Neal Ambrose-Smith Prints
2021
King of the Pond
Relief engraving
20"x 18" paper size, Edition of 40, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
$300.00
Artists Statement:
Years ago while walking in a meadow with my father we came across a dead buck. We pulled off the head and sunk it to the bottom of a pond in a bucket for the catfish to clean. A week later when we pulled the bucket up from the depths the head was gone! Who or what would have dove ten feet underwater to remove this large flesh covered head!? With no obvious answer I immediately envisioned the dominant catfish of the pond swimming into the brain cavity and using the skull and antlers as a makeshift crown.
A note on preparing the image:
With no stream or lake catfish close at hand in the desert where I live to use as reference in my preparatory drawings, I obtained an adult catfish from a local seafood market and put the fish into a large aquarium. After photographing and drawing the fish for an hour, I had a fish fry and got to work carving the image using a friend's deer skull as the reference for the ‘crown’.
Relief engraving
20"x 18" paper size, Edition of 40, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
$300.00
Artists Statement:
Years ago while walking in a meadow with my father we came across a dead buck. We pulled off the head and sunk it to the bottom of a pond in a bucket for the catfish to clean. A week later when we pulled the bucket up from the depths the head was gone! Who or what would have dove ten feet underwater to remove this large flesh covered head!? With no obvious answer I immediately envisioned the dominant catfish of the pond swimming into the brain cavity and using the skull and antlers as a makeshift crown.
A note on preparing the image:
With no stream or lake catfish close at hand in the desert where I live to use as reference in my preparatory drawings, I obtained an adult catfish from a local seafood market and put the fish into a large aquarium. After photographing and drawing the fish for an hour, I had a fish fry and got to work carving the image using a friend's deer skull as the reference for the ‘crown’.
JUNIPERUS X SORBUS
Chiaroscuro woodcut
34" x 20 1/2" on Thai Kozo, Edition of 20 (& 6 Trial Proofs)
$800.00
Artist Statement:
Juniperus occidentals stands as a monument to survival in the harshest mountain and desert climates. If the North American West continues to grow drier, the juniper will come to replace many other less hearty tree species. One of these less hearty species is the water-loving rowan or mountain ash (Sorbus californica) with its delicate leaves and distinctive red berries depicted in the lower register.
John Muir once wrote, ‘The juniper’s fine color and odd picturesqueness always catch an artist’s eye, but to me it seems a singularly dull and taciturn tree, never speaking to one’s heart.’
I wholeheartedly disagree.
The print contrasts the main image of the Juniper, a tree that can survive with extremely low amounts of water with that of the Mountain Ash (smaller circles), a tree that is heavily water reliant.
Chiaroscuro woodcut
34" x 20 1/2" on Thai Kozo, Edition of 20 (& 6 Trial Proofs)
$800.00
Artist Statement:
Juniperus occidentals stands as a monument to survival in the harshest mountain and desert climates. If the North American West continues to grow drier, the juniper will come to replace many other less hearty tree species. One of these less hearty species is the water-loving rowan or mountain ash (Sorbus californica) with its delicate leaves and distinctive red berries depicted in the lower register.
John Muir once wrote, ‘The juniper’s fine color and odd picturesqueness always catch an artist’s eye, but to me it seems a singularly dull and taciturn tree, never speaking to one’s heart.’
I wholeheartedly disagree.
The print contrasts the main image of the Juniper, a tree that can survive with extremely low amounts of water with that of the Mountain Ash (smaller circles), a tree that is heavily water reliant.
