Linocut in Progr... Finished!

I woke up yesterday morning determined to finish this linocut, no matter what. I'd been waiting a couple of days again for ink to dry, and it was testing my patience mightily.

Thankfully a friend called on Wednesday to see if I was up for the trip to Portland for the weekly tango practica. Yes! Good to dance, and good to be away from the studio, where the temptation to rush things was high. Not so good was the return journey at 10:00pm in an unexpected snow storm, but hey... that's a different story.

ANYWAY! Despite the late night I popped awake early, got the fire going, ate some oatmeal, and...

Oh, wait. We have to back up a couple of days first.

Reduction linocut in progress, Step 13

Remember? I wanted one more run of a darkish, transparent blue-black. Which was this. I was feeling pretty good at this point, and wanted to just charge ahead and finish the birds. But with 12 other ink layers underneath, it was imperative to wait for this color pass to dry enough. Charging ahead would mean risking damage to this layer and possible adhesion problems with the next.

Which finally brings me back to yesterday. The birds which have emerged to dash through the forest are pileated woodpeckers. Their bright red crests were allegedly the inspiration for the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker, but there wasn't anything funny about printing those tiny little shapes.

I wanted the bird in the middle ground to appear... well, in the middle ground. More in shadow than the foreground bird. It was a decision which required mixing two different blobs of ink, using two ink knives, two brayers. A lot of work and mess for two tiny little bits of color.

My smallest brayer is an inch wide... too wide, really, for these shapes, so I also took the time to wipe extraneous ink from the block before printing. Now would NOT be the time to get careless.

I also cut newsprint masks to cover all but the birds before printing, as added protection against extraneous color. Apparently I didn't take a photo of the prints after the red bits were applied... but honestly, there wasn't that much to see.

Reds printed, I cleaned off the block (at least that part didn't take long) and mixed up the final blue-black transparent color for the birds. This time I do have a photo of the mask... although it's on the prints, not the block:

And finally....

All done! Slightly embiggenable with a click if you want to see more details.

Whew! That was a journey and a half. It's still lacking a title... I'm thinking about something with the word "chase" in it... Chasing Shadows? Possibly. I need to sit with the happily drying prints for a little bit yet.

So... what's next? I'm not sure. Perhaps something smaller and simpler that I can finish quickly! One more snow scene, maybe– before I stop chasing shadows and start chasing spring.

Linocut in Progress: Burning the midnight roller

I've been working since mid-August for this exhibition deadline, creating 5 complete editions in 3 1/2 months.

A new image begins with 24-30 fresh sheets of paper. Well, really it begins with an idea and some reference and a sketch and block prep and paper prep, but let's just talk about actual production for the moment.

Five images multiplied by 24-30 sheets of paper equals 125-150 prints.

Five images with an average of 13-14 color passes each. That's 65-70 carving stages. Fourteen color passes multiplied by (let's say) 135 prints? That's 1,890 individual passes through the press.

I am SO glad I didn't have to baren print all of these. Especially the big ones.

On small linocuts (8 x 10 or so) I can sometimes carve and print 2 or 3 colors in a day. The larger (18 x 18) pieces, however, can require a day or two of carving followed by a day of printing for each stage. Even if I could carve and print one color every day I would need a minimum of 70 days for production, not including prep time and the oh-so-necessary problem-solving time. That's a tight squeeze, given this particular ticking clock.

By last week all I wanted was to be finished.

Of course good ol' Murphy and his blasted Law stepped into my path just as the end seemed to be in reach. Shadow shapes in the chipmunk's white fur had been printed in the early stages, and it turned out they were not dark enough. This is where the image stood at the end of the previous post:

Step 11, reprise

Of course those furry shadow shapes were completely removed from the block more than a week ago, so what to do?

There seemed to be only one solution, and that was to use a second block to overprint the blue. Ooph. That's going to slow things down, alright.

