Linocut in Progress: New year, new image

 Okay... I realize we are already halfway through February, but I've studiously avoided too much social media since the beginning of the year, which somehow has included not posting work in progress.

And, full disclosure: This image gave me some headaches early on, so not posting took away at least a little of the "performance anxiety" that gets added when I'm publishing progress in real time. 

Enough excuses! Let's start a linocut!

Reduction linocut in progress: Step 1 spot ink rollup

I don't think I've had an image start quite this boring in a long time... but here we go. No surprises here– the subject matter is a bird on the water. But it's a bird with a white belly, and I wanted a slight value shift in the reflection of that belly. Just a skosh of light gray needs to be here, so I did some spot inking and cut the first of what would end up being several newsprint masks.

Step 1 mask

Step 1 printed

Honestly, it hardly seems worth the effort, since most of this little patch of gray will still be covered by other colors, but there are few things worse than getting all the way to the end of a process and realizing if you'd only done one small thing FIRST, the end result would be better. *

(* Okay, there are a LOT of things worse than this. But when it happens, the disappointment is real!)

On to Step 2! A very straight-up color roll. But... whhaaaaaaaaaaat? What is with all this yellow? Where is Sherrie Standard Step 2 Blue?

Step 2 rollup

Step 2 printed

Yep, that's yellow. (Well, a pale yellow ochre, but you know what I mean.) And just wait. It's going to get worse. 

But as an aside– Come on, birders. I bet you already know what species this is.

Remember how I said three sentences ago that the yellow was going to get worse? Not kidding. No photo of the ink rollup, but it's pretty obvious what happened here.

Step 3 printed

At this point I was already questioning the wisdom of getting this much ochre on the page this early. Let's call that foreshadowing, and leave the headache that resulted from this decision for my next post, shall we?

Linocut in Progress: Finishing up the dipper

 It can't be avoided anymore. It's time to address the details of this bird. 

As many have figured out from the bird's silhouette and its habitat, the subject of the current linocut in progress is the American Dipper. The dipper is a unique and delightful little thing–– a songbird that swims and walks along underwater to glean aquatic insects from rocks. But it's also... gray. 

Just. Gray. 

Okay... the head of the adult is a brownish gray, as you'll see. But in general it's just gray. For the entire process up until now I've been worrying about whether or not a little gray bird will get lost in the chaos of this background. Can I make a subtle bird the focus of a chaotic environment without making it look like it's cut out and pasted onto the background? 

And what the heck was I thinking?

Naught to do but carry on, I guess. First let's do something to give the bird some form. Because here I am, working in a graphic media, using flat, hard-edged shapes to give objects subtle form. (Insert eyeroll emoji here.)

Reduction linocut in progress - Step 12 rollup

For Step 12 I rolled up a light-to-dark gray blend, just for the body of the bird.

Step 12 printed

Of course the top edge when printed isn't nearly as light as it looked on the block, because there was already color underneath and my new ink layer was semi-transparent. But this is fine. I think.

 I hemmed and hawed about how fussy to be about the brown head. Should I cut a mask? In the end I decided to just roll the ink on and wipe extraneous bits with a rag before printing and call it good enough.

Step 13 rollup

Step 13 printed

Yes, these photos are pretty awful...such inconsistent color! I've been working at night or on cloudy/rainy days a lot recently, so photography has been a bit rough. I promise you'll see something good at the end!

Now where were we? Oh, right! Enough fiddlefaddling around with "big" shapes, it's time to get on with some details. 

Step 14! (Will this thing never end?)

At least I'm only working in a very small section of the block now. You can probably see that I didn't bother to take the last of the background material off the block at this stage. I have a theory that a little more material to support the paper when it goes through the press can make it less apt to slip and smear. I don't know if that's true. It might just be an excuse to not have to carve all that material away.

Step 15 was more of the same transparent gray after a bit of carving, and apparently I didn't take a photo in between... so here are both rollups together:

Step 14 rollup

Step 15 rollup

After Steps 14 and 15

I was feeling pretty good about the bird at this stage. In a less chaotic background I might have been tempted to leave it at this stage... nice and subtle as a dipper should be. But I can't have it getting lost, so I have to push for just a wee bit more contrast.

