Honor Upon Honor

Here are the hands of my friend. My friend who was the catalyst that lit the fuse that touched off the art inferno in my life. He is hanging a piece on his wall by the artist whose work made me choose linocut as a medium. Right next to that is a piece I made. I was bowled over by this moment. My memory of it will always be clearer than this photo... which I guess means that it might get rather blurry and yellow over time.

Here's the artwork:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/12713584/merman-original-linocut

And the hands:
http://www.harpmusic.com/

#26 - Koi Again

I really enjoy the koi that I made for the people on our Christmas list. I thought it would be fun to do some more koi, but this time as an 8 x 10 reduction print.

This sketch is pretty loose because I would like to be a bit more free and easy in my carving. The carving will be challenging, so I want as much wiggle room as possible. I'm getting better and envisioning what will happen when the color goes down.

#21 - Humboldt Tree Frog

Here's a little black and white print I did on the first day of our trip. When we were here last year, we were able to collect some tadpoles. We put some of the tadpoles in the Koi pond where we were staying, and we took a few home. We managed to get one of the tadpoles to make it to frog-hood. We are staying at the same house, so we brought the frog back to come and live here. When we let her go, we noticed a huge clump of frog's eggs. Anyway, the print I made is of the frog we let go.

Petite Print Set

I am off to go and savor nature. The highlights will be Redwoods, Sequoias, waves and rocks. I'm bringing lots of little blocks and the materials required to print in black. I hope to come home with a series of baby prints showing the flora and fauna of my destination. Stay tuned.

#19 - I'm Feeling Blue

I didn't take photos of the first layer of blue, but you can see the light blue in circles. This is the second blue. The last layer of blue is going to be very intense!

#20 - Completed Butterfly

I finished this up lickity-split. I'm getting faster at all this carving and printing. I'm also getting more capable of printing neatly and meticulously. Slowly but surely, I'm upgrading to equipment that is designed for relief printing. It all shows in the completed pieces.

I was just looking at my Comedy of Errors print last night and realizing that the piece is a stepping stone. Someday I will look at that print the way I look at prints I did five months ago when I started all this. They look like I was still trying to figure it all out. I think I will still be pleased with The Comedy of Errors, but I have confidence that I will be able to surpass it. Or maybe I'll just a be a one hit wonder!

The scorpion drawing is calling to me. I want to do my final artwork for that, and get the color separations done. Then I get to do my favorite part: carving... leaving "lino-chad" all over the house.

#19 - Redrawn Scoprion

I pitched the Day of the Dead motif. Too busy, and without the skull element, lacking. So, I came up with this drawing. I like it, and so do all my peeps. I'm not sure what motif this is. Maybe it's the "Karen likes it" motif.

I will do a final redraw just to get all the details worked out, and then start carving the black plate. The piece will be 6"x8" and will have 5 colors. I've switched to unmounted linoleum, so I won't have to use a whole piece for every color. The red and yellow-gold can be on smaller pieces.

I will be using my new Registration Board from McClain's Printmaking Supplies. It's similar to what I'm already using, but will work better (I hope!) Stay tuned.

#19 - The Scorpion Begins

Here's my first sketch for the scorpion I want to make. I think this needs lots more detail - encrusted with details in black. It looks too feminine right now, and I really am going for a masculine look. Also, the subject matter reminded me of the Day of the Dead style of art. I want to tip my hat a bit more intensely towards that. So, I probably have a few more sketches to go, but I'm off to a solid start.

I will make the scorpion stand out with heavier lines. I really like the bright colors - electric blue, yellow-gold and screaming red. I want it to jump of the page and sting you!

#17 - Bitsy Little Four Color Leaf

I cranked out this little guy in three hours. It's four colors. The square is 1.5 inches wide, to give you an idea of size (what you see on the screen it about acutal size). It's really small! But, it was fun to make, and a nice way to end the day.

#16 - Dancer - Oh, The Humanity!

Here's a good start to the day: waste seven prints trying to register the colors. Fortunately, I flubbed most of the green prints, and the second color looks pretty bad over the green. Looks nice on the blue. The next color is going to be coppery.

In spite of all my hard work, most the prints are still off register slightly. There are a few that are good enough, though. I guess I just need one!

The ink is luxurious and long-lasting. I used far less ink than I would have had I used Speedball Inks. So, these are thrifty inks, in spite of their astonishing price tag.

Here are a few photos of the second color. The color in the photos is not accurate. It has more of a copper cast to it.

#16 - Fun and Frustration

Played with my new colors. I made a color wheel and goofed off. Then I mushed all the colors together on the glass and made a monoprint:

Then I tried to print the ballet dancer. For some reason the colors are not registering with each other. I wasn't feeling up to problem solving at that point. I don't want to waste prints, so I need to solve the problem methodically. So, I took one of the prints that was in a horrible green color and slapped some delicious blue over it, just to get the need to print something out of my system.

