Bridges of Plainwell in Color Etchings

This is my second attempt at a four-color etching; CMYK aquatints and some line work, mostly in black. It's the  M-89 bridge over the millrace, east side of town, with the old paper factory in the background. This is a scan, it's a little fuzzy. My plan is to do all seven bridges of Plainwell in color etchings, and bind them together. I'll be working on these through next semester, along with my "American Insects" series.

Influence

 A book of color viscosity prints from my fall semester of grad school.

Late summer

This is my inventory of copper plates--mostly scrap-- but I laid them all out for inspiration, and mostly, to see if I had any sets of identical sizes to use for color prints. My big "take-away" from the one summer session of grad school I was able to take this summer (Session 2 was canceled) was a new comfort level with color printing and CMYK methods. My new cans of Graphic Chemical Perfection Palette CMYK inks are lined up here, too. When classes start again at the end of the month I'll have access to a metal shear and can trim some of these plates if necessary. I have so many ideas for projects and print series running around in my head right now I don't know where to start, but I'll figure it out, one print at a time.

More thoughts..

     It is probably a mistake to print the woodblock with oil ink plus a modifier; after doing some reading I will use waterbased pigment instead. I read a book on Japanese woodblock printing this month that said even diluted acrylics will work. This is using the Japanese brush-on technique I learned from Mary Brodbeck. Also my paper was all wrong so I found some kozo I use for bookcloth and tore up some sheets to use for experimentation. I had a lot of trouble with chipping and tear-out with this plywood but the same book mentioned above said to coat the surface of the block with slightly-thinned white glue to prevent this problem. I have so much of this wood, I'd really like to find a way to use it effectively.

     At the Kalamazoo Public Library Friends bookstore I found this amazing book of Jacques Callot etchings, for only $3.50. Very inspirational, as well as a reminder that no piece of copper is ever too small to use.

     In anticipation of starting grad school classes (!!!) I am trying to do an inventory of all my paper, prints, supplies, etc. I have some pretty valuable paper stockpiled that I expect to be using up now, plus I want to turn over a new leaf regarding organization.

More woodcut thoughts

I cut an experimental woodblock, just a scene outside my dining room window. I tried printing it with a baren, and the ink was actually my friend GC Bone Black with some old Daniel Smith relief modifier added. This was a bust; the prints look bad. Maybe the modifier is too old, it is sticky like glue. I'm going to try again with DS Graphite and DS Sepia. I want to do a two-color reduction. If this doesn't work I will scrap the block and try a new method with different inks, perhaps the Japanese method I learned in Mary Brodbeck's class.
I found out last week I am accepted into the MFA-Printmaking program at Kendall College of Art Design, and I'm very excited about that. I'll be starting with a class this summer.

Woodcuts

 I've had this print on my desk since last summer. My daughter brought it to me from a small print shop in Shanghai, where she was visiting. The image size is only about 5 inches square. I'm very inspired by the small, detailed cuts and the tones and textures that are achieved with only black and white.

I've started a woodcut of my own; I sketched a scene from my backyard directly with a Sharpie on a wood board and have started cutting all the "whites" away. I haven't done this for a while so  I have to get the feel of it again. The image will be a mirror of what is actually in my yard but I just wanted to get started.

I have a lot of boards to do woodcuts on, since my son breaks so many doing Tae Kwon Do and I get the pieces. They are pine, not as soft as Japanese pine boards, but they will do for now. As I've said before, I don't like supplies to go to waste.

Merry Christmas!

   



Front



Back

    This is my 2012 Christmas card. The actual size is 11" x 4.25", unfolded. The etching continues from the front to the back.I have been using small pieces of copper plate (scraps) for Christmas cards for several years now. I print the etchings and then run them through the printer-- digital text is easier than "drawing" the text in backwards to print. The red cherries are added with a watercolor pencil.
    I want to make a slideshow gallery of all my Christmas cards, but since I don't have prints of all of them, I'll have to print samples of most of them first. I've started this on the sidebar, and will add to it as I reprint samples.
    A merry Christmas and happy New Year to all!