The most accurate way to get my half-finished image transferred to a second block would be to print the first block to something non-absorbent, like mylar, and then print from the mylar to the second block. But that's so much work! And I'd have to wait for the ink to dry on the block before I could proceed. Nope. Not a good option.

Because I needed to match only a small portion of the image and not the entire block, I decided to employ the "Sherrie Wings It Once Again" method.

The second block

I made some adjustments to the template I'd cut for all those earlier newsprint masks and traced it directly on to the second block, measuring carefully to be sure it was in the right place. I didn't want a hard shape against the chipmunk's backlit fluffiness, so I carved some little suggestions of fur along the belly edge. (Kind of a waste of a perfectly good block, but I can cut off the uncarved portions to use for smaller prints.)

I inked the block with a transparent blue, and cut yet another mask.

Second block inked and masked

Step 12 printed

Better. The color in this photo isn't very good, but if you compare the shadowed whites of the chipmunk to the previous image they are darker blue.

Onward!

Well, onward after assessment. At this point I needed to do something about the excess of brown in the trunk. It detracted from the chipmunk and flattened the image out. I wanted more gray, but I didn't want the overall feel of the stump any darker than it already was. Bye bye, transparent ink. Hello, opaque ink.

 Luckily this was the easiest mask ever, since the color was destined for the stump only:

Step 13 mask

Yep. Just slap a piece of paper across the top of the block.

Step 13 printed

So, so, so close now.

Just one more dark. A transparent color will interact differently with each area of the print, but also pull everything together. I hope.

Step 14 rollup

Here's a nice licorice green made from scraps of other inks. Fingers crossed that it plays well with the stump, the background, and the darkest parts of the chipmunk.

Step 14, final.
Kind of. Sort of. Not really. But close.

Oh, thank goodness. Finished.

Hm. Or not. Something about the chipmunk still seemed... wrong.

Oh, (Expletive)! The reflection in the eye is too bright for the shadowed side of the face!

The good news is that it was nothing a little pochoir couldn't fix, so I mixed up a nice transparent blue-violet and....

"Paws Pause," reduction linocut, 8" x 10," Edition of 20
© Sherrie York
Embiggenable with a click.

NOW it's finished. I'm not sure if we call that 15 steps or not, but it's done. On Saturday I took a good high res photo (which is the one you see here) and uploaded the aforementioned photo to the exhibition website. Deadline met.

It felt strange to wake up Sunday morning and not have some stage of the work dominating my thoughts, as it has been since August. Today the prints are dry enough to start cutting mats and preparing frames, because of course I'm not really finished until the work is delivered.

Since Sunday I've been catching up with many, many things that were pushed to the back burner in this last critical month, but I'll be back in the studio in a couple of days. After all, I do have a demo to prep and an idea for big lino that I want to work up... and maybe I'll do a couple of small pieces before the year's out... and there are the spring deadlines to think about... and...

Linocut in Progress: Murphy was a printmaker

You know Murphy. He's the guy with the law that says "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

Things haven't really gone wrong, they're just getting more complicated than I wanted. It's amazing to me that the last linocut, which was 18 x 18 inches in size, was completed in 10 color passes. This one, which is only 8 x 10 inches, is threatening 13 or 14 passes. Ooph.

Blah, blah, blah. Let's get on with it, shall we?

Step 8

The background in my reference is very nebulous, very vague, which is a nice thing if you're a painter, but a little more challenging in linocut. I like the simple background, but how can I create a softer abstract effect in a hard-edged graphic medium?

In Step 8 I carved a few little hatch marks and then printed a blended roll from a sort of olive green to yellow.

For Step 9 I carved more little hatch marks and then lined up a blended roll with colors that I can only describe as "basic camouflage." I don't really know how it happened. (The little pile of minty toothpaste green at the top of the photo was not involved.)

Camo colors, anyone?

