Beagle in the House!
Introducing Gilly, our new beagle. She was rescued by way of
http://www.norcalbeagles.com/ and I am printing/bloging with a new partner now.
I have been stuck in the creative process for new material and new ideas for content as well as developing my woodcutting technique further. This past week I found both. I looked at some
older artworks as potential subject manner due to the fact my carving techniques are producing different looking images than previous artworks. The difference is made by a number of reasons: I am using 2 plates to print one image which allows for a richer and deeper look because the layered inks can provide opaqueness or transparencies as intuition dictates. I am also using 4 different sized circle punches, and 3 different awls, which provide an infinite number of patterns.
I found a great new inspiration from looking back at my sketchbook from the late 1980’s, when I used Van Gogh’s Self Portraits as subject matter. I thought of the ways that
Chuck Close has used the same image presented in a different manner each decade, and the way that artists build a body of work. Several artists have changed their painting style as their inspiration grows, but several make this change by using the images of artworks from their past to update them with new style, or technique.
In the past, I thought some of my older artwork had lost its relevance because my focus on printmaking had changed, my style had changed, and my subject matter changed. These so called relics of my past are perceived in 2 different ways, either junk from your past or still loved but where is the present connection to your current artwork? By recommitting myself to some older images, I can build a connection to my past through my present artworks. I am going to do a number of new artworks based on older pieces. I have decided to take only small sections, mostly portraits from previous artworks, enlarge them, and see what images will inspire me to create whole new artworks in my current working style. For subject matter, I choose the Van Gogh Self Portrait again. I made several paintings in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
I started my drawing dissecting the image and allowing my present mind to forget all the previous times I used the same subject manner. I convinced myself that any new approach to an older image will produce a completely different piece, because stylistically and artistically, I have grown.
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| This is my printing area, to the right is my drawing. |
In this new print I have expanded my carving in one different way. I am no longer isolating the type of cuts on each plate (previous work included isolating white line cuts to one plate and the second one, a punched plate). I am now combining both cutting marks on both cutting plates. I have reduced my printing to hand painting each space for each plate printed. In order to achieve a final look, I have printed several spaces overlapping each other, and left some blank on each plate in order to emphasize depth, texture, and color.
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| Detail of print showing how color is layered |
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| Detail of print in progress |
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| detail of plate #1 |
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My printmaking process is all painting. I am mixing colors with a brush and palette, and I am printing with my trusty old wooden spoon to use as a baren. I am focused on making sure there is a strong light source present, how to add contrast where some colors will be overlapping, and how the patterns that are carved will produce different visual effects. I am concerned with how opaque and transparent colors will play out on the final piece.
On this print I left both plates UN gesso-ed/un-fixed and this may have been a mistake, because the ink is adsorbs into the plate which means I have to paint a smaller area to print, and adds time. However, the un-fixed plate also produces a softer look, and I can still get a real hard edge by applying the ink while it is still pretty stiff.
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| Stage 1 | |
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| Stage 2 |
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| Stage 3, Plate 1 is printed, time to start printing the second. |
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| Detail after first plate is printed |
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| Stage 4 |
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| Stage 5, and completed |
My excitement is contained by the number of hours to finalize one print. So far I have printed 3 in a 3 day period working about 6-8 hours on each piece. The slow process allows me to take an analytical look as the print begins to develop. This slow and time consuming practice appeals to me more than creating an edition of several exact copies. I am now producing much larger and more technical, more concentrated works and producing a smaller number of unique prints from each plate.
BTW: Gilly slept the whole time at my feet, what a good girl!
