New Reduction Lino ideas

New project ideas.  Went out yesterday morning in search of fun signs around Pittsburgh.  I had decided one week that I'd be double checking the sign on Heinz Field and took a bunch of photos.  I also wound up in Oakmont, PA and took some pics of the Oaks Theater.

Both images have been slightly altered and printed off my printer in 8x10.  Both lino blocks that I'll be working with will be that size also.

Cozy Cone Motel Reduction update

I finished carving out the background for the Cozy Cone Motel sign this morning.  Since this area is carved I will no longer be able to print that area ever again.  I also started carving away the "No Vacany"  part of the sign as well.  It's going to require much more attention as it appears that I missed some lines while tracing. 

Cozy Cone Reduction Lino update

Eesh.  3 hours got me this.  The small detail areas between the color edges of the letters and the shadow are taking significantly more time than anticipated.  Still fun though and I oddly thoroughly enjoy this process.

I'll admit to not being sure how this piece is going to turn out in the end... I glued the lino to the block and I'm not totally sure that the way I did it is the best way.  When printing, if the block is underinked I can see areas where the glue is the thickest.  Still learning I suppose.

Cozy Cone Motel Work In Progress

When I work in an area where there are important features or high detail I usually use a small carving tip and carve an outline around the areas that I don't want to carve into...yet.

Here are two detail shots of the "Cozy Cone" neon letters in the sign.  The top was taken about an hour before the lower one.  I still have considerable carving to do.  To finish the rest of this section, it'll probably take another 2 to 3 hours.

"M" Neon Lino Reduction

This is an update on the "Neon M" Linocut Reduction print that I'm working on.  I'm using Akua Inks on a 250gsm printmaking paper.  As the layers have started to build up I find I'm having issues getting the ink to lay down nicely.  The red color of the print is not nearly as vibrant as how the camera is seeing it.  I'm assuming that the printed grey for the neon tubes is finding it's way through and thus taking away the vibrancy.

I'm gonna keep pushing on with it though to see how it finally turns out.  2 colors to go...a dark semi-transparent grey shadow and black.

Cozy Cone Update

Cozy Cone Motel - 18x24 Lino Reduction Print

These are some update pics on my larger scale reduction print.  This time I'm actually attempting to cheat my way through the process by saving on some ink and only inking the area that needs that specific color.  For my last print, I inked the entire plate with color and quickly ran out which didn't allow me to make more than six (and I so wanted more than 6).  This time around I've printed 8 which is a number that I like much more.

Lily Pad Finished Print(s)

Lily Pad Final Print - 4x6 on 8x10 paper

Here are the final color prints for the Lily Pad print.  The final color was a very dark green.  It was a mix of green, blue and red which got me the general color I was looking for and then I started adding small amounts of black until I reached a color that I was happy with.

The ink was a little....wet.  I may have used a little too much Extender in it and it seemed to want to creep down into the cracks which made for some lines that were larger than they were supposed to be.

Overall pretty happy with them...except the blue flower one.  Way too light.  Not too bad for a test block though.  I'll probably be more willing to attempt a larger block in the near future.

Lily Pad continuation again....

Lily pad Reduction Prints - 4x6 on 8x10 paper

Here's the next color added onto the Lily Pad print.  One color to go which will probably be a very dark green (almost black) to indicate areas of shadow and dark water.  These are turning out pretty decent even with the mistakes that I've made along the way.

Hoping to print them either tonight or tomorrow morning before work and have them finished.

Lily Pad continuation

Lily Pad Reduction Prints - 4x6 on 8x10 paper

These are the next group of prints from my Lilypad reduction block.  There are still 2 colors to print so they are not even close to being completely finished.  The bottom print was the inital series I printed and then I didn't like the color of the flower so I reprinted it blue (middle).  The top image is from the initial printing and I somehow forgot to carve out the flower....whoops.  I've decided to just continue printing all the prints even if they were somehow goofed.

So far the bottom one is my favorite even though it was in the initial goof series.  I wanted the flower to be blue (like the middle one), but I had printed yellow first.  When I went to print blue over the yellow...it wasn't opaque like I thought it would be and I got this one color green flower.  I was disappointed and reprinted it from scratch starting with blue....and of course I think the blue is not dark enough and the detail of the petals is completely lost because of it.

