Diana #AtoZChallenge

        Welcome to the April A to Z Blog Challenge!  My theme this year is Relief Printed Alphabet Squared, an alphabet of alphabets illustrated with relief block prints.  As usual, I began early, but you can find out more about the A to Z Challenge here.

        We start today with the Wildflower Alphabet of Diana Pomeroy.  I had previously featured her counting book, but this is my first time sharing anything from her alphabet.  Pomeroy’s block printing method is unique among all the alphabets I’m sharing in this year’s challenge: she uses potatoes!  (You can read more about that medium here.)  Her D is Dandelion, and I do like this one very much.  You can see very clearly here her interesting mix of relief and intaglio effects.  That is, they’re relief prints because the ink is spread on the raised surface of the carved block.  But sometimes there is also a different color of ink pressed down into carved lines, which also prints, and that’s intaglio.  I had a very difficult time picking just one other flower to share because I love so many of them, but I’ve settled on the Nasturtiums at N.

        Today’s bonus alphabet is from David Frampton.  I’ve mentioned his ABC before, and shared B, R, W, X, and Z.  Of course today I have D’s Dinosaur.  I think my favorite might be R with its almost pointillist sense of color and texture, but in order to share something new today I’ve selected A for Alligator.  Frampton makes his wood block prints with a separate block for each color, so you can see that these require the carving and printing of 4-5 blocks each.  The designs have a clear sense of fitting into the rectangle of the blocks, which is then the rectangle of the page in the book.

        Today I also invite you to revisit James Dodds, from whom I’ve already shared D (Dhow), so today I’ll share Q (Quoddy sloop).  You can also go back and visit C, S, W, X, and Y from his linoleum block printed Alphabet of Boats.  In a dramatic contrast from Frampton, Dodds’s boats are small, but very bold and simple.

        Of course the moral of the three different artists at D, with their three different and widely diverse relief block printing techniques, is that you need never weary of block printmaking, because there’s always something new.

        And also, anything that can be carved can be printed!  (Although possibly not everything should be carved and printed, so don’t do anything rash…)

        So, what’s your favorite medium for creativity?  Is it watercolors, knitting, origami, or glassblowing?  Or is it cooking, dancing, bagpipes, or writing memoir?  This is creativity I’m asking about, so it could be just about anything!  

(But admit it, relief block printing’s one of the best!)

[Pictures: Dandelion, Nasturtium, potato prints by Diana Pomeroy from Wildflower ABC, 1997;

Dinosaur, Alligator, woodcuts by David Frampton from My Beastie Book of ABC, 2002;

Quoddy sloop, linoleum block print by James Dodds from Alphabet of Boats, 1998.]