Pluto's Toy Palace test print

 

Pluto's Toy

Mini-ish test print for possible larger piece.

So it's been a while since my last post.  I did take about a month off of printing (again), but before that I was working on this new piece which is based off of a sign from Disney's Hollywood Studios for Pluto's Toy Palace.  I've been wanting to do a larger scale print with a fair amount of colors so while searching through previously taken pics I had taken I ran across pics of this particular sign.

As much as I'd like to just jump this straight into a larger print, I figured that it would be probably in my best interest to just go ahead and see how it would work out on a smaller scale.  I've been working on this piece since my last post and have managed to get about 5 colors in.

  

 

These are the next 4 stages and I've printed through.  I'm currently at an impasse on the next color, but since my reds tend to be fairly opaque it'll probably wind up being green which is the majority of the upper part of the sign.

I'm also in the process of creating a new registration jig for the small Hot Wheels Lotus and should have something printed very soon.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #lino #printingprocess #neon #disneyworld #wdw #hollywoodstudios #pluto #toy #lakebuenavista #florida #fl

Lotus and Spyder linocuts!

Lotus - 2x4" - 5 Color Reduction Linocut

 I've been working on a couple pieces recently and trying my hand once again at a vehicle.  This Lotus and the Spyder cars will be my first vehicles since the Dodge truck that I made a couple years back.

These particular cars are not based off of actual vehicles that I have seen in person, but rather something from my childhood that happened to be made from die-cast metal....that's right....these two pieces are based off of Hot Wheels cars that I went out and purchased just for this reason.  Hot Wheels generally creates a bunch of non-real styles of vehicles so I just focused looking for cars that looked as real as possible.


 

These are some of the many pictures I took of each car.  I tried a bunch of angles and lighting to get exactly the look I wanted.

Spyder - 12x16" - 7 Color Reduction Linocut

This is the other one that I'm currently working on.  I started this one several months back, but due to the complexity and the time that was being taken up by the Racer and Ice Cream linocuts this one got set aside....and then...I forgot about it.

The darkest grey on this image was printed this past week.  The registration is ever so slightly off...and I mean slightly.  It's possible the paper stretched a little due to the humidity because the area in question is only along the edge.  I'm currently in the process of carving this block and making sure that I know exactly what areas of the windshield and interiors areas (seats, etc) are going to be removed before printing the next color.

Anyhow, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up as to what's been happening with my artwork.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #reliefprint #reductionprint #cars #lotus #spyder #hotwheels #printingprocess #diecastcars

Took a little time off, but....

Generation - 3x3" Mini Reduction Linocut

So about a month to a month and a half ago I finished up on this Pepsi mini print.  Since that time I decided to take a little step back and relax a little bit rather than attempting to push my way through some printing...kinda like recharging my batteries.

I've started a new 12x16" piece and I'm working on a 4th Ice Cream linocut as well.  I've also begun the process of creating a new larger scale reduction linocut that will be about the same rough size as the Racer linocut that I finished a couple months back.  The new one will also be around 16x34 inches and the color count will increase from 6 to around 14.  I want to do something large with a lot of colors for no real reason other than to do it.  I dreaded printing on some of those days while working on the Racer, but I guess it didn't take too long for me to get over those feelings.

I was actually going to print last week, but decided that I needed to do a little reorganization of the room that I do my artwork in (it's a spare bedroom).  If you've ever reorganized anything then you know that it usually becomes a much, much larger project than you ever anticipate.  I'm still in the process of finishing it up today.

If things work out, I'm hoping to get that piece started by mid-late fall.  I have my subject matter, but I'm also going to keep my options open because I have a trip coming up to Maine and may see what kind of subject matter/inspiration I come home with from there.

Anyhow, for those that have checked my blog while I was away and didn't see any updates they should start to come a little more frequently now that I'm about to get back into the swing of things. 

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #pepsi #generation #reliefprint #miniprint #breaktime #cleanupnightmare #readytogetbackonthehorse

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

Ice Cream - 20x16" - 12 Color Reduction Linocut

 

Ice Cream - 20x16"

I've really slacked off on showing progress for this piece lately.  Since my last post I've printed 3 variations on a magenta/pink and a grey.  It's kinda crazy how the third time is a charm.  Usually failing twice at something really causes some form of hesitation on attempting the same subject matter for the third time.  Failure is generally a fantastic learning tool though.  It may not be what you want to have happen, but it teaches so much more than constant success.

I was originally down to two remaining colors, but decided to mix a color just to see how the next grey would react to some added blue.  When I finally finished mixing up a small batch of this cool grey color I decided that it would make a very nice cast shadow color.  I didn't really want to push the color count to 12, but sometimes you just have to do what you think will make your art better....sometimes less is better...sometimes more is.

I'm currently in the process of carving away the neon tubing and leaving the cast shadow area on the lettering, a shadow for the neon tubing and finally the sky to print.  Very excited to see this piece finally get completed....I've only been attempting this piece for over a year now.

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #reductionprint #neon #icecream #lightandshadow #disneyland #californiaadventure #catchaflav #california #anaheim

Two new colors for the Racer!

Racer - 16x34" - 7 Color Reduction Linocut

Hi everyone!!  Been a bit busy lately....life seems to be getting more and more in the way of this blog, but I'm still trying to push ahead.  The Racer rollercoaster sign is almost finished!!  One color to go.  The past two weekends I've been busy printing the sky and the very dark blue area of the hanging flag banners along the bottom.

Each photo was taken at a different time of day so I apologize about the difference in colors on the two.  The sky is closer to that in the top picture than that very bright blue in the bottom pic.  I'm pretty excited about how this piece has turned out.  Registration has been very good and other than a little issue getting the blue to print over the shadow red in a solid tone...things have gone well.

When I first printed the sky color the red underneath really wanted to show through.  So I reprinted the first ones sky a second time and it still turned out a little questionable, but passable.  When I printed my second piece the same thing happened so I doubled up printing the blue.  I still wasn't 100% happy with it....so I tried a third time.  This was not a great idea and the outcome was pretty hideous.  I blotted both the first and second attempts heavily with newsprint to remove as much ink as possible.  The remaining pieces to the edition were all printed with a single blue layer.

I decided that being patient and trying again once the single layer of blue dried might work better for me.  Thankfully I managed to talk myself into that patience because when I printed the blue again later that week things turned out really, really nice.

 

Here is the edition drying after the second weeks printing of the blue and below is the block as I was carving away the sky.  FYI....that carving tool is somewhere around 1/4 inch wide....that sky took forever to carve.  Only black remains though!!

That's all for now!  I have to get my lunch ready for work and get ready for bed.  The Ice Cream reduction linocut has also been moving along nicely and I will try to create a post about it tomorrow night!

#art #printmaking #linocut #reductionlinocut #reductionprint #Racer #rollercoaster #Kennywood #Pittsburgh #PA #412 #amusementpark