Notebook

Snowdrops! It was love at first sight. They don’t grow where I live and I had only read about them in story books. It was in England that I saw them for the first time. When I started with the wildfower series block printing, I already knew snowdrops had to be part of the set. I started with photos and then paintings, and now I have made those lino prints and subsequent books using them. Along the way, I have added on to my block printing tips page.

During our visit to a castle ruin in Northern England, the lady there told us about an old church hidden behind the market square. She said I would particularly love it. As I walked through the gate, I saw this gloriously overgrown place. These beautiful, gentle flowers blanketed the ground all around the headstones and the old trees there. She was not wrong!

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That was it! Love at first sight. I would love to get another chance of taking better and more close-up photos of them.

Best friends – Work in progress sketch

According to German folklore, snow was transparent and asked each flower to share its color. The flowers were condescending and turned their faces away. It was the snowdrop that gave snow its white color. Snow was touched. It offered the flower its protection and they became best friends.

My snow and winter-loving heart loves this story beyond imagination.

In the Lost Pages book, I painted these snowdrops with falling snow. Of course, I have painted a few more snowdrops since then. During those times, I studied them as well. That knowledge was something I made use of when I started drawing for the lino block.

Before I start on a large piece, I always warm up with carving a smaller version of the picture. It gets my muscles used to the lines I am going to carve. I also make sure the design will work for the carving. This is where I adjust the design for the larger piece if required. This way I tend to make less mistakes when I work on the larger carving. Saves a lot of time and material.

There are some design choices I make before I start drawing something. I decided on seven flowers and that was not negotiable. Don’t ask me why, it’s just how my head works. Placing the flowers without crowding them so each one can shine was the challenge on this one. I also wanted them to face each other so they looked conversational.

Also, I needed to keep an empty space for the butterfly.

Many iterations later, I finished carving the block, and then finally got to print it. I mostly pull my prints on heavier printing paper, but I also like to pull a couple of prints on thin Japanese rice paper. The texture of the paper gives the print a slight unevenness, making it look very delicate.

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Notice the difference between the crisp print of the Fairy Lantern on the heavy paper and the textured print on the rice paper.

Afterwards, I made notebooks using the prints. That particular shade of blue makes me think of twilight time, my favorite time of the day. The light grey-white kept calling my name until I gave in and made another one with that color too.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

The three wildflower lino prints I have finished so far – Northern California Fairy Lantern, Enduring Thistle and Softhearted Snowdrops. The fourth photo is of the books I made using those prints as covers.

While playing with different book cover ideas, I fell in love with the French Fold. The cover board wraps over the edge into the inside of the book, making it look stylish and elegant. This also makes the binding more stable.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

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I hand made the rest of these books in hardcover with French Fold. As the paper I use in these books is great for writing and drawing, I have been using them for my language and art studies, as well as notebooks for any and everything. You can purchase the notebooks from my shop.

I really really love wildflowers. I can’t go out during the spring and summer months because my chest tightens up from pollen allergies and I can’t breathe. When I am out and about during the winter months, snowdrops is the one flower I get to enjoy freely. It has bestowed the same kindness on me as it did on snow.

I love these unassuming gentle white flowers. Seeing them again one day will feel like seeing someone special after a long time. For now, I am simply over the moon about being able to create a lino print of them, and books too. I hope you liked my version of the snowdrops.

-Soma

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One of my favorite winter outings is to spend a few days at Yosemite Valley. I would rather go to the Eastern Sierra mountains, but the mountain passes are mostly closed during winter months, which makes for a much longer drive than usual. For a quick winter outdoor fix, the valley is a great place to visit during the weekend. That year, I noticed there was snow forecast right on my birthday which happened to fall on a weekend as well. The closed-in valley is awe-inspiring as is; the snow enhances those jagged rock formations all the more, making the whole area breathtakingly beautiful. So, there I was, spending my birthday playing in the snow with my camera and my sketchbook.

As we left after work, we got there late at night. I usually try to avoid driving during storms as chances of rockfall go up significantly on those mountain roads. Thankfully, by the time we got there at night, the storm had passed, leaving behind a beautiful blanket of snow glittering in the moonlight. This pristine powdered snow would last only for a couple of hours in the morning. I am a night owl, but luring me out at dawn with snow is an easy task. My husband I were out and about shortly after the sun came up behind the surrounding mountains.

El Capitan Meadow is my favorite meadow in the valley. The black oaks there look so beautiful against the golden rock face of El Capitan. I always spend a lot of time there.

Right across, there is another grove of black oaks. That day they looked gorgeous wearing fresh white snow, side-lit by the sun.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

We walked around the rest of the valley floor with not a care in the world. As the low winter sun melted the snow, the surrounding trees started pelting us with snowballs. I always find that to be a lot of fun and I giggle every time that happens. A snowball fight where the trees always win.

It was a clear, bright day with occasional low clouds here and there. El Capitan is a master of capturing those low clouds.

As day rolled into late afternoon, the usual mist appeared on the meadows. I love to spend that time split up between taking photos and working in the sketchbook while sipping on something hot as it is usually very cold outside.

This is where I drew this scene sitting in the car. Instead of going for the more iconic features, I drew what was in front of me with pencil. I wanted to leave it as-is, but my husband loves inked drawings. So, later on at home, I used an ink pen for all the lines and a white gel pen for the snow.

Here you can really see the lines that I had to remove to make a clean copy for printing. I wasn’t sure at the time, but after quite a bit of work I did manage to remove all the page lines from the drawing and make it into a book.

While playing with different book cover ideas, I fell in love with the French Fold. The cover board wraps over the edge into the inside of the book making it look stylish and elegant. This also makes the binding more stable.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

Shop Notebooks

I hand made all these books in hardcover with French Fold. As the paper I use in these books are great for writing and drawing, I have been using them for my Japanese studies, as well as travel notebooks and art study sketchbooks.

Even without ever mentioning it here, the Yosemite In Winter books have been the bestseller in my shop. That’s the magic of Yosemite, I think. You can purchase the notebooks from my shop.

Season and weather change often, and Yosemite changes with them. During the winter months, a sudden snowstorm decks the trees and the granite faces with powdered snow and turns the narrow valley into an enchanting place. Then the sun peeks out behind the cloud, making for such drama as only mother nature can write. All I need to do is tap into that energy. This one is also the start of my National Park sketchbook series. I am looking forward to drawing the unassuming features of these beautiful parks.

Until next time,
-Soma

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