of black and white proofs. These proofs are what I use to create the color blocks from.

Starting with the blue:

Eventually, I'll have cut and printed a total of 5 blocks for the finished image:

I'm getting these prints ready for the flower and garden show coming up in May at the River Falls Library. I want to have three triptics done: one of garden flowers, one of fruit (pear, plum and cherry) and one of apples.

Something different; no fish!

2010-03-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

I was asked to submit something to the River Falls library's upcoming flower and garden gallery show. I have several finished prints on hand that would fit the bill, but I thought this would be a good opportunity to create some new work. It's also an opportunity to get started on a project I've been meaning to get to for Maple Leaf Orchard: a series of fruit and apple prints.

So to start off with, I selected my favorite garden flower, the poppy.

I decided to produce these in the moku hanga style of Japanese woodblock printing, so the first step was to produce a keyblock, and print up some proofs in black:

My initial idea was to separate out the colors and cut blocks to print the various shades of red/orange.

I cut three blocks, but after I proofed them, I quickly decided that this was not the direction I wanted to go with this print. It was looking less and less like a flower, and more like a brain...

So I started over, nearly from scratch. I cut a base red/orange block, and instead of trying to break up the gradations of color with additional blocks, I whitelined it and inked in the individual petals and folds by hand, carefully wiping them as needed.

The results are much better:

A bit of a background, and hey presto! I like it!

Something new from something old

2010-03-14T19:23:00.000-07:00

I made some head-way with the cracked-block reduction print; printed a couple more colors on friday:

mmmmmmm - the pukegreen/yellow and gray really look good togeather....

hopefully, the next few colors will pull it together (!)

I was looking through my stacks of old used-up reduction blocks, and noticed a few of them that had images (in black, of course) that were more or less intact. I started wondering about pulling some Moku Hanga style prints off them, since the keyblock was already carved. I went ahead and pulled a bunch of prints off them, and I liked what I saw, so I took one (from a reduction print I ddid seeral years ago called Brook Trout Yin Yang) and took it through the process.

I found some nice clear maple (no cracks!), cut them to size (I decided to forgo any keneto this time) and got them ready.

I started out printing just black and white proofs. I then took a proof, cut it down to exact size, and transferred my image to the blocks. I then carved out the separate colors, starting with the Olive block:

A good sharp chisel makes carving short work:

I used one of the proofs as an AP to check the alignement of the color blocks as I carved them. I had a little excess on the red block that needed to be trimmed:

I carved and printed Yellow, Olive, and Red - black was already carved. Everything came along "swimmingly"

Because of the absence of kento marks, I knew registration was going to be an issue, but I think I worked out a great solution. I built a registration frame.

I glued a deep "L" of black foam core (blue arrows) to a piece of scrap, to serve as a paper rest. The piece of scrap is glued, along with another piece of scrap (red arrows), to a 1" sheet of plywood (green arrow) Each block will be fitted into the "L" these create, with the sheet of paper laid over them, fitted into the "L" of the foam core paper rest.

This is the one print I pulled today from the blocks, in order, without using the frame:

I've got the let the frame dry overnight, and I've got a couple more colors to carve and proof (gotta go see my cabinet maker friend for some more wood - I hear he's got some cherry for me...!!!), but otherwise, This is going to be a succesful experiment!

Progress on New Reduction print

2010-03-10T08:27:00.000-08:00

After some consultation with some fellow printmakers on the WetCanvas forum, I decided to go ahead and repair the offending block that split on me.

I first forced as much Gorilla Glue into the crack as I could using a toothpick, clamped it, and spent the next hour wiping any excess glue that foamed out of the crack (as per instructions...):

The patch job held, and I was able to print two more colors, a darker blue, and a light purple:

Agfter washing and a bit of air-drying, I see another crack has opened up, near where the original is/was. Back to the Gorilla Glue and clamp.....

What a PITA! At least, judging by the 5 colors I've printed so far, I'm confident this is going to be a worthwhile print.

Gray's Sporting Journal Fly Fishing Edition Cover

2010-03-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

I got home this afternoon to find that a package of these had arrived:

such a deal!

I produced "Sun, Moon, Stars, Mayflies" several years ago, in an edition of 28; as of tonight, I have 0 left (!)

I've sold several, have gifted several to very special friends, and have donated a couple to the likes of the Kiap-TU-Wish chapter of Trout Unlimited. Since I produced this print using the reduction method of wood block printing, I cannot print anymore; I still have the block, but all that is left on it is the black outline. I may produce another similar print in the future (and as a matter of fact, the piece "Four Seasons" was inspired by this print) but this is it for this particular print.

I do not produce ink-jet reproductions (or giclee's) of my work (other than greeting cards - but that is another matter...), since I believe it would run counter-intuitive to my work of printmaking. With this in mind, it's always good to remind everyone that these are indeed truly, very limited editions in the most limited sense of the word!

Reduction disaster

2010-03-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

midway through printing the first color of the latest reduction I started over the weekend, the plate developed a crack:

I think I'll be able to live with it, but I'm afraid it's getting bigger. And of course, washing it over and over will only make it worse. I'm debating on weather I should finish what's started and pry it apart, and then print two plates, or just leave it and see where it goes (it might be interesting...)

anyway, it's going to be a nice print, I think. Pretty inauspicious now, but with only two colors, I can't expect much.

I'm using Daniel Smith ink for the first time, and I think I like it - it rolls out nicely, has ample working time, mixes well and prints suprisingly easy with hand burnishing. I'm printing on 250gsm Ivory Revere paper; pretty thick for hand burnishing, but like I said, it's printing without any undue effort on my part.

2010-02-15T17:12:00.000-08:00

Well, it's done. At least, the first printing off this block. There's a couple things I want to different, but I've got 49 more tries to get it exactly the way I want it (!)

I may get one more off from this block before the Minneapolis Expo; I'm not sure. There's some other things I want to get to before then, so it may have to wait.

Technical details: Whiteline Woodcut printed with AkuaKolor waterbased ink on Polar White Revere Silk finished paper. Size shown is @ 22"w x 12"h

Brown Trout White Line Print

2010-02-14T09:46:00.002-08:00

At the recent Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo in Chicago, my booth was directly across the walkway from that of a Michigan Lodge/Outfitter, RiverQuest Charters. They had the ubiquitous posters of clients with giant trout and salmon, each one two or three times the size of anything the average angler has ever caught. One photo, that of a magnificent hooked-jawed brown trout, caught my eye. Since completing the Rainbow Trout white line print earlier this winter, I wanted to do one of a Brown, but needed just the right image to work with. There it was!

Talking to the guys manning the booth, I asked asked and received permission to use the image. It's been two weeks since getting back, but I was able to get going again and make a good start on this next print.