Of course it was all very transparent, so gave me something like this:

Step 9 printed

I had sort of hoped that would be enough for the background (optimistic fool that I am), but before I could make that judgment I needed to reprint the darker rust color that was stripped out of the chipmunk a couple of passes ago.

Step 10 rollup

Once again, I only want the color on the critter, so a sloppy inking and another mask were employed.

Step 10, chippy-only mask

And the color looks a little better. It cost me time and a color pass, but I'm glad I did it:

Step 10 printed

Of course now it's clear that I need at least a few darker bits in the background, but I didn't want to put another mask across the chipmunk and strip the fresh color again. So I did quite a bit more carving and printed a flat transparent gray across the entire block.

Step 11 rollup

Step 11 printed

Okay. Now the balance of dark is better but unfortunately the shadow color in the chipmunk looks completely washed out! Time out while I try to decide if it's worth cutting a second block to overprint some shadow areas.

(Full disclosure: At the time I am typing (Friday the 25th) the entire image and edition are complete. The deadline is three days away, but I was so desperate to be finished that I worked several 14-hour days in row. Sorry you'll have to wait a few more days for the outcome, but I couldn't write blog posts and print at the same time. Think of it as time travel. Backwards to go forwards. Or something like that.)

Linocut in Progress: Two steps forward, one sideways

Why, yes, I am rushing this one. Which is SO not a good idea. I end up doing things that can cost me extra time, so a bit of a slow-down is in order, even if the deadline is in just a couple of days.

Things moved along quite well for the second brown tone in the chippety-munk. I debated whether to allow this color in to the stump, but as there are several more gray tones to go over it, I decided it was okay. (And of course I used the same mask as in the previous post.)

Too-cute chipmunk linocut, Step 6

Contrast is looking good, but there's some work to be done in the background, so I decided to put a base color there. Because the goal is to suggest vegetation, I need to swing the colors in to warmer yellows and greens. I think the first color added to the background needs to be slightly opaque, so I pulled out my scraps of that ugly bond-paper-green* that I've used a few times recently and added some yellows to it. The result was an odd yellowy greeny chartreuse-y color. Why not?

(*You are correct. I did mix entirely too much of this color the first time, which is why it continues to be employed in any situation in which I think I can get away with it.)

Step 7 rollup

Of course I don't want this color in the chipmunk or the stump, so another mask needed to be employed. Luckily the "discarded" half of the previous mask was just what I needed.

Step 7 mask

It worked a treat. However... because I did this color pass immediately after the previous one, the newsprint mask stripped some of the rusty-brown ink off of the prints. I expected this, but not quite to the extent it happened. Two steps forward, and then the sideways step: I'll have to hit the chippy with another brown before I add its final darks. Not a huge deal other than time, and in fact I think I might mask out the trunk and put the color only on the critter.

Step 7 printed

The clock continues to tick. The piece has to be finished and photographed by Monday. I am SO ready for a break, Monday is the carrot I hold in front of myself as much as it is the relentless drumbeat in the back of my head.

Linocut in Progress: Chippety-munk

Yes, there's a furry critter lino in progress, and thanks to another furry critter I can only think of it as a chippety-munk. If you've not met Chet Baker, Boston Terrier, you really should. Tell him I sent you: Chet's Facebook page.

Step 4 was refreshingly straightforward: a transparent gray that actually looks gray. I'm feeling good about the value range so far, but after this pass I started engaging in typical avoidance behavior. Washed dishes. Answered email. Straighted tools. Posted the owl print on social media. Why should this be?

Step 4, transparent gray

Because with the next pass, straightforward will be a thing of the past. I want lighter greens and yellows in the background, but I don't want those colors to influence my critter. Neither do I want my chippety-munk's impending browns to influence the background.

You guessed it. It's time for another mask.

Step 5, ink rollup

Thankfully this mask allows me to do some sloppy inking, so my transparent pumpkin-ish color could indulge my need to color outside the lines.

