Filed under: printmaking | Tags: art, artist, print, printmaking, woodblock printing
Well…I took a class in Moku Hanga this weekend. What’s that? WELLLLLL…it’s the Japanese style of woodblock printing. This is an old craft where people spend decades becoming experts in either print design, cutting of the blocks, or printing the blocks. So far, I’ve spent two days. I’ve got a lot to learn.
Regardless of this daunting history, I plunged in and made a few, simple prints:
I wanted to keep the design simple, and to work on color transparency to describe form. I also created a second print:
This was too simple, for my liking…so I worked on the first one with a few more variations:
That is hopefully the Japanese character for “box”. I decided that this was perhaps too much, so I scaled back:
I liked this one. Notice how wrinkled the paper is. We’re working with super fine paper which is damp. I need to rewet the paper, and dry it flat this time. I liked this print, so I did another color variation:
I enjoyed this, and want to try more interesting designs. It’s definitely not a type of printing where you can just wing it. There are so many complicated variables…how wet is the paper? How much pigment to use? How much rice paste? etc. etc. etc. I’m like Ralph Macchio in the Karate Kid…all impatient to be brilliant immediately. This was fun, though! Now, I’m itchy to carve more…(don’t talk to me about my allergies…I’m itchy because of that as well…)
Happy Mother’s Day!!!!
Filed under: printmaking | Tags: art, artist, print, printmaker, printmaking, visual art
So, yesterday was an interesting class with Christiane. I showed her my two, long prints. She helped me to improve them by giving them some focus. She felt (and I agree), that they were too busy. So, I reworked one of them…and painted it black!
Is it even recognizable as one of the prints from my previous post? I am much happier with it, even though I had to obliterate most of the print. But, we saved the good part, and got rid of the rest.
Then, this morning…I did another one. I think that this also has some potential:
It was hard to photograph these, as it’s a bit breezy…and they kept floating away. I’m relatively happy with this one too. The yellow bothers me a little…
Here’s a detail:
This idea of obscuring part of the print is so interesting to me. Not something that I had really thought of before. It’s kind of like an eraser for printmaking…a good solution for my rather busy prints. I’m going to keep this technique in my back pocket…
Here they are together (inside…because of the wind…)
I had originally thought of them as horizontal, but now I like the vertical orientation. Comments? Love the black? Hate the black?
There is a print show featuring Selma Bromberg at the Cambridge Center for Adult Ed, where she teaches. This is my printmaking teacher. In addition to showcasing her lovely work, there is also a part of the show that is student work. Please come see it!
The reception and raffle for one of her prints is tonight. Unfortunately…I can’t make it. BUT…I have a print up at this show! You can see all of the prints on this website. I know…the only qualification I needed was to be/have been a student of hers. But still! I now have two print shows on my wafer thin resume! This is the print that is up:
This is not a recent print, but one done at CCAE earlier this year. I like it! I like the layers, textures and colors…
Tomorrow is my husband’s birthday…Happy Birthday, John! I hope that you’ve been wanting prints for your birthday…’cause I’ve got lots! (JUST kidding) 😛
I’ve got some new prints. I’m working LONG on Japanese paper. I also did full bleed prints, which I like because you can be more loose about where the paper sits on the plate.
Yes, it’s another grey day outside, with not much light. Also, it was starting to rain as I took that photo, so I didn’t try to do a better job getting all of the sides to appear parallel. (details…details…) This one was somewhat successful. I wonder, though, if in the end…it’s just too much. Thoughts? Detail:
Yes, perhaps a bit much.
The next print was going along pretty well…but then I printed some orange marks (the big loops in the middle), which I didn’t like the look of afterward. I was trying to decide if this one is “done”. I probably should consider it done, lest it gets “too much”, like the previous print. My mother would say, “clarty”.
Detail:
On the subject of moms…not only is it Mother’s Day on Sunday…but it’s also my mom’s birthday today. Happy Birthday, Mom! She recently gave me a couple of photos of me when I was little. Does Photoshop have a “cute” filter? I thought not. Oh well. Look at the drool! Ech!
