And speaking of migration... Birds in Art 2020!

"A Tern of the Tide," reduction linocut © Sherrie York

It's been a season of disappointment, as workshops and exhibitions everywhere have been cancelled. But this past week brought a spark of delight as I learned that "A Tern of the Tide" has been accepted for the 2020 edition of the Woodson Art Museum's annual Birds in Art exhibition.

Birds in Art is the one of the most prestigious exhibitions of wildlife art worldwide, and I am always humbled and honored when my work is selected. 

The show opens September 12 and will run through November 29.

Linocut in Progress: Finishing the tern

Drying rack full of prints, turbo edition

It's a snowy day here on the coast of Maine, but I'm cozy and content in my little house... especially with a drying rack full of linos pulled into the sitting room so they can enjoy the boost of some warm, dry, wood stove-generated air.

The last steps of the current linocut offered some serious challenges. I was satisfied with the water, but the little bird needed several details that required a delicate touch. It took me all day to make three small changes to an area roughly 1 x 2 inches in size. Here's where things stood with the bird in question after Step 7:

The shaded underside of the bird is almost, but not quite, the correct value. I debated a long time about whether or not I also wanted to warm up this shadow, even though the bird wouldn't necessarily be reflecting warm light in real life. I want the bird to fit into the seascape... not stand out from it... but right now it's fitting in a little too much and is getting lost.

Step 8, masked

Ultimately I did decide to warm it up just a skosh (that's a technical term). I inked bird and reflection, and cut a newsprint mask to protect the rest of the print when it went through the press. Here's a (terrible) photo of the result:

Unfinished tern with light glare and bad color.
Hey... nobody said this was a photography blog.

You can't really tell from this detail photo, but warming up the bird was the right decision. It's standing a little more away from the water without being too contrasty and obnoxious.

I did think the bird's body needed just a little more detail... one more tiny bit of dark in places... but it also needed a black head and red-orange bill and feet. Not too much of any of it... more of a suggestion. And all of these bits are TINY. Ooph.

In the end I decided the best way to tackle the beak and feet was to pochoir (stencil) the red directly onto the prints. I did this, and then immediately rubbed a little piece of newsprint over the stenciled area to strip off any extra ink. This dulled down the red-orange so it was just a suggestion rather than a strong color. Sorry, no intermediate photo here. But trust me, it worked a treat.

With the beak and feet finished I was faced with the conundrum of still needing two additional dark values but not wanting to do two more color passes. Because, really. How ridiculous can you get? Thankfully the lightbulb came on and I realized I could print it all as one dark, and then strip off the color in the bird's body. This would leave the head and the reflection dark and still give me an intermediate tone. So...

Last step! 

Here's the ink roll-up... such tiny shapes! And my masks are getting worn out, too... this one has a tear. It's definitely time to wrap this thing up.

The finished tern! Yippee!

Oh, WHEW! It worked. I left the head and reflection dark, but stripped off the color in the body and underwing with a small piece of newsprint. Just enough of everything..... and if you don't believe me, here's the final print!

Finished reduction linocut, 12" x 12" © Sherrie York

Technically I suppose the final color pass tally was 10... Seven to complete the water and an additional three to finish the bird. It's hard to call those fussy little things color passes, but for the purists keeping score.... well. Okay.

But here it is! The first new linocut of 2020. It still needs a title... something to do with "sparkling," I think, although so far most of my ideas are a bit on the corny side.

So what's next? This week I'm finishing the poster art for World Migratory Bird Day, and continuing work on my online course. Yes, that's still happening! It's just taking longer than expected. And then... hm... I do think I want another bird-and-water adventure.... we'll see where it takes me!

Linocut in Progress: Everything but the bird

It's a good thing I like blue, because there's been a heckuva lot of it going on in the studio for the last week and a half.

I entertained this vague hope that the next color pass on the water would be the final one, but, alas. T'was not so. But it was still satisfying to continue pushing the sense of depth by strengthening the foreground contrast.

It took me a couple of tries to get the dark right, and in the end I had a two-value blue blend across the entire block. Of course this was the one stage at which I forgot to take a photo of the ink rollout, so I can't show it to you. My bad.

Still.... it's looking pretty good, eh?

Reduction linocut in progress: Step 6

I'm rather irrationally happy about all those greeny blues in the background. It's a color palette that's new to me... a sure sign of the influence of my Maine surroundings.  And, hey! Lookie there. Can you finally see that there is, indeed, a bird in this image?

