Happy New Year everyone!!

Happy New Year

Okay, so this post isn't a very exciting one.  The holidays have definitely taken a toll on the amount of time that I've had to print lately.  I have started carving and working on a couple new pieces, including some more single colors and working up ideas for a possible 2-3 color reduction.

Just before Christmas I got an unexpected email though.....I sold my first print through Etsy!!

A gentleman completely across the country purchased my African Painted Dog print for his girlfriend for Christmas.  I was very excited and rapidly packaged it up and had it in the mail the very next morning.  I took a big hit on shipping because I wanted it to arrive in time for Christmas.

It's very exciting getting to sell to someone that you do not know and is from a couple thousand miles away.  In the next couple weeks, I really want to try and invest a bit more time into updating and adding pieces to my Etsy page (which is accessible from the tabs up above).

I just wanted to say Happy New Years to all who check in on this page and look forward to a hopefully productive upcoming year.  Have fun and be safe everyone.

#art #printmaking #myfirstsale #AfricanPaintedDog #linocut #Etsy #HappyNewYear

"a", "Green Street", "Taco" and "Zion" mini

Even though my up dates are a little slower these days, I still manage to work out a couple prints a week.  Granted this process all takes place within 5-6 hours on a single day, but.....it's at least progress towards their end points.  I suppose one update every other week isn't too bad though. =D

 

As shown above though, I printed the second color to the "a" print.  The first color, a light grey was for the shadows on the neon tubing.  This second color, medium grey, is another shadow layer for this piece.  I have this piece marked for 6 colors and I'm 1/3 of the way through.  I'm currently in the progress of marking all the areas that will need carved before printing the next layer.

I'm trying a new "high tech" registration method using a pieces of matboard.  The taco print is actually the first to test this configuration on.  So far though, I've also used it on the "a" and the Green Street print and so far so good.

 

Taco is a little different than what I'm used to printing where the tubing is generally clear or has a light color to it.  With "taco" the tubing is green...as are the letters.  The shadow and the hardware for the neon tubing support are the current grey colors.  Most of this block has already been carved for the next color, but I do have some smaller areas to clean up before moving onto the next color.

Green Street is also coming along very nicely so far with the new registration.  I usually don't ink small areas, I've done it on multiple pieces, but I generally like to see the print completely transform from layer to layer.  There is so much little detail in this piece though that I've decided to focus on one house at a time.

 

First up is the yellow house on the street.  I first printed a light yellow and then a second darker yellow (created with a mix of red and blue that I also mixed up).  I find it odd that the color I mixed almost matches up with a Yellow Ochre I made with a different yellow and Sepia.....I don't know how that works, apparently their are some similar colors in the Sepia mix.

This piece is actually working out pretty good and I've begun the carving of the yellow house.  The blue house is probably next, but I'm also considering the sky since it is actually the next lightest color.  There will be reflection of the sky in some of the windows so I'll have to figure out which way I want to go before I move on.

Finally for this update is the piece that I did not get to work on this past week.  I have one color left to print on this piece and then it's done.  Very excited about this, too bad I just didn't have the time for it.  A dark green, which is the shadow color for the foliage, is the only color that is left to print.  This piece is slightly mis-registered, but overall I like how it has turned out so far.

This little print will be one of my submissions for next years mini-print exhibition in New York.  I will also be starting a couple newer mini-prints so that I have a variety to work with. 

This is so far my first successful landscape.  I know that it's small sized help me to better understand how to create these and hoping to make some larger pieces that turn out just as well if not better.  I always keep in mind that with every piece I make I'm learning something new and in that learning I'll be able to better each attempt.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #reliefprint #print #a #neon #sign #neonsign #landscape #Utah #Zion #NPS #GreenStreet #mystreet #houses #lightandshadow #yellow #Greensburg #PA #taco #djstacobar #lasvegas #nv 

Lots of new projects happenin'!

Welcome back everyone....this actually includes myself too.  The US holiday time is a pretty busy time at my full time job and I've been working quite a bit.  Through all the extra work I have managed to slowly create some new work and make progress on some other pieces.

First up is my new version of the Green Street print.  I got to print the first color, a light grey last week and I'm in the process of carving those areas area.  This block, much like it's predecessor, has a good deal of detail in it.  In the image above you can see pink marks that I've made that help me to identify what is getting carved away.  These areas are mostly very small sections and require a good bit of concentration so that I don't over carve an area or accidentally slip and cause this piece to become yet another victim of mistakes.

 

Here are images of the inked block and the first printed color.  I've really wanted to make some type of artwork of this scene for such a long time.  Most of the houses along this street are fairly similar and the house colors don't vary too much.  These particular houses though are all different - the first in white, the second is blue, the third is yellow and the final one is a red brick building.  The color difference and the way that the shadows fall during late afternoon create a wonderful composition of shape and color.

Next up is the "a" print that I started a month or two ago.  The top image is a previously shown image of this piece, but I figured I'd use it as a reference for the printed image below it.  I'm trying a lot of fairly new knowledge that I picked up while my wife and I were on vacation.  I've spent a good bit of time since returning studying actual images of neon as well as artworks from Dave Lefner, Randy Ford and Robert Cottingham.

Needless to say, I'm not the first to go after this subject matter.  Many artists have focused on the way that light affects their surroundings and I am completely in love with that concept.

Finally, the inked block for the 3x3" mini reduction print of an area of Zion National Park in Utah.  This piece, to me, is taking longer than it should now.  I'm now two colors away from completion and of course I've started focusing on the carving of these other blocks.  I'm noticing a trend with me where as I close in on the end of a project I pick up others and start to ignore the one that is almost complete.....I do plan on having this piece done before Christmas hits.

I did notice a little bit of movement in the registration of the piece which may be another reason for my pushing it off.  I know that the errors are there and don't want to add to them, but the only way to finish is to add the next layer of color - green.

#art #printmaking #linocut #linoprint #reductionlinocut #printingprocess #GreenSt #A #Zion #landscape #neon #houses #Greensburg #PA #LasVegas #NV #ZionNationalPark #UT