First, of course, is to transfer and carve out the image on a wood block.

I'm using a piece of birch plywood for this print. I went with this due to the size of the print: the fish is nearly life size, and I'm printing the whole thing. I didn't have a piece of maple of that size on hand, and had this nice largish sized piece of plywood that seemed to be just right. So far, so good - the birch is of course softer than the maple, and it seems to be more brittle, too, so the ultra fine details are harder to maintain. I don't think I'll use it again, but I think I'll be satisfied with the results.

The carving took quite some time, but I finished last night, and started inking the piece today.

It's painstaking work, but finally seeing actual color after all that carving makes it worthwhile. First, the individual color fields are inked in by hand with a tiny paint brush:

then the print is printed:

Over and over, ink by ink, the print starts to slowly appear:

Technical notes: I'm printing this on Reveere print making paper, with AkuaKolor water-based relief inks.

I should have this print done tonight; I'm hoping to have another printed from this block (and eventually, 50 in all...) in time for the Great Waters Expo, Minneapolis.

Chicago Expo

2010-02-03T06:44:00.001-08:00

Back from Chicago after a succesfull three-day show at the Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo. Was totally exhausted by Sunday, but had a terrific time.

The booth space looked great - went with two side-by-side spaces:

The extra space gave me room to set up displays of some of the blocks and tools I'm using:

Friday was a bit slow (as expected) but there was constant traffic Saturday and Sunday. I talked myself hoarse both days. It is so much easier explaining this stuff with real examples on hand, rather than trying to pulll it out of the air while the audience looks on with a blank stare....

I'm 5 hours from Chicago, and yet had a ton of good friends stop by. Good buddies from Milwaukee droped in, one of which even bought something, instead of going for the free stufff....

it was a weekend of great food: our fine friend "The Chicago Batman" from the city came out and grabbed us and took us downtown for some great Italian. If you're ever in Oak Park, check out Cucina Paradiso.

On the way home, my ride and I stopped and had dinner in Madison with another mutual friend at the Inca Heritage. Terrific food.

día de pesca de la trucha de los muertos

2010-01-28T16:56:00.000-08:00

A couple years ago the kids and I got my wife some Day of the Dead (“calaveras”) figures for her birthday, both of which land on the calendar at about the same time. We got them from a place that imports them from Peru, but my wife being herself, figured she could do a better job at them. She started making them for every occasion...

From what I can put together, here is what's going on with these "Day of the Dead" figures:

Day of Dead art, specifically the use of “calaveras” as a way of burlesquing persons and institutions (which were traditionally protected by censorship laws), is a tradition with roots both in Europe, and in the Indian traditions of Mexico.

Indian roots are made up mostly of the dual nature deities, whose “death side” was indicated by skeletal figures - the most famous survivor of that tradition is “La Santisima Muerte”.

European roots go back to the danse macabre, and to the work of Hans Holbein the Younger, and his figure of "Death", who wears many disguises, confronting individuals from all walks of life.

The great Mexican illustrator Guadalupe Posada is said to have carried on Holbein’s traditions, and brought them back to life.

Rainbow Whiteline Print Finish

2010-01-21T15:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I finished up the last few colors on this print, and it's done; I'll have it matted and framed at the Chicago Greatwaters Expo next week. I'd like to get some more printing in, but I'm going to spend the time getting some last minute matting and framing done - not to mention get my crap organized...

Anyway, here it is, finger smudges and all:

I like it. I'm really, really happy with it. Deb even likes it, and she doesn't like any of my fishing stuff (well, this isn't entirely true...)

If I was going to be critical of anything, it's that I'd want to see the entire fish - unfortunately, when I took the image, I wasn't thinking of making a woodblock print of it.

Now, the dilemma: the capitalist pig in me tells me to scan the sucker and make prints to sell at half of what the original will go for at this upcoming show. The artist in me says no, don't sell my soul and go for the easy money - stay true and only offer originals.

I think I like the idea of only offering originals

2010-01-20T06:44:00.001-08:00

I haven't done a trout print for awhile, mostly river-scapes and such. I've had this image of a nice rainbow laying around since the trip to Chile n 2006. I caught the fish on our last day of fishing, on the Rio Simpson, in Northern Patagonia. It was the first one I had caught that morning; very colorful 18+ incher, it took a bead headed prince nymph. I don't like fishing nymph rigs all that much, but it was a cold morning, and there weren't any hatches coming off yet. Normally, I'd wait until there was something hatching (and actually, once the sun hit the water, the bugs started pouring off...), but since I was sort of pressed for time, I "did as the Romans do...", dropped a big, weighted nymph-jig under an Elk Hair caddis and let 'er rip.

I ended up catching this nice wild 'bow, which behaved long enough to get a pretty decent photo of (I have plenty of brown trout and brook trout images to choose from, but I'm lacking photos of nice rainbows.) I was at some point planning on doing a reduction print from this image, but the complexity of the image has always turned me off. Too, looking at it critically, I've got my doubts on how it would work as a reduction, anyway. Unless I were to do a huge print, say, maybe 3 feet wide (!! - it would be cool, but not very practical with my studio space), I don't think it would print all that well. So, it's always drifted towards the bottom of the pile.

It wasn't until discovering this White Line process that I've given it any more consideration. As I paged through my image/ideas folder the other ight, looking for a couple new images, I came accross this one and thought, "Why not?" I quickly transferred the image to a block.
And I'm glad my impulsive side took over, because if I had really thought about it with a critical eye, I might have sent the mage back to the bottom of the pile! It took me longer to transfer the image than I had figured, and it took me a lot longer to carve the lines than I originaly intended. But, I was comitted at this point, and could sort of visualize what the results would be, so I kept at it:

After a marathon session of carving the other night, I was finally able to attach a piece of paper and start inking in the first print.
I again used two pieces of packing tape to secure the paper, stapling the flap of tape down to the block to create a hinge:

I arbitrarily started inking with blue. Normally, I start printing a print with the lightest color fist, as any over lap between colors is best hidden when a darker color is over the lighter color. But with a White Line print, the color fields are separated by a channel carved into the block and never (theoretically, anyway) touch, it doesn't matter.

I've refined things a bit since my last print. To create the tiny gradations, the color field is first inked with a brush, then carefully wiped clean, as with a moku hanga-type print. I used wadded up paper towels before; while this certainly works, the color fields on this print are tiny in comparison. I still wanted to have the gradations, so after some experimenting with several ideas given to me by the good folks at Wet Paint http://www.wetpaintart.com/ (the absolute BEST art supply store in St. Paul/Minneapolis...) I've seetled on these little rolled up newsprint smudge thingies:

The last two nights have been spent inking the separate colors. It's not that there are a lot of colors: just inking in , wiping and printing is taking more time than I'm used to. But the results are worth it - I finished up with the dark olive green last night:

Some more blue, cream, some lighter greens and a lot of black, and it will be done.

