March 18, 2019

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 


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

5 comments:

Jade Li said...

What material are you carving? I think your artwork is amazing.

A Tarkabarka Hölgy said...

I am always fascinated with folklore that springs up around volcanoes. And the illustration is amazing!

The Multicolored Diary

Trisha Faye said...

What a fun theme! You did an amazing job on the block print. Very creative.

Rob Z Tobor said...

Well thank you very much for your visit to my blog. I do like you artwork I dont think I realized it was all your own work when I visited the first time. I can't remember to be honest, my brain is slowly crumbling and does not entirely work efficiently these days.

Anyway I think I said I was impressed last time I was here and I am still impressed so that must be a good sign . . . .


Good luck and I will try and return again soon . . . .

Rob Z Tobor

Deborah Weber said...

Oh I can't believe I haven't heard of Cherufes before. You have me quite literally wanting to create one of those paper mache volcanos kids make for science projects, except I want mine to have a shell that lifts off to expose a Cherufe.

I'm happy for the explanation of a reduction print as well Anne.