Page Two of Gallery Five                                                            click for Page One  Page Three of Gallery Five.

"Snow Through Black Spruce" (left) vinyl block Certainly a vinyl block print has a feel that is impossible to get with other meduims.

"Beaver Lodge" (above)                  "Beaver Lodge and Ridge" (right) ink drawing                                          ink drawing        I was grateful to be back in Canada while doing some of these illustrations. These are sketches I did in November at a nearby beaver pond as studies for the beaver pond vinyl cut. Ivan and I decided to go there on our bicycles (we ride year round), but soon the road became too icy so we parked our bikes under some trees and headed to the pond on foot. By the time I finished these drawings my fingers were well and truly freezing!

"Raven Studies" (left and above) ink and graphite   I plan to do a raven print and these are the preparatory drawings that I did yesterday so that when I start cutting the vinyl I will have these invaluable sketches for reference. I went to the local garbage dump to do them because I knew that I'd be guaranteed to find ravens there. I wasn't disappointed...I counted 30 of them having a hayday picking through the bags of garbage for morsels of thrown away food scraps.

"Wood Stove #6" (right) vinyl block print        Well.....I tried for many hours to get a print that didn't have white flecks of paper showing through the black areas! I experimented with different types of paper, a variety of paints, several methods of applying the paint... all with the same unhappy result. At about 1:00 am, after trying everything I could think of and fighting off the urge to have a screaming and crying fit,  I faced the fact that I was completely and utterly stymied. Reluctantly, I decided to go to sleep instead of endlessly beating the proverbial dead horse. This illustration was chosen for the book.

"Beaver Pond Freezing Over" (left) vinyl block print I tried again in the morning to get a fleck free print. Ivan's offer of help gave me the courage to try once more. That may have been a case of the blind leading the blind...but, at least I had company in my misery!! We still couldn't get a satisfactory print!   I will email Tom and Rob and let them know I've posted these new prints for them to see. I can always hire a professional printer in Thunder Bay to print the vinyl blocks if Tom needs the larger areas to be absolutely solid black. Thankfully, I have that option!  This illustration was chosen for the book.

"Dark Clouds and Rain" (right) vinyl block print   Rob wanted one of the prints to be of a stormy, wild day on Lake Superior. I had images stored in my head from just such a day and I brought them forth to create this scene of wind, waves, and rain. This illustration was chosen for the book.

"Summer River" (left) vinyl block print This print is of water lilies on a northern Ontario river. This illustration was chosen for the book.

"Raven" (right) vinyl print This illustration was chosen for the cover of the book.

"Wood Stove 5#" (left) vinyl cut       This is Page Two of Gallery Five click for Page One  Page Three  of Gallery Five    You are now in Gallery Five  Galleries  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8  9