Print of the week

Girl Twice

2008-10-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

I will share a secret with you. The persons in the plate below are actually the same person twice.

Another collagraph, this one with fabric making up the background and my ubiquitous carborundum grit painting for the faces. I was uncertain about the fabric, it being so much taller than the rest of the plate. The embossing could have been overpowing, as could have the texture been. In the first inkings of the plate, the fabric was just way too obvious, but I think it worked out pretty well in the end.

The press at school is giant. I do big prints just because I can now, eating through paper with great rapidity, and seeing my savings dwindle in $2.50 increments with each print.

The image itself is 14 by 20, which only seems big because I'm a printmaker. Painters scoff at the miniaturized images in printmaking, the dictates of paper size and press ever present in the artist's considerations when working on a print.

I included this print in a portfolio for a grant application from the Los Angeles Printmaking Society, along with five other prints, three of which were three dimensional. So far, I only know that one of the graduate students in the program recieved the grant, but which one is still unknown. I hate hate hate waiting to find things out.

Mono vs. Mono

2008-10-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling foul towards monotypes, but monoprints, my friends, those I adore.

A monotype is when you have no reproducible matrix. A monoprint is when only aspects of the print are unique to each impression, and a reproducible matrix is utilized in conjunction with it. For example, the David print below is a monoprint because the inking is unique to each impression, but the matrix is permanent and so reproducible. The prints of Cein below are monotypes, because they are paintings made directly onto smooth plexiglass in graphite etching ink and then printed.

But, they're still pretty good, at least for monotypes.

I also did two of Nate. I rather like his hat.

Men, print 1

2008-10-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

Holy crap, I'm back!

I'm working slowly on a series of portraits of men I'm friends with. This is the first finished one, and it's a collagraph of David Bessent. There are loads more prints besides this one, but I'm going to try to stick to a schedule of posting a new print, and a pretty ok one at that, every Friday. I'm back in school as a graduate student at CSULB, so it really shouldn't be hard to keep up with.

Here's the plate:

and the history of inking before I arrived at the top image as the final print:

Wasps

2008-03-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

Reduction style relief print, on a tetrahedron kite, edition of 20. Made for the Kite show at Trunkspace, and the kite part is made out of old chopsticks.

Culpable

2007-04-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

I've been working so hard! My arms are tattooed with ink splotches, and my fingers permanently look as though I've been gardening.

I'm terrified about my show in Los Angeles. I have no idea if anyone will like my work, especially since I don't make pretty ladies, and it seems that everyone else I'm showing with makes pretty lady art. There's no boobs in my work! No boobs! Even I'd prefer to look at boobs than at weird little ugly people. Maybe I should make some mammary prints just in case.

Postcard

2007-01-07T14:01:00.000-08:00

Sent to Katherine:

Sent to Trent:

So, because of the workload a solo show and its imminent arrival dictates, I'm copping out and posting some of my many postcards instead of prints for the next couple of weeks.

By the way, if you want a postcard, then send me your address and maybe you'll get one. Maybe. If I like you.

Paper Wasp

2006-12-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

This took forever.

And one on Art History notes:

The next few prints will be ones in preparation for my print show in March in Phoenix.

Baby Bird

2006-12-15T12:32:00.000-08:00

I was thinking how the ground is littered with the corpses of babies birds every Spring. Maybe I'll draw some more of these guys then.

I printed on old homework and handouts from school. The intention is to wheatpaste these all over town. We'll see if I actually do it.

Orange Tree Leaves

2006-11-30T14:34:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. I've been lax. But, I'm making up for it with a bajillion new awesome prints, all waiting to be photographed.

Orange Tree Leaves:

The only "true" trees that grow in Phoenix (palm trees are actually a type of grass) are orange trees, olive trees, and palo verde trees. The orange trees like the heat, but not the lack of water, and the tree in my frontyard I water once a week to keep it alive. Their leaves have a strange double lobed shape.

I just barely learned how to make these little lined pouches from a tutorial on Twelve22 (http://www.twelve22.org/2006/07/zipper_tutorial.html). I went a tad overboard on them.

Failure Potato

2006-10-29T12:47:00.000-08:00

I used to make potato prints. They were fun and cute, mostly because they were made out of a potato. I've even sold a few of these prints, the reason for their purchase baffles me, but they were purchased nonetheless. My plan was for this previous week's print to be one of this variety. My attempts were utter failures. I made three, and each time I asked myself "Am I doing this because I want to or because I'm too lazy to do it right?" So, there will be two prints next week, and this week will be for thinking about doing stuff right or not at all.

I was planning on sending you all over to see the potato prints of Samuel Curtis/Cory McAbee of http://www.myspace.com/thebillynayershow, but the website is down so you won't be able to see it.

teeth

2006-10-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Haha! Number 3, and I'm still going strong!

Eggbeaters

2006-10-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

Eggbeater prints and a clever new print drying apparatus. I already started next week's print, and it's a little mo detailed and involved than the last two.

2006-10-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here's my press. It's wee and blue, and tiny. I have to prop it up on a blac of wood to make it high enough to be workable. I adore my press.

In an effort to keep my skills updated, and to keep myself from being totally sidetracked by eccentric and inscrutable projects, I've decided to make at least one small print a week. So, here it is. The first one. It's a small relief print of cherry blossoms, printed on Rives, with the serial number from Utrecht there in the corner. The photo is a little dark because I couldn't scan the print with the ink still wet. I promise, next week I'll get a better image of that project.