Color Mixing

Today didn't go as I thought it would.  I imagined myself knocking out two or three more colors today.  Yet all I could manage was one.  Printing over green was an experiment.  I decided to go for a light aqua by printing what turned out to be a very light blue over the green.  I liked the color I ended up with but before I could print, I needed to cut away the areas I wanted to save as green.  As you can see from the line drawing (in an earlier post here) it is very detailed.  And confusing, I might add.  I made some changes along the way in what was cut and what was added.  But now I am left with making sure my improvisations don't leave behind glaring cutting errors.  Something Fishy was a whole lot easier to cut.
So my next decision was do I print orange next or a raw siena kind of color?  And how much will printing a not totally opaque orange have when printing over aqua.  When I mixed the two inks on the palatte, the white in the light blue made the orange turn coral.   So I prepared four different oranges, one pure, one with a little red, one with a lot of red and the second with a little umber added to it.  I needed a real test of printing on the actual print.  And frankly, I was a little surprised by my results.
The orange was dulled only a little.  They all came out a whole lot truer than I expected.

I noticed that the aqua was still wet and on this particular print I hadn't used any cobalt drier.  The orange didn't cover smoothly so I will have to watch that tomorrow.  Hopefully the aqua will be dry and I won't have any problems.  Tomorrow's challenge will be cutting the blue.  I have to say though, I love seeing the prints after cutting away another layer.  Secrets are revealed.

Escape from Windows 7

Ever since my husband installed Windows 7 on my HP laptop, I haven't been able to use my printer.  Two weeks later after many hours of online help with both HP laptop support and HP printer support they finally gave up.  Then we bought a new printer and that didn't work either but Steve found a number for Microsoft.  Several days have passed and many tests and more referrals back to HP but finally Microsoft has owned the problem.  They want to reinstall everything.  So I escaped the stress of our home office to the studio to print blissfully away on the first two colors of the SeaHorse.  The colors here don't reflect the actual colors but you get the idea.

It is our 22nd wedding anniversary today so I had to leave the sanctuary of transfer-image-carve-roll-print to go home to find out my laptop now can't read the new external hard drive on which we must back everything up before the reinstall.  AAARgh!  We chucked it all and went out for a lovely dinner where we wondered what the world would look like 22 years from now.  It is amazing what has happened in the past 22 years.  Hopefully, we will start taking better care of the planet and all its inhabitants.

New Reduction Print

Spent all day yesterday working on color separations for my new reduction lino I am planning.  It is a dragon seahorse which I saw at the Newport Aquarium last year.  With this print I hope to be printing multiple colors in one day and am struggling now with the order to print them.  I have learned that to get a bright yellow you need to print that first and I have an orange that I think needs to be next.  But then I want a pale green and pale blue and have learned that over yellow a pale blue makes a pale green.  If I were just going on the values, the pale blue and green would be first then the yellow and then the orange.  Hmmmmph.  This will be interesting.  I am going to try to not have any expectations on what the colors really have to be.  Let's see what we get!


Registration Extension
The Phoenix Center for the Arts has extended the registration deadline for classes starting later in the summer.  So there is still time to register for my 6 week Solarplate Class which begins July 12th and the 8 week Reduction Linocut Class which starts June 30th.  Call 602 262-4627 to join in the fun!

"Something Fishy"

Well, here it is.  Finished up today so I can fly off to Cincinnati tomorrow with a clear plate.  Going to visit my Dad!  I tried using a new product on this image, not linoleum but gomuban from McClain's.  I really liked how easy it was to cut and it held fine lines great.  I also made one mistake in cutting and was able to Elmer's Glue it back in place.  It went by quickly which just encourages me to do it again.  I have two more in the pipeline, of more sea creatures.  Watch this space, as they say.

It has been a mild spring and the front patio is blooming all sorts of beautiful flowers.  It is wonderful to come home to this after an exhausting day in the studio...Life is good.

Whirl Winds Blowin'

Lots going on the past few days:

CONGRATULATIONS JANET
Janet Towbin is now adjunct professor at ASU and will teach Relief Printmaking.  Yay, Janet.  Your students will be lucky to get you.  I can't wait to see what she cooks up for them.

