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Ducks Go "Quack!", but...

...this is CHEAP!

Original woodcut, matted and framed, FREE SHIPPING in US and Canada, 40% off of show price of $50:

$30.

Insane.

Look Out! Duck!

A nice busy weekend in the studio, and we have the finished mallard print.  The next-to-last color, a dark brown, higlighted the pattern of plumage and also brought out a lot of the vegetation reflections in the upper half. Clearly now you can see where it's going.

I really liked the print at this point, and to have left it here wouldn't have been much of a loss. However, I really like the finished look a small amount of black gives a print

Here now is the print with the block next to it.

I think the black gives the subject a lot more depth, pushing the background into a softer focus and bringing the ducks up off the page.

As this thread was about explaining the reduction process, here again is the block I started with. There's not much left of it now. This, of course, makes a reduction print edition truly LIMITED, as no more prints can be made with the block.

I began with 12, lost 3 outright, and after ispection I believe the final edition will probably be five.

Duck, Be A Lady Tonight

This is where a print all starts to come together. I've written before about how a reduction print goes through a phase where it just really doesn't look like anything. I call it the awkward phase. But there's always a moment when you can really see what the final print will look like. For the duck print, that moment is now.

Carving away the brown of the sky reflection helped the shapes come out, and the light brown really gives you an idea of what the final composition is. I like the brown in the water forming the ripples and rings, but I need to be careful not to let them get too dark with the dark brown and black to come. If I can, I am going to shave those high spots down to minimize them becoming darker. I really want the ducks and the birdhouse to pop out when the final darker layers go down.

Floating in the Sky

Here now we have a sense of place for the ducks as the body of water, reflecting the sky, becomes evident. It will be tricky cutting for the next color, as I will need to maintain the shapes of the ducks and the birdhouse. Printing also becomes trickier, as the roller will inevitably catch a few ridges of the cutaways. A few will be okay, but I want to avoid it as much as possible. I have used a mask at times for very small areas (I did so for the barn on "Sunflower Farm"). We'll see.

Three more colors should bring us to the end.

Nothing But Blue Sky

Quite a weekend down in the studio. I printed the second green, which came out great. But the wood grain really looked like a problem. I really thought my goose was cooked on this one, and I was fretting about the blue. Finally, reluctantly, I went ahead and mixed up the sky -- a dark blue which will be for water rings -- and went at it. Wincing, I pulled the print off the block and was really surprised that the missing areas didn't detract from the print at all. A couple of the prints had heavy grain on the duck's head, and they may have to be scrapped, but the majority turned out very well.

A lighter blue will print tonight and tomorrow, and then it's time to get that lady duck to show up!

Go Bills!

Duck bills, that is.

Color number 3. How green is my ducky?

If you still have a hard time grasping what is meant by "Reduction Print," this should nudge you toward some clarity. If you recall, the last color was a bright yellow, and that was for the duck's bills. So, I carved out the area on the block where the bills are. The next area I will be carving is the drake's head, so the color I want to put down is green.

My favorite color is green, and my favorite green is the green of the male duck. In the sunlight, it's actually a rainbow of greens. I'll be using two greens to give the head some depth, and the first green I wanted is a very yellow green. I chose the green to go over the yellow so that the transparent green ink would be enhanced by the yellow. Very happy with the color.

Ducks in a row.

And, of course, you see the islands of yellow now. And the next state will show an area of bright green. This is reduction woodcut printing.

You probably can see that I'm still having a coverage issue, an issue I'd hoped to get rid of through the use of shellac. Well, I'm a learner, and I've been taken to school. Two things have come to light. First, I should have put multiple layers of shellac over the block, letting them completely dry in between. Second, I sanded the block with 220 grit paper. Might as well have used steel wool. I thought I was using 600 grit.

Funny thing, though, is that most of the problem are is in the water, and will probably enhance the look.

But I'm taking no chances with my next print, which I'm already setting up. Sufficiently shellacked, and I have five grits of paper waiting. Here's a sneak peak of "Drive In," which has quite a story to it. But you'll have to wait

Ruffling Feathers

Last night I printed the yellow. You can see in this picture that some select areas are now showing -- feathers, specifically. The yellow will be for the bills, and will also support the next color, a bright green for the drake's head.

I am trying to get the brightest colors I can to really demonstrate the vision of a sunny day. I'm hoping the yellow won't be too garish, but choosing a very bright yellow will keep me focussed on keeping the other colors bright.

Graeige

You have to start somewhere, and the journey of a 9-color reduction woodcut begins with a single state. It's a rectangle. I apologize for the photo-I used my phone for this one, and the camera isn't very good. But as I like to say, "I have a camera. In my telephone. Which I carry around in my pocket and which uses insane technology and satellites and, hell, magic for all I know." So, in perspective, it's actually a good photograph.

Anyway, the color is a yellowish gray I'll call "Graeige." I did notice that, while the laydown of the ink was smoother, the shellac did not fill the grain as I'd suspected. In fact, the grain is pretty pronounced. Time will tell if it enhances or detracts from the final print.

I've worked out the order of colors, and the next color down will be yellow. The order of colors is very important in reduction woodcut, as each color is affected by the previous color. For example, if I printed the blue as the next color, I would have to add a little red to neutralize the greening effect of putting a blue over a yellow. That would also make the blue a lot darker than I want. So I have worked out a way for the blue to play off of the greens down the road.

I originally thought this print would be a quick six-color job, but after a rework I find that nine will be necessary. Check back to see more!

Getting My Ducks In A Row

I thought this might be a great opportunity to take you through a tour of what I do and how I do it. I have explained reduction printmaking so many times I just assume people understand. But it can be confusing if you don't really grasp the process. So I'm inviting you to watch as this print goes from the drawing table to the wall.

The first step is sketching out ideas for color, contrast and, most importantly, composition. This print is inspired by the main pond at Reinstein Woods. I will be participating at an art sale at a fundraiser for Reinstein Woods in November, and as we are avid park-goers, this seemed like an apropriate print to have ready for the show.

After a few sketches, I draw out the final drawing and rough out some colors. The print will be quite different than this painting.

I am doing something different with this print. I usually use a bare-wood block; I have been having some issues with ink not transfering evenly to the paper, and some other printmakers have suggested shellacking and sealing the block to help.

So, after finishing the painting, which I call a cartoon, I use tracing paper and trace the whole image. I then put the trace on the block and, using carbon paper, I transfer the image to the block.

I then started to shellac the wood, only to find that shellac is great for wiping carbon off of wood -- whoops! I retraced my tracing with pen, then shellacked the block.

This morning I sanded the block down to a glassy finish, and I hope to put the first color down tonight.