"YEAR OF THE MONKEY 2004 NEW YEAR'S CARD"

Moku-hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print.
Block: cherry
Paper: Japanese Shin-Torinoko White.
Ink: water-based
Size: 4" wide x 6" high.
Printed with Murasaki soft baren.
Year produced: 2007

Carved haiku:

A new year-
full of nights to dream
with the moon.

b'oki.

"MERMAID'S ARIA"

Moku Hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print.
Block: All shina plywood.
Ink: aqua water-based with fine mica powder.
Paper: Japanese Shin-Torinoko white.
Size: 8" x 8".
Printed with Murasaki soft baren.
Year produced: 2006.
Created for BarenForum.org print exchange #27 - theme: Mythical Beasts.

Haiku carved into the design:

sapphire sea
an aria ascends
to the sun

b'oki.

First published online at: haigaonline.com.

"THIS IS MY LETTER TO THE WORLD" - EMILY DICKINSON

A tribute to Emily Dickinson to whom I may be related. Emily's mother's maiden name is the same as my maiden name - Norcross.

Moku Hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print.
Block: Cherry
Paper: Japanese Shin-Torinoko White
Ink: Neri-zumi concentrate sumi paste - made in Japan.
Printed with Murasaki soft baren.
Dimensional element added to print: Red thread hand-sewn into Emily's fascicle.
Print Size: 9" wide x 12" high.
Year produced: 2005.

Created for BarenForum.org print exchange #25. Theme: Dreams and Visions.

"WHITE LILY"

Moku-Hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print .
Block: All-Shina plywood.
Ink: white water-based.
Paper: Black
Hand-tinted with chalk dust.
Size: 8" x 8".
Printed with Murasaki soft baren.
Year produced: 2005

Haiku carved into the design:

a long dream
the white lily awakens
to spring moon

b'oki.

Created for online publication "Full Moon" (no longer published).

"PERSEVERANCE"

Tribute to David Bull, Moku-Hanga Printmaker. http://www.woodblock.com.
Founder of: http://www.barenforum.org

Moku Hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print.
Block: cherry
Ink: metallic gold water-based
Paper: Japanese Shin-Torinoko white.
Image: 4" x 6"
Paper: 10" wide x 15" high.
Printed with Murasaki soft baren.
Year produced: 2005.

Created for BarenForum.org print exchange #23 - Theme: Influential Printmaker. Japanese paper size: oban.

"SEPIA WORLD"

Moku-Hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print .
A collaboration.
Print by: b'oki. (Bette Wappner)
Haiku by: an'ya

Block: All shina plywood.
Ink: brown water-based.
Size: 8" wide x 8" high.
Printed with Murasaki soft baren.
Year produced: 2003.

Haiku carved into design:

autumn woods
but for the silver squirrel
its a sepia world

an'ya

First published online at: haigaonline.com.

"Surimono Cicada"

Moku Hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print.
Blocks(2): cherry
Blind Embossing Block: All shina plywood.
Ink: red and black water-based.
Paper: Japanese Shin-Torinoko White
On the cicada's wings: Hand-brushed fine glitter suspended in methyl cellulose.
Year produced: 2004.

Haiku carved into design:

Ancient love song
echos from tree to tree
seventeenth May

b'oki.

Artist's statement: A cicada sitting on a branch of hemlock, inside an "enso" (a Zen symbol) - "A circle like vast space, lacking nothing, and nothing in excess." The cicada is singing its song, into the cosmos, the Great Universe, the enlightened mind.

I was the coordinator for BarenForum.org exchange #21 with the theme of "Surimono". Suri is the Japanese word for printed and mono means thing - surimono, the printed thing. Surimono were often produced as real deluxe Japanese prints - with an abundant use of lavish gold and silver pigments, elaborate embossing and more such luxury features. And only the best papers were used.

"Bamboo Wind"

Moku Hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print.
Blocks(2): cherry
Ink: red and black water-based.
Paper: Japanese Shin-Torinoko white.
Size: 3" wide x 5" high.
Year produced: 2003.

I was a coordinator in a playing card deck exchange.
My card was the 7 of Diamonds (7 bamboo leaves).
www.monoprints.com/exchanges/cards.html

Haiku carved into design:

Bamboo wind
recites poetry
by moonlight

b'oki.

"AQUA MOSAIC"

Moku-Hanga Japanese Water-Based Technique woodblock print.
Block: All Shina plywood
Ink: Speedball water-based and Graham gouache
Paper: Japanese Washi - Shin Torinoko White
Size: 7.5" wide x 10" high.
Year produced: 2004.

Created for BarenForum.org print exchange #19 with the theme of: Shunga. Translated literally, the Japanese word shunga means picture of spring; "spring" is a common euphemism for sex.

Image is also interpreted as "my artistic muse".

"ANT"

Moku-Hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print.
Block: All shina
Ink: black water-based.
Paper: washi
Image size: 8" wide x 1" high
Paper size: 10" wide x 8" high
Produced: November 2003.

The haiku is hand-lettered in pencil on the print:

a day of yardwork
an ant takes its shadow
into the clover

b'oki.

Created for BarenForum.org prints exchange #18 - Theme: mini-sized image 8 square inches.

First published at online publication "haigaonline.com" - Japanese forms of art and poetry.

"COOL BLUE"

Moku-Hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print.
Block: All shina plywood.
Ink: blue water-based.
Paper size: 6" wide x 4" high.
Produced: June 2003.

The haiku is hand-lettered in pencil on the print:

cool blue stream
fish rise to warm
with the sun

b'oki.

Created at the first BarenForum.org conference "Summit I", in Kansas City, MO.

"SIESTA STARS"

Moku Hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print.
Block: Birch plywood
Ink: blue (water-based)
Size: 7.5" wide x 10" high.
Produced: April 2003.

This print is dedicated to my husband, my love.
The haiku is hand-lettered in pencil:

aloft summer's moon
swirls of incense caress
our siesta stars

b'oki.

Created for BarenForum.org print exchange #16. Theme: none. Size: Japanese size: chu-ban.

"YEAR OF THE GOAT 2003 NEW YEAR'S CARD"

Moku-Hanga Japanese water-based technique woodblock print.
Block: cherry
Ink: white
Background: blue watercolor wash
Paper: Strathford Watercolor
Size: 4" wide x 6" high
Year produced: 2003.

Accompanying haiku on back of print:

atop this mountain
crisp breezes encompass
a cloudless view

b'oki.

My first woodblock print, created before my first woodblock workshop.