I've waited almost 3 years for this....

So it's been a while since my last post.  I'm slowly...and I do mean slowly, carving away the brick areas on the La Rose Shop piece.  I'm also preparing a couple new pieces and bought some additional paper a couple days ago to start printing those pieces.

Art for me lately has been pushed to the side as I've been focusing on getting ready for a vacation that I've been planning and saving for for the last 3 years.  Getting ready includes cleaning the house, making sure that my wife and I have everything that we could possibly need and the beginning of packing.  I usually wait for the last couple days before to start this process, but this time I want everything ready for when my wife gets off work this Sunday.

It's her first time to California and will be only my second.  My last time was back in 2001 (if I remember correctly) and there is very little that I remember.  I had gone out for an animation convention in hopes of securing a job as an animator.  The trip, though fun, really was a smack in the face when it came to learning about the profession I had chosen to follow.  Even though a couple interviews had occurred during that week nothing ever came of them and my life continued on.

Fast forward almost 17 years and I'm ready to go see it all again.  The only things remaining from the last trip are a single Disney California Adventure postcard and a Disneyland tee shirt.  I have no photos....no nothing.  So this time, I'm going to make sure that I get a whole lot of everything.  Very excited.  This will probably be my last post until I return mid-September.

Very excited.

#art #printmaking #linocut #lino #linoprint #reductionlinocut #LaRoseShop #Greensburg #PA #carving #process #vacation #california #hereicome

La Rose Shop - Back at it again!

 

Pictures of the block and printed image.

Wound up having to take today off unexpectedly due to some car issues for my wife.  It took most of the morning to get the car towed and fixed and when I finally got home I decided that I was going to do something with this piece.

I mixed up a yellow ochre like color with some Hansa Yellow and Sepia and printed a new brick color for this piece.  The bricks are a light tan color, but since this piece isn't working out as expected and there is very little to no contrast I've decided to press on with some vibrant colors.

I like the look of the layout for this piece, but unfortunately the neon tubes are so small that they are actually difficult to discern again the light yellow background.  Hoping that with some additional colors this piece will start to come together.

#art #printmaking #linocut #lino #linoprint #reductionlinocut #printingprocess #yellowochre #LaRoseShop #Greensburg #PA #neon #retroroadside #vintageneon #oldroadsigns

Zion - New Mini Print - 3x3"

A while back I posted a photo (see below) of a mini print that I had started.  Due to life and the general business that it entails, I never had the chance to start it.

After yesterdays issues with printing the light orange I decided that I really wanted to get right back on the linocut horse and get printing.  I had everything ready for this print so the picture above is the first printed layer.  You can the Sharpie marker showing in the yellow as it transferred with the ink and will continue to do so for the first couple layers.  This print is set to be an edition of 10, but any errors may change that...so hopefully the errors will be minimal as they were with the other mini prints I did.

I should be able to hopefully move quickly through this print and have updates at least once a week while working with it.

(Original picture from previous post of mini block)

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #linoprint #lino #Zion #miniprint #firstlayer #printingprocess

It's been almost 3 weeks!

B - 8x8 Reduction Linocut - Complete!

It's been quite a while since I've had a chance to actually do some work.  First on my list was to finish the "B" neon that I've been working on.  I'm happy with the final product, but wish I had done a few things differently.

The only issue that I really have with the print is that the yellows that are printed have less contrast than even shown in this photo.  I feel I've taken some big steps in making the hardware for the neon look more realistic.

As good as the B print went, I then started printing the next color on the Utah landscape piece that I've been working on....things did not go as planned.

This is a detail shot of the newly printed light orange.  As you can see it did not adhere well to the print at all.  I'm really unsure as to what I'm going to do next with this piece now.  Next step may be to actually print white over the green and then try another version of light orange.

I always have issues with the yellow that I use and perhaps now it's time to actually move on from it.  It's generally very thick and when I use tack reducer to loosen it up it almost never works for me.  If you look closely down in the detail areas at the bottom you can also see where it filled in the carved areas and ruined this particular print.

I'm going to keep at this piece, but my happiness with it is not where it should be.

To add to my issues, my brayer that I use most has also acquired an issue.

Generally the brayer is not shiny, but when I grabbed it off the shelf today I discovered that the surface of the roller looked odd.  Parts of it were shiny and slightly tacky.  When I started to try and wipe it with a paper towel I found that it started to slightly pull it apart.  I did a full cleaning with vegetable oil, dawn dish detergent and simple green and managed to clean it all off, but after using it and cleaning it after printing...I discovered that the issue was back.....

Guess I have some looking to do for possibly a new brayer.

I have torn down some paper for a new 3x3 print and hope to start that sometime next week.

#art #printmaking #linocut #lino #linoprint #reductionlinocut #B #neon #brayer #printingprocesses #printingproblems #inkissues