Monday, January 31, 2011

Friday meltdown Monday back to work



I am really starting to hate this print. I had a meltdown friday after working on it for a week straight 8 to 14 hour days. so i took saturday and sunday off and now i am back to it. it is taking forever to print. it is so tedious and the size alone just makes it horrible. hopefully i wont totally screw it up in the next few days i think it will take me to finish. then maybe after it dries which will probably take a while i might start to like it again. i just want it OUT of my dinning room! maybe i will title it marvin k. mooney right now i am calling it bamboohoo. oh and that is quarter in the picture for scale.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

3'X5' Bamboo Forest print progress





as you can see in my last pic my paper flipping method is very low tech a long stick. it works okay but it has caused a few crinkles here and there but i have decided not to let it bother me and to try and think of them as part of the "charm". It has taken me six days to get this far. Two days transferring the image and redrawing/making corrections on the block, one long day carving and this will be my third day printing. I expect to be at least halfway through the printing by the end of today.
The paper is a mulberry and i am glad i had it laying around because i probably would have went with a roll of Rives BFK and printing is already hard enough i didn't need the extra thickness. Sometimes i wonder why bother with all this why not just make a painting? I do like they way they look and i don't think i could duplicate it in a painting so i guess that is reason enough.
i also don't have representation so i don't really think i will be selling many if any of these so why go through the bother of multiple blocks to make an edition if they will just be rolled up in my closet. well these are my excuses for using such an inefficient form of printmaking anyway. I am using oil based relief inks with a drop or two of burnt plate oil. i have used a small roller a little but most has been done with stiff hog bristle bushes. i use them more like dobbers then brushes most of the time. i do like the richness of the oil inks and they blend nice but i really need to look into getting some Akua Kolor because clean up sucks. Also i am short so when i get more towards the middle of the block things will even be harder. I think i will be done in three days if all goes well.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Poppies Woodcut/Monoprint 22X30 inches



I have been worrying about how my large (3ftX5ft) bamboo print will stretch during printing so i made this "white line" monoprint using oil based relief ink with a bit of burnt plate 00 oil added sometimes to thin . I like the way it turned out so i will probably go ahead and proceed with the bamboo print using oil based inks instead of watercolors and on dry paper (so i don't have to worry about paper stretch and registration) the other photo shows the original watercolor/pastel painting with the finished print next to it (i like the print better) I always think i am better when filtered through a printmaking process of some sort. the occasional drawing being the only exception.
Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Poppies
Monoprint/oil based white line woodcut print on Rives BFK Buff colored paper
image size: 18X24 inches
paper size 22X30 inches
this is a one of a kind monoprint I carved out the "white lines" from a block of wood then hand painted the image areas using relief oil based inks slightly thinned with burnt plate oil 00 then transfered to paper using a baren.
I consider each print to be an original oil painting on wood transfered onto paper.