Printing Progress.

Block print. LDPE block, Speedball ink (elderly), generic printer paper.

My studio is gradually filling with prints. Some are much more interesting than others. This is one that I made yesterday, and love. This may be the first one that I have had little interest in re-working the block after seeing the print. I really do need to try some new ink, though. What I have seems to be almost totally lacking in whatever keeps it workable. Gum arabic? Water? Magic beans? No idea. The New Ink Smell has escaped.

... on the bright side, Akua water soluble intaglio ink actually makes pretty good block prints. Sadly, I only have black at the moment. And at $20 / pot, it is likely to remain that way for a while.

In a totally other direction, el Jefe suggests that things like this would make fantastic stained glass panels. In fact, I think he is right, and I will see about revising this into a glass pattern ... in my free time.

... and then you threw an octopus at my window.

Been working on a variety of things, none of which are complete. Possibly as a consequence of multi-tasking? But paint has to dry, dammit! Here's one avenue I've been treading... dabbling in a combo of ink and watercolor that has been entertaining me.

Basically, the technique is to draw some lines/forms in non-waterproof ink, and then fill or not-fill the spaces with watercolor paint, which draws in some of the ink. It's a little blurrier than I'd like in some places, but some bits of it work quite well, I think. The top one is smallish, maybe a 5"x7" paper, and the top one is like a page of notebook paper size. I think I'll have more use for this technique in the future, I find it both satisfying to do as well as pleasing to have done. These are good things.

Another Incomplete

This is the current project. The drawing is good, I will probably use it for multiple versions of the finished piece. I *was* trying to set up something for an oil or acrylic painting, but this is too fine detailed for my oil paint skills, and for some reason I'm a little sour on acrylics right now. So, another watercolor/ink deal. Which is FINE. It just wasn't what I'd intended when I started.


Here is a detail from the ink wash part of this (click it for full size). I'm probably going to start coloring it in today, although I'm not yet 100% what the color scheme will be. Probably something I'll be excited by at the beginning and annoyed with at the end, or the other way 'round...

These aren't new, but...

These 5 paintings aren't new, but I just framed them last night. Framing them has revealed to me that I will be painting at least 2, and probably 3 new components for this set, because what's there either doesn't fit, or doesn't please me. That's just how it goes, I guess.

I've been stalling on framing these for 3 or 4 months, probably because I already knew I wasn't going to be happy, and didn't want to deal with it. Guess it's time to own up and finish it.

Just finished...

Just sprayed sealer on this. it's not bad, but it's not 100% what I wanted, either. The good news is, I think I know how to get what I wanted. Had a thought about that just as I was putting the last touches on this.

In case you were wondering, I'm pretty sure both the painting and the photograph are a little tilted, but when I mat this, I should be able to (mostly) correct that. I guess I'll find out...

Part 1 of 5

I'm working on a 5 panels series, this is the first one I finished. I'm fond of it.

Old Glass, New Sun

Danielle sent me some stuff from my life-before-2D, and one of those things was a bundle with 4 panels of stained glass that I made a while back. It's not any kind of great composition, just a technical exercise, really. But it made me happy to see it anyway. Who knows, maybe it makes you happy to see it, too.

The panels are about 3"x5" each.

Today's Eyeful

This is the current in-progress painting. It's about 1'x3' or so, acrylic. I don't think it is anywhere near done, but this is the general idea. There will be a lot of detail in the spheres, if all goes according to plan.

My first panoramic composition.

This painting is 8" x 20" ish. Yes, I am too lazy to go look at the pad of paper it came from. Sue me.

Just Finished

Another in this series. I'm starting to think it's time to explore the meaning behind these things. The problem with raw creative impulses is that they often don't make sense. There's nothing wrong with that, but the part of the brain that contributes development and exploration and .... furtherance... needs to know more about what's going on in order to proceed. Otherwise, you just wear a path in the carpet from pacing.

So.... the idea I'm working with here relates to some kind of form emerging from behind a layer of a different material. The emerging forms are rounded, soft (in form and color), and multiple. The covering material is essentially featureless, except where it begins to unravel, jagged and torn. It seems to be pushed back, peeled, cracked.

Cover material: Blank, clean, smooth, damaged, boring?, like skin or sheeting
Emerging forms: Colorful, unanimous, plural (safety/strength/power in numbers?), egg-like, undamaged, perhaps damaging.

See how there are judgment calls mixed in with the descriptive terms? This is what gets at the essence of what's going on in this series. If I were going to actually drill it down to the level of "concept"--meaning, articulate specific values and points of interest about this, I'd probably talk about an examination of the power of collective efforts, about groups overpowering suppression, about interest winning out over homogeneity.

Fortunately, no one has asked me to do that. I find that artists are capable of the loftiest heights of articulation, but also the murkiest depths. Often, concept turns to bullshit in the blink of an eye. It's probably good practice, but I worry that over-analyzing will undermine that raw creative urge. How about a metaphor: Flowers grow best in soil with a fair amount of shit in it, but if the concentration of shit gets too high, your flower will die. Deep, huh? :)

As Promised

This is another step in the right direction.

I guess one advantage I have in the perpetual struggle to realize visions is this: While my technical skills can improve, the level of detail in my head is not really changing. It's NOT a moving target. Yes, the ideas might become more sophisticated, more resolved, more detailed. But they don't actually become less technically feasible. That remains fairly constant. I assume I'll have finally achieved sufficient ability to execute my visions, when I'm having a heart attack or something at the drawing board. Death does love a good joke.

In related news, I spent some time at the library yesterday perusing the art books. I came across a design book that showed samples of industrial and commercial design, mass production objects, and fashion trends from the 1890s-1990s. I learned a few things from this.

1. Recreating a period Look is probably not as easy as it seems, given that most of the fashion pictures in the book struck me as being specifically recreations. It's possible that's what those Looks would've looked like if photographed with modern equipment, but somehow I doubt it.
2. The sailor suit for children came from a portrait of a British prince.
3. Cubism might've made bad fine art, but it made kick-ass mass production decor.
4. It's kind of a shame dressing like a grown up is somewhat out of style.
5. Also, hats.
   
6. The late 40s/early 50s American is my favorite lady fashion.
7. The stove, refrigerator, and sink should not be a single kitchen appliance/fixture.

(What? I don't recall claiming I learned anything DEEP from it.)