My newest drawing – isn’t nature amazing? The female blue crab or Sook, has a red claw and the male or Jimmy, has a blue one. The shape on the underside of the shell is also different. This She/He is divided right down the middle – bilateral gynandromorph.
On a side note, it feels so great to finally use these round sheets of paper that I made over ten years ago.
A title I have stolen from Patricia Edmonds in the January 2017 Issue of National Geographic.
This is not just a drawing. I feel it says something special, so I have moved it from my last post to this one. To quote the NG article: ‘The difference in appearance between a species’ males and females is called sexual dimorphism. The term implies that there’s a bisecting line between sexes, a clear divide. But in the animal kingdom, a lot of creatures straddle it.’
I thought this ‘bilateral gynandromorph’ so beautiful that I had to draw it. And I post it today in support of the Women’s March yesterday, and the spirit of openness and acceptance that it engenders. Get it? En-genders? 🙂
March on ladies, and the gentlemen who support them!
As it has been almost a year to the date since I posted anything, I thought it might be time to end this blog. But after looking at it again I realize that I still enjoy it. So just a small post for now, of some drawings I’ve done this year and one I finished today
After reading about rhinoceros and the horn trade I decided I had to make a new drawing for my animal series on Indian handmade paper. I have been cutting butterflies from atlas paper also and trying to figure out what I want to do with them.
Like the birds that feed off the rhinoceros, I began placing butterflies on the rhino’s back. I decided to cut a flock of smaller butterflies from the Asian maps, as China and Malaysia are the main markets for rhino horns. So I’m back in my Cloud House Studio cutting butterflies.
Ashwin’s Happy New Year card with Big Ben.
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I didn’t think I would write again until traveling to India (or anywhere else worth writing about) but I have had some new developments with Sound Horn Okay! After returning home from India I finally came up with a solution for the book cover (realizing I had to differentiate the cover from the back) and began hand inking the title graphic. I also sold a book, so I made a drop spine box to house it. I have been included in the Spring Printmaking issue #25 of Uppercase Magazine (for the creative and curious) so I thought I would do a little shameless self promotion. Check it out at uppercasemagazine.com. It is a beautiful publication that has had issues on type, children’s books, quilting, calligraphy, color and all things creative, including many articles on living an independent creative life. Now who wouldn’t want that!
I have also submitted Sound Horn Okay! to the Boston Printmakers Biennial 2015 juried exhibition. It is being juried by Willie Cole, whose work I love by the way. Just knowing he is going to lay eyes on my book is thrilling. Wish me luck!
I am amazed at the number of countries that have viewed my blog at indiacloudhouse.com. I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t heard of one of them. Can you guess which one? Perhaps I’m not alone…..
Cambodia
Belgium
Sudan
Brunei
Poland
Switzerland
Pakistan
Iraq
Singapore
Mexico
Phillipines
Brazil
Indonesia
Spain
Vietnam
Egypt
Saudi Arabia
Thailand
Germany
Italy
Hong Kong SAR China
Canada
France
Netherlands
UNited Kingdom
Malaysia
Australia
Tomorrow I’m off to Evanston Print and Paper Shop, where I keep my press, to print the colophon for my book. I’m taking Venkatesh and Ashwin with me for some printing fun. The best way to spend Mothers Day!
Buddhist caves at Ellora
Ellora is a place I have wanted to go to for such a long time, since I was studying Asain art as an undergrad. I don’t know how to describe this experience and it can’t really be explained in pictures either, but here is a taste of the great beauty I experienced. My favorite spot is the Buddhist cave with the ribbed ceiling, and the stupa with Buddha carved into the front. There were very few people when I was there and I was able to sit quietly on the floor and breathe it in. A once in a lifetime experience – the enormity was overwhelming at times. These caves were built by hand from solid rock between the 6th and 9th centuries!
Jain cave
Man from Jain cave
Man blowing into a conch shell on a post in a Jain cave
Three stories of Buddhist monk meditation quarters
Perfectly aligned posts carved from a solid mountain. This cave lacks decoration because it is for meditation. Only the two columns flanking the entrance (halfway down on the right) have carved pots with overflowing plants as a welcome.
Buddhist cave for worshipping the Buddha.
