Life On Mars

Like my woodcut hero Gustave Baumann, I am drawn the beauty of New Mexico. This print is the first in what I hope will be a series of works featuring vintage campers in all 50 states.

As alluring as the weather worn buildings, craggy rocks and red soil can be, there needs to be a little life in the picture. This dark green sets the base for the brighter green to come.

The ink layers (now at ten) are finally giving me resistance, which I expected, though at this stage the rough coverage is working in favor of the image.

The Dark Side

This latest color will eventually fill out the flowers behind and around the stone. The scene looks pretty jarring with that dark pink, and this is the stage of a print I call the "awkward phase," because it's so hard to imagine it looking like I want it to when the colors are so strong.

 

But, I've been here before, so I have learned to set aside doubt and press on. This process is called the "reduction method," and has been used throughout printing history. Traditionally, one block gets used for all the colors in a "carve, print, carve, print" manner; in this process, the block is destroyed. If I were to find that, when I put the dark pink on, I didn't like the light pink, or the light pink was too dark, I can't go back and change it, and this usually means I have to start over from scratch. This means that I do a lot of color testing before I begin printing. I will not only create a color chart of colors I will use, but I will also see how they print over one another.

This only reduces the threat of catastrophe, of course; threats loom large over a reduction print from start to finish. The result of a successful print though is a very unique and colorful piece of work.

Update on Etsy Site: You may be wondering why the prints on this blog are not available on etsy.com at the moment. I do apologize for any inconvenience. However, with moving, resetting the studio, and presently having no home computer, along with the time needed to actually produce the work, I have not really felt able to give the time to monitor the Etsy site and process orders. GOOD NEWS! I am recatalogging the old work, and will have both old and new work available at the end of August. Of course, if you just gotta have something right away, you can call anytime and we'll work out details. (716) 997-3046, or thadeenz97@yahoo.com

Hidden Gems

My wife and I are road trip junkies; every weekend finds us lost somewhere in the hills and valleys surrounding Buffalo. This is a great time of year, full of freshly mown grass, bright blue skies and roadside stands bursting with nature's bounty.

Our artists' eyes dart along the landscape, looking for interesting ideas and compositions. This work in progress, "Memorial Day," was a happy accident. As we were driving around the village of Cuba, we missed a turn to a wildlife management area. I turned around by ducking into a small cemetery, still decorated with flags from Memorial Day the weekend before.

The aged stones agains the bright flowers and lush greens of the lawn and surrounding trees left a mark on me, and I knew I would have to mark up some paper when I got home.

This is the first two colors, a very light gray and a dark gray. I'm very nervous about this one, as I need to create bright colors over the very dark gray. Please stay tuned as I try to navigate this one without it ending up in the print graveyard.