The problem I had at the conclusion of this step is that it was all just TOO blue. Yes, of course it's water and it's blue, but it all seemed a bit bright. One more color pass was in order, and it needed to accomplish the tasks of adding one more bit of oomph to the value contrast in the foreground, and cutting the overall brightness of the entire block.

This was a job for SOOP-er Neutrals.

Reduction linocut in progress, Step 7 rollup

At this point I didn't want to add much contrast to the background, so the upper 2/5 of the block was inked with a pale, transparent gray. The lower 3/5 got a transparent warm browny-black. Nary a blue in sight, because of course the colors already present would influence anything placed over them.... especially since the new inks are as transparent as the previous.

Step 7 printed, just the bird to finish!

Yes. That's it at last! The water is finished. I remain happy with the sparkly, bubbly feel, and the tonal gradation from background to foreground.

But there's still a tricky little bit to finish: the tern. A delicate touch is going to be needed to give it just the right amount of contrast. Too much will make it jump out of the environment, and will run the risk of the bird looking like a cutout. Also, if the bird is as dark as the foreground wave, it could flatten the feeling of depth in the entire image.

I really want to finish this now, but the ink is too wet to risk printing the tiny tern shapes. It's likely to need two days before I can safely tackle it.... ugh. Torment.

But in the meantime I have plenty to keep me occupied. The two biggest priorities are tax deadlines AND reviewing the videos for my online course. Did I mention I have plenty to keep me occupied?

Linocut in Progress: Pressing away the blues

One often hears people describe art-making as a means to express themselves and their emotions. Personally, my process usually is more of an intellectual puzzle... and sometimes a distraction from emotional upheaval. This week brought sad news from back home in Colorado, and it was comforting to focus on the routines of working while I processed the loss of a friend. 

It seemed appropriate that the image was now calling for blues. It took a while to find the right tonal range, as evidenced by the many ink mixes across the top of my work area. Because I am working with so much transparency, all of these colors will be influenced by those already on the print... and none will look like what I've rolled out on the glass. Did I mention the intellectual puzzle aspect of working? What color is on the print already? How do I want it to change in the next color pass? What color do I need to put on top of it to achieve that change? Is that change one of temperature or value or both?

And of course using blended colors multiplies all those questions, since layering blends creates even more color relationships. Wheeee!

Reduction linocut in progress, Step 4 ink rollup. Three blended blues.

But it's fun when the puzzle pieces start to fit together. My goal at this stage was to hold on to those lovely greens at the top and create small halos of lavender around some of the bubbles. (Hopefully this will soften some of those contours.) A three-value blend seemed to be the solution.

Reduction linocut in progress, Step 4 printed

Okay! Good. Mostly. I see now that the lavender color could have been brighter, but I was afraid of going too far and creating something visually jarring. That it ended up a little too subtle... well, that will just have to do. 

Step 5 ink rollup, two blended blues

As much as I loved these soft tones I did need to beef up the value range, so after some more carving I pulled out all the leftover blue inks from the previous printing session and started mixing them together. The goal was to get some good mid-tones and unify the foreground and background, so this time I just mixed two shades of blue and crossed my fingers. 

Step 5 printed

Whew. That worked out okay and it's looking pretty good. I think there's just one more pass to be done in the water, and then a couple of spot inking passes for the bird and voila! We might actually make it to the finish in fewer than 10 steps this time! (But you know better than to hold your breath on that one, don't you?)

Linocut in Progress: In the pink!

Zooming right along... or perhaps, since the current linocut in progress is a seascape, I should say things are splashing right along. Whatever. Progress is being made.

It didn't take too long to get the block ready for the next color pass, as the first gray was really meant to show only as some subtle shadowing in the whitest bits of the wave, and the green is mostly under-color. But I wasn't ready to abandon that green yet, so for the next color pass I created a slightly darker and grayer version of it and blended that into a transparent blue-gray.

Step 2 rollup

Nice, eh? Very cheery colors to be printing in the winter.

Reduction linocut in progress, Step 2

It's all rather satisfying at this point, as it often is when I'm only two steps along. Now I really have to start thinking. Oh, dear.

As I work on this piece I'm interpreting a section of a (typically horrible) photograph. Most of these little white dots are the result of sun glare off the water, and around many of the larger spots in the foreground the camera lens created a sort of lavender aura. Hm. I wonder if I can suggest that in some subtle way....