2010-01-13T05:09:00.000-08:00

I probably shouldn't have, but I sat down last night and finished up the print I've been working on. Three things bother me about the print, and I blame myself for being distracted and not focusing on what I was doing.

I dislike the forground portion of the water. I started there, and wished I had left it alone until later - until I figured out what was going on with this image. I would have done it differently. As it is, the dark blue does well enough to hold it together.

I'm very unhappy about the sky. I started it while thinking about lots of other things, and it wasn't until I was half way accross when I realized what a mess I was making of it. I carved in some impromptu "clouds", which I think saved the whole thing from going down the dumper, but I wish I had taken more of a bit of time to really look at what I was doing.

I'm also concerned that the fisherman is getting lost - but then in a print like this, it's busy-ness is part of it's "charm" (for lack of a better word...): I like how things like the barn, silos and such get wrapped up and hidden in the image, and only upon close examination are revealed...

Live and learn - the nice thing I can take all of this into consideration with the next print I print from this block. Overall I'm pretty happy with it.

2010-01-11T06:40:00.001-08:00

Things that make you say “Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....”

After finishing up the WhiteLine print of Poor Old Bob, I immediately started another with an image I've been harboring for a couple of years, a riverscape featuring Elk Creek, looking east/south east, just as the sun was setting. Although I was alone when took the original photo, I wanted to firmly anchor the idea of fly fishing into the print.

Since I fished with him the next day, on a different section of the creek (up where his yurt is located), I electronically added my friend Mark Nash.

Once I had my image, I went through the same process steps as before of creating the maple block that I would print the finished print from: transfer the image, carve out the lines, affix the first sheet of paper, start the printing process.

Starting out, I really had no idea whatsoever of what I was shooting for with this print. I’m still finding it hard to “visualize” what the final results will be, so figuring out the lines for the color fields involved a lot of guess-work. But, knowing what I know about the Akuacolors, and looking back at the POB print, I figured something interesting was going to come out of this.

My palette this time is for an early autumn, mixed in with the cool colors of twilight.

I’m using a slab of maple again for this print, even though the traditional Provincetown print is done with either pine of poplar. But, I’ve got a good stock of the maple I got from my friends Margy and Gary on hand, so I’m going to use it!

The “traditional” method of attaching the paper to the wood was to tack the paper onto the wood directly, and then folding the paper to create a “hinge” that would raise and lower the sheet onto the block, keeping perfect registration through the process. While this certainly works great, I wanted to use a sheet of Rives BFK for this print, and since this is a thicker sort of paper, I didn’t want to fold it. I solved this by sandwiching the paper between two pieces of packing tape, and then stapling the tape to the board.

Cutting the lines was pretty straight forward and quite fast. I cleared away the edges with a large chisel and mallet, so to ensure clean, clear borders.

Printing is another matter entirely. Each color field is printed individually. I “ink” the fields by hand with a small paintbrush, carefully wiping with a tiny sponge to create the gradations. Some areas are just too small to wipe, so I don’t bother. Most areas take multiple passes – it’s a matter of you can always add a little more, but you can never take any back. Bit by bit, millimeter by millimeter (inch by inch would be too much!) the block is filled in.

The results so far are fantastic: I’m very satisfied with what’s going on. Like I said before, I have trouble visualizing what’s going to happen to an image with this technique. But so far, this is terrific:

Just a couple more fields to fill in (the stream, some trees, silos and the sky) and it will be done. I’ll have time to start another one before the Chicago Expo – it will be a good thing to have a couple of these displayed there!

Something new: White Line Print

2010-01-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

Several months ago, I learned about a new (to me) printing technique called "White Line" woodblock printing, also called the "Provincetown Print."

A truly American print making technique, it was developed in 1915 by a group of Provincetown and Cape Cod artists. It is considered among one of the few art techniques unique to America (jazz being another one...)

Traditionally poplar or clear pine were used. Since I've got stacks of clear maple on hand, that is what I used for my first White Line print.

I've had this image of my friend Bob for a couple years. I had first used it for a moku hanga print, but I was never satisfied with how it came out (it was too big - I'm finding out this seems to be a major problem with me and moku hanga prints... more on that later...)

So as with most all prints, the image is first transferred onto the woodblock. Then, instead of carving out individual color fields, all of the lines are traced over with a narrow blade, creating a channel along each line between the color fields. I used my medium V-gouge for this.

What results is the image incised in the block:

A piece of printing paper is then tacked onto the bottom of the block, folding it over to create a hinge:

This hinge is where the print will be folded back and forth during the printing process, to ensure perfect registration. To give the print added strength for this, I added a piece of Scotch tape where the thumbtacks fasten it to the block.

The block is ready to be printed.

Each color field is filled in with brushes and printed, one by one, by folding the paper over the block and burnishing with a barren. I wanted fully saturated colors, so I ended up printing each color multiple times until I was satisfied with it's density.

Eventually, slowly, the color fields are filled in. I usually print color prints lightest color to darkest, and I did the same with this print, but because the color fields are separated by channels (the White Lines), it really doesn't make much difference.

I like the results. Very different from what I'm used to. Its very exciting: I've got a whole set of images that just never really seemed to work with the other wood block techniques I use. It looks like now they'll have a chance again!

I Hate Portraits

2010-01-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

So here's the dealio: I hate doing portraits. I'm not good at it, my subjects rarely look like themselves when I'm finished, and I always feel self-concious afterwards, like I'm trying to steal a soul or something (I'd make a poor jungle explorer... you know: Polaroids and all that.... sorry)

Anyway, a publisher friend of mine got me to write an essay about my father for an upcoming issue of the fly fishing magazine he puts together. I fancy myself a some-time wannabe writer of variable skill, but it's a good essay, if I do say-so myself: summarizing the life of the guy who formed my own life, written from a sporting/fly fishing viewpoint without getting too syrupy.

Here's a short exerpt:

"...my Dad's mastery of the dry fly was a thing of beauty and grace. With a skill honed fishing wild, native brook trout in the crystal clear glacial lakes of northeastern Wisconsin, I remember watching in awe as he dropped, with dainty precision and maddening repetition, tiny dry flies to raising trout..."

