Dry leaves and Cat

With Autumn as my new idea, I decided to use my cat again as my muse to compose my installation. I was able to find a Japanese artist, Manabu Endo as a reference when I searched artworks related to cat and leaves. I decided to sketch and exaggerate the clouds. In addition to this, I decided to incorporate some dry leaves to the collagraph to build more texture.

Deciding what kind of leaves I want to add to the board.

Extending and exaggerating the clouds to use as repetitive pieces.

Found some smaller leaves to use that could be better incorporated on to the cat.

Decided to make a separate plate for the leaves. I squashed the plates with leaves between baking paper in a bookbinding press. After the PVA have dryed, I added shellac to the three plates.

Trial proof with the cat plate to practice and get the feel of intaglio inking. At first, I tried using tabs to smear paint onto the board, but it was way too much. The most optimal way was using the toothbrush to apply ink, followed by tarlatan and newsprint. Some of the more delicate leaves did get rubbed off.

For the proper prints, a la poupée will be used to highlight the leaves.