Year of the Ox

Finally, my herd of oxen are leaving the premises.  To tell you the truth I was beginning to think they would never leave.  The mess they have left behind will have to be dealt with now.

Many images of bulls, oxen, buffaloes, you name it, have danced in my head since last Fall, but none stayed there long enough to make it onto a block.  Ferdinand has always been a sentimental favorite, but in the end this fellow won out.  There was a fabulous mosaic bull in Cadiz, but the thought of cutting all those little lines for the mosaic idea was more than I could handle, especially since I have two more urgent projects waiting in the wings.

So, here we have Spiral Ox.  That sounds like it could be contagious - some kind of new virus, but he is really a tame and good natured fellow.  He is a reduction print, just one block of precious cherry wood has been sacrificed for this print.  Originally I had planned for him to be lime green, but try as I might, all I could get was brown once the orange body had been printed.  That kind of thing just does not work with reduction methods and transparent ink - surprise! one gets brown every time, which I knew  of course, but for some reason thought I could overcome if I printed it often enough.  Other than that, things went pretty much as planned.  

And now I am off to release the herd at the PO.  I hope they are ready for this!  Hooves away —