Time to get out the pink! I rarely use pinks and reds... they just don't come up often in the sorts of images that I find most appealing. But deep in my ink stash I have an old tube of magenta.... let's give that a try. Why magenta? Because the color underneath it is blue, of course! And I am trying to get to lavender.

And oh, right. There's some gray here, too, blended alongside the pink to add another layer of value to everything else in the image.

Step 3 ink rollup. Transparent gray and magenta

Aaaannndddd..... success! I am pleased with the variety of hue and tone in the image so far. It's all rather pastel-y, which is an unusual palette for me, but that will change with the next color pass. For now it's more carving, a little bit of drying time, and a good amount of cogitating on what comes next.

Reduction linocut in progress, Step 3 printed

Linocut in Progress: First of the New Year!

New Year's Eve on the coast of Maine was snowy, rainy, and icy- good weather for spending the day carving a new lino block. The image is one that I had started work on before I left Colorado at the end of 2017, but never got back to after the move. This new version is a little smaller than my first inclination... 12 x 12 inches... with a more intimate view of the water. (Because of course I have to start the year with a bird-and-water piece!)

Linocut in progress, first carving stage

With the intial carving stage complete, I was able to stumble downstairs on the first day of the new year and embark on my inaugural "pajama printing*" session of 2020. I started with a pale transparent "seafoam" green-to-gray blend.

(*What? You don't print in your pajamas? You should try it some time.)

First color pass: pale green to gray transparent blend

Not much of this color will remain in the final image, but hopefully the green will influence the colors that go on top of it in the ways I envision.

Inked block ready to print

This time of year in Maine we have that slanting sort of late afternoon light... pretty much all day. Nice, eh? But I digress...

Step1 printed, reduction linocut.

There are a lot of little tiny white bits in this image, but with the pale color pass it's not easy to sort out what's going on.  That will resolve itself as the piece progresses (at least I hope so), but for now there's not much to see.  Except a lovely drying rack full of fresh, new prints.

New year, new print!

There are a lot of other projects already underway in the new year, but I'm glad I spent the day with this one. Readers, I hope you all enjoyed a fine holiday season and are ready to (ahem) press ahead with joy and enthusiasm. I'm glad you're along for the adventure.

Linocut in Progress: Finishing the terns

Just call me the Productivity Queen of the Western World. I spent the weekend working for a friend, walking, bookkeeping, cooking, cleaning, carving, printing... and as soon as I put on my jammies and make a cup of tea I'll manage to squeeze in some reading, too. (Yes, I'm prepping this post on Sunday night.)

Step 5 detail

The foremost goal for the weekend was to wrap up this tern linocut. Apparently I've been pretty mentally distracted, because I don't seem to have taken photos of all the steps. But I DID complete it in under 10 color passes, which is some kind of record in reverse for me.

After Step 4 I thought the birds' bellies could use another level of gray, so I popped one in there. Here's a little detail, although it's difficult to tell what's going on. Trust me, though. It made me happier.

After that it was time to get the drama going. I think I mentioned before that my reference images of these birds were all against a flat, deep blue sky and I wanted to try something a little more interesting.

Enter the blended roll. A sort of violet to pale blue.

Duet: Tern linocut, Step 6

Okay. Promising. But what the heck, let's try something a little crazy in that background. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of Step 7, but it involved a bunch of little carved marks and another blended roll.

Duet: Tern linocut, Step 8

Step 8 was the same thing. More little carve marks and another blended roll. I did worry that perhaps I'd gone too far and that the background was too busy, but nothing to do about it now! (The texture is hard to decipher in the lower part of this image from wet-ink reflections.)

Duet: Tern linocut, Step 9, final

All that was left to print today were the small black areas... which you might guess were kind of a pain. Ordinarily I don't like to leave such fussy printing to the end, but it was the most reasonable printing order.

I like the effect of this background, and I'm looking forward to trying it again on a future image when I'm not feeling the time crunch. I think with more time to consider color and the variety of mark-making this could have some really spectacular results.

While this print dries I have one last black-and-white image started... although I'm having second thoughts about it. Technically I'm beyond the point at which I should be trying to get anymore done for this show... but I can't help myself.

Linocut in Progress: But not as much as I'd like

The best laid plans, and all that. Wednesday was to be a studio day, but a series of more administratively-related tasks unexpectedly popped up and well... things got stalled.

