Ice Cream - 20x16" - 14 Color Reduction Linocut - COMPLETE!! (for now)

Ice Cream - 20x16" - 14 Color Reduction Linocut

This is the linocut that literally wore me out.  After a full year of a start, a failure, start, another failure, a start and finally a finish...I can say that I was really tired of working with this piece.  The same subject for just over a year was a bit difficult to work with from time to time and I'm happy and proud to say that I've finally completed it!!

For those a little late to the history on this piece...this sign used to hang on Disney's California Adventure Catch-A-Flave ice cream shop.  I had been looking to do an ice cream based neon linocut for my wife and had discovered previously that this particular one existed.  We visited Disneyland in September of 2017 and I finally got a picture of the ice cream cone that I wanted to use as subject matter.  Unfortunately for me, though the day was sunny, we were not at the sign during a good time of day.  In my photo, the sun shines directly on the side of the sign and not on either of the two large surfaces.

It took me some working and studying of other similar styled signs to come up with my own version of the shadows.  Most of the shadows were created by just placing my pencil drawing back on top of the lino and off setting it from the design and transferring the areas of the drawing that corresponded to the neon tubing.  It works pretty well for the lower half, but the actual "ice cream on the cone" was a bit more problematic.  I noticed on other images I found online of this sign that the neon up top created completely different looks depending on where and how the sun was hitting the tubes.

I wound up using a combination of my imagination, my transfer process, a 3D model I created of the sign and concepts from other ice cream cone neon images.  

 

Ice Cream final color linoleum block on press and close up of neon/ice cream swirl.

I'm happy that this piece turned out how it did.  I do see little areas that I wish I could fix, but this is normal with practically every piece of artwork I've ever made.  As this piece was for my wife, I did ask her opinion...she was afraid to hurt my feelings since she's quite aware as to how long I've been working with this piece.  To be honest though, it's been a long time since I've gotten offended or hurt by honest criticism.  She gave me hers after I told her to basically just lay it all out there.  It gave me ideas and I'll be revising the color list....and who knows....maybe in the future this piece will show back up on this blog as a new piece..... =)

Always strive for perfection if it's what you want.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #reductionprint #reliefprint #icecream #neon #disney #californiaadventure #skyblue #catchaflave #lightandshadow #castshadow

Racer - 16x34" - 7 Color Reduction Linocut - COMPLETE!!

Racer - 16x34" - 7 Color Reduction Linocut

Hi again everyone!!  As usual my plans for frequent updates have backfired on me, BUT since my last update I have been extremely busy with trying to finish up my two larger pieces of work.

First up is the Racer print.  I printed black about a month ago and it was the final touch to this piece.  The black ink just recently completely dried and I just need to sit down and finalize the piece with the edition numbering, title and my signature.

I can definitely say that I'm very happy with this pieces end result.  The use of less colors is something I wish I could work with more, but I've said that to myself before.  This particular piece had seven colors...two greys, two reds, two blues and a black. 

I have a feeling that I won't be doing any artwork this large again until I get a much larger brayer(roller).  I kept track of my time I spent on this piece and after it was all tallied up I would up spending more than 43 hours on this piece.  Most of those 43 hours were spent with the actual printing while carving and drawing took up about 10 hours or so of the time.

Final state of the linoleum block inked up in black.

It did seem to take forever to carve that sky away.  The largest gouge I have in about 1/4 inch wide...so think about that.  16x34 inches with the largest area being carved away 1/4 inch at a time.  Eeesh.

Final state of linoleum block on press bed.

If you compare this image to the one just above you'll notice that this one is a bit less clean.  During the inking of the block, the brayer (roller) has a tendency to make contact with the already carved surface of the linoleum block.  This contact leaves areas of ink that I'm not interested in having show up on my final print.  In order to prevent these accidental areas of ink from printing, I must go in after each inking with an old rag and wipe away any ink from the already carved away areas.  This process becomes more lengthy as the printing advances.  It becomes increasingly more difficult to see the ink marks as I continually wipe and smear previous inked areas away.

The "Racer" linocut was created with a couple different exhibitions in mind and has so far been submitted to one.  The other two happen later in the year and I'm excited to see if this piece will get accepted.

I also have an update on the Ice Cream linocut, but it is currently very late and I do need to get some sleep.  I have a fairly big day of printing ahead tomorrow, but I will try to make an update about the ice cream.  See you all soon!!

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #reliefprint #reductionprint #blackink #cranfieldreliefink #racer #rollercoaster #kennywood #pittsburgh #pa #amusementpark