"The Great Wave" screenprint

Hokusais "Great Wave Off  Kanagawa"  Screenprint

These images are from my re-creation of the "Great Wave" japanese print by Hokusai.  This print has always been one of my favorites by him and I wanted to take a stab at recreating this all by hand as a screenprint.  Up to this point, I had only done simple designs with large black lines to cover where colors intersected.  The final line on this piece is no wider than a fine tip Sharpie marker.

This was also my first 6 color screenprint.  I had grey (sky), light blue, med blue (which was a little too dark for my liking), dark blue, boat gray and boat yellow.  After completing this project, I was exhausted...so I immediately moved onto the Sumatran Tiger which has a post on here as well. =)

Sumatran Tiger

Sumatran Tiger Screenprint Detail

This Sumatran Tiger is a screenprint that I created while looking up Endangered Species to use for linocuts.  I was aware of other tiger sub-species being endangered, but had never heard of the Sumatran Tiger.  Since that time, I've gotten to see them in person on a visit to Zoo Atlanta.  The female was very photogenic, while the male.....walked away...and stayed away.

This is a 6 color screenprint (Light Orange, Med Orang, Red Orange, Dark Green (not visible), Olive Green (eyes) and Black.  It's probably the most detailed image I've ever created and even eclipses my screenprint version of Hokusais "Great Wave".

A little about my screenprinting setup.

Cheddar Popcorn - Work in Progress shots

This is my silkscreen setup.  It's a board that I got out of the clearance section at Ikea that has a nice smooth finish on it which makes it real easy to clean up.  I bought a set of Speedball hinges that I secure on screens into and then use a lot of tape for registration purposes.

There is also a sheet of mylar (not shown) that is taped down to the bottom of the board.  Before any printing on paper occurs, I pull a print onto the mylar and then slide the paper underneath so that I can register where the paper should sit.  In this case, I pulled the yellow background onto the mylar and then positioned the paper to where I wanted it underneath.  I then used painters tape to create a registration area so that I just needed to lay the paper in to quickly pull the next print.

Popcorn Time!

Buttered Popcorn - 7x7 Image Size

This is my silkscreen print of "Buttered Popcorn".  I was inspired by the likes of Andy Warhol, Burton Morris and Wayne Thiebaud on this piece.  I've enjoyed screenprinting and the concepts of Pop Art.  This piece, along with "Cheddar Popcorn", "Chocolate Popcorn" and "Caramel Popcorn" are part of the popcorn series that I'm in the process of making.  So far I've completed Buttered and Cheddar and I'm almost complete with the Chocolate.

Buttered and Cheddar Popcorn are both currently available at my etsy page:

Buttered Popcorn - $15.00
Cheddar Popcorn - $15.00

African Painted Dog - Wild Dog

African Painted Dog - 4x6 Image

This linocut was developed off of a photo of one of the African Painted Dogs that used to call the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium their home.  I always enjoyed the pack of dogs and was sad to see them go elsewhere.

African Painted Dogs (African Wild Dogs) currently reside on the Endangered Species list and have approximately 3000 - 5500 still living in the wild.  They mostly live in South Africa, but their are some packs living in Central Africa.  Their biggest threats are humans (farmers with livestock especially), habitat loss, disease and other larger predators like lions.

This print is currently available on my Etsy page for $15 (plus shipping)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/229750918/african-painted-dog-relief-linocut?ref=shop_home_active_1

Lilypad - Test with some minor errors

Lilypad Prints

Okay so I started printed the next color which was a yellow-greenish color.  Then I realized on the 3rd printed piece that I forgot to carve away the flower (see bottom print).  Ugh.  So I quickly cleaned the brayer and block off and rapidly carved the flower out.  Since I had basically ruined 3 of the new prints, I grabbed the previous set of prints that I was not like and printed over 3 of them.  The top print in this line up was to be the regular color (light blue shadows on the flower) and middle one is from the original test set.  The blue turned out a light green which I didn't like so I set them aside, well now they are part of the set(s).

Printmaking is a learning process

Well this morning I printed the second color of my lilypad reduction print.  It didn't work out like I thought.  I was thinking that since I was adding white to the blue that it would make it opaque enough the cover the very bright yellow that was my first color.  I was very wrong....or perhaps it just doesn't work that way with water based inks.  Since I was not crazy with the outcome, I tore down new paper and started over (minus what would have been the yellow parts =/ ).

