More Greed and Lies

Finally, I have managed to take a black and white print on Somerset paper which actually shows the block much better than that wonderful, silky, draping like cloth paper with the white on white Japanese symbols. I really do love that paper - the symbols represent pine, plum and bamboo - or so it says on the label.  Did I mention that the block is 20" x 24"?  It takes a 22" x 30" sheet to do one print.  Also, I found a very elemental system to register that little green "bp" block which was burnished by hand with my trusty bamboo covered baren, so no more wasting paper by guessing where to put that little stinker.

I think this is a strong image, but of course, I have to do some more playing around with it. That will be tomorrow.  

The wonderful filmy paper I am so in love with has white on white small Japanese symbols for pine, plum and bamboo, which could serve as symbols of the many species of both flora and fauna of the gulf who are now endangered in one way or another.

I hope you can see the white on white symbols and, of course, you can see them when they are where the black ink happens to print over them.  It gives a feeling of layers and I love layers of imagery and commentary.

Next is to find the ideal way to attach a few more panels to the "bolt of fabric" - that will happen after the ink dries enough that I can handle them without smudging.

Fabric of the Gulf: Greed and Lies

Finally I am back to my other love: the woodblock.  I've had this block carved and proofed and ready to go for months, but other deadlines kept pushing it to the back of the line.  Then North Bank Gallery decided to do a Seven Deadly Sins show and I was half way there!  Where on earth was their less greed and lies than in the Gulf Oil spill of this last year?  I figured I probably had all the sins covered with this one print, almost all, anyway.

It is a little hard to tell one thing from another in these photos and, of course, I do not have a flat print - that will have to be another day.  Actually, there are two blocks on this piece - the "bp"(not shown) are printed in British Petroleum green.
I pulled about 6 prints onto a very thin and silky paper with a white on white design.  While waiting for them to dry I found a piece of melmanine composite board which I cut to the size I needed and screwed a cardboard bolt form, and some wooden reinforcement, to it. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to run the saws, drill press, sander, etc., and the resulting mess there is to clean up.
When the prints were dry enough to work with I proceeded to wrap the bolt form, first with a piece of Sommerset white paper and then around several times with the silky woodblock prints until I had a bolt of the Fabric of the Gulf.

It looks like fabric - even the feel of it gives you much more of a sense of fabric than fabric itself.  So, why didn't I just print it on fabric and have it over with?  Oh, who knows, I kind of like the idea that it is one thing representing another -- especially with the theme of the show being sin and I'm working with greed and lies.  And this paper is so thin and silky and though it is probably tougher than wine leather, it has a very fragile appearance - not unlike the gulf ecosystem.
The top of the bolt is, more or less, authentic (big lie), too – however what it says is the truth!

I'm hoping you can click on that and be able to read it - if not it says: Gulf Black Plague, 100% oil pollution, Machine wash cool, certified dispersants, lie, lie, lie.  And where the price is: $200 billion.

That about covers it - I will pull a regular, "hang on the wall" print tomorrow!

Wet Concrete Carving Workshop

This is so exciting! Barebones Art will be hosting Elder G. Jones, a pioneer in the development of wet concrete carving, for a three day workshop this July 16, 17 and 18th in luxurious, (we hope it will not still be raining) Vancouver, WA.  We will work from 10 am to 4 pm (more or less) for three days and when it is all over, besides having the time of our lives, we will have a finished piece for our home or garden, know all there is to know about the medium, plus have the tools to do the job again.

Granted, this has little or nothing - probably nothing - to do with printmaking, except that possibly you could ink and print the vessel you produce should be so inclined.  Or maybe you could squish a carved block into the wet concrete, remove the block, and carve around it?  How about pressing leaves into the wet concrete and carving around them?  I'm sure there will be lots of ideas from others and I can't wait to hear them.  Printmakers, especially, can always come up with some way to make their medium work with another.

If you are interested in joining us for the workshop please let me know at barebonesart@comcast.net or you can also go to www.sandpudding.com

I have a lovely flyer I can send to anyone who is interested, but be darned if I can figure out how to get it onto this page.  If you'd like to see it, let me know!