Sunday, July 11, 2010

View 1 - 36 Views of Devils Tower

The first print in my new series titled "36 Views of Devils Tower". This series is a blatant ripoff of the "36 Views of Mt Fuji" series of color woodblock prints by Katsushika Hokusai. That series shows Mount Fuji in different seasons and in different weather conditions from a different places and distances, so mine will do the same with Devils Tower being the focus.

After spending lots of time driving all around Devils Tower and taking pictures of it in all seasons, all weather conditions, and from all angles, the print series was a natural offshoot of Tower influence. My prints will be a combination of black and white lino, black and white woodblock, handcolored and color lino and woodblock images. I have enough images to do my thirty six prints, and thanks to the generosity of friends, even have some images from angles I wouldn't have normally gotten without a difficult climb or airplane flight.

Each image will only have 10 prints made, for a final total of 360 prints of the Tower. I plan on doing alternate prints from some images (such as handcolored images from the black and white print) so the final total will be more, but the official version is 36 Views, 360 prints from every conceivable angle.

How long is this going to take? I don't know, but it will be a fun project while it lasts. Even at one print a month it will keep me out of trouble for a few years, although I plan on doing them a bit faster than that, I hope. Print two is already being run and print three is drawn out but not carved. So we'll see.

Here is the first print in the series - the official Black and White print, and a hand colored variant.

View 1 - 36 Views of Devils Tower

Linoblock print
Paper size: 11 x 13 inches
Paper: Stonehenge
Edition: 10

View 1 detail - 36 Views of Devils Tower




View 1 Variant - 36 Views of Devils Tower

Linoblock print
Handcolored
Paper size: 11 x 13 inches
Paper: Stonehenge
Edition: 4


View 1 Variant detail- 36 Views of Devils Tower



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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your fascination with Devil's Tower leaves me with but one question.

When is the mothership coming??

Cool subject,cool blog,no wonder we don't hear from you,as you are always creating something!

And what better way to break in a new blog,than with an "Anon" post! :)

Constance Brewer said...

Questions about the mothership are best handled by the government. Oh, wait a minute...
Of course a 'first post' by Anon is always appropriate.

Unknown said...

These prints look great! My son does printmaking. I'm going to have to share.

Devil's Tower was also one of the first "out west" spots I took my son to when he was a kid and I introduced him to the idea of the road trip. Familiar and compelling territory, with or without that mothership.

Gabriele Campbell said...

That one's a lot more fun than the Views from my Balcony, which get a bit boring in the long run. ;)

That's why I travel around to find fun stuff to photograph.

Constance Brewer said...

Kathleen - what kind of printmaking does your son do? I'm mostly a relief printmaker.
Devils Tower makes a good destination. Of course I have it to myself during the winter - easier to signal the mothership!

Constance Brewer said...

Gabriele - your "Scenes from a balcony" are interesting to me. A different POV. :)

Unknown said...

Hello again! Shawn has done all kinds of printmaking, including woodcut (although it's been quite a while) and metal plate (sorry, non visual artist here - can't remember what you call that kind of printmaking, so I'll have to ask him for the right name). He's been doing more mixed media stuff with paint and found objects the past couple of years, so I'm not even sure if he has any prints up on his web page on mnartists.org right now. You can find him under Shawn Dalsen. He also does work with a Minneapolis art collective called Rogue Citizen. I have a print he made that was a self-portrait - black ink on blue paper that is one of my favorites.

Constance Brewer said...

Kathleen - I found his artwork on the site you mentioned. Neat stuff!

Unknown said...

Hey, I'm glad you got to check out Shawn's work! We're headed to a closing reception for a show he is part of with Rogue Citizen in Minneapolis tonight. I'm nudging him to look at your prints.
Later!