4" X 6 Block Prints

Grouper - front half of block print

 Each of these three prints was created as a 4" X 6" block print to use with greeting cards.  (Can you tell which two of these fish actually used the same block/??)   Since this minibook (and all of my minibooks,) are 'just for fun' endeavors, it made good sense to me to put the block to use here. 

Triggerfish #2 - front half of block print

Since I so seldom use water color medium, I decided to try that here - you can see WHY I so seldom use water color ANYTHING.  It works to make the secondary color cohesive, but is not particularly attractive.  I suppose it would make a difference if the fish had been printed using black ink instead of different shades of the secondary palette.......all in all........  a great experiment! 

Triggerfish #1 - front half of block print

Another aspect of rendering these fish "less than stellar" is the magnification of the image.  Block prints were not intended to be electronically altered, or enlarged.  Of course, this technique was developed LONG before electronic duplication and/or manipulation was even a glimmer of a thought.  The Babylonians and Egyptians even developed duplicate-printing devices, but not for mass production or manipulation of the image like we do today.  Did Albrecht Durer's thought go beyond mass printing to mass manipulation???  Hmmmmm??????