Unfortunately at this stage the ink was all very wet. I tried to press on (see what I did there?), SO anxious to finish, knowing how close I was. But I got a bad case of wet rejection... a situation in which the new ink not only won't adhere to the already-printed-but-still-wet ink, but it will also pull the wet ink off the paper. I had to give it up and go to bed. 

So now.... Step 16! Holy cow. Will this be the end at last?

Step 16 rollup

Step 16 printed

(Sigh) Nope. In any other situation this would probably be great. I am really happy with how this bird looks. But it needs one more teeny-tiny bit of oomph to bring it over the line. 

Step 17 rollup

Really. A teeny-tiny bit. Could this be the most ridiculous color pass ever? Nah. I've actually had smaller ones. 

But it was worth it.

Tentative title: "A Dip at Dawn" or "A Breakfast Dip" or.......
Reduction linocut, 12" x 12"
Edition of 22
@Sherrie York

Linocut in Progress: Where were we?

There have been a few distractions and deadlines taking me out of the studio lately. In fact, I've just returned from a couple of days away in New Hampshire and Massachusetts... in part to attend the opening of the Rockport Art Association & Museum National exhibition. It's my first time applying to this show, and I was delighted to have a piece selected. Good friends and colleagues James Coe and Cindy House also have (award winning!) work in the show, so going to the opening gala was an opportunity to both check out a new (to me) venue and to see my peeps. 

But I'm home again and back to work, trying to wrap up the current linocut in progress. I'm further along now than this post will show, but not quite finished. IRL (In Real Life) I am at the Hard to Remain Patient stage. I have only the details of the bird to print, but the layers that have already been printed are still a bit too wet to add another. I tried to print today... but made a mess with wet rejection and had to just stop and clean up for the day. 

SO let's back up to what was happening before I left for the NH/MA adventure. 

Apparently there were some gremlins that got into the studio and destroyed some documentation while I was away... because the next photo in my camera looked all kinds of different, but I didn't have any shots of either the inked block or my rollups. It appears that I might have printed both a darker blue across the entire block and then a gray along just the bottom 1/4 of the image. Or maybe someone else did it when I wasn't looking.  But here's the next progress shot that I have, so we will pretend it was Step 7 and move on.

Reduction linocut in progress, Step 7 (?) printed

I seem to have gotten back on track again after this, since I have a nice gray rollup to show you...

Step 8 rollup

You might notice that the bird doesn't have any ink on it. Because most of the material around the bird has now been carved away it wasn't too difficult to roll ink around it and I didn't need to mask it. If I accidentally got ink on the bird it was easy enough to wipe it with a rag before printing.

And now we are here:

Step 8 - printed

The color is looking quite rough here, but don't panic. Let's roll up Step 9.

Things started to get super tweaky at this stage. You can see that most of the material has been carved off the block now... certainly most of the water is gone. 

But everything was feeling too blue and gray and I wanted to warm up a few reflections. I also wanted to lighten that foreground stone a little bit.

I mixed a crazy-bright-looking pumpkin color and spot inked the reflections in question. I also hit the top of the rock with a transparent white. 

Masking the bird might not have been entirely necessary here, but I didn't want to risk the escape of any of that pumpkin-colored drama. I had some bird-shaped masks left over from previous stages so it was easy to just pop them in place. 

And here's the result:

Step 9 - printed

The overall color looks slightly less alarming here, but this thing is turning out to be a challenge to photograph. 

Let's take a look at one more color pass before we take a break.... perhaps the last one before we turn our attention to the bird. (Speaking of which... have you identified it yet? Eastern US peeps might struggle with it, but westerners should be able to sort it even in silhouette.) 

So here's the Step 10 rollup:

Step 10 - rollup

Yes, it's a nice dark swirling its way down the remaining bits of lino surface. Once again I just wiped stray ink out of the bird shape rather than use a mask.

Step 10 printed

I really hoped to be done with all the water and rocks at this stage, but felt like it needed just a wee bit more oomph. I did a bit more carving and then hit the whole thing again with the same dark ink.

Step 11 printed

Yes, okay... even the camera thinks it feels a bit more balanced now and is taking slightly better photos. I think it's time to turn our attention to that bird and see if we can't wrap this thing up! Stay tuned.

