Blue Bouquet Prints - By J. Valentine - Two Ltd Ed Wood Cuts

Blue Bouquet Prints
By J. Valentine

Two Different Limited Edition Wood Cut Prints in a Series

Blue Bouquet lll
193/300 J. Valentine 1982
13” X 15 1/2”

Blue Bouquet lV
165/300 J. Valentine 1982
13” X 15 1/2”

Both of these prints are unique and were clearly done as part of a series. They appear to be some sort of Intaglio print or etching probably a wood cut. They have an interesting abstract design and are done with unusual colors, reddish brown and blue tones.

They are quite attractive hanging side by side and because of their unique color and abstract nature fit into most any setting.

Woodcut - formally known as xylography - is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges. The areas to show ‘white’ are cut away with a knife or chisel, leaving the characters or image to show in ‘black’ at the original surface level. The block is cut along the grain of the wood (unlike wood engraving where the block is cut in the end-grain). In Europe beechwood was most commonly used; in Japan, a special type of cherry wood was used.
The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas.
Multiple colors can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks (where a different block is used for each color). The art of carving the woodcut can be called “xylography”, but this is rarely used in English for images alone, although that and “xylographic” are used in connection with blockbooks, which contain text.