Filed under: printmaking | Tags: art, artist, collagraph, Ink, print, printmaking, pronto plate, visual art
I’m working on this new pronto plate image. You’ll probably recognize it as a photo I posted recently. We’ve recovered from the snow, so I can see this plant again. I’ve finished up the magenta and cyan layers, and now am just waiting for the ink to dry so that I can do the black layer. Here’s the progress so far:
And now I add the cyan:
Almost done! I like it. This is using the bigger brayer and the new paper. I think that it is working much better than before. I wanted to do this image, as the majority of the colors were not primary. I’m so fascinated with how a halftone image of CMYK makes a full spectrum of color! Sorry it’s so gray again…another overcast day. I also added a little to this test print:
Not great. This time, I used a litho crayon to make the plate. This created a nice, sketchy line. The only drawback is that I don’t think that I can clean the plate, without also cleaning off the crayon. Hmmm. This is unfortunate. I’m not keen on these test prints, but it’s been helpful to learn more about the methods of pronto printing.
I’m also working on another lino print…very basic. I’d like to get it a little farther along before I post it. I know…I should just post it anyway. Too bad!
This Thursday is the opening of the local “Images of Arlington” show. It will be fun to go, I think, as I’ve never been to an opening when I have something on the wall. I should probably have some kind of business card. I have nothing of the sort at the moment. Hmmm. Maybe a handwritten card will be “casual” and “artsy”, not “ill-prepared”.
I was thinking, yet again, the other day, that I still don’t have one “look” to the work that I produce. I know. It’s been less than a year. I’m just always noticing where things are still up in the air with me. I am a bit envious of those who have found their “thing”, whatever it may be.
My first carborundum collagraph class is this Thursday night! (before the opening, somehow…) I am excited to work on this medium, as I like it. The prints from my last post were carborundum collagraphs, if you want to see what this type of print can look like. I think it’s a type of printmaking that appeals to me, probably because you don’t have to spend an enormous amount of time planning. It becomes closer to painting. I’ve been looking at wood engravings lately. That type of printmaking seems to take more planning that I probably would want to do. Does anyone out there do “spontaneous” wood engraving? Or, is that some kind of printmaking oxymoron? Thoughts?
Filed under: printmaking | Tags: art, artist, collagraph, print, printmaking, visual art
Yes, you heard me right…snow. The lawn is COVERED in it. I want it to go away. Now.
Trust me…everyone is moaning about it.
Today was not a super day at the studio. It’s a new semester, and the studio is crowded…very crowded. Not that I don’t want myself and everyone else to be there, but it’s just harder to work. I think that there are around 14 students for one press. This results in enormous printing queues, scrubbling for a workspace, lots of shuffling and squeezing around one another just to move about. I’m using this as an excuse for my shoddy prints today.
This first print was a total disaster. I had way too much transparent medium in the inks, and the ink itself was so sticky…I had a horrible time trying to wipe the plate. So, here is the first mess:
See…I even made the picture tiny! I’d like to make it disappear. So, that was a bit disappointing. THEN, I reinked the plate with a different type of ink, and got this:
Isn’t it fascinating that this is the exact same plate? So different, right? Well, still not good, but closer to what I wanted. Then, I made this print with the other new plate:
(The photos are so dark, as it’s an overcast day. It’s also raining/snowing out, so I can’t take my prints outside to photograph). Anyway, this one was somewhat interesting, but the border is messy. I need to file the edges of the plate. They are rough, and impossible to clean. I can imagine trying this one again, but with better colors. Here is the last one, which is a ghost print on top of a ghost print:
This turned out okay. Not thrilled with it. I do like the texture that you can get from these carborundum collagraphs. Here’s a detail:
Well…I don’t think that you can see the texture that well, but it’s there. Overall, I didn’t feel thrilled with these. It felt like an off day, as I started out with the purple mess. I think that the prints did improve, but still just so-so and blah.
I showed my teacher the pronto print of the toy animals. She was TOTALLY not impressed. I think that her only comment was, “oh…you must have used multiple plates because you got all of these colors.” Hmmm. I’m still going to keep doing these halftone pronto prints, as I think that they’re kind of neat. Maybe she’ll like the flower one that I’m working on…
Any helpful comments about today’s prints? Suggestions? Likes? Dislikes? Who here is sick of snow? Who here wants a trip to Miami? Bermuda? Somewhere without snow…Alabama? Hmmm…
slightly wonky 
