block printing project, week 2 (#7-12)

Continuing with week 2 of my mission to carve 6 blocks a week for a month:

I'm trying to stay focused on carving, but I couldn't resist starting to arrange the prints
to get an idea of how they may work together.

blocks #7 - 12

 

first week of  summer figure drawing - 20 minute

Para-art - enjoying nature, researching, and gardening.

phase 3 redux - develop thoughtful algorithms, conclusion, and relief print mini-project week 1

I couldn't resist;
I had to cut it out and play with this week's blocks to see
how they might look as part of a larger composition

Firstly, to conclude phase 3 - develop thoughtful algorithms.

I feel like I had an opportunity to put this to the test with making the 3 still lifes last month, and I learned a few useful things:

1) the first step of an algorithm is usually subtractive rather than additive.

For me, it seems like the most productive general pattern is: subtraction, organization, addition. This is challenging because, as someone who's devoted to adding extraneous stuff into the life-mix, my first impulse is to jump right into the making (adding) part; but one conclusion I came to with phase 3 is that most projects go better if I remove excess material and ideas first, then organize, then add.

2) Fix some factors so that they can act as a "control" group.

With the still lifes, I was trying to learn a new paint, new support, and a new construction method, so I stuck with iconography (skulls, flowers, fruit) that I know well. It helped me focus and a few technical conclusion - golden high flow acrylic is incredible - high pigment load, ink-like viscosity, and a drying time so fast I couldn't believe. I love the new arches oil painting paper, but the support has to stay consistent between the objects and the background for it to take varnish evenly (oops - now I know ;) ).

3) The goal may not be the material result.

With the still lifes, I made the objects individually then combined them instead of paintings the still life as a unit because I wanted to know whether I could adjust the composition to existing objects instead of adjusting the objects to the maintain the composition (Yes :) ).

Now that phase 3 has reached its conclusion, I'm ready to jump into a mini project :)!

Relief Print Mini-Project

week 1 - blocks 1 - 6.

Following on the principle that not all time is the same, I looked back and concluded that July is by far my most productive art month. I tend to wake up in late March/ April, try to learn new techniques in May/June, and then in my excitement, test it out in July and early August, analyze in the fall and consolidate/ fix/ ruminate over the winter.

Over the past year or so, I've gotten really interested in relief printing. It took a while to find the paper, ink, and printing method that work best for me and to learn the tools and practice carving. I feel like I have a good grasp of the basics now, and I want to get really good at it.

Ever since I saw Durer's paper monument, I can't stop thinking - what would it be like if I had my own personal library of blocks? Picture the endless variations - different colors, different papers, different backgrounds, that I could arrange, and re-arrange, and re-arrange, in all sorts of combinations, adding blocks as needed...

On the one hand, it's a fantasy. Durer is, well, Durer (my heart be still!), and even he didn't carve the blocks for the paper monument himself (and neither did Hans Holbein the Younger for his Danse Macabre, another favorite). And I - am a lone cat person armed with a classroom pack of linoleum and a wooden spoon to print them, hahaha.

So...yes...hmmmmmm (Better not to think about it too much ;) )

If it were possible, I feel like I would need a certain minimum number of blocks as the baseline - maybe 50?

I got to thinking (uh oh ;)) - I bet if I carved a block every day, I'd get good at it, and I could reach the minimum of 25 new blocks to add to the app. 25 I've already made in about a month.... (steeples fingers -hmmmmmmm).

And so the mini-project was born.

 I'm going to carve 6 blocks a week* for one month - starting last week ;)
*with one day a week reserved for proofing and photographing

drawing based on
one of my zoo photos

proof

in process
I use blue marker over the
areas I'm working on to
I can see where I've carved

I made the branches dense so that I can make variations
by cutting off the smaller limbs in different pieces 

In process, then cut into 3 for printing

Instead of adding black and white
ink to individualize the branches,
I printed them on found book pages.
I like the way this makes each piece
unique, but I felt terrible destroying
a book (even ones I get free off the
street). So this week, I searched until
I found a book I didn't mind tearing
apart and printing
over :p

proof

My "classroom pack" of 12, 9 x 11.5" blocks arrived Saturday...which meant Sunday night I was up carving and proofing the parrot, snail, and frog trying to "catch up to myself," (Ahhhh, memories of the power in precision project!), but I did it - 6 blocks!

Onward :)!

with added black, white, and metallic ink

proof

from my yard!
I predict there will be plants in the
blocks to come...

I carve kneeling on my grassy pillow on the floor and
there's just enough room on the pillow for a
small human and a feline assistant ,
(or rather, feline assistant #1 deigns to allow
the human to occupy the outskirts
of her pillow, while Jr. runs around the room,
coming over to head butt my elbow  for a pet and/or
sit on me every 30 minutes or so :)

Phase 3 redux - Colorado round up

my coin!!!