See that dazed expression? I still do that. Often. At least the drooling has stopped. Look at the double chin! That’s gone too, thankfully.
Now, check out these gams!
Yes…my legs haven’t improved much either. Sheesh. At least I’ve given up on all white outfits…and frills. No frills.
Happy Mom’s day to all! My son naturally asked when it was “children’s day”. I told him that it was his birthday. I’m sure that he felt gypped. Not to worry…he’s always scheming ways to get Grandma to buy him something. She’s like putty in his tiny hand…
Filed under: Collage, Fleeting thoughts..., printmaking | Tags: art, artist, Collage, print, printmaking, Visual Arts
So, I did a bit of a crazy thing. I signed up to have my “portfolio” reviewed by professionals in the local art world…gallery owners, curators, etc. The Cambridge Art Association has organized this. Each artist gets three, 20 minute conversations with three different reviewers. This seemed like a great idea when I signed up. Now, I’m panicking.
I realized, after signing up, that this is a very formal interview. Think of it as a job interview for artists. I thought that I could casually bring a pile of my work, and just talk about what seems to have potential. This is NOT what is supposed to happen. I am supposed to have a clear, coherent portfolio of around 8 works/images to discuss. I am presenting myself and my work, as if I was trying to get them to offer to show my work. This is…serious.
As a result, I am in a bit of a panic. What am I going to show them? Which one of these varied things is going to be my “thing”…my “artistic vision”? My vision feels blurry right now. I now believe that I must create something BRILLIANT in the next couple of weeks. When I puts this kind of pressure on myself…a kind of paralysis ensues. I’m freaking out. I also realize that I CANNOT mention this blog, lest they read about my panic. That wouldn’t be very professional, I think.
So, I somehow have to get my act together very quickly. I do wish that I could miraculously come up with some brilliant things in the next week or so. I have a feeling that’s not reasonable.
Sigh. Now, onto other matters of panic…
I’m taking a collage class. This also stresses me out. In graduate school, I took a collage class. It was traumatizing. I think that I have mentioned it before in a previous post. Anyway, I am hoping that this class is more relaxed, and doesn’t make me break out in a cold sweat every time I see a glue stick.
Here are the random things that I did in the last class:
We were supposed to do a collage about ourselves…in 20 minutes. That’s what I came up with. Hmmm…I won’t explain.
This is the next collage, where we had to use one entire page of a magazine to make the collage:
I kind of liked that one. This next one was supposed to be an “all text” collage. I was in a rush, as I ran out of time because I was chit-chatting with my classmates.
Kind of silly. This was sort of refreshing, though, as our collages in grad school ALWAYS had to be rectangles with clean edges. Yawn.
Here is the other color scheme of that lino print from before. I’m disappointed with it.
Okay, pay attention:
Has anyone out there done an “artist interview”? Any words of wisdom? I know. Don’t panic. Seriously…besides “not panicking”, anything else to think about? How do you decide what to present, when your work is so varied? Don’t say, “avoid participating in interviews”, or “get your act together”. That’s obvious, and not helpful.
Maybe I should wear a disguise and use a fake name…KIDDING (I think).
Filed under: printmaking | Tags: art, artist, collagraph, print, printmaking, Relief print, visual art
I received a phonecall this week, telling me that the class that I had been SO looking forward to is going to be cancelled for low enrollment. WHAT? Am I the only person who was interested in doing huge woodcuts? I highly doubt that. Needless to say, I am really disappointed. This has happened to me before, and it’s always a big bummer. I suggested that perhaps the artist could do a one day workshop. I was told that I needed to speak to someone else about that. Sigh.
