reduction woodcut, gouache

15x23" woodcut on 18x24" paper, 2024, variable edition of 6

Spring brings banks of golden poppies shoving their way in along the edges of California's roads, and their orange insistence is a reminder to me of a larger system. This is a reminder to me that there is a unseen structure that is a scaffold for all living things.

In a reduction woodcut, the block is printed, then cut away, printed with a different color, cut again, and so on, until the final image is realized. In the process, the block is destroyed and the prints in the edition are the only existing ones of that block.

This piece began with an embossed print of a split-apart lasercut circle with geometric patterns, then had a reduction woodcut with 6 rounds of cutting and printing with gouache mixed with nori paste in the Japanese tradition. Finally, each print was finished by hand with a varied palette of geometric patterns.