Woodcuts

At a standstill on some paintings recently, I began to draw.  Maybe the simplicity of black and white will help me focus on the image I can see so clearly in my mind’s eye.  Mountain forms and memory.  It’s not an easy thing to pull an image out from inside oneself, so different from landscape painting, looking out and reflecting back.  I want to step outside to re-set my eyes (and my vision) by looking at the mountains all around me, but that’s not where I am right now, so…   I thought I would start doing some woodcuts and see if they get me any closer.

Here it is, 16 x 20, in its current state:

What makes printmaking so wonderful is that by taking proof prints as your cutting progresses, you create a record of its evolution. Here is an earlier state:

And a shot of the woodblock after its first inking.  The scratched lines show up very well.