Manhattan Graphics Center - Exhibition

Hi everyone!!  Just as an FYI, I have two pieces in the 3rd New York International Miniature Print Exhibition is New York City.  If anyone is near or around New York City and would like to see a large variety of subject matter in a very small printed format (3x3") then please go and visit the Manhattan Graphics Center.

They are located at 250 West 40 St, 5th Floor - New York, NY  10018.

The exhibit runs until November 28, 2017.

When I submitted to this show, it was the first outside of Pennsylvania show that I had submitted too.  I really, really wanted to go and see the show in person, but after coming back from California my wife and I have fallen into a yearning for more Disney...so I put extra money that I had possibly planned on visiting New York with into the Disney World fund and now I have no money for a New York trip....maybe next years.

 

(My two submitted prints - "M" & "Shake Shack" - each 3x3")

Another issue I faced with going to see it was that there must've been a small error somewhere along the line and I never got a rejection or acceptance response.  I didn't know that I had even been accepted until a week before the show was to start.  I packed up prints as fast as I could and mailed them priority mail to New York to try and get them there in time.  I wasn't even sure that they had made it in time to be displayed, but in one of the photos on their Facebook page I found my neon "M" print hanging on the wall.

So again, if you are around New York City within the next couple weeks and want to see a show with varied printmaking techniques then please stop by.  There hours are as follows:

Monday: 6pm-10pm

Tues - Fri: 10am-10pm

Sat and Sunday: 10am-6pm

#art #printmaking #etching #linocut #woodcut #intaglio #printmakingtechniques #printingprocess #manhattangraphicscenter #newyorkcity #nyny #ny #exhibition #miniprint

From big to small

 

La Rose Shop (10x20")

Hi everyone!  

Been working on getting some current projects finished up while creating some new ones as well.

I'm very close to finishing up the La Rose Shop that I started...what seems like forever ago.  Wow...I actually looked back through this blogs history and I was using a Sharpie marker to ink over my transferred pencil lines back in January.  I do know that this piece sat on a shelf for quite a while after things started to not work out as I anticipated.

A couple days back I mixed up a batch of dark red to use on both the La Rose Shop and the mini (3x3") Zion landscape (seen later in this post).  I actually used the color I mixed only on the Zion piece and decided to darken it to try and enhance the contrast between the letters on the La Rose Shop and the shadow being cast by the neon tubing and it turned out much better than I anticipated.

Initially, I had the La Rose Shop set for 10 colors, but after printing this very dark maroon I have decided that I like it enough in areas that I've reduced the number of colors to 9 instead.  I was going to print the sky color (light blue) and then use black for the hardware that holds the neon tubing, but this maroon looks very good on that hardware.  Now I only have the sky to print.  Very excited to have this print almost complete....it's been so long.

Zion (3x3") Mini Print

I'm on the 4th color out of 7 for this mini landscape of a picture that I took a couple years back at Zion National Park in Utah.  I was actually not going to add this current red color to this piece, but though that the rock areas in the foreground were pretty close in color and needed something to create some contrast.

This print was initially supposed to be submitted to the Mahattan Graphics Center mini print exhibition that is currently showing, but time just wasn't friendly to me as the deadline arrived for submission.  Perhaps if this print is still around come next year, maybe I'll submit it then.

This is a picture of the 3x3" lino block for the Zion piece.  The registration jig is very crude, but from what I've seen from other artists....this is what works for quite a few.  The carving for this piece is already completed and I'm just waiting on the red to dry up a little so I can print the next color.

#art #printmaking #linocut #lino #linoprint #reliefprinting #LaRoseShop #Greensburg #PA #Zion #NationalPark #NPS #Utah #printingprocess #darkred

Updates!!

So since my last post I've been working on a number of things including the printing of the next color on the 3x3" Zion Landscape print.  I'm trying to think about what is going to come of this piece next.  Originally planned for 4 to 5 colors, I think I'm now looking more at 6...maybe 7.