So the intended demo piece is not where I wanted it to be, and the next step is more complex than I want to deal with in a people-coming-and-going situation. Hm. I'll take it with me to talk about what's happening next, but I've drawn up another B&W block to work on during the day tomorrow.

Here's where we are, though:

Duet: reduction linocut, Step 4

Duet: reduction linocut, Step 4, detail

Except for the bits of black in heads, wings, tails, feet, the birds are (I think) finished at this point. Seems odd, but I do like the simplicity of them in just these few colors.

So now it's time to load up the car with half the universe. Honestly... is it possible I might some time go somewhere without my car loaded to the gills? Art to deliver, supplies for demo, even borrowed taxidermy to return to a museum. When I think about it... it's kind of funny! What might a future archaeologist make of the dig site that is my vehicle?

Linocut in Progress: Upcoming Demo in Denver

I suppose I could say I'm relieved to report that I delivered 15 of what will ultimately be 17 or 18 seabird images to the framer yesterday. Thankfully she's just matting them for me... can you imagine trying to ship 18 pieces of framed artwork across the country? Yes, yes... I realize it's done all the time... but not by me.

That task accomplished, it was time to turn my attention to this weekend's demo at Abend Gallery in Denver. It's a very laid-back sort of demonstration event, with several artists working throughout the gallery. Printmaking isn't well understood by many visitors, so I like to have work in various stages available to share with people.

 Of course there isn't a lot of time between now and Saturday, so this new edition is small and the design is simple.

Terns, reduction linocut, Step 1

The problem with images that feature white birds is that they give themselves away so early in the game. Yep, two birds in flight.

The next step involved some amusing little areas of spot inking... If by amusing one means fiddly and not particularly dramatic or rewarding. Which I do.

In fairness, at least this sort of thing only requires a small batch of ink and cleanup is quick and easy.

Terns, reduction linocut, Step 2

Step three and we're already at the halfway point. I think. I haven't yet come to terms (terns?) with what to do with all that background. In my references the sky is just a flat, deep blue. Not terribly exciting.

Terns, reduction linocut, Step 3

But the next step is also a transparent gray. In fact I think it will be the same ink rolled a second time, since its purpose is to deepen some of the shadow areas in the birds.

In the meantime... I've just had a request from our local newspaper for some photos and info about area birds for an upcoming feature. After all these seabirds it will be nice to think about "my" critters for a little bit!

Linocut in progress: The final tern

Sunday morning of a holiday weekend... and I finally got to enjoy a little pajama-clad printing again! It used to be my regular habit to get up first thing in the morning and head to the studio to print before stopping for breakfast and getting on with the rest of the day. But the last few months have been unsettled, to say the least, so studio time has been strictly catch-as-catch-can.

Here's what the last few days caught:

Common tern linocut: Step 12

Eh... now that I look at it, this is a pretty lousy photo... but what happened at Step 12 was a gradated darkening of the water at the bottom of the image.

Step 13

This isn't a great shot, either... but Step 13 brought the darkest bits of the bird into focus. Believe it or not, it took a couple tries to get this dark right. I tried a straightforward black and it was just too harsh. This is a very dark gray with a fair chunk of transparent base in it.

Step 14: Finished! I think.

It took a couple of tries to get the green I wanted in this last step, too. Geez... it's the little things that trip me up sometimes!

In the end it's a deceptively simple image– Just a white bird against sky and water. But for me it was a new palette and an attempt to reflect an unfamiliar atmosphere. I feel some aspects of the piece are successful and others less so... but I've definitely learned a thing or two that will help me (I hope) tackle additional seabird subjects.

But now it's time to get out of my PJs and (ahem) tern my attention preparations for the busy week ahead. I'll be delivering new work to Abend Gallery in Denver, to The Wildlife Experience museum in Parker for the upcoming exhibition The Wildlife Experience in Art, and then it's off to Wisconsin for Birds in Art! Why, my schedule will be a veritable Art Tern-ado. (Not to be confused with a Sharknado, which is something else entirely. I can't explain it. You'll just have to Google it.)

Linocut in progress: Will it "tern" out?

Despite very little material remaining on the block, I still have several colors to go on this crazy linocut. It was well past time to work on the water and background trees, so that base color went down next.