Last week, I promised to reveal the results of a fellowship studying the art of engraving as part of the American Numismatic Association's summer seminar... (drumroll) :)

I am so proud of my coin! And (and, and!) it has the buffalo from an actual buffalo nickel on the back (which I find very funny - something I made says "United States of America/ E Pluribus Unum" on it - as if I have an official stamp of approval for my artwork - lol!).

steel die

[sidenote: The edge identifies it as a novelty coin printed at the money museum, so no worries - it can't accidentally go into circulation.]

A little more about the process: I engraved a steel die with sharp steel tools in the negative

My thumb post-engraving

 (Don't try this at home, kids!)

Me at the screw press
disclosure - I didn't press most of the coins
.(safer that way - I am pretty clumsy - 
see previous shot of thumb :p )
 Thanks goes to Joe Paonessa of Badger Mint

One steel die is placed in the top of a screw press and the other near the base. A disc of pewter is placed on top of the lower die. Handle turns, top die descends - boom - pewter becomes the peanut butter between two slices of steel bread. Because it's softer, the pewter "fills in" the negative space left by carving out the steel die, creating a positive image.

More Colorado loveliness

I'm humbled by the dedication and knowledge of the numismatists I met in Colorado.

I love learning about new materials, techniques, and tools, but I was thinking that I'm an outlier at the summer seminar because I don't know much about coins. As I thought about this some more (it's a long plane ride ;) ), the more I think that it's both true and not exactly true.  

I appreciate coins in a particular way. I relate to coins as something to look at, instead of as something to know about. Because I'm not as interested in their history or facts about them (yet), I think it might seem like I'm enthusiastic but clueless because knowing to look at comes out in pictures, where as knowing about comes out in words.

It's hard for me to articulate, but I have been paying close attention to the way certain coins look. As with other things I like to look at (Greek vases, tapestries, manuscripts, architectural sculpture) when I see coins that show a balance of living things and patterning, I think they are beautiful, and I remember them.  

A few weeks ago, I noticed the similarity of my bird tiny print to an image from a Greek coin, so I decided to do a little scavenger hunt of pieces from the last year...

The eerie thing is - I don't know when/where I saw these coins. Most of them aren't in the coin book I got in Colorado last summer, but there are weird similarities - like the the water line matching the narrowing of the ankles on the elephant or the shape of the horses tail. Going back to Colorado and learning more about engraving had been on my mind as something I was looking forward too, but I didn't realize how much "coin-ness" had seeped into my artwork and my mind.

I find it a little creepy - not bad exactly, but it feels like opening the fridge to find a plate of cookies that I can't remember baking or buying - I like cookies, and it would be nice to come across something delicious, but it would still be weird to find a plate of cookies in the fridge without knowing how they got there. (big hmmmm.)

Look Mom, Red Dot!!!

framed and on the wall (whew!)

Once back home, I visited the Still life with Sculpture show at Thompson Giroux, which opened while I was away.

Picking back up with the skull theme from 2 weeks ago, my art-reaction to coming home was: "Quick, I should carve something big and complicated immediately, because anything in linoleum will seem easy after working on a tiny piece of steel."

True.

I carved, printed, cut out this 9 x 11" skull block on Sunday...I may not become an expert engraver, but the experience has already sped up my relief printing :).

hand printed on gray paper

drawing on block

print with drawing, cut out and mounted on blue paper

close up of the drawing on print

In non-art news - my plants are doing well, and I celebrated the arrival of summer by making this little patio near the herb garden, planted in April.

before

after

Now that there's been art, (simile) cookies, and a home project, the only thing missing from this post is a picture of the beloved feline assistants

As we can see, my absence was a source of much distress ;)

This is a long entry (whew!), but I haven't forgotten the theme of phase 3. An "algorithm based mini-project" is in the works ... more to come next week :)

Phase 3 - develop thoughtful algorithms

The still lifes are complete! I got them all framed and delivered to Thompson Giroux Gallery where they are a part of the current exhibition Still Life with Sculpture, up until August 10th

Mini seems to particularly like this one :)

After finishing these early in the week, I got sick and lost a few days. Fortunately, relief carving is a pretty stationary activity. I made and printed 7 new Pegasi.

6" relief print on gray paper with hand drawn accents in black and white ink, collaged onto red background.

Then, it was off on an adventure. I returned to Colorado to complete the second half of a Fellowship from them American Numismatic Association in medallic engraving.

It journeys through the sky

It wakes up surrounded by sunshine

and arrives in the land of big mountains and clouds.

and very friendly creatures.

It visits a mini Gothic cathedral

Then it learns lots of new things amidst friendly and patient people (more on the visual results next week :) .)

some of my prints and collages from the past year at Coburn Gallery
at Colorado College, June 22 - 26

and after the opening and delicious soft serve ice cream - there are still
two more hours of daylight to go for a walk

Heaven!