The bottom image is the newly reprinted lilypad in light blue.  This was the same blue that I tried to cover the yellow in.

New 18x24 Lino Reduction project

Here are two pics of my newest project.  It's another 18x24 reduction linoleum print.  So far I've transferred my image and now I'm in the process of tracing the entire image on the lino block with Sharpie marker.  This print is looking like it's going to be another 6 color print.  I absolutely cannot wait to start carving and printing this piece.

This piece actually combines two of my favorite art forms.  

Lilypads - Test Printing

Lilypads - 4x6 - 6 Color Reduction test print

Printed the first color this morning for my Lilypad test print.  I'm considering a larger (18x24) print of an entire lilypad pond from an image I took at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  Since I've never done flowers before I figured I'd better test it out first.

I was also looking for a way to utilize my water-based Speedball printing inks which I don't touch very often due to the speed at which they dry out on me.  Hoping that since the weather is cooler they won't dry out too fast, but will dry out fast enough that it'll only take a week or so for me to finish the entire print.  The yellow is of course not accurate on the bottom...it's much lighter.

Waterlilies - 4x6 Reduction Print

I'm interested in creating a large 18x24 linoleum reduction print of waterlillies, but I'm not exactly sure that I want to spend all that time on something that I'm unsure of the outcome on.  The other night I decided that I would make a smaller 4x6 version with less detail.

I used Photoshop to crop down an image that I had from the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and then printed it out.  I then traced the image with a 4B pencil, placed it onto of the block (tracing side down) and ran it through the press.  Afterwards I trace the image in Sharpie marker so that it won't disappear on me during the reduction cleaning process.  I was so into it that night that I also carved away all of the white sections (paper color).  Hoping to get at the least the lightest color printed today, but since Easter is tomorrow and I have cleaning to do....I don't know.

Issues with the letter "C"

While working on the "M" from YMCA I'm also working on the "C".  I printed the first two colors plus the shadow color which is a combination of the neon tube grey and ultramarine blue.  The red did not print too well and right now I'm blaming it on me being impatient and not allowing the lower level to dry first.  I'm going to take another stab at printing the red in another couple days.  Hoping that it'll print better.

Cheddar Popcorn Silkscreen Print

Cheddar Popcorn Silkscreen Print

Developed this print many years ago while developing a lesson plan on Pop Art and artists such as Andy Warhol, Wayne Thiebaud and Burton Morris.  I didn't know too much about silkscreening at the time so the lesson became a painting lesson.

I have since taken 3 courses in screenprinting which has allowed me to finish the piece.  I also have Buttered and Chocolate covered popcorn in the works as well as plans for a Caramel Corn.

Cheddar Popcorn - $15 - DougJenThomas Etsy Page

"M" Reduction - Work in Progress

This is the updated "M" Reduction print block.  I tried attaching it to the previous post, but everything went crazy on me and the text moved all around so I figured I'd make a secondary post.  This image shows where I've carved away the background (around the M) which was printed off white and now I've carved away the tubing which is slightly harder to see.  I still have red (which I'm printing next), shadow grey and shadow red print before I'm done.  Since drying times can take a while, this should hopefully be done within the next month to a month and a half.

"M" 5 Color Reduction Print - Work in Progress

This is the "M" from a vintage YMCA sign located at 600 W. North Ave in Pittsburgh, PA.  So far with this project I've printed the background color (which is a very light grey...almost off white) and the neon tube color which is grey.

To make a reduction print, the artist decides which parts of the art is going to be the paper color.  They then carve only those sections away and then print whatever the next lightest color will be.  In the case of the "M" above, the neon tubes had extremely white highlights from the sun shining on them.  The sign is also white, but it wasn't as bright so I created an off-white grey to use as the sign color.  I carved away just the highlights on the tunes and then printed my off-white/grey color.

Once the off-white grey color has dried, I take my carving tool and carve away all sections that are meant to stay off-white grey (namely the entire background).  I then print my next lightest color which is the grey color for the tubing.  Once that is printed, I can then carve away all the areas that are meant to stay grey.

Trying to get back into this....

Between work and life and taking printmaking classes now, I've really fallen behind on trying to keep this up to date.  I'm going to really put effort into this now and will try to upload pics of current works in progress for all to see.

Here are two silkscreen of a new pop-art-ish project I've recently started.  Once I get these cleaned out I'll be printing a cupcake.