Year End Cavalcade of Cartoons

Solstice "Ticey" Lawton Dean, Napping Cat Press CBO, 2006/2007-2018

Solstice "Ticey" Lawton Dean passed away Wednesday, December 5, 2018 after a brief illness. She was 11.

Born in Kentucky, Ticey was homeless and suffering from gingivitis which robbed her of most of her teeth. Brought to Hamburg in 2007, she quickly adopted Jeff and Amy, who nursed her back to health. She retained one silly fang, which often caused her to make funny faces, to the delight of the staff at NCP.
She rose through the ranks at NCP, quickly becoming CBO (Chief Bellyrub Officer).
Her hobies we're sun puddles, warm quiet laps and ham.
She leaves behind a Ticey shaped hole in our hearts, roughly the size of everything.

Bless you little friend. We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when..
.

Cartoon Cavalcade

Canadian Bakin'

I like when I make myself giggle.

Field of Dreams

Several years ago my wife and I were driving to East Aurora to see a movie. We love to take the country roads for the scenery. There is a farm just outside of town that is beautiful in any season (even the godawful endless Western New York winters). That summer, there were two haywagons and a tractor out in the field, just begging photographers. We stopped and started snapping photos, expecting to enter the into the Erie County Fair. We never did. I came across the photos last week, and they were demanding artistic attention. I recently constructed a new jig for printing that allows me to use rainbow rolls (the blend of color in the sky; also used for the grass and trees). I'm very happy how this 9x7 8 color print went.

Rainy Day Rainbow Roll

I used to work very small -- 6"x4" -- and while I loved that size, it had too many limitations for the work I wanted to do. I started the larger sizes (9x7) about 13 years ago, and it has challenges of it's own.

On the small blocks, I could easily do a rainbow roll, vertically or horizontally. My largest brayer is only 6 inches, so if I'm doing one, I need to be creative about it. The biggest problem is that -- for the last couple of years -- I have, until right now, been using a large block with registration grooves cut into the edges. While this is good for registration -- REALLY good -- it is also very hard to get full coverage with the roller.

I finally built a jig that allows me to pop out the block to ink it, which means excellent coverage, and more rainbow rolls.

Rainbow rolls allow a printmaker to put multiple colors down, and also to use the gradation to show atmosphere, distance, shape. This should be a huge gain in my work.

Organized Labor

After last week's flurry of activity with screen printing, the studio was a complete mess -- differing only slightly from the INCOMPLETE mess it usually is. I've had prints building up for years in drawers, and I finally got things organized in their own individual boxes.

Down deep in the drawer was a packet of old work from 2002 thru 2005, the beginning of my printmaking career. Some of them show hints that I had promise, but most...well, let's just say that the best part of sticking with something even when you know you are NOT good enough is that, eventually, you get to look back and see how far you've come.

So now I'm working on my next wood cut in a nice, neat and organized studio,so grateful for the space and ready toake the most of it. In those early days I was crammed into a tiny bedroom that was broiling in the summer, without a press or much light after sunset. Now I have everything I need -- but I think one thing we've learned in the United States in the last 10 years (2008, and certainly the last two) is that if fortunes can be made overnight, it can all disappear just as fast. So, time to make hay.

Concept: Proved

Pleasantly imperfect, the very first Napping Cat Press Card is born!

Burning Man

A great weekend! The convergence of time, supplies and will. Right now the big hurdle is the time it takes to dry coated screens. I put them in an old dresser to dry to keep them out of the light, but with no air circulation, they take upwards of 12 hours. It's an easy fix, but in time. I got 3 colors, and with two more to go, I'll be done tomorrow.

Exposing Myself

My new toy arrived today, a Speedball diazo exposure kit. I was pretty excited to explore the proof of concept. The FedEx transparencies weren't very transparent (the ones we use at work are generally 2.5-3.5 density unites, and my copy machine ones were barely .70du. Copier paper is denser. Because they used a scanner, the FedEx transparencies were also half-time. I've been studying solutions to the issue, if they turn out to be not opaque enough.

Turns out, I had nothing to worry about. A 5 minute exposure with the 250w lamp, and I appear to have nailed it on the first try.

I'm just waiting for the screen to dry before the BIG TEST.....!

And here we are! I have to admit, this was a big surprise. I promise, there are a lot of big surprises coming!

In The Beginning....

As I mentioned in an earlier post, NCP was originally conceived as a business, but not a wood cut printmaking business. Until 2007, my wife and I sold our artwork under the name "The Art of Nature."

In 2006, I left a job I loved, screen printing greeting cards, for a new job screen printing medical devices. About two months later, I was begging to be let back into my old job, but their gatekeeper sealed me out (of course, there's more to the story, and I'll admit it was mostly, if not all, my fault). So I started NCP, with little knowledge, no designs, no ideas, no equipment, no money and no plan.

And nothing happened. Avery, very rough 8 years ensured, and I focused on wood cut printmaking. All the while, though, NCP haunted me. Two years ago I bought screens and emulsion, and built a press. But that's as far as that went.

This year, as I tackled dream after dream -- the Plein air competition, cartooning -- I looked around and decided that NCP had to become real RIGHT NOW.

Now, I have no idea how far it will go. I will have made my first prototype by Sunday, and I'll know more. But your dreams do nothing for you or the world if you don't act. The way I see it, if the test works, and I love it, that's the best. If it works, but I'm not really excited to keep doing it, that's great, too; I can move on knowing that I've no ties to that dream anymore.

