No, it's not mine. It's called Dew Drop, by Chen Yuqiang. This is one of my favorite print artists--not just for the beauty of his compositions, but also for his brilliant mixture of techniques. View the large version of the picture at the right--you'll see that many of the objects are blurred or indistinct--much more like a water color or a silkscreen than a woodblock print. At the same time, Yuqiang retains the simple shapes and organic lines that, in my opinion, are so essential to the success of a wood print. Yuqiang has worked for a long time in multiple media (specifically relief printing and silkscreening), and the crossover between these techniques is very apparent here. You can see more of his prints at Artelino, or at chinaprints.com.

I've been thinking for a while now about doing some prints of my own on a similar theme. Mission Bay has several large estuaries that provide perfect opportunities for getting some great pictures of coastal birds. Or at least, they provide great opportunities for experienced photographers. I am quickly learning how hard it really is to take a good picture of anything. But I recently got a new digital camera, and I can't resist putting up some of my own efforts at capturing the local wildlife.

On my way to work last weekend, I stopped and got a few shots of some pelicans and a heron near the south bay estuary (across the road from Sea World). Hopefully, I'll be able to use some of these for sketches and design ideas. I'll post more as I get them. And I have to put in a disclaimer here--I don't have a telephoto attachment for my camera, and these pictures were taken from a few hundred yards away on a foggy day. So they're a little grainy...