OK, certainly not Hemmingway, but you get the point. To illustrate the article, my friend suggested that I produce a print, to which I agreed. I played around with several ideas, and finally settled on a linoleum hand-colored portrait:

I printed this with Gamblin Oil-based black on Rives BFK, and hand-colored it with Akua-color water based inks. This is the first hand-coloring I've ever done. Believe it or not, it actually looks like him. And as much as I really don't like doing portraits, I'm pretty happy with it, and I think I like this hand-coloring thing.

Hopefully my friend will like it and we can put this project to rest (I'm looking back on that last moku-hanga print that didn't go so well...)

I did learn one important lesson with this print - I need a press!

"Four Seasons" final colors

2009-11-28T18:42:00.001-08:00

I added the final few colors to the print project I'm working on today, and finalized the reduction woodcut "Four Seasons."

Earlier this week, I added a dark brown:

Over this, I added a dark green. The brookies finally swim free!

After two days of drying time, I added what became the final color: a deep, dark blue.

I had originally wanted to print a lighter dark blue, and then finish up with black. I decided my blue ink was too bright straight out of the can, and decided to tone it down a bit with orange. I over compensated, and came up with "nearly" black. I added the rest of the can of blue to this mess, and was able to come up with a very dark blue. It printed over the other colors dark enough to call "black", and printed around the snowflakes light enough to call "blue."

Brilliant!

"Four Seasons" (final)

As with all my prints, there is a certain level of "mortality": because these are hand done, I bothced a few.

The biggest culprit with this print was keeping a handle on the registration of all those colors. The darker the colors get, the worse a mis-alignment shows. With the lighter colors, you can get away with a mis-aligned print or two, but when printing near-black, even the slightest shift will show horribly. One of the rejects above was caused by a stupid, half crazed housefly that landed on my ear as I flipped the block/paper over to burnish it. With another, I coughed as I laid the inked block onto the image... after starting with 24 sheets of paper, 18 prints total made it all the way through to the end.

These rejects will be ceremoniously burned later this winter.

Progress

2009-11-25T13:08:00.001-08:00

Over the weekend, I made good progress on the latest reduction print, "Four Seasons." Just when I think I'll never get through all the colors that need to be printed, I suddenly realize I'm on the home stretch. I've only got a few colors left to go on this print, and then it will be done.

I've come to the point where the details are really starting to take shape. Two more colors, a deep dark red and a dark green, are all thats left for the Spring section of the print.

Except for a dark brown, the Fall leaves are pretty much done.

Summer's honey comb is finished (and looking great, I'll add...) All that's left is some black on the honey bee.

The two brookies need a dark blue-green along their backs, which I'll echo in the Spring and Fall backgrounds. The snowflakes will get a rich, dark blue background to finish them off.

The very last color will of course be black. Most of the block will be carved away; only some outlines will remain. Sort of sad, looking back on all the work it is to carve the block, but the results are worth it.

More colors

2009-11-22T10:40:00.000-08:00

I managed to add a few new colors to the print "Four Seasons."

After letting the previous two layers dry completely, I added the third background color, a pale yellow/tan, to serve as a base to the honey comb and the fall leaves. Since it was coloring a separate area of the print, I was able to immediately add a layer of darker pink to the flowers. I let those colors dry overnight, then followed up with a stronger yellow/gold to the leaves/honey comb areas.

The final color I added today was a darker pale green. I've come to the point to where I've pulled out my smallest brayer to selectively ink individual sections of the block. This helps avoid unnecessary ink build up.

The previously "ugly" garish easter-egg colors are starting to meld together and work nicely. A detail shows hows the colors are working together - the green, being slightly transparent, turns a nice golden brown over the pink of the flowers. Because its being used in the trout, it will help anchor the two image objects together.

I'll let these colors dry for a couple days. I've got a lot of carving to do on the block before I can start thinking about printing it again.

Four Seasons: first colors

2009-11-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

I printed the first two colors of the print, Four Seasons.

After first carving out everything on the block I wanted left white, I mixed up a batch of ink and spread it out on my inking plate (a smooth piece of polished granite.) Using a soft rubber roller, or brayer, I spread an even thin coat on the wooden plate.

To print the plate, I first lay the block onto a sized piece of block printing paper (mulberry paper made in Thailand):

The plate/paper is then flipped:

I then used a barren, or hand-press, to burnish the paper onto the plate. The idea is to create enough pressure on the paper to cause the ink to transfer from the block into the fibers of the paper:

Satisfied I've covered all the areas with ink, I can then slowly pull the paper from the plate:

The results are always fun to see:

And so the printing process goes... I've decide to "pull" 24 prints from this block, so after going through the steps described above 24 times, it's time to decide on the next color.

I keep a series of print-outs of the images I'm using for this print, my "color maps." To decide on the next color, I pull one of them out now.

I'll print the lightest pink of the flowers now. Even though it will get covered up, it will act as a good background color for the two trout, and for the autumn leaves at the bottom.

But first, I need to clear away everything I want left light green. A small, sharp hand chisel and mallet make short work of the job:

Once the plate is ready, the inking/pressing/pulling process continues. This time, the image starts to slowly emerge:

With two layers of ink, I'll leave the prints overnight to dry completely until I add more.

In truth, the pink is pretty ugly printed over the green right now. It will stay that way as I add layers of colors, until the darker colors separate yet unite the disparate blobs of color together into the finished piece.

Four Seasons - Progress

2009-11-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

It took awhile, but I was finally able to find and transfer the different images onto the block for the latest woodcut, which I've entitled (simply enough) "Four Seasons."

My good friend Jon Jacobs contacted me on behalf of Kiap-TU-Wish TU, and asked if I'd like to donate something for this years banquet. I like Kiap, and have contributed and benefited from the terrific work they've done to the streams that I fish. So while I don't put in as much as I used to (I was the habitat projects coordinator for a number of years, back before there were kids...), I'm gladly donating another print to the cause.

I'm hoping it to be this one.

This is one of them projects that you look at, and say to yourself "What was I thinking?"

I'm pretty sure I can do it, though, if I get to work and not get distracted by any more Indian summer days that whisper to me about double guns, setter puppies and grouse woods....

Please join us for an open studio, Sunday Dec 6th

2009-11-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

Please join us for an open studio, Sunday Dec 6th

-just north of El Paso, Wisconsin-

South of Baldwin on Hwy 63
East (left) on Hwy 29E (1 1/2 mi)
South (right EXACTLY 2.5 mi)
N7107 County Rd N
715-778-4473

John Turula ceramic and steel stools
www.nopointinK.com

Mark Nuebel
www.nopointinK.com

John and Sophie Koch
www.troutlillystudios.com
http://troutlilystudios.blogspot.com
http://srosek.wordpress.com

Margy Jean Balwierz
www.handmadetiles.blogspot.com

Margy's studio is open any day, please call ahead 715-778-4473

On to something new...

