Memorial Day (Eleven Color Woodcut, 2013)

What an adventure this was! I'm still not sure about the black. And, actually, I'm just now wondering if I'm really done. I'm teasing myself with the idea of adding brown to the branches. But I'm putting it on the back burner for now. I am turning my attention to two prints now. The first is a "googie" style (look it up) motel (abandoned) we found in Olean called the DeSoto. The second is from a nearby sunflower farm, so please stay tuned to watch these come together. And let's see if I've really learned anything!

Finished...?

Shadowy Figure

Many years ago, before I found my passion for printmaking, my dream was to be a writer. I concentrated on short fiction, heavily influenced by Raymond Carver and Rod Serling. This meant dark depressing prose, surreal plot twists, and "you-can-guess-the-rest" endings. All three seriously unnerved my wife, but none more so than the endings. She'd read a story, actually enjoying the writing, until the end, and she'd look up and say "Where's the rest?" It sure made me cranky, but over time, I have come to realize she's right. Not about most things. No, about everything.

Okay, she's probably left the blog. Here's the real story: my wife is a critic's critic. If she could write worth a damn, the artists, writers and musicians of the world would be trembling. And no, her batting average as far as being right probably gets around .200. Except with my work. Yes, she was spot on with the short stories, and she's a vicious truthteller regarding my artwork. So yesterday, after I wrapped up the dark blue, I brought it to her and asked what I thought. I was asking because I thought the blue might be enough. I've seen woodcuts without a black key block, and I've liked the effect, at times. But I just wasn't sure about this print.

The silence that emanated from her answered the question before her lips even moved. So, black it is!

I Blue It

HA! That's what I get. yesterday, I was feeling quite confident: The colors were vibrant, the register dead-on. I was once again, in my mind, the Bad Boy of Block Printing. Then I went home to find that I am actually the Boy of BAD Block Printing.


Okay, that's a harsh self criticism, and I have already completed the post-mortem to find what went wrong. And, to my credit, I did stop after I saw the first horrible, horrible print.


That dark color you see in the print, that's actually a beautiful Ultramarine Blue. Do not adjust your monitor. Yes, it is comparable to Portland Black...when printed over something, like, say, scarlet. The reason, of course, is that the ultramarine is as clear as water. What annoys me is a) I've done this exact thing before [some nine years ago] and b) I saw how transparent it was on the plate.


So, I have done some research, and have found a way to get the results. Stay tuned for that in coming days.


I was also surprised that the ink wasn't covering as nice as previous layers. Remember what I said about drying times yesterday? Well, I guess I was right on that.

So, I'm coming away a bit smarter (hope it sticks with me this time). However, as the ink technician and "color expert" for a commercial printing company, I sure do feel like a doofus.

Red Scare

Subtitle this post "Or How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love Potential Disaster." That is the nature of reduction printmaking.

The red is very strong, and I'm a little concerned about the next color, blue, going over it unbufferred. I really don't want to add another layer of white, but I will if I need to.

Some printmakers brush on colors only where they need them, and I have tried that in the past; it does make sense, when you consider that the only place I need the red is on the flag (I think you can see the flag pretty clearly, now). I haven't liked the end result of "spot colors" in my prints in the past, though it's been a while since I've tried, and maybe I'll try it on my next print.

I am particularly happy with my register on this print. By now, I've usually lost a few to a bouncy register. I don't know why things have clicked so well, although I do suspect that the extra-long drying time may help (due to my procrastination!)

I am eager to do some tests to see how I can get the blue down without a white layer, as that will leave me only three colors left.


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

In The Pink

I'm sure you'd be entertained by what happens in these lapses between states, likely far more than I am. But the important thing is, I always come back.

So, excusing once again today's lousy photography, you can probably make out the flag to the lower right of the headstone. I wasn't sure what I really wanted for the color, but I think this bright pink really does it. It is also the color of black raspberry icecream, and it made me very hungry while printing. The next color is a darker version of the pink above, and I think you'll really get a good idea of what I'm going for in the next two passes.

 

In addition, I am presently engaged in a few experiments to offer these prints as hand-printed greeting cards, so please stay tuned!

 

The Lighter Side of Graveyards

As was the case for the last print, I had to overcome a very oppressive darker color to allow the brightness of future colors to show. The second color on "Memorial Day" was a very dark shadow gray, and the next color is a bright pink. I printed a buffer of plain white, which brought the color down to a more manageable shade.

The method at work here is called "reduction printing," in which one block is used, and areas are cut away for each color. The drawback to this method is trying to maintain the brightness of colors; you can usually tell a reduction print by the darkness of the colors; I have had prints start of with explosive, bright color, only to end up a muddy mess. A few talented printers out there have somehow beat the system (I recommend Gordon Mortenson as a prime example). I intend to be in that small crowd.

As you can see in the above photo, the white has buffered the dark gray back to a very light gray. This should accept the light pink very easily. It is hard to get an idea of where the print is going in this view, but in this backlit picture, you get a better idea of what I'm going for.

The next challenge is creating a vibrant pink and presenting it in a way that is going to breath some life into what at this stage looks like a very cold print!

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.