A Crash of Rhinos

I've always loved terms of venery. My copy of An Exaltation of Larks (by James Lipton) is jokingly subtitled or, The Venereal Game. The terms of venery are those weird collective nouns, sometimes evocative, sometimes odd and obscure, for groups of animals (and other things). Like, "a crash of rhinoceri" or "an exaltation of larks" or "a murder of crows".

This linocut shows a crash of rhinos in all senses of the words. Though would one really need multiple rhino before a "crash" would be a good description? Luckily, my crash of rhino are all on paper. These three are all headed for collision. The typography of the words represents their meaning; "crash" appears to implode and the stout letters of "Rhinos" are adorned with horn-like serifs.

I considered the various versions of the name of the beast and its plural. Apparently, all of the following are acceptable: several rhino, rhinoceros, rhinos, rhinoceroses, or rhinoceri. I prefer the elegance of rhinoceri over the absurdity of rhinoceroses (say that out loud five times fast), but decided that "rhinos" has the advantage of being pithy and obviously plural.



These linoleum block printed rhinoceri are printed in dark gold ink with gold and turquoise words on Japanese kozo, or mulberry paper. Each print is 12.5" by 10" or 31.7 cm by 25.4 cm in dimension. There are 6 prints in the edition.

This is the first of a new series.

Scrappy Strip Quilt - and butterflies, dinosaurs, fractals and more

I finished my quilt. I was torn on whether I wanted to block print the fabric or not... but I'm glad I did. Here's the reverse:



I made this quilt with stripes of fabric scraps from my stash, including vintage thrifted fabrics and contemporary prints. I block printed the sashing with my own carved monarch butterfly lino block. The reverse is a patchwork with the green sashing fabric, rectangles of the fabrics used on the front and a series of my block prints on fabric including a dinosaur, jellyfish, bees, butterflies, Russian nesting dolls, a fractal triangle, a quail, a rhino, and a blue whale. The quilting is done in a couple of variegated threads, by machine. The quilt is 39 inches by 57 inches (1 m by 146 cm), maybe the size of a child's bed.



Pretty nifty what one can do with scraps, imagination and patience, no?