2009-11-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

OK, so the last moku hanga didn't work out like I wanted. There's a number of things that I don't like about it, but there's a number of things that I do. The trick is now to figure out how to separate the two so it all comes together into a cohesive piece that I'm satisfied with. Well, that's the trick, isn't it?!

But, I've got a stack of ideas that I need to pursue.

I ran a reduction print several years ago of a brook trout surrounded by the stages of the moon, sky and mayflies. It was a very satisfying print personally, and it was well received:

I like the whole framed image as an image, so I'm going with that as a base. I'm most comfortable with reduction prints, so I'm going to go with my old standby of pulling reduction prints off from a single maple block again.

I'm thinking a couple trout this time, with the four seasons surrounding them. I pulled out my folder of images - pieces and parts of ideas that have made it to scrap paper - and started shuffling images around:

A bit of graphite paper, and I've got the start of an image:

More images for the rest of the border:

I'm liking this more and more as it goes....

Final

2009-10-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

I finished up the last of the color blocks last night: transfer the image, carve out the colors, and print. One final run with the key block, and viola! The final product:

"The Duck Hole" 14" X 8 1/2" Akuacolor inks on Yasutomo Sketch paper

I like it, for the most part. As with most pieces, I made a few mistakes, but learned a little bit more (in this case, I learned A LOT more...)

One step forward, two steps back...

2009-10-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

An inadvertent scratch and a badly aligned block, block progress on the latest multi block print.

First, as I went to open one of the flat-file drawers to get a sheet of paper, the drawer seemed to hesitate at the half way point. Instead of trying to find out what was in the way, I forced it all the way open. Not until I closed it again did I see that one of the prepared blocks was sitting next to it. The edge of the drawer caught the wood and put a deep scratch right across the penciled in image:

I had no choice but to start he block over - the scratch was too deep to "buff" out with steel wool. Fortunately, I was able to switch ends of the block, and re-do the image on the other end (instead of preparing a whole new block...)

Then, as I went to print the 3rd color block, I noticed right away that I had botched the registration on the lower half of the block:

I decided to take out the lower half of the green block. I really did look bad, and I didn't like the color being the same as the background, anyway.

So, with those two mistakes taken care of, I was ready to continue on. First, I carved out the evergreen bows:

I decided to add the fisherman's red jacket to this block, as the two colors would be far enough away not to interfere with each other, As I printed the AP's, I experimented with inking the jacket to give it some dimension:

The colors are starting to layer up nicely; the print is coming together:

Two or three more blocks to go (depending if I can double up some colors...) and I'll be able to finish with the APs and print some test prints.

Second Color Block

2009-10-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

Using the same process steps as before, the first color block is transferred and carved. Here it is, inked up and ready to print:

I want the river to have a gradation from light to dark, so once the block is inked up, I use a rag to wipe the gradation where I want it.

The print is lined up in the kentos carefully let down onto the inked and wiped plate. A sheet of waxed paper is added between the paper and barren to help the barren slide easier, and to act as a small "cushion."

So far, so good. The kentos seem to be lining up, and with enough APs, I'll work the bugs (and blobs) out of the inking/printing process (!)

Key Block Finished; 1st APs Run

2009-10-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

The last bit of carving on the Keyblock involves cutting the all-important registration marks, called "Kentos." Carved into the lower corner and along the side, these marks serve as channels that the paper will slip into. They will be identical on each block, so that the paper lines up exactly in the same place on each color block.

The finished keyblock, ready to be inked for the first run of Artists Proofs, or "APs". These proofs will be used to cut the color blocks from, and will be used to test and adjust each color block before it is used to print a "real" print run from. I personally like to use Japanese Gampi paper for my AP's. It's thin, but very strong.

A boar hair/deer hair traditional brush, hand-made from a split piece of bamboo, is used to ink the keyblock up with black ink for the first run of proofs. The ink is applied directly to the plate, and is brushed around the block.

The keyblock, all inked up, ready for the first piece of paper. Oh! The excitement!

The first run of Artists Proofs:

Progress

2009-09-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

With the image inked in, I've started carving the black lines into the "keyblock." This is somewhat more exciting than the re-inking process, but still, it gets tedious; I've a loooong way, it seems, until I start printing ink to paper.

Still, I like the carving process - it's a big part of what draws me to woodcuts in the first place. I have a bit of a sculpture background (hey, I did work for Wally Shoop, after all...), so it's satisfying carving into a blank piece of wood:

Especially with the added benefit of printing the image later!

1st print of the season

2009-09-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

I'm starting the printing season off with a multiple block print of my Dad, who passed away several years ago, fly fishing on one of our favorite stretches of river, what we referred to as "The Duck Hole".

In the photo above, I've laid out the image, and transferred it to a clear piece of maple. The next step is to carve out the black ink-line. It's tedious, but once done I'll have a master block, called a key block, that I'll be able to base all the rest of the color block off from.

Mayflies, Stoneflies and Dragonflies

2009-05-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

Sophie's new drawings of aquatic insects.

Pale Morning Dun

Luna Moth

Trico

Green Darner

Perla Stonefly

Pale Evening Dun

2009-05-18T07:24:00.000-07:00

There's a little river town nearby that's sort of got it figured out, I think. Once a year, this little town gets together to have a picnic, in honor of, and to celebrate, a tiny little brook trout creek.from the Mill Stream Associations http://millstreamassociation.com/?p=35 website:"Its primary goal is to be the guardian of the “Mill Stream,” protecting it and its brook trout against any potential hazard caused by water quality degradation, public use issues and/or development. They had the foresight to recognize what a unique resource the Mill Stream is and sought to spread the word through community outreach and education"I can't think of anything better to celebrate, can you?

And so, despite not being from there, Sophie and I were fortunate enough to be invited (again - I think this is the 3rd year I've done this...) to be part of the celebration by displaying our artwork.

Pour a SIP...On the way home, we agreed that ice cream was in order. I had worked at a little greasy spoon some 20 years ago in nearby Afton, and I remembered that there was an ice cream shoppe right next door. We headed on down.But alas, Lerk's is no more:

How many hours I had sweated over that tiny cast iron grill is anyone's guess. I had spent a steamy summer in college one year, churning out stacks of greasy, gooey cheeseburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches 5 nights a week every week, for what seemed a never ending line of over weight, wind-blown, sun-burned tourists coming off the river.

But now she's all locked up. I guess with all the memories of the place what they are, I should be happy, but I somewhere inside I guess I was hoping to see the place still in business.

2009 Creative Drive Wrap-Up

2009-05-05T06:16:00.000-07:00

Trout Lily Studios was once again a stop on The Creative Drive, 2009 being our 5th year . Along with my woodcuts, my daughter had great fun exhibiting her colored pencil drawings of butterflies and moths.

