Continue reading »]]> My last update featured four plates that I had designed, and soon after started carving. Two of the four I have printed, although the color registration left much to ponder.  The two I have printed are the road scenes.

What I have not posted is that while working on the other two plates my grandfather died. The portrait I was working on was of him. Initially due to the sudden loss, and then after some other events I put down my knives for a little hiatus.

I have continued to take reference shots, and had the exciting opportunity to teach some young artists this summer.  After lots of thinking, and let me tell you lots if thinking, I have sharpened my knives, and last week found me carving the last two plates. Although in my time if reflection, I decided to change my original plan, and use a different technique. I am glad to say the carving is done, or at least until I pull some test proofs.

Continue reading »]]> I have been working on some new images, three of which are going along with my urban landscape series, and the fourth is one I have been toying with for a while. I have decided to do all four in linoleum, and to make them reduction prints. Why all four? Mainly because I have been wanting to play with the reduction method of color printing recently, and I plan to use similar colors in several of them.

Since most of the time I have to work in the studio comes in chunks I find it easier to work on several prints at once, trying to keep them all at similar stages in the process. I will spend time creating images from my ideas, determining what size, shape, and material the plate should be. After making those decisions (sometimes they are made by what scrapes I have ready) I will start transferring my designs to the plate.

I have two basic methods for drawing the image onto the wood block or lino. For the first method I like to have a base idea, and actually sketch my thoughts directly onto the plate, erasing and reworking as I go. I have done several prints like this, and find it enjoyable to let the plate size help determine my final image. For an example of this look at Stage Fright, Moving On, and Cityscape #4 in my printmaking gallery. All three prints started with an idea that was pretty well formulated on how I was going to print the image.  The only thing I did not have figured out was the exact final image.  While Cityscape #4 the latest of the three to be printed, I actually started the drawing and inital carving shortly after I started working on Stage Fright.

My second method invovles a more techinical approach.  I have a list of ideas that I keep, some with images already in development, others just passing thoughts or images in my mind.  Working from this list I start to gather photographs, during this step I often drive through Tulsa, taking countless snapshots of all sort of objects and people.  Sometimes I ask friends or family to pose for reference shots (see Be the Change). From this collection of images I select the ones I will meld to make a new image, a sort of collage that I use for a reference.   While I normally use Photoshop in the collage process, I do occasionally make a physical collage depending on whether I start with digital or print images.  From this point I tranfer the image onto the block using transfer paper, altering the final image as I go.

Below are the prints I am currently working on.  At the moment I have the background on all four plates already cut, and ready for the run of printing.  Unfortunately I have been trying to get over a chest cold, and have not been able to work in the studio.  While I do have heaters to warm the area up, it still remains to cold with my persistent cough.  I am hoping to get out there and print these in the coming weeks.

Small Lino cut approx. business card size, 2-color, I am thinking white and black on light cream color paper.

Small Lino cut approx. a little larger than business card size, 3-color, I am thinking white, yellow, and black on light cream color paper.

Reduction print, approx. 4 in x 8 in, image inspired from a recent trip while passing box truck.  3 color, black, gray, and tan.

Reduction print, of a photo  I took of my grandfather several years ago. Not sure on the number of colors as of yet.  I currently have it set up for at least 3, but may use more.

Continue reading »]]> Below are images from my first attempt at making a cylinder print block.

Click here to go back to my first post on Cylinder seals.

This is a dowel rod that I have cut into three 12 inch pieces, sanded, then marked 8 inches in the middle of the rod.  I then applied gesso and re-sanded the wood block.  For those wondering the dowel rod is made from poplar, and the grain is fairly straight.  The circumference of the cylinder is approximately 4 inches, making an image that is 4 in x 8 in.

Here is a close up shot of the dowel rod.

