The Process of Making a Linoleum Block Print.

Here is a beetle linoleum block print.  I am starting to try and develop some ideas for our little guy.

I am inking the linoleum block.

I thought I would print on some different surfaces than I usually would.  This is on canvas.

This is a print of the beetle on paper.

Here is a beetle linoleum block print.  I am starting to try and develop some ideas for our little guy.

Print on wood veneer.

This print is on acetate.  I am trying to make up faux transparencies to practice coloring.

This is a color study on the wood print. I used acrylic, watercolor and pastel to color it in.  I am noticing too much bleed from this water based printing ink.  I also don't like it when I cover too much of the block printed line with the paint.  It looks a bit messy. I love the colors though!!!

The Art Technique for the New Book Farfalla.

I am working on the art technique for the new book.  I am planning on using a combination of linoleum block printing printed on transparency and watercolor on textured paper for Farfalla. 

I borrowed this transparency from our art director Mike Blanc.  I wanted to practice transferring images from the transparency to see how accurate I could be.   I painted this transferred image with watercolor.  I wasn't sure I could match up the paint underneath with the lines on the overlying transparency.  I think that my linoleum block printing lines are usually thicker than those in this sample, so I shouldn't have a problem with this technique. 

I may try some samples using acrylic paint instead of watercolor.

"Brainstorm to Bookshelf - How a picture book is made." November 11, 2011

Vanita (writer) and Mike Blanc (artist) will appear as the lunch speakers

for a teacher's conference at The University of Akron. There will be 400

teachers in attendance. Their title is "Brainstorm to Bookshelf - How a

picture book is made." They will share the making of several books

including "Bonyo Bonyo, the true story of a brave boy from Kenya." After

their presentation a person from Google will show how to use this book and

show a map of how Dr. Bonyo made his life's journey. This is on November

11, 2011.