"Oracle Bone #3"

Collagraph monoprint, 7 7/8 x 3 1/4". As I played around with colors and imagery I worked on several scales. I'm not one to let perfectly good paper get tossed in the trash or recycling bins, not when there's potential for cool small prints. In this case, I decided to play around with the shape of the plate and with the way I inked the plate up. I printed off a series with this plate, inking it in a variety of ways. Three of the prints reminded me of ancient Shang Dynasty Chinese oracle bones, many of which happen to have early examples of Chinese writing. The bones were cow scapula or turtle shells (the bottom shells) which were heated in order to reveal a message to the diviner who could decipher the cracks that formed. Many of the oracle bones have a question that was asked of the diviner; many of those have the answer that was divined written as well; and a few of those even have the eventual outcome recorded. I'll let you decipher this print however you will.