Signpost: of Alchemists and Illustrations

         This weekend I’ll be at Boskone, so here’s the usual roundup of posts that I think people attending my various panels may wish to refer to.  In addition, since one of the panels is on illustration and we don’t have a big screen to show visual aids, I thought I’d post some examples of various illustration techniques I’ve used, so that the curious can have a look.

Block Printing Demo and Mini Workshop - You can always find my handout here.  Plus here are a few posts with some basic printmaking instructions and projects you could try.  (Or if you want more options, try the Step-By-Step label.)

        First Experiments

        Everyday Printmaking Supplies

        One Inch Stamp Project

        Block Prints: Ink or No Ink

Using Different Art Mediums for Illustration - Obviously my primary medium is relief block printmaking, but in addition I’ve used “faux block printing” done digitally, and I’ve done collage (a hybrid of physical collage and digital manipulation of scanned pieces).  The first picture above is a rubber block print illustration from Hey, Diddle Diddle! and Other Rhymes.

        Next is a spread from On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination.  I did an entire A to Z series on the book, with lots of illustrations here.

        Then here’s a selection of illustrations from The Extraordinary Book of Doors.  Some are block prints, such as the Autumn Clematis in Springtime, while others are Faux Woodcuts.

        And then I’ve posted one of the block prints for my next book, Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns, coming in April!  (This book will be the subject of this year’s A to Z Challenge, so I won’t say more about it yet.)

        Here’s a post about another book I illustrated with block prints: This Holy Day

        And here’s one with a real and a faux print from another project: Periodic Table of Aliens

        Moving on to other mediums I’ve used for illustration, A is for Arches shows a collagraph/gelli print/collage that appears in Bittersweetness & Light.

       The next picture here today includes two of my page spreads for the picture book Approved!, which I illustrated with a collage process that involved both actual collage and digitally manipulating collage elements that I scanned.  You can read just a little bit about it here.

        And finally, there’s a picture of some quilts I’ve made.  They aren’t illustrations in a book, but it’s a technique that certainly could be used for illustration.  And another quilt “illustration” posted here.

All About Alchemy and Alchemists - Here’s a collection of posts that are at least alchemy-adjacent

        The Philosopher’s Stone - the history, background, and how to make it

        Mystery Manuscript - the Voynich Manuscript

        The Prague Golem

        G is for Gnome - just a mention of alchemist Paracelsus

        Elizabeth I - contains a brief excerpt from the dedication of an alchemy text by Rabbards

        I Give You Athanasius Kircher - my favorite seventeenth century polymath

                plus Kircher’s Dragons!

        In addition, as always, there will be the readings with Broad Universe and lots of work (72 pieces!) in the Art Show.  I’m so very grateful that I get to do these things I love and share them with others!

[Pictures: Jack Sprat, and His Wife Rosie, rubber block print from Hey, Diddle Diddle! and Other Rhymes by AEGNydam, 2005;

Of the Qilin, rubber block print illustration from On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination by AEGNydam, 2019;

A collection of doors, illustrations from The Extraordinary Book of Doors by AEGNydam, 2014;

Incident at Bullion Mill, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2025 (Image from NydamPrints.com);

Illustrations, collage by AEGNydam from Approved! by Nancy L. Haines, 2016;

Animal Houses on the Water, quilts by AEGNydam, 2004.]