"Red Chair"

"Red Chair"
Sintra engraving on paper, acrylic paint
8.5" x 8.5" (unconstructed)

My new little papercraft print, "Red Chair," is on view right now in Milwaukee as part of PRNT:MK, the 2013 SGCI printmaking conference.  I'm not attending, sadly, because attending as someone not attached to a university in some way is crazy expensive.  So, I've been attending about every other year.  The picture at left was taken by Colin Roe Ledbetter of the portfolio my piece is included in, Assorted Delights.



 

This piece is also in the upcoming show Cloud 9, at the Trunk Space in Phoenix, AZ with a reception on April 5th.

The piece has an inner chamber, and if you peer through the windows in his torso you can see it, too. Though it's difficult to photograph, I've attempted it to give you some idea.

For the portfolio this piece was made for I needed to construct about 20 individual figures, each one taking a little over an hour to make.  By the time I'd finished cutting and gluing the last one I sort of hated them.  It's been a couple weeks now, so I no longer hold such loathing for the needless complexity I engineered into his construction.

 At left, you can see "Red Chair" inconstructed.

And here's Mulcifer the cat, diligently overseeing me as I print.

Three headed cat

I wanted to give all my friends a present for New Year's Day.  Originally, I though a family portrait (me, my partner, our cat) would be perfect, but the partner didn't want to be in it, and I thought it would send the wrong message if it was just me and the cat.  So it became just the cat, Mulcifer, which I think was the best to begin with anyway.

Two color relief print (a sintracut) with screenprint for the calendar bit.  Printed with Gamblin's Portland black on Rives BFK.

My inking glass slab is salvaged glass from discarded scanners.  The glass is thick and holds up well, plus it's for free.

I'm thinking about listing a couple of the leftover calendar's on my etsy.  Anyone interested?

Edited to add: If you want one, you can find it here.

Catman print from linoleum scraps

I've been doing my best to get Josephine Press tidied up this summer. The Press has been around, and in the same location, for nearly as long as I've been alive, so you can imagine that there are little bits of all sorts of things hidden away, some of them useful and some of them useless and long since expired. Like ink, for instance. I just found a drawer full of little pots of lovely custom colors some printer mixed up for a client years ago, all of them dried into solid lumps. But I also found a cache of linoleum scraps. They were destined to be thrown out, but I decided to try to use them to make some wee prints with. I can carve a little image in a sitting, and then print it when I have some downtown or after a workshop. This fellow I printed with the ink left over from the monoprint workshop last weekend, and used paper left over from old jobs (offprints and trial proofs, we have boxes of it) and some pretty blue hemp washi left over from a previous edition.

These are intended for postcards that I'll send to my friends who may already be tired of receiving postcards, but let me know if you're interested in doing a trade (print for print or something like that) because I'm up for it.

Techniques represented: linocut, and on the found paper: bokashi roll, screenprint, lithograph, photo etching, monoprint, and xerox solvency transfer.

Postcards for pals, part 2

As part of my project to send out a printed handmade postcard to a friend for each day of April, Sent to Tommy H. in Chicago:

Sent to Colin Roe Ledbetter in Kansas:

Sent to Nate and Debbie in Salt Lake City:

And here's Sarah's postcard in its new environment:

Postcards for pals, part 1

My goal for April was to send out a single postcard for each day of the month. All postcards I handmade and I sent each one to a different friend who lives far way from me. I hope these all made it to their destinations relatively unscathed.

Linocut on found paper, sent to the artist Tim Musso

Linocut and monoprint on found paper, sent to the artist and gallery owner Stephanie Carrico

Linocut on found paper, sent to the writer Nathan C. Martin

Monoprint, watercolor, and colored pencil, sent to my pal Sarah W.

Woodcut and watercolor on found paper, sent to my pal Shawn M.

Linocut on found paper, sent to my pal David J.

Here's Shawn's, having safely arrived in Louisiana:

The Conversationalists, Part 2

Here's the second print I made for the demo I did at AR4t Gallery as part of the Dennis McNett show. I think of them as two heads having an awkward conversation.

It's linocut on paper in an edition of 200. I added a ton of Japan drier to the ink so that I wouldn't take prints that were completely wet home with me. It actually worked pretty well, and the prints were completely dry to the touch the morning after printing.

These guys are for sale on my etsy site, here.

Conversationalists, part 1

I went all the way from Los Angeles to Laguna Beach to see the Whale of Gratitude show by Dennis McNett. It was pretty amazing, which wasn't particularly surprising, but I was a little surprised and pleased when the gallery owners invited me to do an inhouse demonstration of relief printmaking during the Laguna Artwalk. Dennis McNett is a Brooklyn based artist, and so couldn't attend both receptions.

I carved two new blocks for the demo. They're both a single color linoleum block on a variety of paper stocks in an edition of 100 each and can be left flat or folded into a three dimensional little paper ball.

I had a lot of fun having a couple little kids help me crank the press, and it's wonderful when people applaud when you pull a new print off the block like it's a magic trick.

"Apart"

Last linocut of 2011.

This print is part of the Multiverse exchange at the SGCI 2012 New Orleans conference.

I originally intended to carve this relief print out of sintra, which is what I tend to prefer, but the deadline was closer than it should have been due to my procrastination, so I opted for linoleum, which is faster and easier to carve but loses sharpness sometimes.

I'm new to hair.  To be honest, my fear of drawing hair is a little unfounded and embarrassing at this point in my career, but there it is.  I'm trying to force myself to include more hair in my pieces now, just to get over it.  Straight hair I think I have down pretty well now, but I don't know about curly hair.

This linocut is printed on a blue hemp washi, purchased from Hiromi Paper, and then chine colle-d onto Rives BFK.

LA Art Show, 2012

This is going to be my most name dropping blog post ever.

I printed up a mess of prints at the LA Art Show as part of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society. The IFPDA sponsored us to come and demonstrate printmaking to the audience of collectors and looky-loos at the Art Show. It was lots of fun, and I was lucky enough to find a purchaser for two of my large sculptural prints. And that means they take up less space in my loft and I can make more sculptures soon.

Jason and I at the premiere party

At the premiere party, I met Kim Coates (who plays Tig, the sergeant of arms) from Sons of Anarchy. He and his wife were completely charming in a way that I found surprising because I'm still such a naif that I expect actors to be somewhat like the characters they play.

David Caruso listened to my spiel and watched me print for a bit, but I didn't know what to say to him because I only know CSI: Miami from watching the Soup and when they'd film on my old campus.

Printmaker David Lefner, Shyla, and myself at the premiere party

Showing the heavy embossment to some onlookers

Plates to print

My figures, from the piece

"I don't like that, I've never liked that" on display.

Printing with the artist Dirk Hagner

Here are the three prints I made especially for the LA Art Show.

They are relief monoprints: I carved a relief silhouette, and then selectively inked it. I'm really happy with how they came out and am now printing the three plates together on a full size sheet of BFK.