Slow work.....

I'm still working on art, but things have slowed down over the last week.  Had to have some work done to one of the walls in the studio and due to the dust that's going to be created I've slowed down my art making.

I did create a new 4x6 Amur Tiger linoleum block that is carved and ready to print.  (Waiting til the wall is finished so that the dust doesn't settle onto the ink)

I'm also working on a new registration jig that will fit the Oaks Theater block.  My current one is too small (works best for 4x6 and 5x7) so my new one will work better with 6x8, 8x10 and 9x12's.  I've glued it together and now I just need to get some longer screws and drill out the peg holes.

I also did touch up work on the black outline screen for my cupcake screenprint.  I'll look at it again tomorrow morning to see if I missed any areas.  I'm trying to get some of the small errors that occurred during my hand application of the drawing fluid to the screen.  Since the drawing fluid is applied via a paintbrush I sometimes make little dips in and bumps in the designs outlines.

Also working a lot on the computer by editing and cropping photos for newer projects.  I've been wanting to try a more urban themed linocut.  So I've been looking through my pics of Pittsburgh and the other various citites that I've visited looking for just the right types of pics.

I'm ready to get back to consistent work

15 Minutes of Fame

Andy Warhol said everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame.  I'm supposing that this is mine.  My 4 color screenprint "Buttered Popcorn" on the Andy Warhol Museum Tumblr page.

Cozy Cone Final 8 Color Reduction

Final Cozy Cone Motel 8 Color Reduction Print

Registration with that many colors starts to become an issue and unfortunately the pegs that I place the paper on have become loose with multiple uses.  Registration is off on almost every print and it's really noticeable up close.  From far away it looks decent, but once you get up close you can see the flaws.

It was a great learning experience and I have a better understanding of what I'll need to do next time to make sure it's registered better and better plan out the colors.

Cupcake Update

Finished cleaning out the cupcake outline screen and pulled a test print this morning.

I was looking for little areas where ink would seep through leaving tiny dots of color.  This is the first time that I've never had any.  Time to use some screen filler to clean up the lines and I'll be ready to finish the first set up cupcake prints.

Cozy Cone Lino Update

These are images of the block after the final carving session.  I just finished carving away the letters of "Cozy Cone" in which I have just left the neon tubing shadows which will be printed this Saturday.  I also carved away the section of the sign around the "Motel" portion as well.

Very excited to have this project finished.  It was trying at times, but as it nears it's end I'm happy that I chose to do it.  Excited to see the black printed finally.

Cupcake Silkscreen Print update

Cupcake Outline Preparation

Working on finishing my cupcake print.  Hadn't yet prepared a screen for the outline so I decided I wanted t get a good bit done today.  I don't usually like to draw onto my screen with pencil (worried I'll poke through it), but sometimes it's just easier.

I use Speedball drawing fluid to fill in the lines and then finally I'm going to use a screen filler which will act as a barrier that the ink will not go through.

Tiger Lino Alterations

This is an update to the Amur Tiger Linocut that I made the other day.  I wasn't totally happy with the heavy detail so I carved some of the areas away.  This is the new version.

I still am not totally happy with the result so some more carving will take place.  I can't carve a lot more away or I will lose parts of the image.  Being that this was basically a test print to see how it would work out I'm not totally disappointed since I'm learning as I go.

Amur Tiger Test Print - Work In Progress

I just recently finished a quick 4x6 linocut of an Amur Tiger.  I see it as a piece that continues to need some work.  Below are some images of it's Work In Progress.  The photo reference was taken by myself during my last visit to the zoo.

Photo Reference - Amur Tiger (Pittsburgh Zoo)

Traced photo reference onto acetate and then traced that again using a 4B pencil onto standard printer paper.

Final 4B drawn image

I then run the 4B drawn image and the lino block through an etching press to transfer the image.  I then trace the whole image with a Sharpie Marker.

Carving away the very tiny details.  I do believe that this should've been done on a much larger block with a much larger image.  The carving took 4 hours due to the amount of tiny detail.

Test Print - Not sure I'm all that fond of how busy it is underneath the head.  It was my first attempt at adding shadow via hatching on a linocut.  I will probably take some time to see about alterations to reduce how busy that area is.

Cozy Cone update! No more sky!

(Sky Carving Detail)

After printing the blue sky for this print the past week my next step was to carve away the entire sky area.  I'm using a tool which is about 1/4 inch wide....it takes quite a bit of time when you are using something that small, but I finished it right before work yesterday.

I'll next be printing Brown and Black and then it'll finally be finished.