Linocut in Progress: Something for Print Day in May!

Print Day in May has come and gone for another year. PDiM is an annual, international event founded by printmaker Robynn Smith. It's a day that unites thousands of printmakers around the world, as we work wherever we are–studios, print shops, kitchens, and picnic tables– and share our processes with audiences live and virtual.

I wanted to be finishing a piece on the actual day, which this year was May 7. (PDiM always takes place on the first Saturday in May.) I got a bit of a late start, and for a while I wasn't certain I would get there in time, but whew! I did. I worked small and... dare I say it?...with a "simple" image. 

So here we go! 

First color... let's go!

If you follow me on any other social media channels you know that this piece features a common loon, so no reason to be cagey about the block in the early stages. The format this time is just 6" x 12", and it was amazing how quickly I could proceed at that size. 

(Note to self.)

So, as is often the case, the first step was a pale blue. In the interest of full disclosure, however, I will confess that I printed this first step twice, because I was having all sorts of weird problems with streaky ink coverage. I ended up stopping and completely re-adjusting the press, which wasn't the entire problem, but it did help.

Reduction linocut in progress: Step 1 printed

So, yep. Bird in water. Who is surprised? No one. Absolutely no one. 

And it's water on a sunny day, so it's blue, blue and more blue!

Step 2 printed

I could jump on in and show you the next blue step. And the next. But what's the fun in that? Better to have a little suspense, even if it's faked. (Because I said so, that's why.)

Instead, I'll show you a little peek at my studio with the new prints underway. You'll recognize a few things on the back wall, I think. All have been documented here on Brush and Baren at some time. I'm getting ready to install some shows in the next couple of weeks, so I've got framed work stashed everywhere. I do rather like this group all together, though. It's going to be lonely when I send them all off to hopefully find adoptive homes!

Linocut in Progress: Yes! Back to work.

Here it is October. 

'Way back in August I remember telling people how happy I was that my schedule was going to slow down in September. Workshops over... the peak of the summer gallery season waning... time to get into the studio! 

What I didn't realize was that I wasn't going to be changing velocity.... only trajectory. I've still been quite busy, just in a slightly different direction from how I spent my summer. 

Which meant September escaped, and now it's October. And although I'm afraid of jinxing it by saying so, things finally do seem to be settling down a bit. I'm ready to refocus... into the work of exploring some new ideas and new linocuts. 

And I'm not easing back into it. Oh, no. That would be too reasonable. I'm going straight for a large 18 x 18-inch piece. Just because.

Step 1 rollup

I spent (read: wasted) a lot of time agonizing over the quest for a Great Image Idea. I haven't worked on a proper reduction print since May, and I put a lot of pressure on myself to ramp up in a hurry. Honestly, I am a horrific boss... the kind I would never wish on anyone else... the kind with unreasonable expectations and poor people management skills.

Luckily my only employee (me) put her foot down and demanded that SOMETHING be started... Great Image Idea, or no. So that's how we got to rolling out a transparent gray on what you might be able to tell is an image with some water in it. And yeah, there's a bird there, too. Here's what Step 1 looked like:

Reduction linocut in progress: Step 1 printed

It's been raining here off and on the last couple of days, so the light in the studio is a bit poor, especially when it comes to photography, so apologies in advance for the questionable bit you're seeing here. (The blueish tinge in the lower left, for example, is not the ink, but a shadow of me.)

It was so satisfying to get that first color pass down, though. When I haven't printed in a while I can convince myself that there are a hundred reasons why I'm not very good at this (and put pressure on myself to find a Great Image Idea before I can start again). But finally printing a first color pass on paper almost always settles me down.

Step 2 rollup

So... Step 1 printed, I immediately carved for Step 2. This was going to be a subtle shift in color temperature without much change in value, so again a quite transparent ink. A smidge of cobalt blue in a big pile of transparent base did the trick. I managed to mix EXACTLY how much ink I needed this time, which almost never happens. I was getting nervous about 3/4 of the way through the print session, worried that I was going to run out of ink, but I managed to scrape together (literally) just enough for all 23 sheets*. 

