Let The Carving Begin, Almost

Probably no one is interested in this, but I thought I would give it a go and see if I could do it.  "It" is documentation of a print from start to finish.  Not knowing quite where the beginning is I decided (quite arbitrarily) to start right after the block has been cut and sanded as smooth as a babies behind.

This method of transferring the image to the block is using the Studio Paper from McClain's.  I have found from experience with the Print From Hell (see previous post) that the ink tends to spread on the wood I'm using and lines are thicker than what I've drawn, which is one of the many reasons I had so much trouble with registration on the PFH, but it works great for one color prints and especially for Western style printmaking.

So, here we go with the image having been scanned and printed via ink jet printer onto the Studio Paper and placed face down on the block:

The ink will stay wet long enough for you to dink about taking photos, etc., so no need to be in a hurry.  However, don't go out for a beer - there isn't enough time for that right now.

Here's the tricky part:

Rub the back with your hand - does not need pressure to transfer.  At least not a lot of pressure.  You can use a baren or the back of a wooden spoon or a smooth river rock or - anything.  McClain's recommends using a slip sheet (maybe if I did that I would get a cleaner transfer?  I'll have to try that next time...)


And:  here is the result using the hand only:

That's not too bad, and certainly clear enough for my purposes on this print.  

And, here we are: all ready to start carving - tomorrow.  Times up for today.  Actually, tomorrow is a social (aka chocolate dessert with friend) day, therefore carving will not start until Friday - but watch the chips fly then!

Aha!  You thought I couldn't hear you, didn't you?  You were saying, "I don't see any kento marks.  She is going to have the same problems she had before - she has forgotten all about registration.  Hoo, boy, she is headed for Print From Hell #2".  Au contraire, mes amis! I do have a plan.  It may be ill begotten, but it is a plan.  We will see when the time comes.  Uh oh.  ;-)

(Isn't printmaking just more fun than a barrel of adolescent primates? One just never knows what's in store for one, does one??  Unless, of course, you are one of those stodgier types who have learned from experience not to experiment and do what you know works.  I have yet to learn that lesson.  Maybe I'm not as smart as an adolescent primate...)

Back to the Flags

You may, or may not, recall the Prayer Flag project that I started last Fall, or maybe it was last Summer.  Time just seems to fly by and I feel like I'm running along behind it, as fast as my little feet will go, but I just cannot catch up with it.  It seems like the harder I try the more I get behind.  Nevertheless, I've managed to catch the flag project and today I think I got the drawing done and ready to be transferred to the block.  This flower is the orchid and according to the Language of Flowers site it means "beauty".  Seems fitting for the idea that these flags, as they flutter in the garden, will be releasing the blessings attributed to them.

I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but the impetus for this project was the death of a dear friend's husband.  I wanted to do something in his memory and came up with the prayer flags because she is such an avid gardener and loves flowers.  One of his pet names for her was "Beauty" - and so we must have this image.

Tomorrow the image will go on the block and let the carving begin!  By George, I think I've caught this thing.  I knew those new sneakers would be good for more than just sneaking.

The Print From Hell Begins...

All of the deadlines have been met except one:  Barenforum exchange # 55, which I foolishly signed up for on Oct. 1, 2012 when Feb. 1, 2013 sounded years away.  I thought I needed something to occupy my time, and then I turned around and flew to North Dakota for a week, and then it was Thanksgiving, and then flew to ND again for Christmas, and then it was Dec. 31, 2012 and I discovered that the Sketchbook Project was due in two weeks.  Their  "next Jan." was tomorrow and my "next Jan." had been 2014.  Well, got to work quickly and did that and the portrait and now it is back to woodblock.

It all started with a simple drawing which I had planned to do Moku Hanga.  This is the drawing:

The theme is motion in nature - immediately I had thought of my daughter, when she was a toddler, and rode on a little seat on the back of my bike.  I updated it with a helmet, but in those days the only thing I really remember was a little plastic strap that went around her middle.  All during our rides she was absolutely dead quiet and I thought she must be scared to death and certain I was out to kill us both. In contrast, her older brother when he rode back there chatted continually about everything in sight.  I never had long straight blond hair, either - call it artistic license.

OK - so got the block carved and proofed and ready to print and realized that I had no way to register this beauty.  Out came the cheater registration system. Voila!  I lined everything up, got my margins all set and pulled some proofs for registration purposes and went to bed.

The next morning the blocks were all waiting for me and I went to work.

I had blocks for blue, red, brown,  and grey and yellow on one block, and a blended blue to green background block.  Oh oh!  Right away I can't get the background to line up properly.  Finally, after hours of trial and error I gave up and carved a new background and printed it - so far Moku Hanga is working great!

But, NONE OF THE BLOCKS WILL LINE UP AND REGISTRATION IS DRIVING ME NUTZ.