Local photographer Don Blegen joined us this year. Don's outdoor photos (which have appeared in outdoor magazines like Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, and Wiscosnin Natural Resources over the years) went very well with my prints.

The River Chocolate Company supplied gormet chocolates and, my friend Jeff Pierce from Great Ciao supplied artisan cheeses to gnosh on. I took the opprotunity to serve my home-made Plum wine and Black Currant Port, which apparently were well recieved(!)

I'm afraid I've callously led my daughter over the edge: she made a good chunk of change off her prints and cards, and can't wait to blow it with a trip to the art store. Beats working at Dairy Queen, IMHO...

Here's some photos my good friend Bob Weisner took:

the un-assuming "studio". A machine shed built about 1917 or so:

inside - ProPanels are the best.

The spread: 3 artisan cheeses (a locally made Emmenthalier, a wedge of Trumpeter Meadow, and my favorite, a chunk of raw milk Blue), fried Spanish Almonds, Spanish Fig and Apricot breads. And of course, wine (the commercial Smoking Loon Savignon Blanc didn't get opened...)

and at 5:00 Sunday, we turned out the lights, shut the door, and Eli and I went fishing

The Unbound Book Project

2009-03-31T18:55:00.000-07:00

In this project, I’ve taken snippets out of my favorite essays that I’ve written over the past ten years that I've been writing, and coupled them with some of my favorite woodcuts. You might recognize some of the snippets from essays that have been published here or there in magazines and the web, but some of them are being released here for the first time.

I’ve taken this one step further, and have printed out the eight essay/prints onto heavy museum-grade parchment, and encased the set in a folio that I made myself out of hand-made papers. You can preview some of the pages on the Trout Lily Studios website.

As I'm building these one at a time, I won't have them for sale on the website, but if you're interested in purchasing one, let me know. My plans are to experiment with different materials, and to expand the number of essay/prints as I figure out just the right piece of essay for each image.

2009 Creative Drive

2009-03-31T06:20:00.000-07:00

Trout Lily Studios will again be a stop on the 2009 Creative Drive, May 2 & 3, from 10am - 5 pm each day. The Creative Drive is a driving tour featuring the work of over 40 artists located at 6 different sites in the rural heart of Western Wisconsin.

(click to enlarge/print)

At Trout Lily Studios, I'll have my latest work from last fall and winter on display. It was a good printing year, and there are lots of new prints to show. We've printed out a bunch of Sophie's drawings, and are excited to have on hand several posters and smaller sized prints featuring her work. And we'll have on hand a large assortment of our popular greeting cards.

We're also very excited to announce that Al at the River Chocolate Company has once again agreed to display some of their fine, fine chocolates for folks to sample and purchse. We'll have a few home made wines and terrific cheeses on hand, too. We wouldn't want to risk anyone going thirsty or hungry.

It's the regular Wisconsin fishing opener, and we're right around the corner from the Rush River - make sure you bring your flyrod along. What could be better? See what's new at the studio, pick up a gift or two, eat some award winning chocolate, wash it down with a little black currant port, and THEN GO FISHING!

More Butterflies...

2009-03-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

Some more butterfly and moth images:

Acreae Moth

Laure Butterfly

Lobe-Winged Butterflies

A Small, Quiet Place; a multiple-block print

2009-03-18T11:09:00.001-07:00

This is an artists proof, done entirely in the ukiyo-e method of Japanese woodblock printing. Each color field is printed from individually carved wood blocks. The blocks are hand-inked with brushes using water-based pigment inks; gradations are rubbed by hand.

It all starts with what's called a "keyblock": the prints black outline(s) are carved into a smooth block of hard maple (in this case, left over ends of stair treds.) Prints are made from the keyblock onto thin, strong "Gampi" paper, and transferred to each anticipated color block.

Several "Artists Proofs" are run after each color/block so fine adjustments can be made to the individual blocks before the actual print run.

Reduction Process "How-its-Done": Dragonfly Print

2009-03-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

One of the most asked questions I receive from folks is "How is this done?" The reduction woodcut process allows the printmaker to print as many colors as he/she wishes, yet only uses one block to print all the colors from. Quickly described, the reduction process sounds like a confused, intimidating mess of random carving and printing. Yet it is easily understood, and the results can be like nothing else.

This print is from a photo I took last spring of a dragon fly just hatched from it's nymphal stage, sunning itself on a rock, slowly turning into an adult. It's a striking animal - it has the body and legs of a nymph and the wings and head of an adult:

(Printed on Masa paper with Faust Aqualine ink)

After transferring the image to the block, I printed the light yellow first. I choose this as my background color; my lightest color. All the other color layers will be printed over this.

I then carved out EVERYTHING I wanted left light yellow.

I then went and printed the whole block light blue. By the time I hit black, my registration is going to be off just a little bit, but that's OK - the light blue (hopefully) will give a sense of transparency to the wings and a sense of life to the print as it peeks out here and there (that's the plan, anyway...)

I then carved out EVERYTHING I wanted left light blue.

The bug had these plum colored tail "plates", along with purplish highlights on it's body. Since I want only blue highlights in the wings, I used a narrow breyer to ink up the body.

I then repeated the carve/print/carve/print process until I printed my last color: black.
The finished print:

A Piece of Wood

2009-03-17T15:47:00.001-07:00

It's not really much to look at. A little bit too big to call a stick, but not quite big enough to call a log, the piece of wood is a more or less straight, 8 inches long by about an inch in diameter. Black on one end, fading to gray on the other, it's splotched here and there with an ocher colored mud.

It smells funny, too.

I pulled it out of the bank of a small stream close to my home. This small stream runs through an open field, a former pasture that used to graze a herd of cattle. For what ever reason, the farmer who's land it is that the creek runs through got tired of grazing his cattle out there. The cattle went somewhere else, and all that's left now is the creek running through the open field.

I was there at the creek with my seven-year-old daughter. We had met a couple of friends of ours there, one a Habitat Biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the other his seasonal assistant. Together, we were waiting for more people to show up, all of whom were going to help out with a restoration project that still another friend had organized. The project centered on restoring this stream, subject to a century of non-existent land management practices, to a point where it's wild brook trout would be able to not only survive, but reproduce, as well. Shocking surveys indicated that only a very few of the small char lived in the cold, clear water; the streams sediment load allowed only the barest minimum of cover for the fish to survive.

