Mike Lyon

Painting Drawing Printmaking Japanese Woodblock Printing Furniture Lighting

PVC Heat Shrink Baren Cover

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From time to time it’s been difficult to obtain quality takenokawa (bamboo husk) for recovering my barens.  For some time I’ve wondered about alternative materials for baren covers, especially about using heat shrink tubing.  I bought some six inch wide clear layflat PVC heat shrink tubing (12 inch circumference), cut a length about 2 1/2 […]

“Joel” Large Scale Pen and Ink Drawing in White and Black Ink on Tinted Paper

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REALLY love this one! I was tempted to title it “this is not Joe’s face” after Magritte’s famous not-a-pipe. In 1991 I was in Japan with a group of US, Canadian, and European karate guys led by Tsutomu Ohshima.  Ohshima Sensei organized a fabulous and exhausting tour which included visits to Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kyoto — […]

Elizabeth – Six Experiments in Two-Color Drawing

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I wanted to close in on an optimal application of white ink from the new pens my stepsons Scott and Andy turned me onto at Christmas.  One great characteristic of this white ink is that it is not 100% opaque.  Subsequent layers of line further whiten earlier layers.  This semi-opaque  (or semi-transparent) quality is pretty […]

Danielle – developing two color drawing technique

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I’ve mentioned before that I’m fascinated by Renaissance drawings on tinted paper with light and dark inks or chalk and charcoal.  Here are some examples by Albrecht Durer painted in white and black with a brush on tinted paper: My kids know of my interest  — for Christmas Scott and Andy gave me a variety […]

Drawing in Silverpoint and Copperpoint

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While I began to study fine arts at the University of Pennsylvania, I became interested in Renaissance drawing, especially silverpoint drawings by Da Vinci which were illustrated in books in the Furness Building’s fine arts library.  I copied many in pen and ink and although I didn’t understand how they had been made, the silverpoints […]

Grass 2.2 large woodblock print

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I ran a second edition of four sheets from the sixteen blocks used in Grass 2.  I was curious to see the effect of transitioning from pale greens into blues into blacks (rather than the simple blues into blacks of the first edition).  Also, I’d run into registration problems which affected five of the eight […]

Grass-2 large woodblock print 22.5 x 72 inches from 16 blocks

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My lawn seems a near-perfect subject for drawings and woodblock prints.  Grass-1 was a drawing (not yet completed).  Grass-2 is a woodblock print — sixteen blocks cut two blocks to a sheet of 4×8 foot quarter-inch cherry plywood.  Grass-3 is another drawing under construction at the moment.  This format allows me to ink and print […]