Common tern linocut: Step 10

Some context for our speedy tern was nice, but it pointed out the need for another value step in the bird. There are some very dark bits to go in the wing tips and the top of the head, but overall the tern felt a little bit lost against the sky. Part of me wished I could go back and darken all the shadows in the underwing and body, but here's where the limitations of reduction printing come in to play. Almost all of the material used to print the bird body has been carved away, so the only way to darken the overall value would be to carve up a second block. I wasn't ready to go down that path yet.

So an intermediate step was made using what little material was left on the block.  Yes, this seems to work.

What's left? Darkest darks in head and wingtips, but I'll have to wait a few days for that. Inks are entirely too tacky. But the background needs a second blue in the water and a greenish tint in the line of distant trees, so those are next.

I'm headed to Wisconsin for the opening of Birds in Art at the Woodson Art Museum next week. Really hoping I can have this one wrapped up before I go. I have the next piece almost ready to begin!

Linocut in progress: Tern-ing slowly

Ink is drying unusually slowly, so this piece seems to be crawling forward. That may or may not be a good thing. Too much time to think between steps can be deadly to enthusiasm.

Common tern linocut, Step 8.

But I'm carrying on anyway. Here I've put another slightly darker gray in the underwing and body of the bird. I waffle a lot about whether these tones are too dark or not dark enough. I'm looking at a reference photo in which the shadows are almost black (a common problem with photographic reference)... and I don't want that. Instead I'm worrying that I've gone too pale.

Common tern linocut, Step 9.

But there's nothing to be done about it now, so I entertained myself with this little orange bill. It looks completely out of place at the moment, but there are some darks to go into the head and around the edges of the primaries, so I'm reasonably confident it won't be so obnoxious in the end.

The reduction linoleum block to this stage.

Not much left on the block at this point... so why do I think I have at least three colors to go?

Linocut in progress: Step 7, a subtle tern

Oh dear. The puntification is only going to take a tern for the worse, I'm afraid. I'm glad you all can handle it.

I realized today that I've been approaching this particular linocut in a more "watercolorly" fashion: I keep applying transparent glazes as one might do with a brush. Except that this way takes longer. Of course.

Steps 6 and 7 for comparison.

Perhaps you remember I wanted the bird to come forward of the background without looking disconnected, and that I was considering whether a slight warming of the shadow might accomplish this.

I think it's working. I don't want to make the shadow too dark, but I think this subtle temperature shift is okay. There's one more layer of minor darkening to apply to the trailing edges of the wings... then the higher contrast of wingtips, head, and bill. If there were any other colors going into the background clouds this shift might be TOO subtle, but...

Probably the next step will be to work some of the water and distant trees along the lower part of the image. The bird itself will be too tacky to apply any more color for a day or two.

Linocut in progress: common tern Step 6

Yeah, I'm ready to be done with this sky. I think the next step will be to try to work the shadow of the bird back around where I want it... then water and distant trees... bird details... Ooph. Ways to go yet.

But first another blend. This time from an opaque blue to a transparent one.

Reduction linocut in progress, Step 6:

It seems a little bright in the photos, but I think it's going to be okay in "real life." We'll know soon enough. The water on this day was a deep, almost Prussian, blue. The light was sparkling, but clouds were building... and by the next morning everything was socked in with fog and rain.

Linocut in progress: common tern

Wow. Clearly I haven't printed in a while, since I seem to be hosting some new neck and shoulder aches. You what that means, don't you? Right. MORE PRINTING.

Common Tern linocut: Step 4

So here we are at Step 4. The image is emerging slowly, and I can't decide whether this is a function of thoughtful design or a chickensh#t approach. The first three grays are now swinging into the blue range.

Step 5

It took me several tries (and therefore several ditched prints) before I hit this value/color where I wanted it. It's still a transparent blend of blue and gray, more blue in the middle part of the image.

I like the idea of a delicate and graceful tern against all that crazy sky, but I have my doubts about my ability to pull it off. My goal* (*not plan, Andrew! ;-) is for the bird to come forward in the image but not seem like it's disconnected from its surroundings. More contrast in bird and less in background? Hopefully. There's also some color temperature to consider. If I warm up the shadow on the bird a bit, will it come forward or just look hokey? Stay tuned.

It's likely there will be many opportunities to try this bird-against-sky-and-waves** combination in the next few months, as I've committed to an exhibition of work about seabirds next summer. More on this as details come available... but think Maine in the summertime!

(**What? You don't see the waves yet? Don't worry, they're coming.)