Libra

The silver stars and silhouette of Libra the scales are illustrated in this handmade block print. If you imagined all celestial bodies we see in the night sky as mapped onto a sphere (the Celestial Sphere) around our Earth, the ecliptic would be the line you would draw to map the apparent path of the Sun through the various constellations. The ecliptic appears as the dashed line across the print. The word Libra and symbol ♎ appear at the top of the image. The lines linking the constellation appear in silver-on-blue or blue-on-silver as appropriate. Parts of the Scorpius, Hydra and Serpens Caput constellations are visible surrounding Libra. I printed an edition of 15 prints, 9 inches by 7 inches (22.9 cm by 17.8 cm) on lovely, deep blue, handmade, Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper with silk fibres.

I'm down to two Zodiac constellations. I carved all the animals (or composite creatures) first, the this one (inanimate object) and left the people for last. As RJH is always saying, there is no such thing as a generic person. I managed Aquarius, but considering the underlying myth, to figure out how to make a specific water bearer. I hope this approach works for Virgo and Gemini too.

Aries Constellation

The white stars and silhouette of Aries the ram are illustrated in this handmade block print. I printed an edition of six prints, 8.75 inches by 7.5 inches (22 cm by 19 cm) on lovely, deep blue, handmade, Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper. The word Aries and symbol ♈ appear at the base of the image, with an actual star at the apparent dot on the 'i'. The lines linking the constellation appear in white-on-blue or blue-on-white as appropriate.



Aries has been identified as a ram since Babylonian times. It later became associated with the ram whose fleece became the Golden Fleece in Ancient Greece. If you imagined all celestial bodies we see in the night sky as mapped onto a sphere (the Celestial Sphere) around our Earth, the ecliptic would be the line you would draw to map the apparent path of the Sun through the various constellations. The ecliptic is marked as the dashed line in this print. Since the constellation of Aries straddles the ecliptic, its stars were incorporated into different constellations in different cultures, including twin inspectors in China and a porpoise in the Marshall Islands. The modern International Astronomical Union includes all the surrounding stars shown in this print as part of the Aries constellation.

Taurus constellation linocut

Since I finished my Chinese Zodiac series I've been thinking of making a Western Zodiac series. I'm interested in how the myths and stories we told ourselves evolved into observational science (and thus how astrology, though it may irk my astronomer friends, was a progenitor of astronomy, as alchemy lead to chemistry and some physics). I started with my own 'sun sign', Taurus.

The silver stars and silhouette of Taurus the bull are illustrated in this handmade block print. I printed an edition of eight prints, 7.5 inches by 10 inches (19 cm by 24.8 cm) on lovely, handmade, Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper with a deckle edge. The word Taurus and symbol ♉ appear at the top of the image. The lines linking the constellation appear in black-on-silver or silver-on-black as appropriate.

Taurus is one of the oldest constellation. It contains the bright clusters Hyades (on the face of the bull) and the Pleiades (on its shoulder), as well as the red giant star, Aldebaran (the bull's right eye), all of which can be clearly seen with the naked eye. This grouping of stars has been recognized and interpreted as a bull since the Bronze Age, in the mythologies of Ancient Greece, Egypt and Babylon. It is one of 48 constellations recognized by Ptolemy. Since Taurus is one of the prominent constellations which crosses the ecliptic, it is one of the signs of the Western zodiac. If you imagined all celestial bodies we see in the night sky as mapped onto a sphere (the Celestial Sphere) around our Earth, the ecliptic would be the line you would draw to map the apparent path of the Sun through the various constellations. The ecliptic is marked as the dashed line in this print.

Year of the Dragon Print Show

This weekend, we visited PROOF Gallery to drop off my 'Long: the Dragon' linocuts for the 11th International Print Exhibition and ExchangeCelebrating The Chinese New Year Year of the DRAGON 2012. Follow the link to see all the submitted prints as the arrive (or the submission call if you're a printmaker). I'll let you know about exhibition details in January. My print and prints from around the world will be displayed at PROOF Gallery (in the Distillery District, Toronto), OCADU in Toronto, Ottawa School of Art and the Muskoka Art Place Gallery. You can also find it here and a variation on the theme here. I've enjoyed participating in their Year of the Tiger and Year of the Rabbit shows previously. I love seeing all the different takes on the theme. Since I created my Chinese Zodiac Series before becoming involved in these exhibits, my take is pretty literal, but some artists are much less literal (like the NSFW takes on 'rabbit' or 'bunny' last year). I wonder what they'll come up with this year?

In other things from secret minouette places news, I re-divided my shop. Previously, I had the 'Linocut Chinese Zodiac', 'Scientist Portraits' and a general 'Printmaking' categories. I'm trying a scheme more like the one in my head: 'Linocut Chinese Zodiac', 'Science and Scientists', 'Natural History Prints' and 'UnNatural History'. Does that make sense to you? I want flora and fauna in 'Natural History' and you know, harpies and unicorns in 'UnNatural History' (along with the odd inanimate human-made object).

waterlily

InkySpider, textile artist extraordinaire has featured my Frog and Lily print in her Trans-Canada Etsy Team round-up of gifts for CANCER - The Crab. Thanks Inky!

Edit: Oh, I wish I could spell.