Step 5 mask

Mask in place, ready to print. (Weird light from the window makes the color look very brown, but I promise it's that transparent pumpkin from the previous photo.)

Step 5 printed

Ah, nice! And I only screwed up one print by forgetting to put the mask in place. Oops. That one moves to the head of the line to serve as color tester now. Otherwise, so far so good!

Linocut in Progress: Yes! Another one already!

The deadline that I've been whinging about since August is almost here... just one more week to go! So there's no rest for the printmaker, she's got one more edition to finish.

The good news is that this linocut is a small one, just 8" x 10," so carving and printing move along at a significantly faster pace than for any of the recent large images. The bad news is that I took these first few photos in really crummy light. Just for this post, though. Promise.

Off we go, then!

The first pass was a very pale sort of creamy color. The goal is for it to look like a warm off-white, since the subject of the piece will be back-lit.

What's it gonna be this time? Step 1

Step 2 was a transparent blue ink which, because it layered over the warmer tone, appears grayish. Totally okay. I meant to do that. ;-)

Look! You can tell already that it's some sort of furry thing. Step 2

Step 3 was another transparent blue, this one definitely reads as blue. So far everything looks good value-wise, and this blue should work well for some shadow shapes to come. And hey! The subject is already clear.

Step 3

Chipmunk! It's been ages since I've done anything with fur instead of feathers, and both the subject matter and the smaller size are contributing to a sense of fun that's been missing for a while. There's light at the end of the production tunnel, and I'm feeling relatively confident that it's not just another oncoming train.

Linocut demo: Gerenuk, part 2

But wait, there's more! You didn't really think I'd leave off after the previous post, did you?

There was a lot more fur to carve, so my skinniest tools got a workout. And I should have known that last week's studio sweeping/vacuuming efforts wouldn't last long. All those tiny lino chips are everywhere.  Again.

I twiddled around with the Step 5 color for a long time, but never really got to what I wanted. Several variants emerged, all of which had some merits. I liked the version in the upper right best, but didn't hit it until I was almost out of prints.

Clearly this is a situation that highlights the limits of reduction printing. If I had carved an individual block for each color I could have gone on experimenting until I ran out of paper or ink or both and still have been able to create a viable edition once I sorted out the color palette. (When my new shipment of supplies arrived, that is.)

But the moment I started carving for the second color pass I was limited to the number of prints pulled at the first stage. And since I'm keeping one print from each step in reserve as an example for the demonstration.... well... There's not much room for mucking about.

Step 5

In the end I had the most consistent prints in this color palette, so the image will move forward from here.

Almost all those noodly little cuts that suggested fur were cleared out with a flat gouge for Step 6.

I debated the next color for quite a while. The darkest bits of the image are details of the gerenuk's face, but leaving them for last (when only those wee bits of block material would remain) would make final registration more challenging. I could have cut masks and done some selective inking, but I wanted this piece to be a straightforward demonstration of reduction printing.

Hm. Okay. Let's try this.

Step 6

Let's go for the big drama early, and then mess with people's minds later.

I could call it finished at this point. (Hahahahahah! Right.) OR I could carve for one more even darker dark (a straight-up black, I suppose).

OR I could consider doing something a bit wild and crazy and make the next pass lighter. Hmm. Could be interesting....

Linocut demo: Gerenuk

With the clock ticking and my Woodson Art Museum residency looming it was imperative that I get a demonstration piece started this week. The smartest idea, of course, would be to choose a simple image. Big, graphic shapes. Not too many colors. And, HONEST, I thought this would be that piece when I started. Really I did.

The gerenuk is an antelope native to East Africa... which is, of course, why I found them at the zoo in Denver. They are crazy, skinny, ungainly things to draw, but they have sweet tan faces with big, white circles around their big, brown eyes. A portrait might be nice.... and "just" three colors. Basically. Mostly. Kind of.

