This silkscreen print emerged after I had made several prints based on pine beetle galleries. I started with a colour photograph of a blaze cut into tree bark on the trail to Mount Murray, just outside Wells.

Photo of blaze scar on tree, Mount Murray trail near Wells.
After changing it to greyscale, I “posterized” the image with five tonal thresholds.
- Black & white version of blaze photo.
- Posterized version of blaze photo.
The next step was to generate film positives and make photostencils.
- Film positive from posterization.
- Film positive from posterization.
- Film positive from posterization.
- Film positive from posterization.
- Film positive for background gradient (1st stencil).
The first screen was a split gradient for a solid, printed background. Then I printed the darker positives with lighter inks and vice versa until I ended up with this:

“Blaze” – silkscreen, 12.875″ × 16.75″ (32.5 cm × 42.5 cm)
Months later, while making an espresso in the gallery, I looked down at the drip bowl that sits under the machine and saw this:

Espresso grounds in drip bowl.
Ok, not quite the same pattern and colours as the silkscreen print, but a visual cousin 😉
Back to the pine beetle bark.
This section intrigued me; something seemed familiar.
Following my same work flow, I changed the photo to black and white, posterized it, then created the film positives to make photostencils.
- B&W version.
- Film positive.
- Film positive.
- Film positive.
- Film positive for “sky”.
Here’s the resulting print:

“Banff Beetles” – silkscreen print 4″ × 6″ (13.3 × 7.9 cm)
Which reminds me of this view of Cascade Mountain as seen from downtown Banff, Alberta:

Cascade.
Again, not quite the same, but reminiscent enough for me 😉