Little Bow-Wow Series: The Crying Girl of Kyoto!

There really is a perception that if you know the ballet studies, you know Degas. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Like Picasso, Degas was a relentless innovator in everything he did -- in drawing, in printmaking, in photography.

~Edward Saywell

I'm gearing up for the big show at the Penticton Art Gallery in September. (More info to follow) but in the meantime, a month of cutting paper has finally come to an end for the "Little Crying Girl of Kyoto." It's a run of 20 artist proofs, 19 of them will hit the public soon.

(I have to keep one for myself, don't I?)

Here's how she was created:

First, I carved this block in Taiwan about ten years ago, but never had the time to print it properly. I even brought this block to Shanghai where it sat in my shelf for a few years, then in a box in Canada for a few years. When I was offered a show at the Penticton Art gallery, I went to the Okanagan, went through my boxes, and found the plates I had never printed. (More to follow! She's not the only one I haven't finished!)

So I printed her, and began collaging coloured acid-free paper over her. The pieces will be printed over one more time so it's best the colours bump up against each other instead of overlapping, because the ink has more of a change of getting where it needs to go.

Prints ready to be glued on!

This is pretty much how it's done. Yes, it's tedious.

Some pieces are reallly small!

I made twenty four collages, so to get to this stage took me about a month. Still, I have no idea how it's going to really look until I print it.

Time to bring the plate out again!

The plate itself took me a few weeks to carve out.

A non printed and a printed version.

Twenty four prints later, I have twenty nice ones and lost four.

This is to be expected with printing!

I love pulling prints off the plate. It's like Christmas!

After such a long wait Did it work? How does it look?

Yay! I like it!

Only three plates to go! But I assure you, I won't be printing 20 this time!

The Penticton Art Gallery opening is September 15th.

I hope to see you there!

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xxMelanie