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"

Expanding on the Reduction

I wish I knew how many times, and ways, I've explained the reduction process to people. For some reason, people can't wrap their brains around it.

Today's color pretty much sums it up though. I'm printing a risky layer of bright yellow over the entire print so I can have a tiny but important yellow object. I don't have to do it that way, of course. I could just ink a small area. I prefer this way as it keeps layer consistency.

It is risky because if I'm out of register by a hair, you will see that yellow peek out all over the print like little crescent moons.

So far, so good!

Just. Peek

I decided to not chronicle this print and just enjoy it on my own. Ah, but it's so nice, I thought I'd give a little peek at it. Buffalo area residents will see where I'm heading right away. Planned for 8 colors, I may have to add two for a small error I made. Haven't decided yet.

This was a fun print, and it was a lot of fun walking you through the process.



"Buffalo Greyhound" 2018 Jeffrey Dean
Reduction woodcut, image 9"x7", Renaissance Graphic oil ink on Masa paper, 10 colors printed from a single shina plywood block, pulled on an antique cast iron book press and hand spoon-fed. Edition TBD

Almost Home

One last color will finish the job. This building, which still stands in the 600 block of Main St. in downtown Buffalo, opened as the Greyhound Bus Lines station in 1941. Designed by William S. Arrasmith, a St. Louis-based architect who designed hundreds of stations for the company, the station was operational until the 1970s. After a stint as a police station, the building, in the center of Buffalo's Theater District, now houses the Alleyway Theater.

I first noticed the building many years ago as I took the subway down Main St, probably returning from Buffalo State College. The rounded windows, curved edges and stainless steel stripe across the canopy, along with the blue tiles, suggested that it was a little too retro to be authentic, and I assumed, up until fairly recently, that it was a 1980s homage to art deco. But authentic it is, and I'm glad that it has kept most of it's charm. As you can see, the canopy, which I'm told was neon-lit, extended up ward and included a tlied sign for the company. The sign doesn't show well here, and it has long since disappeared, but the scar where it attached to the building next door is still visible.

Live Models

I have a couple of old color postcards of this building, and I had designed the facade tiles to be green. Fortunately, it still stands on Buffalo's Main Street. Still, it's hard to tell the color. Also fortunately, I discovered an article about the opening of the building in 1941. In the article they discuss the "blue tiles." This makes sense, being Greyhound colors.

Nonstop

Not too long ago I almost gave up printmaking. The saga is well documented in past blog posts, but the gist is that I was having serious technical issues ultimately related to ink and and an ink additive. I finally solved the problem, but was surprised to discover that I'd been so obsessed with solving that problem, I'd drifted away from what I loved about printmaking.

Finally, I broke through the block, and I'm trying to make up for lost time. I have 3 more colors to go on this one, and I'm so happy about it!

Destination Unknown

As discussed in the previous post, reduction woodcut printmaking is different than most other graphic arts in that you are carving away what you want to be seen. And to get certain details, you need to print an entire layer of a color just to let a small bit show through.

Additionally, you should have a good idea where you are going before you start.

Slow Roll

With reduction woodcut printmaking, a print generally takes about 12 to 24 hours to dry to the touch. This means that this print will likely take two weeks to complete. Patience is an absolute requirement. There are plenty of methods of printing that offer instant gratification. But in this time of instant information, expedited service and now, now, now, reduction woodcut printmaking is my meditation, my yoga, my chapel.

Whisked Away

As much as travel anxiety plagues me, I love the idea. I grew up on a pretty, tree-lined residential street which also served, for some reason, as a bus route for a large Intercity service as well as the local metro. Every day I would watch the buses fly by, and I'd wonder where they were going, what adventures they were having in the Big City (1983 Buffalo, NY!) and I'd dream of one day being among them.

Be careful what you wish for. I've been commuting by bus for over 30 years and... let's just say, I have stories.

Lost & Found

There is no shortage of songs about the love of the American highway. It's in our DNA, whether we were born here, came here or long to be here. Often the songs that celebrate the freedom of the open road take a melancholy bent at some point. Because the open road, as exciting and mythical as it can be, is also fraught with fear and loneliness, and very often travel leads one to take in the unexplored expanses, uncharted roads, and dark alleys of the heart.

One of the finest lyrics to define this ache of self-exploration amidst the thrill of exploration comes in Simon & Garfunkel's "America":

"Kathy, I'm lost", I said,
Though I knew she was sleeping.
"I'm empty and aching and
I don't know why."