Color Woodblocks
Unique Prints
My color prints use layered imagery, diverse color systems and transparency to achieve their rich, complex surfaces, from which calligraphic lines, written forms, organic and geometric shapes, maps and hidden messages slowly emerge. In order to employ color in selected areas, my woodcuts use meticulously cut printing stencils. I use the conceptual methods of making a silkscreen when developing my woodcut images. Like silkscreen, a method I pursued for many years, my image is comprised of multiple layers in both its making and printing. This approach has offered me many options that are outside of the traditional norms in making woodcuts.
In developing my digital drawings I can create independent images from the layers of my initial image. Although based off of the same matrix, these new iterations have no connection with each other, besides possibly overlapping in several areas. Since the different blocks (usually three) are derived from the same matrix, I can print them together, as a multi-plate block or as a stand-alone print.
I use my printing process to make print editions and unique (mono-print) images. When printing unique pieces, the process determines image placement by using detailed stencils attached to each print; open areas receive color, and like silkscreen, the blocked areas resist it. The stenciled print is arbitrarily placed on the inked block, enabling the mystery of printmaking to reveal its magic with each pass through the press. Every image is treated differently, so as to seek new solutions and color combinations in my finished pieces.
My prints are deeply influenced by my travels to Japan and Asian print culture, most notably through their design and Japanese based color palettes. This method of working has introduced spontaneity into my printing process and its results, as my images, made from multiple interchangeable blocks and the color relationships made through combining transparent hues are actualized once the image is printed. This becomes especially apparent in my Embedded Fragments and Entangled Encryptions series.
