This Week's Post: Young Wolf-- Beginning of the Woodcuts

This weekly blog post and its host website cover a wide variety of Fred Montague's environmental commentaries, gardening topics, and wildlife/art activities.  Please browse the website and the blog archives for topics you are interested in. 

---

Young Wolf-- Beginning of the Woodcuts

The first woodcut I published is the "Young Wolf."  In 1997 I experimented with printing woodcut images on my 1913 Golding letterpress after having printed pages for my artists' books and letterpress prints.  

The woodcut images are in contrast to my previous drawings and prints.  Those incorporated much more fine-line detail.  The woodcuts, some of which are nearly silhouettes, emphasize shape, negative space, and hints of detail. 

A professor of visual psychology remarked to me at a recent art exhibit that my woodcuts were striking in their high-contrast (black/white) presentation and their subtle hint of important information.  In what I took for a compliment, he concluded by saying they conveyed important information-- just as a highway warning sign.

The "Young Wolf" print is a signed, limited edition of 88.  The image is 8" x 5.5" and I mat them in white for a 14" x 11" frame.  The edition is about half sold-out.

My latest woodcut, "Snowy Owl," featured in the July 20th blog post, is one of four in an owl series that I hope to complete in the next three months.

From the Gallery: Fred's Woodcut, "Young Wolf"

"Young Wolf" is the first in the current series of thirty-three woodcut prints. To produce each woodcut, Fred carves away the negative space of the image on a maple block, leaving the surface to be inked. He then prints the edition on his 1913 letterpress. The bold silhouette of the woodcut prints present a striking contrast to the detailed pen-and-ink drawings that comprise another part of his work. 

A few of these prints are still available.

From the Gallery: "Stalking Wolf"

"Stalking Wolf" is one of several sold-out print editions.  The original pen-and-ink drawing, made in 1973 when I was a graduate student at Purdue, depicts one of Erich Klinghammer's first wolves at his North American Wolf Park in Battle Ground, Indiana.  Erich had invited me to his facility to obtain photographic reference materials for my drawings.  The wolf, named "Koko" was, in fact, stalking me.  

The edition of 100  photolithographs was issued in 1973, and it sold out in 1983.

"Stalking Wolf", a sold-out print edition by Fred Montague