It was obvious that I should throw in the towel and start over, but I was already late, so what to do? What to do?  Fuss and fury, what to do!  I did what any half crazed, previously level headed printmaker would do, I opted for hand coloring and got to work on that, which went rather quickly compared to recutting half a dozen blocks.  The only problem was that it looked really goofy with a mix of even sides and sides that went off to nowhere.  So, cut another block!  A frame block to cover all the sins.  I mixed up some blu/black Akua Intaglio ink, rolled it onto the block and to the press with paper and rubber blanket.  Moku Hanga has been totally abandoned at this point.  My patience is caput.

Toddler Flight

It worked moderately well, but this was about as far as I could go with what I had.  Barely visible in this shot is a swirl of interference pigment, added via stencil,  which shimmers when the light hits it properly.  At this point I did throw all the towels in - (the washer) and rushed this lot to the USPS.  And, I want to tell you that I really don't know what they're worried about money-wise.  The fee was outrageous and should keep the USPS solvent for several years.  And, now I need to go write another check to Monica because what I included was pathetic.

One more thing - I want to apologize to all the #55 folk who have been eagerly awaiting this portfolio. This is the first time I've ever been late.  I promise that reformation is on my resolution list.

Lisa and Her Inner Child

Well, before I get carried away with the current woodcarving project, there was one more thing that had to be done before February 1.  That was a portrait.  There were hundreds if not millions of ways I could have gone with this assignment, and any of them probably would have been easier than the one I chose.  The paints, brushes, easel and a spanking clean canvas were sitting right there next to my drawing table and they shouted louder than anyone else.  My guess is that they were feeling neglected and wanting attention.  It worked.  Before I knew what had hit me I was smearing paint around on a small 20" x 16" surface.  Some bubble wrap was handy so it was smeared and pressed onto the other smeared pigments. A small piece of netting - the kind produce sometimes comes in - found its way to the canvas and paint was brushed and smushed over it leaving a delicious texture.  I just painted, smushed, smeared, crushed, smashed, slapped and slumped almost everything I could find onto that surface.  Basically, I produced a monotype without the transfer from matrix to intended surface.  Again, those printmaking skills were saving my derriere.

Then it just had to dry for a day which I spent cutting word stencils from heavy paper.  I had asked Lisa for some words she would use to describe herself and some she thought her friends and family might use to label her, too.  She sent a list to choose from.  I started with curious, then caring and creative, honest, and lastly: kind.  The idea was to use different fonts and sizes for each, but I didn't have a huge surface, so fortunately there was a limit built in.

When the first layers were dry enough I stenciled the words in a more or less random manner.  The idea I had in the back of my mind was to create this richly textured surface with the words woven in and a simple line drawing of Lisa over the top of everything.  So far, the work was going according to plan.

And, then it came time to add that line drawing idea.  It looked like it didn't even belong in the same room, let alone on the same surface.  I had made the background too dominant.  Rats.  Two choices: glace and tone down the background or just fill in the line with a grisaille rendering.  I settled for the grisaille because, here again, a deadline was nipping at my backside.  (Grisaille is a monochrome under painting used mainly to establish darks and lights and shadows for modeling.  When this method is used the artist generally goes on to then put in all the flesh tones, eye color, etc.  But, I stopped with grisaille.) 

This exhibition was originally to be a portrait exchange.  Each of us would choose another artist, from our group, or not, and we would each produce a portrait of the other person.  About half of us did the exchange thing,  some did self portraits.  There are some wonderful portraits in this show!  Anyway, it was a delight to meet Lisa, look at her work, and I had much fun attempting her portrait.  In Lisa's work she uses a lot of animals and especially a rabbit, very much like this blue one, that she had labeled her "inner child".  Every portrait should include one's inner child, don't you think?

Lisa and Her Inner Child

The opening of the exhibition was Feb. 1 - this had to be done, dry and delivered the middle of the week prior.  Another deadline met!  The exhibition is at Northbank Gallery, 1005 Main St., Vancouver, WA and will be up through Feb. 23.  The year was off to a very good start.  Except.

Except that last Oct. First it seemed very reasonable to sign up for a print exchange requiring 31 prints on Feb. 1.  I must have been in some alternate universe for this to seem like a good idea, but it did and I did and now the prints were due and all I had was a drawing on a block of wood.  Oh dear.  The woodblock print from hell will be the next installment.

The Last of the Sketchbook

When we left off I was still amidst the Sketchbook - stuck on that high spot in the road, not knowing whether I should just send it off and get to the next project or put a few more (numerous) hours into the works.  If it could have been sent off anonymously I might have done it.  But, it has my name on it.  So,  I couldn't.  More work went into it right up until the moment it had to be winging its way to the East coast.  The cover took on a number of changes:

As did all of the pages.  Additions of a variety of decorative papers, some gouache, some acrylic, some of this and some of that.  Here are a few more examples:

Those of us with printmaking skills are the luckiest people in the world.  How would I ever had made it through the sketchbook project without monotype and etching?  It was so great to be able to put both to use.  A little woodblock would have made it into this, too, had there been time and had someone  handled what time she did have a bit better. 