(*I don't usually start with an odd number of sheets of paper, but I accidentally prepped an extra, so went ahead and used it. 'Cause, you know. It's been a while. I expect a higher loss percentage when I'm out of practice.)

Step 2 printed

 Again we have some questionable photography happening. The color is probably better on the right side of the photo, but you can see the slight contrast of shapes better on the left edge. This is not a blended roll... the warm left edge is an artifact of uneven artificial light. 

Surprisingly, I think the next color pass is already going to drop us into the realm of some more dramatic color. There is already a biggish decision to be made at this point, however... there's definitely some masking in my future, but how much and when is yet to be determined. Stay tuned!

What's-It-All-About Wednesday! "Dinner Party"

 

"Dinner Party," reduction linocut, 18" x 18", edition of 18

Well, hello there! I'm a little bit leery about making the following statement, a little superstitious about "jinxing" things, but I think I am finally coming out of the long, dark tunnel that has been the last few months. 

In a making-art-for-a-living life there are always ups and downs. Ideas, and enthusiasm for them, wax and wane. But this year? Wow. This year there has been a whole lot of wane. 

The good news is that I've started to kick around some new ideas and putter around in the studio again. In fact today I started to draw up a new lino and prep the paper for it. That hasn't happened in a while. 

There's nothing yet to show for the effort, however, so while I'm stirring that particular pot I thought it would be nice to thaw out the periodic "What's-It-All-About Wednesday" posts. And since I've been seeing a lot of buffleheads around lately... well... let's take a look at Dinner Party.

This piece is a couple of years old, but it remains a favorite. Two pair of buffleheads have come together to ride the swells and search for a meal; in fact one of the females has already found a tasty appetizer. 

Small and feisty, buffleheads are constantly in motion. Back in Colorado I always had a heckuva time deciding exactly how many buffies were overwintering on my local pond, since I could never be sure I was seeing all of them on the surface of the water at the same time. Pop up! Down! Up! Down! Constantly.

It's challenging to suggest all that busy-ness in the sort of stop-motion view of an image on paper, but I tried to do so by ramping up the color and texture of the water and by giving the birds very alert postures. They could all dive back down to the underwater buffet line at any moment. 

Interestingly (I think), buffleheads are cavity nesters. That's right. A bird that spends all of its time on and in the water... raises its young in holes in trees. And if you've never watched day-old ducklings leap out of a tall tree... well. You owe it to yourself to spend some time on YouTube, at least. 

Because they are so small they can (and do) take advantage of old flicker holes, and they will also use nest boxes. Here in the United States most of us have to be content with seeing them only in the winter, however, as the bulk of their breeding range is in central and western Canada, up in to Alaska. But this time of year you should be able to spot them in fresh or salt water across the entire lower 48 and down in to Mexico. In fact, I've been entertained by a number of rambunctious dinner parties in my Maine neighborhood recently, both off the coast and on inland ponds. 

It's been a while since we've been able to engage in similarly energetic human parties, but those precious gatherings will return. And when they do, I imagine they'll feel just as celebratory as a gathering of buffleheads. 

Starting a new linocut: Business as not-quite-so-usual

While human communities around the world remain in isolation, nature's wildlife communities are going about business as usual.

I had a birthday at the beginning of this week, and to celebrate I took myself and my sketchbook out for a walk on a nearby trail. Maine's landscape is still very gray and brown, but there are signs of spring everywhere. Skunk cabbage is one of the earliest blooming plants... its strange maroon flowers appearing even before its leaves.

Skunk cabbage in bloom...

The eastern phoebes are back, also, and busy reclaiming their nesting spot under the eave of my front porch. Earlier this season my landlord added a gutter to my roof because snow melt and rain were dripping on to my steps and causing serious icing problems. It's not a pretty solution, but the phoebes seem to appreciate the snazzy new perch that was added while they were away.

In the studio the progression of the season has been a bit bumpier. The phoebes might not be affected by the emotional, physical, and financial distractions of a global pandemic... but the rest of us sure are! Personally I find myself able to work only in fits and starts, with serious focus issues.

With all that's going on, I was thrilled to take a walk the other morning and discover inspiration for a new linocut! The weather down at Pemaquid Point was wild... sun, then clouds, then snow and wind... and the seas were fierce. There weren't many birds about, but then... oooooh! A group of more than a dozen black scoters appeared, bouncing in and out of the waves as they fed near shore. Black birds, bright yellow-orange beaks, and rich blue water? Yes, please!

