Mad Kings Throw Spears

This summer I took a local art class in Relief Block Printing from a wonderful Kenyan artist Ngene Mwaura. I learned to carve an image into linoleum or MDF board, apply ink to that image and hand press it onto a piece of paper. In this series I was practicing with color. I began the process with a light color like yellow. I inked the plate and pressed it. Then everywhere I wanted to preserve the yellow, I cut away material from the plate. Each time I changed the color, I cut away more of the plate.

The image on the left is what the plate looked like after the final cut. The image on the right was the result of pressing the plate onto Yupo paper, which is a plastic paper and applying watercolor. The experiment is a work in progress. I am at the same time studying King Saul from the book of Samuel. His was a complex, confusing, tortured life that began well and ended in mental illness and suicide.

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