kara lovejoy

Kara Lovejoy
Relief Printmaking: The Woodcut
Project 1: Part A
February 2, 2009

As an artist I have always been interested in textures and sequences of lines and shapes. I look forward to exploring and creating images through the use of negative and positive space. My body of work will be about life focusing on images of the “Tree of Life”. I decided to focus on this because I think it will be very interesting to work with ideas and images that remind us of life. With this in mind I could also incorporate the idea of death and how from death comes new life. I believe that through this theme I will be able to get creative with my mark making and carving techniques.
I have always been interesting in the idea of the tree of life because it represents the interconnectedness of all life on Earth. I hope to take this mystical concept and make it more concrete in my use of imagery. I also like the thought that with trees we have oxygen and life. More reasons that I decided to work with the tree of life is because I want to be able to represent it in my own artistic way. I want to be able to show other people how I would represent the tree of life. I look forward to incorporating organic as well as manmade items into my images. I have always been interested in the texture of bark and leaves and I hope to explore them through the carving process.
An image that really grabbed my attention while thinking up a theme for this semester’s work was “Spendthrifts Running through the Wood of the Suicides” by Gustave Dore. I love how there are men intertwined into the trunks of the trees. I made me think that I could incorporate images into the trees that I will be drawing. The limbs of the trees fascinate me because of the way that they are drawn as well as the idea that the limbs and roots of the trees become the limbs of the men. Gustave Dore literally makes the trees come alive and I find that very exciting. The branches make your eyes move around to page to see how everything is connected. I also enjoyed how the artist used the interesting lines to emphasize the bark on the trees as well as the musculature of the men that are intertwined.
After doing a bit of research I came across an artist named Domenico Campagnola who has a few works of art with trees in them. I liked how Campagnola used different types of lines in order to create his image. An example of his work is called “Shepherds in a Landscape”. I like the texture that Domenico Campagnola used in bring the trees to life in the “Shepherds in a Landscape”.
Another artist that influenced my idea for my series of work is Hokusai. This artist created images such as “The Great Wave” and “Boy Viewing Mt. Fuji”. I admire works by Hokusai because all of his images have a distinct style and use of lines and shapes. I also enjoy works by Hokusai because I feel as though he appreciates nature and has translated what he has seen into his own representation. I hope that by the end of the semester I will have learned to create my own style of woodcutting. I also hope that my body of work will become a successful series.
These artists lead me to my theme because I want to incorporate harmonious images as well as texture and skilled line work. I want to be able to work with this idea because I’m sure that I will not become bored with it and knowing the fact that I have endless possibilities. I look forward to working with the carving tools in order to create interesting lines and patterns that will bring my work to life. I will use hatching and cross-hatching to help emphasize depth and shadow. I hope to integrate images into the trees that I will be drawing and carving. I hope to use other objects to carve into the wood other than the woodcut tools that we have ordered so that I can experiment with different types of mark making.
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I have chosen to stick with my theme based around the “Tree of Life”. There are
so many possibilities that there is no way that I could get bored. I have
decided that each of my images up until and including the final piece will
incorporate a creature into the image. Even though my series is based around
the “Tree of Life” I will continue to make this theme come alive in my own
artistic way. Throughout the next two projects I hope to continue to work and
make marks and lines that will showcase a variety of textures and tonality
changes.