While we were waiting, my friend caught me up on the details of the project. He showed me where the wooden "lunkers" had been placed; basically a large wooden pallet, a lunker is placed along the bank of a stream, under the water. Rock is piled on top of the structure, and dirt is bulldozed over that. Seeded with grass, it eventually becomes a cut-bank, accomplishing a number of things all at once. The wooden structure becomes home to many types of fish, both trout and other species. The once collapsing banks are now stabilized with turf-covered rock, and the now narrowed stream, swifter and colder than before, is now better able to scour down to its original gravel beds.

My friend, the biologist, mentioned that he had pulled a very interesting piece of wood out of the sediment making up the banks of the river, down underneath the water.

"I've sent it in to be Carbon 14 dated, but I'm pretty sure it's between 4 and 8 thousand years old," he said.

Come again?

"There a bunch of it down here - here, let me show you." We walked over to the bank, and he pointed down to the edge of the stream. Sticking out of the bank under the water was a snag of wood. I stumbled down to it and pointed a questioning finger at it.

"Yeah, that's one of them. They're all over down through there," he replied. My friend went on to explain how you could tell the ancient lumbers approximate age by the angle and depth of the woods deposition. Below the agricultural runoff of the previous century lay the former stream bank. Below this lay gravel and fine grained, wind blown loess clay beds deposited by the glaciers. Sticking out of this was an ugly piece of wood, a little bit too big to call a stick, but not quite big enough to call a log.

As I grabbed hold and pulled the stinking, mud-covered branch out of the bank, my imagination swam with the possibilities...

By its appearance, it was one of the primary branches from a large evergreen, perhaps either a hemlock or a spruce. It is almost certain that the tree provided shade and cover to a wide range of animal life: 1,000 years ago bear, carnivorous cats, rodents and ungulates such as deer, elk, moose and woodland caribou prowled the Wisconsin woods. If the piece of wood turns out to be truly ancient, that is, 6,000 to 8,000 years old, then it's quite possible that maybe a wooly rhinoceros or even a mammoth had browsed along it's branches.

The tree might have shaded this same creek, and while it's almost certain that this little river was running then as it is now in this general area, it is anybodies guess where exactly the stream bed lay that long ago. It would take a major excavation of the entire area to figure that out, and that isn't the point of this project. But if this was the streams original bed, brook trout were here. It would be something like a poem to say that the fish flashing beneath our feet were ancestors of Pleistocene brookies, but that is probably not the case: most of Wisconsin's brookies, except in a few rare cases, came decades ago from Maine, brought here after the original stocks were choked out of Wisconsin's streams by logging and agricultural runoff.

If the branch turns out to be not quite as old as we hope, the possibilities still remain amazing. Perhaps the tree this branch came from sheltered some of the earliest Wisconsinites. I watched my dark haired daughter playing in the creek; I could imagine a similar daughter 2,000 years ago, playing under the majestic evergreen that my stick came from. Kneeling at the base of the tree among its gnarled roots, she would have laughed into the shady, sunlit gloom as the babbling brook splashed her. Or maybe she gazed at an approaching thunderstorm from the tree, clinging to my branch as she worriedly watched the purple clouds build in the West, lightning walking the path of the primitive gods towards her and her families camp...

It's not really much to look at. A little bit too big to call a stick, but not quite big enough to call a log, it smells funny, too. But the story this branch tells is amazing; it's history as vast as the centuries.

Night

2009-03-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

The cool water rushing about my legs is a refreshing reward after slipping along the muggy, weed infested trail. Often out of sight beneath shoulder high grass and weeds, the path is oftentimes a mud-filled trench, worn into the stream bank by perhaps a hundred years worth of fishermen tramping up and down it's banks. A nasty fall is invariably prevented by grabbing at the closest thing available - a handful of nettles. Urtica dioica has been a permanent fixture in my fishing life, going back to the first painful encounter of the noxious weed grabbed as a child in pursuit of a fly fishing father.

I pause at a normal ford point along the stream. The physical act of kneeling down into the water and letting it flow about my legs and waist is sublime. As an excuse to stay put for a spell, I pick a small stone off the bottom and examine its occupants. Several mayfly nymphs scurry for cover amid the upright cones of caddis cases. Next to several frantic scuds, a dragon-like stonefly nymph suddenly moves, breaking his almost perfect camouflage. I put the stone back into its place carefully, lest anyone gets crushed.

Another length of hot, muddy trail. This time it opens into a friend's pasture; a welcome relief from the claustrophobic confines of the trail. A small rise separates me from the stretch of river I want to fish: a wide riffle that turns into a deep pool after taking a 90° turn against a bare limestone cliff.

I take a break: sip some water, sit, listen and watch the sliding river.

In the shimmering, golden light of late afternoon, I watch as the telltale signs of feeding trout unfold below me. From my viewpoint, a swirling mass of caddis appears at first to be a mist traveling over the water, the insects twirling a wild and crazy dance across the surface of the fast moving water. Golden brown flashes just below the surface of the water give away the trout's presence as they gorge on the emergent insects. My fly of choice is a non-descript bead headed olive nymph: fished on a swinging tight line drift, it imitates a wide array of aquatic insect life in its larval/nymphal/emergent forms.

A cast across, a sweeping drift down.

On the third cast my efforts are rewarded with a golden swirl and a suddenly taunt line. My fly line lunges violently, signaling a striking trout, and in an instant goes profanely slack. Quickly retrieving the fly, there is no evidence to suggest why the fish got off: no broken line, no poorly tied knot, no broken hook.

I resume fishing: a cast across, a sweeping drift down.

It is a good evening. In a rhythm learned on the same river bend long ago watching my father, I catch and release the swirling trout. Now and again I change fly patterns; experiments from last winter's tying desk - at last it's time to put them to the test. Out of a dozen or so likely candidates, only one or two will earn their keep over the season and become trout flies; to be tied en-masse on a cold winter's afternoon, with the Adams and the Coachmen, to be handed on to others.

As night falls, my imagination fills the gathering darkness as the sun retreats from the day. Hurried scuttlings in the brush become black, rabid bat-winged creatures intent on attacking my neck. A cow's cough is magnified into something from another planet (Elmwood is not that far away, after all). A distant thunderstorm turns into cattle rustlers, slamming the gates of their truck as they load my neighbor's cattle in the night…

The hot, humid day has turned into a cool summer's night. Despite the booming and banging of the "cattle rustlers", the sky above me is awash with a crystal veil of stars. As the hatch of aquatic insects finish their individual cycles and the river slips into it's nighttime rhythms, so do my tactics change. The tiny nymph is replaced with a huge deer hair dry fly. With a bushy brown stacked deer hair body and wild, peafowl wings, the fly resembles nothing in the natural world, save some sort of demented moth.