There is a tree just offset of center which has both a highlight green and a shadow green.  These 2 colors will also be used in the background as well for tree lines and bushes.  I also need a blue for the sky and I'm kicking around the idea of a shadow color for small areas of the rocks on the bottom half of the print.  I didn't really want to go with 7 colors, but I may just have to see how this works out.

 

Yesterday, I transferred a new version of my Green Street print.  The last one really lost its way when I began the print with a color that was too dark for what I wanted.  The detail of the drawing was also not up the level that I needed and there were a lot of questionable areas where I didn't really know what was happening.

I took the original image and cropped it into a much tighter view.  This image reduced the number of houses and helped to show me details that were difficult to see when the image was not as close.  I finished the tracing of the image I was working last Thursday and did the transfer Saturday.  I also started the tracing of the transfer with Sharpie marker.  I didn't honestly plan on inking the entire piece with the marker, but I guess once I got started I just forgot and wound up finishing the piece.  I am going to be looking at it and trying to refine some of the details before I move ahead to the carving stage.  I also have to cut down the lino that it's on to the 8x10" size.

Finally.....these two pieces that I completed within the last year or so have been accepted into the Southwest Pennsylvania Council for the Arts: 22nd Annual Juried Exhibition.  I'm very excited to once again be accepted into this show.  Last year was my first year to submit and get selected into.  The show includes artists from all over Southwestern Pennsylvania and is probably the largest show that I've ever been accepted into.

I'll be getting these two pieces framed up and ready for the show probably within a week or so.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #reliefprinting #lino #linoprint #utah #greenstreet #exhibition #printingprocess

Mini 3x3 Utah landscape

I recently started working on a new small 3x3 print.  I printed the 2nd color the other day and would really like to get the 3rd printed this coming Thursday.

The image is a crop of a photo that I took during a trip to Zion National Park two years ago.  I'm hoping that this will help me develop my skills in areas where I feel I'm not so strong.  I see tons of linocut images from other artists who do landscapes and I'm completely in awe.  I really want to learn this process and though I've tried previously with landscapes....they have pretty much all failed.  

My previous attempt at a landscape from Utah has really hit a snag after a bad selection of color on my part as well as not really understanding how to tackle the issue of grasses.  In my mind, creating the illusion of grass should be very simple, but each attempt that I've tried has ultimately resulted in failure.  I plan on creating a small 3x3 with grass so that I can try to teach myself the process in a more timely manner than larger prints afford me.  Keep in mind that these prints generally take me between 1-3 months until they are complete, so the learning (and sometimes the failures that come with it) take place over a long period of time.  By the time I realize that what I was trying isn't working out, I've probably already invested 3-4 weeks into the print.  That includes development of the image, the transfer to the lino block, the tracing in Sharpie Marker, carving of the block and printing.

I'm constantly trying to learn how to better myself and creating multiple projects at a time that range from being very comfortable to very difficult for me.  The comfortable ones will still offer challenges, but ones that can still be overcome and ultimately end with a nice final product (it always feel good to have a final print in your hands).  The difficult ones obviously are the flip side....they generally cause me great stress and I (probably) 9 times out of 10 come away with nothing, but the actual experience itself and the knowledge that is gained from at least trying.

#art #printmaking #linocut #lino #linoprint #reductionlinocut #Utah #landscape #printingprocess #zion #nationalpark

I'M BACK!! And I've gotten a little bit done...

So I've been back from vacation for a little under two weeks and was very excited to get back into the groove.  I'm really pushing to get this La Rose Shop piece done.  The image on the left I did the day after I got back from vacation and I just printed the image on the right yesterday.  The colors weren't initially what I was thinking, but they are starting to grow on me slightly.

A part of me really wishes I had just done a flat color on both sides of the sign rather than the bricks, but...it's too late now.  I have a color that will print over a couple of the bricks and then I can print the color for the letters, the sky and the shadow for the neon tubing that is cast onto the letters.

So only 3 colors to go before this piece is finished.

This is the current state of the block as of yesterday while printing.  I have currently carved a good portion of the inked area away.  I did leave a part of the left hand side of the block in place so that it could bump up against my registration setup.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #lino #linoprint #reliefprinting #laroseshop #greensburg #pa #neon #retrosignage #neonsign

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