First carving of the linoleum block. For the brightest whites, of course. Rolled up in a transparent blue-gray ink to create some shadows.

Not much to see here, but the first color went fast. "Simple," I told myself. Again.

Second carving. Pay no attention to all those little lines I started drawing. This is a simple image.

Second color printed. Piece of cake. Now for some fun... the orange-y tan color of the overall face and neck.

Good. Great. Nice. Three colors down, breezing right along.

But, wait....

This is a mammal. It has fur. Fur would look cool. I can't just leave a big flat shape, can I?

Apparently not.

Simple.

Fieldwork Frogday. With penguins. And cabbage.

Trips out of "our" valley seem to happen in clusters. I might not get more than a few blocks beyond the house for weeks at a time, and then suddenly I feel as though I'm hardly ever home. Last week I accompanied the DM to his gig in Manitou Springs for the first time since September or October, and this week I tagged along again for two more days of gigs in the same area. I expect to make the trip again in a couple of weeks...

You would be right in thinking I have plenty of opportunities to listen to David play here at home, but those opportunities aren't typically within a 30-minute drive of tigers and gorillas and lizards, and I've been really jonesin' to draw more critters lately.

So while we were down in the city (again) I tucked my sketchbook under my arm and toddled off to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (again), where I drew bullfrogs and penguins (again). The bullfrogs and penguins (and hippos and komodo dragons) are housed in the same building, and I usually end up there because it's a facility with decent light and workable vantage points from which to draw. I admit it: Some days I like my "field"work with a dash of comfort.

The advantage to being in the building on this particular day was that we got to watch the hippos enjoy an afternoon snack. By which I mean a keeper placed an entire (large) head of cabbage in each open hippo mouth. Kerrr-UNCH! Who knew that cabbage could make such a satisfying noise?

This morning we're home again and I got back to work on the landscape linocut. The second-to-last color went down just fine and then... oops. Problems.

Stay tuned for the resolution, but until then I wish everyone a week like cabbage in a hippo's mouth: Something to really sink your teeth into.

Fieldwork Friday- no, Saturday: Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Birds at the Rift Valley area. The kori bustard kept me giggling...
About once every five minutes it would pass my side of the
exhibit yard, usually at a run and ALWAYS with
the intention of tormenting all the egrets and guineafowl
who were trying desperately to mind their own business.

The DM had a gig in Manitou Springs last night and I decided I would tag along. It's (almost) always nice to hang out whilst David's playing music somewhere, and it's extra nice to see the friends we stay with when we travel, but I had an ulterior motive for a journey to the city. I wanted to go draw some critters at the zoo this morning.

The weather has been ridiculously fine for January, so I was a little worried that hordes of other folks would want to be at the zoo on a Saturday, too. (I almost NEVER go to such places on weekends, especially if I want to draw.) It was busy, but not horribly so, and I managed a few decent sketches. Mostly I had pages of drivel... starts and starts and starts that went nowhere, but it felt great to move a pencil around.

Boreal toads and a sleeping pot-bellied pig named "AL-ouicious".

Fieldwork Friday: Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

A cluster of bullfrogs... great fun to draw interlocking shapes!

The DM and I spent the last few days in Colorado Springs, an excursion precipitated by a relief printing demo (by me on Wednesday) and music gigs (by David on Thursday and Friday).

So what to do about Fieldwork Friday when we were running around the city? A trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, of course! The day was spectacular, filled with cloudless blue skies, perfect autumn temps, and no wind. It was also filled with way more people than I usually like when I'm determined to draw, but these days I get to zoos and museums only rarely and I take whatever time I get gratefully.

Cooperative (or semi-cooperative) subjects included wallabies, lizards, fish and frogs. The bearded dragon (lizard above) was very sedate until the moment he caught sight of a parrot. It was full-on agitation after that... such a vigorous display that all I could do was put down my pencil and enjoy the show.

Chub-ably wallaby