Bass Harbor Lighthouse - miniprint

Bass Harbor Lighthouse

Beginning to start a couple new 3x3" mini prints in hopes that come November some of the art shows that I submit to each year will be able to go on.

I have a couple different ideas floating around for this piece.  When we visited Bass Harbor Lighthouse this past September we were there for sunset, but when we first arrived it was lit with "standard" sunlight.  As the sun went down though the colors being reflected off of the building altered as did the color of the sky.  I actually have created two separate lino blocks for this particular piece.  I plan on doing one for daylight and one for sunset.

Initially I wasn't too sure about which I wanted to do so I scanned the lino block into my computer using a scanner and printed out 6 black and white images of just the drawn image.  I then used my photos and a little bit of artistic license to play with different looks.  These little thumbnails are actual size of the block, but allow me the opportunity to see kinda what works and what won't.

Hopefully within a week or so I'll be able to start posting the printed progressions of both versions.

#art #printmaking #linocut #lino #reductionlinocut #lighthouse #bassharbor #maine #printingprocess #thumbnailtests

Plutos and a Spyder update!

Pluto's - update

Shortly after my last post I printed the green on the larger Pluto's piece.  In yet another stage of learning, I discovered that I should print green before violet/purple.  The violet wasn't all that dark so I figured (for some reason) that I could successfully print over it in green...I was incorrect.

If you look just to the left of the "Pluto's" neon text you can a variation in the green.  That variation is where the violet was printed.  I now have to double print the green and that should be complete by the end of the day today.  I was going to print it last week (this has been printed for 2 weeks now), but had some other chores and things around the house pop up so I had to push it off until today.

Spyder

WOAH!!!  Here's a piece that I haven't updated in a while.  This poor guy has been on the "on and off" list for quite a while  It kinda got buried when I started the Pluto's piece.  Red was the last color I printed which was only a couple weeks back.  I have somewhere around 4 colors left to go....a black, and I think 3 darker reds for the shadows of the car.  Hopefully I can find some time to get this car back on the road.

#art #printmaking #linocut #lino #reductionlinocut #neon #Plutos #Spyder #green #red #printingprocess 

Pluto's - NEW(ish)

   

Pluto's - 15x32"

Hello again!  During my silence I also started a new larger Pluto's piece.  The previous was somewhere around 7x14", but it was only ever meant as a test print.  The smaller size left little room for detail and I needed to start the larger piece for an upcoming exhibition so I semi-abandoned the smaller version for the moment and I've been really focusing on this piece almost entirely. 

  

 

These are the first six steps for this piece.  Next up is green...which I'm hoping will really help to start defining the final piece.  There is somewhere around 6 or 7 colors remaining.  I was initially really pushing to have this completed by June 1st, but unfortunately the exhibition that I was going to submit this piece for has been cancelled due to the coronavirus.

Actually....a couple shows I was going to submit to have been cancelled....bah.

Anyhow, as I said, green is next and will be printed tomorrow morning.  I may also attempt to print the sky blue at the same time, but we'll have to see how I'm feeling tomorrow.  Have a nice evening.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #lightandshadow #neon #disney #pluto #disneyhollywoodstudios #florida #wdw #ilovedisney

Nubble Lighthouse - Finished!

Nubble - 3x3" Reduction Linocut

Hi everyone who happens to visit this page on occasion!!

Due to being an essential employee here in US, I've been rather busy with very little time to post on here, but I have continued working on various projects.

First off is this 3x3 inch reduction linocut which is titled "Nubble".  I completed this little guy about 2 or so months ago.  The final two colors since my last post were a dark red for the roof and a dark grey.  I also tried a third black color for the top of the lighthouse, but my wife said she preferred the dark grey one so that's where I stopped.

 

Here are the final two color states on the linocut block before I finished the piece.  The left is inked up with the final dark red color for the roof while the one on the right is the dark grey that was printed previously.

