A Snowy Day and a bowl of potatoes

A snow day for our daughter yesterday meant the studio was closed for usual business. An artsy opportunity to spend some time with Lucy lead to making potato prints with her. I'll post our communal results later next month!

I've been researching sandhill cranes a bit lately, and love their gangly forms. Here's a couple of poses in flight, rendered in potato- a delightful medium!

There is some technique to this. I use a combination of paring knife and x-acto blades to whittle the potato (a great big Baker used here!) I carved around an initial sketch, excavating around the outline. Best to use real printer's ink and brayers to smooth the ink onto the surface. Also find your smoothest toothed watercolor paper for the actual print-making. The potato's starchy make-up creates interesting surface textures. One potato, two potatoes, three cranes, four...