The next project on the docket is Exchange 55 for the Barenforum.  Starting a new project is always a shot in the arm, and this was no exception - it started off swimmingly, or maybe cravingly.  I happily carved for days, but more about that in the next installment.

Sketchbook Project

Talk about being behind the eight ball, I am not only behind, I've been flattened.  Suddenly a bunch of February deadlines are taunting and cajoling and acting like great big bullies.  But the first of the Big Bullies is the Brooklyn Art Library Sketchbook Project.  When I signed up for this last Fall and it said due next January for some unexplainable reason that meant January 2014 to me.  Imagine my shock when it suddenly dawned about Dec. 18 that these people meant January 2013.

As soon as we returned home from Holiday travel to visit daughter and family I leapt into action in the studio barely taking time to turn up the heat and turn on the lights.  I ripped the sketchbook apart (it was stapled in two places, so not a difficult job) and proceeded to ink an 18" x 24" plexi plate, add some textures and throw down pages 4 at a whack and run them through the press - turn them over and run them back through, add more ink, 4 more pages, etc. until I had all the pages hanging on a drying line.  I used AKUA monotype inks and fortunately they were dry in two or three days. As soon as they were dry they progressed to the sewing machine and were put back together almost as they had arrived. (Next time I will number them  - it would be much easier!) Next came images with technical pens, gouache, color pencils, basically anything able to make a mark was employed.

Somewhere. at some time, in my Goodwill, and the like, visits I had picked up a rather well beaten copy of Great Expectations.  Pages and parts of pages were missing, so it was ripe for becoming art material.  The category of my Sketchbook Project is "mystery".  These categories are only meant to be jumping off points and are widely interpreted.  The books will eventually all be digitized and when that happens I will blog a link, but in the meantime, here are some pages to lure you in...

                                     

First we have the cover.  Not terribly eye catching, but the title is there: Expectations, Great  and an
implied "maybe".    
                                     
A little more interest and a hint of what's to come - could it be a rabbit in a hat?  Wouldn't you think a so-called creative person could come with something original? sigh  It turned out that the creative part came from finding somewhat appropriate text to aid my visual story...

A couple of sample pages

and a couple more...

• Stay tuned to the link for the whole book - or better yet! Watch for the exhibition to come to your locality where you can check it out - literally.  The exhibitions are interactive and treated as a library.  You  can "check out" 3 to 5 books and sit at a table and take your time looking through them.  The last time they came to Portland they were in the Ace Hotel across the street from Powell's Bookstore. 
• 
  
• So, I am fairly reeling at the fact that I have actually finished this early and it will arrive on time.  But, I can't reel too long because next up is a portrait for a show opening Feb. 1.  Today a small canvas and some oil paints actually came out and were smeared around a bit.  Onward and Upward!

Trophy Art (?)

Okay, this is not printmaking - it is a little break from carving, inking, registering, etc., which has been being done, but just not on this little project.  At Northbank Gallery we have had a Gallery Chair-person who has just been over-the-top-on-the-job-fantastically-tremendous. She has ridden herd on us with diligence - she has discovered how to nail jello to a tree, herd cats, and get artists to not only do as they have been asked, but to follow the rules and do it on time!  In my mind that deserves a trophy, so I have made one and will present it to her this evening.  In addition to doing her Gallery Chair duties she has also done two shows: one on all things onion and another on all things eyes and her next series is all things bees.  That will help explain some of the items on her Exemplary Gallery Chair award.  Most of the items are pretty self explanatory - paint can and brush for the constant maintenance of the gallery between shows, tool box, hammer, carpenter's rule, for hanging shows and so on.  (Did I mention that I now need a new supply of Sculpey?  That stuff is so much fun.  All of us pre-schoolers (and above) love it!

It is my hope that, upon seeing this amazing object d'art, the membership will be jumping at the chance to take on the Gallery Chair job with the dream of having one of these for their very own.  Either that or they will race across the bridge where they think they will be safe, but we will hunt them down if need be.

                                                                    Front view

                                                                         Back view  (that piece of paper is a list of shows)

                                                                   close up of back

                                                                close up of front

Thank goodness for Goodwill or Salvation Army, memory is not serving as to where I found this elegant trophy, and to the person who donated it so I could pick it up for a song.  Also, to the person who forfeited the Barbie Boom-box which became a yellow tool box.  And, last but not least, to the person who made the doll house chair so I didn't have to make one from scratch (or Sculpey).  And, to our Illustrious Gallery Chair (person) who brought this project to mind.  I had more fun than "Gallagher at a Farmer's Market" to quote a certain car insurance commercial.

And, I beg forgiveness for this having absolutely nothing to do with printmaking!