Friday, March 29, 2013

What's next?

The first few days after the completion of a complex linocut are always strange for me. If I don't have another piece ready to begin I get a little lost. Certainly I have plenty of contract work to keep me from sitting around twiddling my thumbs, but it's just not the same around here without a block in progress. I lose focus and I get... ummmm.... a wee bit crabby.

Thankfully it's not a situation or mood that will last long. April looms, and it's no foolin' that I'll be headed to my residency at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin in just four weeks. In addition to wrapping my mind around the logistics of a steamroller printing event, I need to organize workshops for middle schoolers and prepare a couple of public presentations.

Read: printmaking demonstration. I need a demo piece.

I haven't decided on aforementioned demo piece yet, but I need to get something in progress pronto. I also want to have a piece ready for the steamroller adventure. The particpating students (120 of them!) are carving away on large woodblocks, but I would like to take advantage of the opportunity to try a lino, too. It doesn't seem like linoleum would hold up under that much pressure, but I've heard it can be done. Must. Try. It.


To that end I've started work on a piece of unmounted lino that's almost as big as my drawing table: 24" x 36". My tools seem so tiny....

I'd like to have most of it carved before I go, since my schedule on site is very full. Between this and a new demo piece, well... what the heck am I doing writing a blog post? I have work to do.

5 comments:

  1. Probably "preaching to the converted' but...lino, as a reduction print, might stretch under heavy pressure and throw your registration out.
    I've reversed my car over a small print(fairly broad cuts and not a big edition) and gotten away with it.
    But just a single-cut piece would be fine.Or reduction planned to avoid critical registration.
    I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do!

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  2. I'm impressed that you're taking on a Lino cut on such a large scale - I love your work and am looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Good luck with all your commitments!

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  3. I love the hugeness of this project - it will be really great to see the finished print.
    Good luck with your preparations - I hope you are now able to focus and get a lot done.
    Enjoy your residency - what a great chance for you to do something fabulous!

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  4. Not to worry, Dinahmow, this is just a single color print. We have 120 kids with 25 blocks and one steamroller for one day, so no time for anything more complicated. I just want to make sure I take advantage of the presence of heavy equipment! I'm half thinking about organizing something here next year...

    Thanks Janet and Lizzie. It's definitely the largest piece of lino I've ever carved, but the weirdest thing keeps happening. Each time I bump up the size another notch I find myself thinking "This isn't so big, next time I want to do something BIGGER." I've created a monster!

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  5. i am really curious if the lino will survive a steam roller :p

    and i really need to get bigger pieces of lino, but maybe not this big

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Linocut in Progress: The Third Act

Time to wrap up this linocut ! And we are wrapping at warp speed (see what I did there?)... because there are deadlines. Exhibition deadline...