17 December 2008

Colonial Clouds

I love my local public library. I found a book there called A Dictionary of Colonial American Printers' Ornaments & Illustrations and I've been poring over it for days.

Colonial Illustrations

All of the ornaments and illustrations in the book are relief prints produced in the American colonies from 1639 through 1773. As I looked through the book I noticed what seems to be a convention in depicting clouds, especially clouds that reveal some sort of apparition or miraculous event. The clouds are kind of round and puffy.

ColonialClouds

I decided to make the clouds in this print round too, but rather than carving concentric circles to define the roundness I wanted to make the clouds round in a moku hanga sort of way, just using color. Here's my version of round clouds:

RoundClouds

8 comments:

Zach VanDeHey said...

ahh nice, its fun to watch a print come along layer by layer. I can't wait to see what you add next

Lana Lambert said...

Cumulus clouds heavy with omens!

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

And sandwiched between clouds and sea?????BTW I got this book for my dad for his birthday, thanks for the gift idea.

Annie B said...

Hi Zach - thanks for saying hello. d.moll, is your dad a historian? a printer? Glad to help with your gift hunt :)

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

R and D in the silicon industry and a University prof, now quite retired and turning 88, fancies himself a history buff, just read the newest one on Grant.

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

Oh, ha. ha. I meant the Mayflower, not Printer's Ornaments....

Annie B said...

Oh, MAYFLOWER! I was insanely jealous when I thought you bought him Printers' Ornaments. Mayflower is great. I just spoke with a friend yesterday who also read it and found it surprisingly riveting. Eighty eight -- how 'bout that.

Anonymous said...

I scanned your blog and thoroughly enjoy your wood block prints; they're stunning!