Here is the cylinder block carved, and printed.
It was kind of tricky to carve this block due to the nature of it being round. I had one end pressed against my bench hook, holding the other end with my left hand, and carving with my right.  I also had issues with the wood wanting to splinter some (soft woods due that, such as poplar), but mainly had to try to only carve the top section making many small turns of the dowel.

Inking the block was also an interesting experience, I basically held the block in the air by one end while rolling the ink loaded brayer over the block.  Luckily I cut the dowel straight, so in between prints I was able to stand the dowel on its end.  Like all print sessions you get messy, but this time I really got covered in ink.

Here is another image of the cylinder block carved, and printed.

And finally this is a sample image that I was able to pull from the block.  There was some difficulty when I tried to print the block, mainly on knowing when to stop rolling so I would not repeat part of the design.  This image, is one that I kept rolling the block, although I was able to successfully print a single image after several tries.  Also note that I had trouble getting complete coverage while rolling the block, and I was not able to get a clear image in the middle.  While the section of the dowel did not have a curve to it, I was still not able to apply enough pressure to that one area.  A normal flat block I can apply additional pressure on the areas that need it, here I can not.  For my second attempt I am planning on taking the second prepared dowel and cutting it making a smaller image area.  Hopefully this will allow me to control print better.

Continue reading »]]>
Image from Met Museum.

I took a trip with my parents and wife in September 2009 to North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. During the trip we visited the Biltmore Masion, which is a huge estate, built in the French chateau style. The views are amazing, the interior and exterior are full of inspirational moments.   Even though the estate was not built that long ago, the shear amount of old-world imagery there still has a lasting effect on me.  I would like to note that while I took a lot of reference shots there, I have yet to use any of them.  I love the architecture, but it is so far removed from my normal themes I am not sure what to do with them.

Also during that trip we visited the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia.  Kathy and myself love to visit art museums when we travel, and have been known to make trips around current exhibitions. Luckily my parents love to tag along with us, which is always exciting. During this trip to the High, there was a traveling show from the Louvre. While the show was not all that we thought it would be, there was several examples of how scribes made notes, and how they sealed the documents.

I decided to start this post talking about the Biltmore, because my visit there caused me to starting thinking about how things were done in the past.  These thoughts continued while we were viewing the Louvre exhibition, and that is where I stumbled upon cylinder seals. I was fascinated by the seals, by the why, and how they were created along with the old-world process of using them.  Thanks to the Biltmore I was already thinking about how every day tasks were accomplished and how many of them seem so ingenious.  Lets just say I was hooked at first sight, and I think I spent almost as much time looking at them (almost) as I did the Rembrandt prints.

During the trip back, and since then I have toyed with the idea of cylinder prints, instead of cylinder seals.  The big difference here is that the seals I saw, and have researched were not for printing on paper.  Most of these seals were made to roll through wet clay-not inked for paper- making an actual 3D relief.  The images/text would be carved or impressed into the cylinder made of wood, bone, stone or clay.

From my graphic design experience, I am familiar with offset printing, and while this is similar it is different. In offset the plate, generally a metal of some kind it burnt and then wrapped around a cylinder, inked and printed.  Here my plate would be the cylinder, causing some experimenting when it comes to carving, inking and printing the block.

I tried taking some images of my recent attempt with cylinder prints, but unfortunately the pics did not come out right.  I will re-take the shots, and post them soon. Till then enjoy following my path to learning more about these seals.

Click here to view the second post on cylinder seals.

Here are some links from my research on cylinder seals.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_secy.htm
http://www.smith.edu/hsc/museum/ancient_inventions/hsc03b.htm
http://www.crystalinks.com/sumercylinderseals.html
http://archaeology.about.com/od/mesopotamiaarchaeology/ig/Mesopotamian-Art/Cylinder-Seal.htm
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/148316/cylinder-seal
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cylinder_seal_mythology_Louvre_AO30255.jpg

Continue reading »]]> designbywills.com | Richard Wills | Tulsa, OK

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