I have new mini lighthouse blocks started for a couple other lighthouses from my Maine trip which include Bass Harbor, Portland Head and Pemaquid.  Hoping to make a nice small series of lighthouses that I got to see on vacation....and hope they all register as well as this one did.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #lighthouse #nubblelighthouse #Maine #lightandshadow

Nubble Lighthouse Red

Nubble Lighthouse - York, ME

So I've also been working on this mini reduction linocut and have been making decent progress.  My last update on this piece was on January 18th so you can always scroll down and see where it started.  I've enjoyed this piece very much and the registration of the colors has been very sharp.

One thing that always drives me crazy with reduction linocuts is that when the surface of the lino really starts to become minimal it becomes harder to keep the carved areas clean.  After each inking, I wind up having to take a rag and make sure that I'm consistently cleaning areas that the roller comes in contact with.

In some cases these marks (known as chatter) can help to really bring a print alive, but since I'm looking for very clean pieces of artwork, I need to wipe any random inking away before printing.

I only have 3 colors remaining on this piece and then it'll finally be complete.  I have a dark red (roof shadow), a dark grey (window/doors) and a black (top of lighthouse) remaining.

I've also begun working on the next lighthouse mini print.  I'm hoping to be able to complete a good number of these lighthouse prints for the NYC mini print show.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #reliefprint #lino #lighthouse #nubblelighthouse #capeneddicklight #york #maine 

Hot Wheels Lotus (Childhood Memories) - Competed mini linocut artwork

Hot Wheels Lotus (Complete)

Size: 2.5x4" on 10x8" paper

5 Color Reduction Linocut - Edition: 14 (+1 Artist Proof)

Cost: $40.00

I finished this little guy up about a week or so ago.  First time ever that I've achieved perfect registration on every single piece that was printed.  It's really nice to get a piece finished...reduction linocuts sometimes take so long that the end seems as though it's never going to come.  It is even worse when you are working on multiple pieces and only have so much time during the week to actually work on them.....some pieces may not get touched for well over a week since all the other ones are being worked on.

Below is a comparison of the final artwork to the actual reference.  As stated in it's title...the subject matter was a Hot Wheels die cast Lotus.  At one point I was going to do these childhood toy pieces on a larger scale, but decided to test at least one in a size that was more representative of the actual toys.

#art #printmaking #linocut #lino #reductionlinocut #lotus #hotwheels #diecast #cars #completedartwork

New Year and looking forward to a productive year!

  

Hi everyone!  So...again...it's been a little while.  I had a busy holiday season and had some minor health issues that my doctor and I are trying to figure out.

Anyhow, here is a new mini print that I've started.  It is the Nubble Lighthouse on the Cape Neddick Bubble in York, ME.  Back in September my wife and I drove to Maine for our yearly vacation.  MY wife wanted to see some of the lighthouses so we slowly worked our way up the coastline and tried hitting as many as we could.

The Nubble Lighthouse is the first one we came across and it isn't that far over the border with New Hampshire.  When we showed up it was very foggy and we were both prepared to be underwhelmed, but as we got out of the car the sea fog cleared and it became incredibly sunny and warm.  This lighthouse left an indelible mark on both of us and is one of our favorites (of the 14 lighthouses we saw).

This mini print was a test to see how small the detail could get before getting covered by ink.  So far though I'm 3 colors in and the small details have held up and the registration has been absolutely perfect...which is abnormal for me.  I usually have lost a couple at this stage of the mini prints, but so far I have lost none.

This is the progress for the first 3 colors.  This was also my first ever gradient attempt on a print and though it worked out I wound up putting the area of greatest change too low in the print and the ground covered it up....next time...roll the ink on higher.

I'm very happy with the progress so far and still have a lot more to show you from what I've been working on since October.  I'll talk to you all later.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #reliefprint #lightandshadow #lighthouse #nubblelighthouse #maine #vacation #inspiration #update