Carving Landforms

I haven't had time to post to my blog since before the holidays, not so much because of the holidays themselves but because my five-year-old Mac is finally dying. I've been in what I can only call "computer purgatory." But I did manage some carving before the new year.  

Using reference satellite photos from Google Maps of an area in Sudan where villages have been burned, I made a sketch to guide my carving of the landforms. I printed the sketch, pasted it face down to my plate, and then peeled off the top layers to reveal the (now inverted) sketch. A little bit of mineral oil can be used to make the remaining paper completely transparent. 

Here's how the block looked after I carved it. After this I'll wash off the remaining paper and move on to the next block.