Artwork, etc.: phase 8 - make the right choice easy(er)

A busy week in Artlandia!

I especially liked seeing it installed peeking through the crowd.

I almost don't know where to start. First, bringing to completion 2 pieces with openings in New York and Hudson:

While in New York, I paid a visit to the Cloisters ( :o !!!!!!)

I saw so so so many Medieval art goodies, that I can barely restrain myself - but here are a few of the highlights:

Grisaille stained glass heightened with silver nitrate

Mmmmm - aedicules

tiny sculptural aedicules

A St. Michael with
black and gold armor is one of my
favorite things

and it get's even better! -
detail of the floor

more patterning

I really, really like tiny metal things....

intaglio gem with lions

basse-taille enamel!(!!)

and when they show mythical creatures with patterning!

Ivory - with falconry!

pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter!

Needless to say, I had an extremely fun time - happy tears of overwhelming-art-joy were shed!

It was hard to stay focused amidst so many mini-Medieval

art- marvels, but I did have a (very) particular art-mission - to see examples of how Medieval-style drapery responds to a raised right arm:

And, of course, I couldn't help myself from photographing creatures in the park on the way to and from the museum (these city dwellers seem so used to humans that they let me get really close.).

But it wasn't all research - also plenty of do/make going on. I'll be participating in the upcoming exhibition Fresh Ink as part of Print Fair North at Zea Mays in North Hampton beginning Sept 26th.

I decided I wanted to make something new for it (Why, oh why!)

"Fledermaus," 12 x 12," mixed media collage, 2015

Even though one might wonder why start from scratch on this - after printing the others, I had a new idea that I wanted to try out- it occurred to me that if I printed in a more transparent black, it would leave me more room to add emphasis by hand, so I tried it:

for comparison - on the left, printed in semi-transparent black with drawing for emphasis; on the right printed in black

As much as it was a pretty hard push to complete this, I think the semi-transparent ink worked well (thumbs up!)

And there's more...(more!?!)

So, even though there was a lot going on this week, one thought kept coming back - the year is ending, and it's there first in a long time that I haven't done a "quantitative" type project. Summer is really the only time I have enough energy for that type of project, and I can feel the window of opportunity closing. I really tried to let it go: "but I did some other important things with that time...I can try again next year..." etc. None of that was as convincing as the thought: "Well, today is Wednesday...there's still time ;)." On the one hand, I usually [never] start projects mid-week, on the other hand - good thing I'm the captain of this art-ship, and can divide 7 by 2 ;).

In terms of phase 8, I think one way of making a decision easier is to set up a framework and follow it - turning lots of small decisions into a few bigger ones - so here it goes - going for it - a new mini-mission:

4 weeks: Sept -7 Oct. 7; 20 blocks/ plates (averaging to 5 a week with 3 the first half week and 2 the last half week).

The purpose of the project is to practice and integrate the new intaglio technique and see how it complements relief, so I'm not restricting the type of plate.

There are a few ongoing projects/ applications that also are needing attention, so in an effort to stay focused, I'm not going to worry about pulling final prints right now; instead, I scheduled time at Zea Mays on the last day of the project to try to print them all at once (and I also hope that by then I may feel ready to prepare some larger plates?)

Work started immediately:

The first 3 blocks are something new I've been wanting to try - I carved a block that can be printed multiple times to make a repeating pattern. I cut the block into a shape so that the borders of the block indicate the registration (since this is one area in which I need all the help I can get - trying to make the block do most of the heavy lifting on this.)

I think it may have actually worked...

8 x 25"

proof of mini project #1

Once I had the background pattern, I wanted
to try to make it more specific...

One thing I love (love) to photograph is construction

machinery (here's some nice ones from this past week):

So...I decided they'd look great incorporated into the pattern (but I wanted to keep them as separate blocks to keep the pattern versatile).

One of the reasons for doing a quantitative project is that it pushes one to develop efficient methods. [cough, cough - masochism - cough cough] I tried something new with blocks 2 and 3 too:

I wanted to keep the registration as easy as possible, so I cut the blocks to match the shape of the pattern, and for the source material, instead of trying to figure out (or guess) what size and direction to make the machines, I just printed a few on translucent paper - held them up to the block and picked one, then flipped the sheet over for the drawing (thumbs up).