"No prints, just the blocks."

May 30, 2010 11:58 AM

Lisa Brawn makes woodcuts.
posted by cjorgensen (24 comments total)

Want
posted by The Whelk at 12:02 PM on May 30, 2010

Her Snowy Owl is gorgeous. All her bird ones are lovely. Thanks for the post - great find!
posted by rtha at 12:02 PM on May 30, 2010

this has an simple, swirly quality I enjoy

Goddamnit artists, make it easier for me to give you money for things.
posted by The Whelk at 12:06 PM on May 30, 2010

those are awesome. i'm not into the celebrity ones, but the wildlife pieces are badass.
posted by rainperimeter at 12:19 PM on May 30, 2010

found the store

Not badly considering they're original actual cut wood and stuff - but out of my price range.
posted by The Whelk at 12:22 PM on May 30, 2010

I'm not into the celebrity ones either, and it seems those are the only ones for sale. Too bad. The other ones are fantastic.
posted by HotToddy at 12:30 PM on May 30, 2010

I love a nice woodcut, and I think these are great (this crow is one of my favorites).
posted by box at 12:31 PM on May 30, 2010

Here's another site with many more images.
posted by box at 12:35 PM on May 30, 2010

They're wonderful, thanks for the post.
posted by nickyskye at 12:43 PM on May 30, 2010

Those aren't woodcuts. Those are, uh, painted relief carvings? In wood. They're great, but they're not woodcuts.

Woodcuts are prints.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:52 PM on May 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Hells Yes!
posted by soft and hardcore taters at 1:03 PM on May 30, 2010

I make masks out of clay. You can't wear them, but they are still masks. If she wants to call them woodcuts I'll let her. I'm not sure what other succinct label fits. She's carving images in wood...cutting if you will.

And thanks for the additional links!
posted by cjorgensen at 1:13 PM on May 30, 2010

Sys Rq: Those aren't woodcuts. Those are, uh, painted relief carvings? In wood. They're great, but they're not woodcuts.

Woodcuts are prints.

Thanks, that's what I was trying to figure out; it was clear that they weren't normal woodcuts, not colored that way, but I couldn't figure out what they were.

They're neat. I don't care for the celebrities much at all, and I don't know that I want a painted carving, but if she made prints of the birds (you know, woodcuts), I would buy one.
posted by paisley henosis at 2:04 PM on May 30, 2010

Hockey players, some with scars. LaPlante with his mask. Cool.
posted by Cranberry at 3:04 PM on May 30, 2010

Sys Rq nails it. Having done maybe 500 wood and linoleum cuts myself, I can certainly appreciate the effort that goes into her work but it seems like kind of a waste to not print such nice blocks... I wonder what the motivation is to stop short of printing? I've always felt that was the easy step in the process - and she could always paint the blocks when she was done... sort of as a final measure in a print edition.
posted by blaneyphoto at 4:30 PM on May 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Not everyone wants to work in multiples? She prefers the sculptural qualities of the blocks themselves? She's not good at drawing backwards? She doesn't enjoy the company of printmakers?
posted by wreckingball at 8:25 PM on May 30, 2010

LisaBrawn.com needs to get some better webhosting. Ironic that she could use the actual hosting company for a few bucks a month and get unlimited bandwidth.
posted by crapmatic at 12:44 AM on May 31, 2010

Prolific for sure. There's something decidedly amateur about doing celebrities. She should stick with the birds.
posted by Dragonness at 6:10 AM on May 31, 2010

Why do you think it's amateur to do celebrities?
posted by box at 8:12 AM on May 31, 2010

Hello, here I am, all you woodcut fanatics crashed my website -i was only anticipating about that many hits a year. it's true, they are painted woodcut blocks; there are no prints. I made a few prints early on pressing mulberry paper with a baren but that didn't hold my attention as much as carving and painting the blocks. i am more interested in portraits in general than celebrities specifically -even the birds are portraits. i agree celebrity portraits are a bit lowbrow... i think of it more lowbrow/populist like madame tussaud's than like sitting in the mall drawing caricatures. that is just one series though, there are other portrait series of telephone company employees, cult leaders, sideshow performers, cosmetic surgery patients, etc., and the celebrities fall into series as well- canadiana, politicians, writers, silent film cowboys wearing eyeliner, as well as the more obvious Dylan, Uncle Bill, Johnny, Fabio, Dolly... there might be so many because i'm super self-indulgent.
posted by LisaBrawn at 10:19 AM on May 31, 2010 [11 favorites]

Hi! Sorry we broke your site. Welcome to Metafilter.
posted by rtha at 10:30 AM on May 31, 2010

LOVE this stuff! And that shop The Whelk found is Yard Dog in Austin... near me. It's a good thing there aren't any of the bird blocks there or I'd be sorely tempted.
posted by fiercecupcake at 1:42 PM on June 1, 2010

The one of Rex Murphy captures him perfectly.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:59 PM on June 1, 2010

hello, i uploaded woodcut blocks of a screech owl, long-eared owl, and peregrine falcon here ... now i'm working on a sandhill crane, northern flicker, and red-breasted nuthatch.
posted by LisaBrawn at 2:31 PM on June 8, 2010