I had so many potential combinations of birds and waves that it was hard to choose what to do first, but I finally settled on a composition and set to work on the line drawing.

line drawing for new linocut

I don't usually share this stage of the process on Brush and Baren because I like the element of surprise as an image unfolds. But, hey! This time I already told you we're doing scoters and waves. Talk about a spoiler.

When I have the line drawing finished I transfer it to the lino. In this case the image involves a fair amount of white, so I have carving to do before I can print the first color. I've already trimmed and tabbed the paper, so everything's ready to roll.

It's a relief (printmaking pun intended) to have something to work on again. Thanks for sharing the journey... at appropriate physical distance. Be well, everyone.

Linocut in Progress: Finishing the geese....

Spoiler Alert: Nope. I didn't finish in ten color passes.

Like all of us, I've been trying hard not to dwell on the challenges of life during a global pandemic. Everyone's got challenges, and everyone is trying to find their way through unfamiliar territory. The greatest issue for me right now is that March was supposed to be the start of my busy teaching season, and of course all my workshops are cancelled for an undetermined period of time. Galleries remain closed, as well... all of which is wreaking havoc with that minor life detail known as income.

But when I can push those concerns aside and focus on today, then I can say that I really appreciate having the unexpected time to do a few things around the house and to work in the studio. Because, hey! It's only the end of the first week in April and I've already finished 3 new linocuts!

When we last left our heroine, she had turned her attention to completing the birds and their reflections. It was hard to call the water finished, to be honest. So simple.... so quiet. Shouldn't I put some big, dramatic... something... in there?

No.
Birds.
Focus on birds now.

Step 9 ready to print. Spot ink and mask.

So here's Step 9, all inked up in a transparent brown and ready to print. I'm using a newsprint mask here to protect the already-printed areas from any potential stray bits of color. I didn't remove all of the background material on the block, both to hedge my bets about whether I was going to need another color in the background and to support the prints as they travel through the press. If the press roller were to dip down into uncarved background and then have to jump back up on the the beak of the first adult bird.... well. Slipping... crunching... mooshing. All sorts of bad things could happen.

Reduction linocut, Step 9 printed.

This was feeling pretty good. I liked that the birds were starting to show some form and the overall feel was still very peaceful.

So I mixed a darkish, transparent brown-black for what I thought would be the final color pass, number ten. You can see there's not much to print in the birds... and you can also see the material still left on the block that will support the roller. And you can see why I need a mask, since there's so much color outside the bird's necks.

Step 10 rollup (Yes, there was a mask, but no photo of same)

Of course I neglected to take a photo of the mask at this stage, but it was basically the same one I used in Step 9. Here was the print at the end of Step 10. Is it finished?

Step 10 printed

Well... bummer. I don't think so. It's okay like this... but the morning after I printed Step 10 I still felt that the darkest bits of the adults (and maybe a little section of the twigs that have the stray chick's attention) need one last bit of oomph.

Step 11 spot inking. Hardly anything left!

And we're talking little bit... because there's hardly anything left on the block to take ink. This color looks completely black in the photo, but it's really a leftover scrap of the Step 10 color with a tiny bit of black added.

Step 11 masked

New mask to contain the color. Probably one of the easiest masks I ever cut. Amazing.
And here it is, all finished!

"Come Along, Dear..." Reduction linocut, 12" x 18"

The title of this piece was known long before I even drew it up in the lino... in fact I've been thinking about this concept for a couple of years. It's a quiet family outing... the adults are creating very few ripples because they are moving slowly to accommodate the speed of their offspring. One curious chick is distracted by a twig. A parent lets the little one wander for a bit... and then gently encourages the young explorer to rejoin the group..."Come along, dear." 

Linocut in Progress: Out of Order

Have you ever noticed how the simplest ideas can sometimes be the most complicated to execute? Well... you would have noticed if you were me. I've spent a lot of time on the current linocut the last couple of days, and all I've really managed to do is confuse myself.

