Love in Vain part 1

 

Of the three Robert Johnson songs I picked out as my initial choices, probably the most famous is "Love in Vain."  Not from his version, which has only been heard by his fans, and that is a small number compared to what many contemporary singing groups can bring in, despite appearing on a few albums that sold well and for years.  (I had read that a record company executive at Columbia, following the relative success of the compact disc set, wondered if he could go out on the road and do some shows, to take advantage of the sales.  Someone had to break it to him that the artist had been dead for several decades.)  Better known are covers by the Rolling Stones, who were definitely blues fans, the song appearing on both studio albums and live albums.  Perhaps Cream's version of Johnson's "Crossroads" has been heard more on radio, but maybe not.  The structure is typical blues, though the tune is a little slower, and almost has a country feel to it, a style of music that Johnson was familiar with.  The topic is very blues- the protagonist's woman decides to leave him, plans to take off on the local train to wherever.  Man accompanies the woman to the train station, carrying her bags for her.  He watches the train depart with her and her luggage on it.  The final lines of the song- "the train pulled out of the station, it had two lights on behind; the blue light was my blues, and the red light was my mind".  Very poetic and visual, but we are not using color in these prints.  I can come up with a black and white idea as well.

Back in 2014, I was drafted to run the Belmar Arts Council's exhibition, "Belmar and the Railroad."  New Jersey Transit has a train that runs through Belmar, stopping at the train station in town.  As part of this, the BAC was given the task of producing a mural for the train station, which was rotting away.  I was begged to submit an idea for the mural, and was promptly rejected.  I assumed that they knew what the wanted all along, and just wanted to hire someone else from the start, but had to go through the process of an open call to make it legitimate.  They chose someone who had some mural experience (so did I as well, which you can see on this blog back in 2007), who liked painting things on parachute cloth, which could be adhered to the walls, which did make it possible to paint indoors in our building, and stick the pieces to our newly built walls despite the cold weather and the popularity of the station with commuters.  But then they had another job for me- creating the postcard.  I based my design on vintage railroad posters (reproduced in calendars I had saved) and of course did it in woodcut.  This design also appeared in the weather proof banner that hung on our building, and for extra promotion, they also made a banner to hang across from the platform at the station itself. This was completed and installed before the mural itself, so for a while, mine was the only mural design there at the train station.    When I asked why I was being tapped for this, I figured it might be because sooner or later everyone had to take a turn running a show, but what I was told was that it was because I am a train artist.  This was news to me.  True, I was the only one who actually included a train in my train station mural proposal, and looking back through all my hundreds of prints, I did find several examples of trains in my art, which could be an effect of having lived within walking distance of trains most of my life.   The image I produced for the card can be seen below.

Since the train and/or the station are mentioned in every verse of the song, it struck me that I had to include a train image for my visual adaptation of the Robert Johnson song.   What I came up with was a passenger car of a train, pulled up to the platform.  A woman in a dress walks triumphantly toward a stairway, hands on hips, face tilted slightly upward.  Following her is a man carrying a suitcase in each hand, weighing down his arms, head tilted down in despair.  She's leaving him, and he still carries her bags to help her leave.  For the train itself, I decided to go with an older looking train car, if not authentic to Johnson's time, at least somewhat vintage.  Based this on a photo found on the internet, which is great for finding images.  Above the windows is the name of the train, a line run by the Illinois Central.  I believe this train ran through Clarksdale, MS, one of many homes of Johnson, like the old City of New Orleans line that ran between Chicago and New Orleans for years, the name now taken by an AMTRAK line that covers the same territory.  Of a more personal note, the tracks of the Illinois Central ran right next to the Glove Factory, the building that held all the student studios at SIU-Carbondale, and I crossed those tracks almost every day.  We had about 20 freight trains per day coming through, separating one half of Carbondale from the other.  If I heard the train whistle, I'd quickly decide if I had to be on the other side of the tracks any time soon.  If I did, I'd run for the tracks, because once that train arrived, the tracks could not be crossed until it had passed, and those freight trains were usually at least 200 cars.  The tracks and the freight line were bought by a Canadian company a few decades ago, after I left town.  It was also then that they put in a tunnel under the tracks, so cars could get through.  

One thing that makes this different from the last one is that this one is horizontal in design.  Tom told me the dimensions of the print, but never said if the 11" x 14" was to be horizontal or vertical.  When I later asked him in an email, he ignored it.  My solution is to do examples of both, based on what the idea calls for, and let him pick what he wants when I turn them in next year.  This train idea seemed to call for a horizontal piece, so that's what I'm doing.  Most of what I've seen from him are vertical, but who knows?  What I have so far is very rough- the figures, the train, the perspective, everything, so this is just my start.   All will be worked on more as I go forward, but this is my starting point, a reversal of what I sketched in my sketchbook back in the spring.  I will probably add a lot more detail as I go, but I haven't given much thought to that yet.

For music today, I went with my home burned copy of the Giant Sand compilation, Giant Songs, which pulls tunes from the early albums.  I won't say hits, because I don't know that they ever had any, but I do like the collection, which I have written about on this blog back in July, 2019.  When the disc ended, I decided it was time to go home.

Color Pencil Class #4

 

Today was the last meeting for the color pencil class,  just 4 weeks to fit in before Labor Day, the official end of summer.  We are working on the same project, a full color still life using local colors, for which I found a variety of solid colored objects, plus a very colorful table cloth.  I had all the same objects in my large bag in the car last night, so just the backpack to be loaded today.  It's been decided that I will do a drawing class next (late September), though it still hadn't been added to the website yet.  Despite this, I decided to bring some print related stuff with me today, mostly because some of members of my current class expressed an interest in knowing and maybe taking it, so I packed the most recent catalog of tools, the kind of tools that we use, and a Masereel book, which is always good to have. 

