Diner - Completed!!

Diner - 10x22" - 10 color reduction linocut

I printed black over the Diner print this past week.  It was the tenth and final color of this reduction linocut.  Very happy with the final result and glad that I didn't decide to scrap this project.  I still see things in the print that I wish I had changed, but you know what they say about hindsight.

I remember driving by this sign and it was a bright day, but the sun was not at a really good angle and I continued driving.  It was actually my wife that convinced me to turn around and taken another look at it.  I did and still continued driving a little bit.  I really wasn't even going to stop, but at the last second decided to.  I think the shadows on this print are rather interesting as they are long and don't necessarily reflect the shadows of the letters themselves.

The image above is slightly skewed from the left to the right.  The actual prints are not like that and the picture above is just my fantastic, photographical abilities with my phone while I'm still excited to share the print, but still in the process of cleaning up the ink.

As of today the ink is still slightly tacky, but it should be dry within a day or two.  At that point I'll start examining the prints to see which are keepers and which are not.

I finished tearing up some paper and attaching the Ternes Burton registration pins for multiple projects and have even begun working on a small series of 3x3" prints for submission to a show in New York City that I'd like to submit too.  Pics of those will be upcoming.  I literally just finished preparing one and will begin the next as soon as I'm done here.

I hope everyone likes this print and hope you all have a good night!

#art #printmaking #linocut #diner #reductionlinocut #black #printingprocess #somerset #pa #swpa #completed

One down and only one to go!!

Got to print the 2nd to last color the other day.  I printed a medium blue....not quite a true blue and not quite a dark blue.  This color is only partially seen on the edges of the round parts of the sign that hold the letters.  It is a reflection color off of the rest of the sign.  Those edges are blue, but with how the sun was shining down that day it managed to reflect back up onto those sides and gave me another color to work with.

I'm excited to get this piece finished.  I've put all my effort into getting this piece completed before starting any of my other projects.  I tend to get that way...I have multiple things going, but as soon as one nears completion I usually set the other ones aside and focus everything on that one particular piece (unless I'm really close to completing multiple projects...then I'll forge ahead with all of them).

I'm not sure what happened while printing this color, but I literally had it all over my hands.  I'm usually a fairly clean printer, but somehow this time I managed to get it on my knuckles, the back of my hands, my arms, palms....I have no idea what happened.  I'm usually good as keeping it contained to just a little on my fingertips.

Here's the final carving of the block.  It's all ready to go and even though it's only been a couple days the ink still has a light tack to it so I'm just going to wait it out and print it sometime next week....hopefully mid-week, but possibly next Saturday (EEKS!  That's a full week away!)

If it turns out to be Saturday, then I may actually just start the printing on the Green Street print that I have started.  It's only a light color and shouldn't take too much time to print since the brayer I use can cover that entire surface with 1 or 2 rolls.

Til next time!!

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #printingprocess #Diner #neon #sign #Somerset #PA #swpa #SummitDiner

Shadow Green added to the Diner!

Quickly closing in on the end of this particular project!!

Even with the small registration issues that have plagued me since the first color, I'm very excited to see this starting to come together.  One of the amazing parts of reduction printmaking is that even though you have an idea to how it's going to look at the end....you never really know.  The colors will be different than the reference that you are using and at times during the mid-color stages you really start to question whether it's going to even work out.

It can be a real grind trying to get to the end and many times the thought of scrapping the idea floats into your head.  Usually though, things really start to turn around as you start to reach the final couple colors.  The excitement at that point makes you completely forget the issues you were having the questions that were starting to form in your head.  In the end, it almost always turns out for the better and as an artist you really come up with something that even surprises you.

A couple weeks back when I discovered my mis-registration, which oddly occurred with the very first color (yellow).  Almost every color since then has lined up with each other.  I'm not sure how that works, but apparently for this piece, that's how it's going to work out.

Here is a detail shot of the dark green shadow areas that were printed this afternoon.  Originally, I planned on using a straight Pthalo Green for the shadow, but then started thinking it was going to be too dark (as it is...pretty dark).  I tried mixing some green into some white, but unless I was printing Lucky Charms marshmallow prints that color wasn't going to work out.  Instead I used that color and mixed in large amounts of the Pthalo Green.  I eventually came up with the color shown.  Initially I wanted a darker green, but I'm very happy with the one that I printed and glad that I didn't go darker.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #Diner #neon #sign #printing #printingprocess #shadowgreen #Somerset #pa #swpa

Sky Blue update for the Diner!

Not at a whole lot of photos for this update, but happily the sky blue for the Diner print has been printed.  I'm now down to 3 colors to print: a dark green, dark blue and black.  The registration kept mostly in line with what has already been printed which is good.

These last 3 colors I'm a little concerned about though.  They are all very dark colors and I'm worried that the dark blue and the black will actually be so close in color that there will be no noticeable change where they meet.  I may lighten up the dark blue to a color that will contrast better with the black.  The dark green is merely the shadow areas on the already green printed area on the print.

I can actually feel the end of this print coming up and it makes me want to continue printing, but the light blue needs some time to dry first.....patience.

Just prior to writing this post, I finished carving the light blue areas away so I'm practically ready to go now.

I've also torn down paper for the Green Street print and the La Rose Shop.  Trying to figure out if I want to print the La Rose Shop normally (not attached to anything) or if I want to mount it to a board as I've done with the Green Street.  Guess I'll see how I'm feeling when that time comes.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #Diner #Somerset #PA #neon #sign