The issue is the balance of warm and cool tones... basically blues vs browns. This image has some of each reflected in both the water and the birds, but since I'm working in reduction this presents problems with order of printing. How do I prioritize for the influence of one color next to or over another? I have a sinking feeling that I have already messed this up, but there's naught to do but carry on and see where this piece takes me.

Step 5, spot ink and mask

Here's a good example. After the previous color pass the print was dominated by blue, but of course the bodies of Canada geese (for that's what these are) are brown. These brown bodies are very light in the sun, dark in the shade, and, just to make things more complicated, reflected in the water. But they aren't reflected in the water at the exact same value at which they appear on the birds, are they? Nooooooo, of course not.

So for Step 5 I cut yet another mask, once again to contain color. I spot inked a light tan-ish color, and got this:

Reduction linocut in progress, Step 5 printed

That all seemed fine. I spent... gosh... a lot of hours... carving and carving at this point. I thought I knew what color I wanted to print next... a sort of purpley-gray. But I pulled one print and decided that was a mistake. There were some warm undertones in parts of the water and a mid-tone to do on the birds, and I decided I should do that first. I cleaned up the block, and the brayer, and the glass, and rolled out the warmer color.

Step 6 ink rollout

It seemed quite alarming rolled out on the glass, but it was fairly transparent and my first test print seemed pretty good, so I went ahead and printed it.

Step 6 printed

Once I finished this color pass, I went back to my first (rejected) test print and ran this orangey-brown on top of the purple-y gray, just to see what it looked like. ARGH! It made EXACTLY the color I want next! But now it's too late, because in a test of my purpley-gray over the top of the orangey-brown color that I did print... well. It's not right. I should have stuck with my first inclination for color order. Rats.

It's not the end of the world (or the print), I don't think. It just means a change of tack and mixing a new ink color. But hey, I have lots of time. It's not like anybody's going anywhere right now, eh?

Linocut in Progress: Changing my mind

It's been several weeks since we've had any snow here on the coast of Maine... so it was a bit of a surprise to check the weather forecast this morning and see a prediction of 3-7 inches of white stuff tonight. I filled up the bird feeders and brought in more wood for the stove... and spent the morning in the studio.

There weren't many areas of the linocut in progress that were going to retain the transparent gray I printed in Step 2. So few, in fact, that I had considered cutting masks and spot inking instead of running gray over the entire block, but the shapes I needed were going to be so tiny that cutting a mask would be ridiculously difficult and probably not very effective. I knew that printing a gray over the entire block would affect all the colors that would follow... but how bad could it be, really?

Well.

After I printed the gray I decided on a straightforward light blue across the entire block for Step 3. I put a little white ink in my mix, on the theory that it would cut down on the influence of the previous gray. 

Reduction linocut, Step 3 printed

It did, but after the prints sat overnight I was concerned that the blue still felt too gray. Much hemming and hawing ensued. 

I had initially considered a blended roll, with the blue changing from top to bottom. This can be really effective for suggesting a sense of depth in the image, but in this case a major element of the composition is very complex horizontal lines of reflection. If I leave the color flat, it could really emphasize the abstract nature of those lines. What to do?

I decided to try to beef up the blue along the bottom half of the image. I knew that I didn't want this more intense color to influence the light-struck backs of the adult birds, so I cut some more masks. When I used masks on Step 1 my goal was to keep the ink contained to a small area. This time my goal was to keep ink out of a small area.

The first idea, masks included

I printed this on probably 6 of my 20 sheets before I started second-guessing myself. I just wasn't convinced it was the right approach.

So I tried a print with a flat blue over the entire block.

Yep, I think that's going to be better. (sigh)

Changing my mind

So... I crossed my fingers that I had mixed enough ink and carried on printing the flat blue for Step 4. Then I went back and ran blue along the top of first six prints that had only been printed on along the bottom. They're not great, but I think they'll be okay once the other colors go on top.

Here's where the print stands now. It's quite clear how gray that first blue pass was when you see it in the areas that were masked off for this stage.

Step 4 printed. It's not a gradation, just an artifact of overhead light.

It's still impossible to really get a sense of where this image is going, but I think all that will change at the next step. There is a LOT of carving to do before that can happen, though... so go wash your hands and find some enjoyable way to occupy your time, and I'll check back in a few days.