Skipping the pretense of a tippet, I tie the fly onto a stout leader and drift it across the pocket water. The fly, it's wing's treated with Felximent, floats like a cork and sputter's seductively as I strip it across likely looking spots. Several small strikes signal that the fish are interested, but not large enough to get this mass of hair and feathers into their mouths. Moving on to the large tail-out below the faster water, I let the fly drift out of sight into the gloom. Two short strips and a tug at the line signal a fish has finally gotten the hook into its mouth. Another, more violent yank on the line and a splash that sounds like a cow jumping into the water signal a large fish.

The memory of the fight that ensued has quickly become a blur, so that now I recall only a tangle of visions: following the fish up and down the pool, a misplaced flashlight, a heart-breaking tangle in the trees above my head, and finally a very large brown trout gently released back into the pool.

The shrill "peeent" cry of the nighthawk breaks the summer night's stillness, signaling it's time to go home. Avoiding the tunnel vision created by a flashlight, I walk by the ambient light from the night sky. The cattle rustlers have left, the cows have turned back into cows, and I'm tired.

Gems

2009-03-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

“Do you really want all these rocks…?”

With the western sky giving off the last orange glow of daylight, my daughter and I were busy on the far side of the river, packing up our things. Bats had started their hectic nighttime feeding flights, and the first fingers of an evening mist had started to slowly slide through the river valley.

“Well, not really all of them, I guess,” was her hesitant reply.

The amateur geologist in me had taken over as I recognized some of her collected “treasures”: a chunk of mundane sandstone, a lump of non-descript basalt, a small pebble of plain white quartz.

“OK then, which ones do you want - what are you going to do with these, anyway?”

“They’re for my collection, Dad.”

Of course, how stupid of me. I rolled up the hat that she had filled with stones, and placed it in the creel, next to the two fish that would be her breakfast the next morning.

It had been an excellent night. We arrived to the river late, and managed to find a deserted few hundred yards of river where we could do “our thing”: namely, my daughter putters about in the river while I fish. Seven years old and intensely curious about river things, she’s good for perhaps twenty minutes of actually fishing with her dad, then it’s off to explore, to gather, to collect.

The fishing was good, but very demanding. A sparse few caddis were hatching, and we had some luck fishing a variety of patterns. She managed to hook a couple of fish on a BiVisable fished quartered and down, but couldn’t hide her disappointment at their size.

“I suppose we can’t keep that one, huh?” she asked hopefully.

“No, he’s pretty puny. Here, let’s put him back in,” I replied. We laughed as the 6-inch fish splashed her as she leaned down to release the small brown.

I constantly switched patterns, as I am oft to do during sparse hatches like the one that night. I counted at least three different and distinct types of caddis flies coming up. We caught fish on nearly every pattern we tried, but it wasn’t until I put on a green-bodied deer hair parachute that the fishing got exciting. The first cast next to a tree extending over the water produced a hefty brook trout. Somehow instantly appearing at my side, my daughter took the fly rod as I handed it to her and excitedly fought the fish to (my) hand. We released the little gem, but a few casts later we were able to land a legal rainbow. I showed her how to quickly dispatch the fish by breaking it’s neck, how to gut the fish, and how to pack the creel with wet grass to lay the fish in to keep it cool.

She eventually bored entirely of fishing, and was off again in pursuit of something else. Intent on fishing, I concentrated on drifting my flies across the feeding lanes. Since my daughter was with, I was armed with two rods, one holding a dry, the other tipped with a wet. I alternated between the two: often times a rise and refusal to the dry would be followed up with a solid hook up on the wet, and vice versa

I was suddenly enveloped in cheap perfume; it was as though a giant church lady had folded me into her huge, bosomy embrace. I looked up, and behind me stood a small bush of white, pink and red crab-apple blossoms.

The shrub shook with laughter, and spoke in the high, piping voice of my daughter:

”Look what I found for Mom!”

I managed another good fish that night, a brown of about 13”; with the rainbow I had caught earlier, we had enough for breakfast for the next morning. By then, she and I were ready to make our way back home, and started the process of packing up our stuff.

As we arrived back at the car and put away our things, I couldn’t help remembering a time years ago, following my own father from the same spot on the river to a car parked on the same road, next to the same bridge. I remember feeling the wet lump of rocks and shells in my pocket; I remember the smell of fresh trout covered with grass.

“Do you really want all these rocks…?”

As I remembered my reaction to the same question posed to me over 30 years ago, I quietly smiled. And so, next to the tube of fly rods, and on top of the wet waders, the dripping, muddy hat full of stones that my daughter had found was placed, nary a one of the priceless gems being left behind.

Butterfly Cards

2009-03-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

We are gradually setting Sophie's butterfly and moth drawings into cards, using the same format that all our Trout Lily Studios greeting cards use (not the geeting cards...):

The Mirror Pool

2009-03-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

(This comes from an event/print idea from earlier this winter. I thought it good to re-capture the story here...)

I slipped on the ice in the driveway the other night and hurt my back.

It was one of those falls, accidents, mishaps, that leaves you lying there like poor old Timmy in the well.

"Oh shit"

you think to yourself when you're staring into the sky with snow drifting over your face, because you find that you can't move your arms or legs.

Like Timmy, your faithful dog comes to your rescue, but she ain't helping much: she licks your face and lays down on the lee side of your body. It doesn't matter much, because you can't speak loud enough to tell her to go get a rope, anyway. You can't even breathe.

And all you can think is "Oh shit....."

It's not until later, when you're warm and sort of comfortable, that you think about how close you came to being taken out by something so stupid. Thoughts of family and memories flood down like a wave: a hot bath will put that kind of perspective on things.

A corner pool, right before nightfall. A few stems of grass hanging over. A fisherman:maybe, maybe not. A big fish being caught: again, maybe, maybe not.

A small, quiet time of the day.

I've had this idea for a print in my head for a long time.

My "ordeal" brought back pleasant memories of fishing with a friend at the end of this last season, and a quick look in my archives found the set of images that brought it all together.

Staying home from work because sitting in a car was extremely painful, I was terrifically bored.

It turns out that sitting hunched over my work table, putting constant pressure on my lats by way of hand carving the wood plates, was/is a terrific sort of therapy for my accident.

I used the same blocks to demonstrate the multi-block woodcut technique, at the Great Waters Expo not long ago in Minneapolis.

The Butterfly Project

2009-03-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

"Copper Swarm" and "Moths" are the first of our series of butterfly and moth posters. Sophie renders the individual insects with colored pencils (Pablo Caran 'd Ache) on Strathmore Heavyweight, and John works the Photoshop voodoo majik to create the one-of-a-kind, never seen in nature "swarms" of butterflies, or iButterflies, if you will (this being a blog and all...)