Click on this delightful photo to make it larger than you see here...

Here it is. Sorry, I wish I knew how to take better photos. The lines are at right angles to each other at the edge of the design, but this shows them as distorted. The colors are also very vibrant in the original print.

I have only printed a few of the prints with black, but this is enough for now! I need a break.

This method for creating a color print makes it possible to print more than one color a day. With the reduction printing method, the colors actually lay over one another, making a mess if you try to print before the first color is dry. But with this method, the colors just kiss at the edges. Today I was able to print two colors. Tomorrow I will do the blue and black, and then I will be done! Huzzah!

I have only wasted two prints, and both deliberately. I used them to test color and make judgments about registration issues. I would say that my skills have significantly improved since I made that previous playing card print. I planned well for this one. About a third of the time spent on this piece was planning. I thought that the final tally of hours spent on this print would be embarrassing, but it will only be about 70 hours.

I will post the final tomorrow, I hope!

#17 - Comedy of Errors - One Down, Four to Go

Bad Photo Alert

The first color is down. The most difficult and time-consuming layer do to the large amount of inking. I made 35 prints in hopes of ending up with 25. I keep feeling a nagging worry that perhaps I have made some huge mistake that I just haven't noticed yet. I'm not sure where that worry is coming from. Maybe it's that I'm trying a new way of registering the colors, so feel like I'm flying blind. I won't know if the colors are well registered until I put the black on, which is last step.

I'm using two kinds of paper. One is machine made rice paper called Masa, and the other is handmade paper called Kozo, which is made of mulberry. It's translucent, and so delicate that it seems like you could eat it.

#17 - Testing the Limits of Linoleum

I used an X-acto knife for some of this carving. I still need to do a little clean-up work, but I'm so pleased with this carving. I don't think it's possible to get thinner lines, but I will keep trying!

I've spent about ten hours carving the black block. I probably will spend another six hours on it. Overall, I've spent almost thirty hours on this piece so far. I will probably be too embarrassed to announce how much time this print took me when I finally finish. Fortunately, the time flies by because what I'm doing is so enjoyable.

#17 - Permission Granted: The Adventure Begins

Ah, the smell of linoleum, the shavings flying! Would be heavenly bliss if my shoulder didn't complain about the party.

It's been a long week of waiting for the go ahead to start making this piece. Tough to wait. It's going to be a peach. Maybe even epic, at least compared to what I've made so far.

I spent the time this week perusing books about the woodcut printing of the Edo period in Japan. Did you know that James Michener wrote an entire book on the subject? I also got four books on woodblock printing to get an idea of what the process entails. Woodblock printing is another world. I may visit that world.

#15 - The Baby Is Born

The last color came out well. The size of the piece is 3x5, so this represents pretty detailed carving. I'm proud of that, and I also like the how the colors layer softly. The four colors give it a watercolor look.

My friend N gives it the stamp of approval, complete with exclamation points. That makes me happy!!!! She has to wait until Christmas to get it...

Print #14 - Lemur

 My little boy is not so little anymore, and will turn five soon. He was flipping through a wildlife magazine, and pointed to photo after and photo that I could "do a linocut of." So, I asked him if he wanted one for his birthday. Well, yes, actually, he did. We settled on a lemur. He's been delighted by every step of the process: watching me draw and carve, helping me a little with printing, generally being impressed. The color scheme for this print is Mint Chocolate Chip, because that's his favorite gum. Yes, gum.

I think I need to do reduction linocuts exclusively from now on. It forces me to do the whole print run. When I'm only doing one color it's easy to slack on not bother to print more than, say, one.

This print is a big confidence builder. My carving skills are allowing for finer lines, and I'm starting to understand some of the limitations in reduction prints, and becoming more savvy at avoiding problems. I'm looking forward to making complex, many colored reduction prints. A riot of color.

Print #13 - Hamlet, In the Bag

Happy with this. Happy, happy.

Print #13 - Making Progress on Hamlet

I redrew my Hamlet sketch, and I am pleased with the result. I think it needs a few tweaks, but otherwise it's far more deliberate and intentional than the first sketch, and I'm ready to call it done.

Now, to color. I have to think about that. I had not envisioned color when I saw it in my mind at first, but I'm willing to consider it. The look is rather Gothic, and I think color will soften that aesthetic, and bring more life into the image. I can also use color to emphasize the focal point of the face and skull. So, I will spend some time sketching with color, and will post what I come up with. I need to get rolling because I only have until the 28th!