BON VOYAGE, NANCY
My sister is headed to London today for several days before hooking up with 7 lucky students on her fabulous tour of Paris, Bordeaux, and Bergerac for 10 days.  It will be the trip of a lifetime for all concerned.  Let's hope that volcano behaves itself for the next month or so!


PRINTING WITH DIANA PART II

We spent another day filled with stencils under inked mat board, yesterday.  We played with different types of paper and thicknesses of board and stencils and printed on both sides...We discovered you can print just about anything under the mat board plate (see process in my last blog update.)  I have to remember to schedule more play dates.  I totally give up all control for an anticipated outcome and just try to "see what happens."

NEW REDUCTION LINOCUT - SOMETHING FISHY

I am teaching a two-day reduction linocut workshop in Reno next month.  I have been a little worried about how much can be covered in just two days, so today I did a test of the process I intend to show.  I have never tried to print more than one color in one day but today I printed 3 colors!  I amazed myself.  I would have never considered doing such a thing if I hadn't been a follower of Sherrie York and other relief printmakers.  So many times, I just do it the way I do it, without thinking of trying it another way.  I LOVE reading about other artists' processes.  Have you noticed how open and sharing printmakers are?  Anyway, I still have one more color to go on these little fish.  The finished print size will be 6" x 8".  If you would like to learn this process, I am teaching it in a workshop this summer at the Phoenix Center for the Arts.  Classes are 8 weeks, Wednesdays from 1 to 4 starting June 30th and costs $160.  Call 602 262-4627 to register.  Registration ends May 31st.

Print Play and Lunch Dates

PLAYFUL PRINTING
It has been a fun week.  Diana and I had a playdate in studio Monday.  I had attended the Monika Meler demo in Philadelphia on alternative relief processes and wanted to try it out myself.  So for several hours we each cut out a stencil from mat board.  Very labor intensive.  We inked up a second piece of matboard and placed it over the cutout stencil.  Then placed hosho paper over it, with one blanket, and ran it through the press.  Interesting results.  Totally fun and often unexpected, how just rotating the placement of the stencil nets differing results, without even re-inking the plate (mat board).  Now I am driven to cut more stencils.  I certainly need to build up the strength in my hands, as it is hard work.  Diana and I will be back for another play date this Monday.  Can't wait to mix it up again.  To see the very same demo I saw in Philadelphia at the Tyler School, click here and scroll all the way to the last item.

SOCIAL CONTACTS
This week happened to bring two lunch dates, with two of my favorite artists, Janet Towbin and David Manje.  Marlys and I met up with Janet at Wally's Pub.  I am so glad that Janet and I have re-connected.  We went to college together in Cincinnati and hadn't seen each other for over 30 years when art brought us back in touch again, here in Phoenix.  She is an amazing printmaker and a fabulous photographer as seen here on flickr. 

We joked about being ladies of leisure, having lunch out a second time in three days, when  Marlys and Diana and I had lunch at Rosa's in Mesa with my first major printmaking teacher, David Manje.   Not only is he a great teacher but his heart is so big and open.  He was full of life and love and reassurance.  I am grateful to have him in my life.

First Friday, May 2010

ANOTHER GALLERY
We had a great turnout for last night's First Friday event.  Several new artists were showing work and it was fun getting to meet them and commiserate about artist life.  (Ok, so we also talked about friends and family...the universal language.)  It was especially fun to get to know Sandra Ferris Goldin, who painted the beautiful black and white paintings hanging over the table. Nicolai Sinu's Japanese style watercolors are powerful and delicate...I really enjoyed meeting him. Joan Yen is a fan of his work too and stopped by to show support.

I was happy to see my old buddy John Siefert, from my other life as a City of Phoenix employee for 23 years.  I retired in 2002 when times were good.  It is hard to see what the economy has done to our City and to the good folks who still try to provide the services we need.

Saturday was lightly attended.  It was nice hanging out with Larry and Ellie and Andrea Rusing.  I will miss seeing them monthly over the summer but hope to be well occupied teaching Solarplate Etching and Reduction Linocut at the Phoenix Center for the Arts.
Registration is open until 5/31.  Click here for more information.