Buddha
Ceiling of cave
Looking out from behind the stupa
The largest Hindu Temple in Ellora. Carved from solid mountain from the top.
This temple is for worshipping the god Shiva. It is built in the shape of a carriage, but instead of wheels it is carried on the backs of elephants and other animals.
Elephants, lions and gryphons supporting the temple
The Hindu temple from behind
Dyes on the studio wall remind me of a Cy Twombly painting.
Yesterday I took a fabric printing workshop at Tharangini in Bengaluru (the city has officially changed it’s name since the last post). It was so much fun to spend time in the studio, touching the beautiful wood blocks and printing with them. We began by practicing on a sheet of wrapping paper and a gift bag. We were then given two cushion covers to design and we could choose from the hundreds of blocks lining the walls. The printing process is quite different from block printing with a brayer and printing ink. The textile color is not as tacky. It is spread onto a flexible support and overlaid with a rough jute fabric for blocks with larger print areas. For finer blocks a fine smooth muslin is put on top of the jute and the ink is encouraged to seep up through the layers.
The owner, Padmini, told us about the history of Tharangini, then introduced us to some of the materials and the steaming process. Everything used in the dying and printing process is Eco friendly and often organic.
Gum Arabic on the upper right and pomegranate rinds on the bottom. The pomegranate makes a dull lime green color.
The steaming area for fixing silk dyes.
The container on top of the red oven in the foreground is where the water is heated, it is then piped into the tall metal cylinder behind, where the fabric is first top loaded and then steamed. The cone in the foreground goes on top.
For me one of the greatest highlights was seeing the teak wood blocks being carved. The artisan had his small chisels custom made in Calcutta. I love how he lightly outlines the pattern first, then carves with chisels and mallet to get a deep relief carving. Teak is a very hard and durable wood. I’m in awe of this craft.
French stitch
Forget Indian sweets, do you know what’s sweet? Seeing the finish line of a project. I should take a personal leave from work more often. 🙂 It’s amazing how much you can get done. I’m nearly finished binding my edition of ‘Sound Horn Okay!’. Only two more to sew and then I’ll be doing the finish work on the covers.
I used sheets of handmade paper from India in various colors and chose the binding thread that looked best with the end sheets. Binding an edition can get pretty boring, mixing up the colors made it a bit more interesting. But it is so satisfying to see them stacked up on the bookshelf! Now it’ll be fun to work on some new things.
Wood blocks drying in the sun.
Two women mixing inks in front of the drying room.
I went to visit Tharangini, (tharangini studio.com), a place on the edge of Sankey Tank in Bangalore that makes block printed fabrics using all natural materials. I had visited before around ten years ago and had forgotten how great this place is. First it is in a beautiful spot on a quiet tree lined street. It’s an enclave in Bangalore, away from the sound and air pollution. They were in the middle of a print run of furnishing fabric designed by Seema Krish. After printing the fabric design, it gets sent to a unit for underprivileged women to have hand stitching. Ten women will work on it at the same time for five hours to complete five meters of cloth.
One of these printers has worked here for decades. He worked for the mother of the current owner, Padmini Govind. Here he is in action, lining up the block for a continuous design. The numbered wood blocks line the walls of the workshop.
Sunitha, my mother in law is having two saris printed. Below, she and my sister-in-law Vinuta are discussing with Padmini to decide which block patterns will work best. I went to see if they could print my truck blocks on fabric. Padmini and her printers ran a test to see how it might work and will continue to try a few different techniques to see how well they can get them to work. My linoleum block prints are shallower than the wood blocks that they use. They also contain large print areas and detailed areas, making it difficult to get a good print using their usual technique. They proposed thickening up their printing ink to make it stickier and using a brayer instead of dipping the block in a tray of ink. I am excited to see their results! I am also going for a workshop on November 5th to learn their fabric printing technique. I’ll let you know how it goes!
While in India I have been working on binding my book ‘Sound Horn Okay’, a book about Indian wheeled transportation. I have made the prototype, which is Ashwin’s copy, and I’m working on the first of an edition of ten. I plan to have them completed by the time I return to Chicago. Hot off the presses and ready to sell! 🙂
Below are examples of a few of the finished pages.
indiacloudhouse 