C is for Cherufe

        My theme for this year’s April A-Z Blog Challenge is fantastical creatures, celebrating my upcoming book, On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination, which will be released by the end of the year.  Please take a look at my Kickstarter Campaign for this project!

        “There dwell in the heart of the tall and jagged mountains of Chile in the south, creatures roughly human in form, but with scaly skin of stone, and core of fiery magma.  Cherufes are known for their fierce and angry nature, and they rattle the very mountains from within, and hurl hot rocks from their molten cores.  Their tantrums cause the mountains to smoke and flame, and their discontent shakes the earth.”

        My illustration of the cherufe is a reduction print, meaning that I first carved my block only for the areas that are white, and printed with orange.  (In this case I tried to blend a little yellow near the cherufe’s face for extra glow, although it wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped.)  I then carved the same block further, carving out the areas that would remain orange, and then I printed again with black ink atop the previous first-layer prints.  I had a lot of fun imagining the monster throwing a tantrum in the core of the mountain, personifying rage.

        But the alphabet of mythical creatures doesn’t stop there.  The other animal representing C is the capybureau.  And, as always, you have to click the link to read 

the entire post about Mythical Creatures of the Letter C.

[Picture: Angry Mountain, rubber reduction print by AEGN, 2018.]