Worst case: it has LOTS of problems, but I LOVE it. Then, it becomes an obsession, and down into another vortex go I! Heaven help me!

I Second That Emulsion

A Blick box welcomed me home today! Two squeegees and an emulsion kit....what on Earth does this have to do with reduction WOODCUTS printmaking???

Leaps, Unbound

Napping Cat Press is actually a legal business name, filed at Erie County Hall on January 3, 2007. At the time, I'd been 4 months into a new job and deeply unhappy. I had big plans for NCP, though in hindsight they were dreams, not plans, and oh, what one must go through to understand the difference.

The eleven years since have been...challenging, but on the upward trend for four or five, and I'm grateful for that.

Time seems right to return to the NCP legend to see if I, now armed with a solid plan, can make that dusty dream a reality.

This is a photo of some humble beginnings, a basic R&D for a project rooted in woodcut but employing the screen printing that has been my day job for nearly 18 years now. Please keep checking back to see the progress.

Tied Up With A Ribbon



A quick update on the last print, now called "Amy's Hill (St. Martin's)." As you see, it won a blue ribbon in it's class, which was surprise enough. But it also netted a green special award ribbon, which turned out to be a 1 year membership for two to the Albright Knox Art Gallery, which was a stunning surprise.

I was humbled by all of the great work on the walls at the Fair. Such great local talent!

I also participated in the Plein Air competition. I'm not a painter, but I had the BEST time. Great weather, great people. My effort was less than stellar, but I'm proud they I participated.

Dry In Time

I was able to get "Amy's Hill (7 color reduction woodcut) ready in time to enter for the Erie County Fair creative arts competition. I'd love to revisit it when I have more time to spend -- I really pushed myself here, as I was also on a 90-day cartooning quest.

I'm happy with it overall, but I can see all the places where I rushed. I'm currently designing a jig that will allow me to do rainbow rolls again -- the gradation of color helps to give the impression of depth. But I love the colors and the movement -- the sense of movement in the grass. I think the seed buds of the grass came out really well. The clouds would have looked much better on a graded sky.

Also up for consideration is "Canyons of Buffalo." I'm really feeling the pull back to the studio, so I'm hoping to report more on here.

Hope you can make it to the Erie County Fair this year, and please stop into the Creative Arts building (in the grandstand) and see what your friends and neighbors have been up to. Careful though -- you may get inspired!

It's All In How You Look At Things

A quick glance at the "Mamma Mia" movie poster and recalling my general mood while watching the first (Lord, to think there's TWO of these atrocities out there is almost too much to bear) brought this image to mind. It brings my two least favorite things -- MMA fighting and pop musicals on film -- together for a delightful battle Royale romp.mamma

Image Is Everything

I think you can see where I'm going with this.

A Fair Start

This time each year we go into overdrive, preparing our entries for the Erie County Fair. I've been entering woodcut since 2002, and I've done pretty well. This year I have been less active with printmaking, and have been devoting time to cartooning. However, something about 90 degree, 60% humidity sends me to the 73 degree, 39% basement. My wife has been wanting me to do this one for some time...

Trouble Brewing

Ink wash shading is often thought of as a "New Yorker" Hallmark, even though the magazine publishes all manner of styles. I think one arrives at their style of shading by way of other art training. For me, I was always more comfortable with a paintbrush than a pen. I find the process of layering shading therapeutic. 

Sadsquatch & Squonk

The assignment was an 8 panel cartoon featuring two characters telling the story solely through words.

The characters are Sadsquatch (misspelling intended) and Squonk, two depressed mythologic woodland creatures who find each other. This is a quick pencil rough.

Inspired By Actual Events

Creative Detour

My first full cartoon, as part of the Center for Cartoon Studies 1 Week Workout. A sweet old granny hides her secret identity as a nasty Facebook Troll.

I'm anything but prolific as a printmaker, as a brutal weekday schedule makes for precious little studio time (excuses, excuses...). But even though I'm not printing, it doesn't mean I'm not WORKING on creative goals.

I'm known for my workplace doodles. Past coworkers still mention the little cartoons I used to draw on boxes in stockrooms. This one I sent to my wife in March.

Four years ago, in a bid to better myself as an artist, I took a drawing class through the community college, which was very helpful, though I've not been good about obsessively drawing.

A political cartoon. This inspired me to learn the craft. I figured, if I wanted to dabble, I'd better get damn good at it or no one would get the message. 

Then, about a month ago, I confronted a longtime dream: cartooning. And I challenged myself to attack that goal for 90 days to see how far I could advance simply through daily work of at least 30 minutes.

So, that's where I am. I'm excited to see how my wanderings manifest in my printing.

A quick self portrait with ink wash. From last week.

 #CCS1WeekWorkout

"Canyons of Buffalo"

(For step-by-step photos, see last post, "As it Happened.)

Last summer my wife and I went kayaking on the Buffalo River, a twist industrial waterway with huge gray cliffs of ancient grain elevators from the city's storied past. The rust, concrete and water made for a striking image.

This print (9x7, oil on Masa paper, shina plywood, printed on an antique book press) was an epic joy. With 14 colors in all, it is a record for me. Can't wait for kayak season!

As It Happened: "Canyons of Buffalo"