I don’t have class tonight, as it’s vacation week. So instead, I tried to work on carborundum collagraphs in the spirit of the work that my teacher does. Hmm. It’s much harder than it looks (of course). One of the challenges of printmaking with transparent inks is that you have to have a good sense of what the print will look like with each layer that you add. Layers of printing on top of another can bring depth and interest into the print. It can also make your print a muddy mess. My teacher makes this layering look easy. My work today seemed to only be marginally successful. I worked on these next two prints simultaneously:
and this one:
You can see that they have many similar elements. I’m fairly content with the first one, but the second one still makes me think that it needs something. The risk, of course, is that I do another layer and say, “nooooo! It was better BEFORE!!!!” This is typically why you should sort of leave your prints alone, and get back to them again with fresh eyes.
Here are other ones that I did:
The background is actually slightly “greenish”, which I don’t think comes through with this photo. Can you tell that I liked that blob? It keeps appearing…
This one is another that is borderline for me…add another layer? Keep it as is?
Then, I tried doing two plates together. This is harder to do (for me):
I like how this one turned out. I’m not sure if each print individually would have been interesting, but together I’m happy with it. Apparently, there are new colors for these inks coming out. Exciting!!!
And now for something completely different…I’ve also been working on a lino print. This has taken ages. I have done it in a few color schemes. This is the “green” scheme:
Kind of odd, I know. I like it, though. I like the boldness of relief printing. THUS, my serious disappointment with my cancelled class. Yes, I’m whining about that again. Yes, I’ll give it a rest. So, any comments? No…not about my CLASS…about the prints! (I can hear you playing your tiny violin for me…stop it!) :p
Filed under: printmaking | Tags: art, artist, carborundum, collagraph, drypoint, Ink, print, printmaking, Relief print, visual art
This has been a blah week, work-wise. Most of what I’ve done, I’m not thrilled with. Last night, I had my carborundum collagraph class. I was NOT pleased with how things were turning out. Here is the result:
*insert big sigh here*
I’m NOT happy with that at all. It’s just a mess.
I made another tiny plate. I kind of like these tiny plates. This one is just 2″x3″. That’s a bit bigger than my other tiny plates, but still small. My first printing was over wiped:
So, I left more ink on it this time, and it was much better:
In general, I like these kind of plates, because I can work on them at home. I’m not very good at working in a busy studio. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but if I have to try to concentrate and think…then I need to be alone with time and space. So, if I prepare a decent looking plate in peace and quiet, I can be productive in the studio with printing. But if I don’t prepare, and try to work in the studio…I can’t do it well. I know that I have to work on this a bit, but it does made me feel pretty deflated at times. Like, right now.
I’m also working on a lino print. Here’s a little preview picture:
I’m happier with these, as they are very “graphic” and “punchy”.
I know…why so blue? Well, I wasn’t thrilled with this week’s output. At least there was some experimentation, with the woodblocks and trace monotypes.
So, back to the drawing board…*SIGH*
[UPDATE: I’ve decided to throw in a trace monotype at the last minute…here it is below…definitely a work in progress…]
Filed under: printmaking | Tags: art, artist, Monotyping, print, printmaking, Relief print, visual art, Woodcut
It’s a dreary day here…lots of rain. I am experimenting with some woodcuts with trace monotypes. I had fun with this…I can see trying it again. I layered transparent woodcut prints together, then added the sketchy doodles on top. Here is the first one (sorry it’s so dark…):
I know. It’s awful. But, it’s a start! As you can see, I was also playing around with full bleed prints. Messy! Then, I made this triptych:
This has some potential, I think. I’ll have to mount these onto another paper. I’d really have to do that anyway, as this is thin, mulberry paper. Here is the last one…a bit of a mess:
Again, it’s so dark! Not much light here…I started drawing the scribbly blobs. I didn’t like them, so I switched over to the boxes. I like those better. Next time, I’ll try that type of doodle first.
I always get a bit deflated when I have visions of grandeur, only to be squashed by reality. I still don’t have the hang of relief printing at home. Actually, in general, my prints at home are not as good. There is no comparison when you use a press. I will hopefully be taking a class on relief printing, so I hope to get my questions on all of this answered. It doesn’t start for a few weeks, but I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Any helpful suggestions from any relief printers out there? I think that I needed to seal the woodblocks better, as the impressions were “grainy”, instead of uniform. grrrr.
slightly wonky 