Sarimanok

The bountyhunter would have to wait. It's not as much because of ADD, it's just that I have so many projects in my head and I find it hard to focus on one thing before moving on to another.

With this new project I revive my interest in the Sarimanok. Simply put, it's a mythical bird adorning the roofs or doors of the homes in Southern Philippines, where Islam is prevalent. The bird perches on a fish, with a smaller one on its beak. It's become a Moslem symbol of good luck.

I love researching about this particular culture because of its deviation from the mainland's Christian tradition. ((The Mindanao region, being mostly Islamic, has been fighting for secession as far as I can remember)). The unspoken rules of Islamic/Moorish Art are manifested in the carved ornamentation and geometric patterns that is okir design.

I chose to illustrate the sarimanok using relief on linocut. I figured this is as close as I can get to making a 'batik'-looking print.


Here you can see the initial sketch, the reversed dorwing on tracing paper, and the carving on lino.


Closeup of the carving (during this process I was stabbing holes on both my fingers and the linoleum).


I chose Thai unryu with a reddish/orangeish hue for the first print. (I've read somewhere that Moorish design in Alhambra called for the use of primary + secondary colors, so I treated myself to blue also. I'll show this later though).


Now I'm thinking of getting gold ink as soon as I figure out how to print the ink evenly without a press.


It'd be nice to get a baren too.

I'll post up pictures of the prints as I go along. I've always used a press before so I'd have to experiment on the technique using available tools.