Mike Lyon

Painting Drawing Printmaking Japanese Woodblock Printing Furniture Lighting

Sarah Reclining (bijin aizuri-e)

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Title: Sarah Reclining (bijin aizuri-e) Size: 16″ x 22″ Date: August, 2003 Medium: woodblock print (water based pigments) on washi My primary model for almost a decade, Sarah had fallen asleep while modeling for this print. To me, her relaxed posture and features were so beautiful! “Bijin” is a Japanese word which means “beautiful woman.” […]

Sarah – shin-hanga bijin mitate

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“Sarah”, 2003, 15.25 x 5.124 inches, Chu-tanzaku Bijin Mitate, Moku-Hanga, color woodcut This is a four basswood block reduction in Winsor & Newton Transparent Yellow, Alizarine Crimson, Prussian Blue, & Sumi with 28 color layers with a dark mica ground. 56 sheets printed in all in three variations. This one has a dark baren-suhi ground […]

teeny tiny woodcuts

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Teeny Tiny little woodcuts. Each image is four square inches in area. An out-of-character-for-me submission to the 4th Biennial International Print Competition 2003 sponsored by the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, Connecticut. April Vollmer sent the announcement to the BarenForum in mid- December, and the miniature format intrigued me. So I bought $39 worth […]

Blue Shoes

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My primary model for seven years, Sarah, with her daughter, Lily in her blue jelly flip-flops. Oban Moku-hanga three color (Prussian Blue, Quinacidrone Magenta, Sumi) reduction on three blocks in 19 block states. One basswood block and two shina plywood blocks. On Baren Mall Yamaguchi Hosho paper (very nice!). Fifty sheets printed in all. Twenty-three […]

Mother and Child

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This is a print I produced for Baren Forum‘s 14th Exchange. This version included an additional block carved from oak which I used to print the ‘wood grain’ in the background. The print is o-ban (large size — about 15 inches high) on hand made, unsized gampi paper. This is a reduction print, printed by […]

Lake Table and Ten Chairs of Ipe

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This was a major project.  A large table and ten chairs for our home at Lake Lotawana.  The wood for the table base and chairs is all ipe (ironwood) which is extremely dense and heavy (it sinks in water).  The wood is unfinished and weathers very well, but I later had to beef up the […]

Lennie Berkowitz Knock Apart Stool

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Lennie Berkowitz, retired director of the Cohen Berkowitz Gallery, gave me an unusual commission — a kitchen stool for her Cabo San Lucas home which she could pack up in a suitcase and assemble herself in Mexico. So I made her a knock-apart stool, complete with detailed assembly instructions… This is one of my “typical” […]