Printmaking: "Children at Play, book"

Y'all remember my Occshell, right? He is one of my Lunamals! Well I finally figured out a way to incorporate him into my current body of work. After my previous disaster in Printmaking, I decided to go back to something I know and I am good at, relief. Linoleum if my bread a butter in printmaking and when push comes to shove it is what I love the most.

My first project in Ceramics was "Children at Play" a piece which features a girl who will be sitting against a children at play sign reading a book. But what book will she be reading? I am glad you asked. I can't get the Lunamals out of my brain so why not start writing the book that took up so much of my time this summer. The page my ceramic piece will be reading will be an excerpt from a field journal I have been wanting to write about the world I created in which the Lunamals live. Being one of my first Lunamals I felt it appropriate to illustrate the first meeting with the strange creature, the Occshell.

This 12"x 8" piece was pretty straight forward. I did two relief prints in three color reduction to create a full image of an Occshell in one corner and the scene that was illustrated in the words on the opposite page. The words were done using photo emulsion screen printing. I also took one of the prints and did a quick water color layer on top. That gave the desired effect I was looking for.  Check out each layer in the images.

I am pleased with the piece and it has definitely made me more excited to continue this story. Who knows where else these little Lunamals will take me.

Here is the story I wrote...
"On my second day traveling up the side of the mountain, I cam across a different type of Lunamal. I almost missed them as I made my way up the rough trail because their shells blended into the mossy trail. I would have passed them all by, if they were not the reason for the trail being present at all. Their camouflage is very misleading, and I now understand why these Lunamals are not afraid of leaving a trail for other predators. The group was resting under what little shade the vine trees gave. There were 14 in all. Three of the massive ancient looking creatures dozed locked away in their large shells while the 11 younglings played in a small pool carved into the thick rock that made up the mountain's surface.

I have decided to name them Occshell. When I first saw these Lunamals, they resembled animals from Earth's Oceans. It looked like an octopus wearing a turtle's shell. I was surprised by the Occshell's variation in size. The largest was six-foot long and looked as if it had seen more seasons on this planet than I ever hoped too. The younglings, however were barely larger than my forearm and their colors shimmered as they swirled across their smooth shells. It was mesmerizing to watch.

As I crept into the clearing, my boot dislodged a small rock. The rock hit the rocky terrain and alerted the creatures to my presence. The heads of the three adults whipped around to stare at me as I intruded on their peaceful rest. I suddenly froze. After a few heart pounding minutes, the Occshells decided I was not dangerous and returned to their nap. All of the adult Occshells laid back down, but one on of them had their eyes fixated on me as I slowly backed away. She was the smallest of the three but could probably still crush me under the vast weight of her shell. I wold have to come back another time, when they were awake and less grumpy to have a better chance to study these Lunamals."