I arrived about an hour ahead, unloaded my car, turned on the AC, as today is yet another hot day.  Rain was predicted for late in the day, but I have my doubts.  Set up the still life, a combination of memory and images from my camera (there's another version of it above), and unlocked the front door.  A little while later I went downstairs to see if Jeanne was in.  She was, and told me that Shay would not be there today, having gotten an email from her earlier.  As for the upcoming drawing class, they still haven't resolved all the computer stuff, and syncing up the website and the registration system has been too big a challenge.  Probably Kaitlyn could handle it, but she's on vacation this week.  Nichole is supposed to be helping with it, but it hasn't happened yet.  She said nothing about assisting with the class, though did say I was welcome to give away water bottles if they were in the fridge, and she hoped to stop by to take some photos.

I went back up to my room, now a bit cooler.  Eventually Rosemarie showed up, but she was the only one.  Well, she got plenty of attention with her color questions, and worked on both the large still life she started  in class last week, and a detail version she did during the week, based on a photo she took. I pointed out that the printed photo was a third hand version of the set up, after her own eyes, after the camera in her phone.  She had to admit that all had a different version of the red in the tablecloth.  As a further example, I showed her the postcard for the Belmar train themed show (for which I did the postcard), and my large bag which had been a banner once upon a time.  What was one color in the postcard was often a very different color on the bag.  She does credit the class with making her think about colors in a very different way than she had before, and says this is a good thing.  So I have done my job with her.

She definitely is interested in taking drawing, to learn more about perspective and things, and not in taking the woodcut, so no one benefited from all the stuff I had brought.   Luckily, that stuff doesn't weight that much.  I stopped by the office to let them know I had put everything away, turned off lights, and locked the front door.  Jeanne was around, so I gave her a class update (she never showed to take photos), and she told me the website thing was up. And then I drove home, no rain in sight.

I checked the building web site in the evening, and the class is listed.  The image is the one we chose, and the description is about right.  But the details are way off.  Not the time we agreed to, and the fee was a bit low for a 6 week class.  So I sent Jeanne an email pointing out these issues.  Not to complain, but to give her this information before anyone signed up and they had to change it later.  After that I started recharging my computer, so I guess I'll get her answer tomorrow.

Studio Business and then some

 Took off after lunch and made a lot of stops, but it was all planned.   Cashed a check I've been sitting on a while, got some walk around cash.  Filled my gas tank, which needed to be done eventually.  After a while I ended up at the Studio.  Dropped off a few things then stopped by the office.  Last time I was there (Friday), Jeanne seemed to be in a big hurry to get things from me.  However, she found the proposal from the first round, which had a perfectly good statement about the class already (though she said she would "spice it up a little bit")  and while I was there she found a suitable charcoal image that can be posted.  Not exactly the subjects I will use in class, but enough like those that it will do for promotion.  She told me it would probably go up on the web that day.  However, so far nothing.  Not a big deal as far as I'm concerned, but I was curious as to what changed.  She wasn't there today, but the boss was.  I was told that Nichole was going to help her with it tonight.  And with that answer, I got to my own work.

Another thing I had done on Friday was buy some new wood.  The Robert Johnson pieces are not due for another six months, but I do want them done on time and right, and I couldn't work on the next one until I got some wood, so I bought some.  Price has gone up over the past few years, and I needed to know that as well, as there is some interest in that class as well and I have to figure out pricing.  Bought some hand cleaner as well, as I am out of that now.  I had brought the wood to my space and left it there, so now I went back to my Studio with a straight edge and my new saber saw.  Measured and cut one horizontal piece of wood.  Tom never did answer my question of whether this would be horizontal or vertical, so my plan is to do both, give him some options.  However, I didn't have a horizontal piece of wood (I like the grain to be vertical, no matter the dimensions of the wood itself, so blocks are created to be one or the other from the start) so today I made one, making sure I had a space on it the proper size for the image and leaving room for text, in case I need it.  

Too hot a day to carry around my camera in the car for hours, so I left it home.  Which means today you get a file photo of the same idea from years ago.  I have a new saw now, and I use a different kind of wood, but the table is still the same, so that much is true.  

Walkin Blues part 6

 

Back to the Studio this morning, to take care of class stuff, and work more on the Robert Johnson project. The latter was partly because the deadline will arrive in a few months, and partly because I saw it referenced in an email I got last night from my former student Amy, finally answering a mail I sent her last February.  I don't mind the delay, as in some ways I am just as busy as always.  But she assumed positive things and that I was already done with the project.  Not at all, but I was almost done with one block drawing, so today seemed a good day to resolve what was left.  

Didn't bother to turn on the light in my space when I dropped off my bag, and went to the office.  Elyse was in, so I asked her if she had received the email I had sent her regarding Mary and her plan to donate stuff to the JSAC related to prints.  She hadn't seen it yet, but found it and planned to read it after she found out about the graffiti.  Also heard about a torn screen on my window.  Didn't know anything about these, so we took a walk and I opened up my space.  Sure enough, there were three large figures spray painted on my right end window, the same one that was pried open as part of the break in to my space back in May of 2020.  And the screen was torn so they could do so.  The window itself was fine, so I guess they weren't interested in breaking in.  (Maybe word got around last time that we had nothing worth stealing.)  At first Elyse didn't realize what was on the window, but I recognized it instantly as the number "666" as it would look from outside- years of woodcut have made me quick at reading and writing backwards letters and numbers.  She heard there was more outside as well, so I lead her to the nearest door out of the building (the ramp in the loading area) and we went out there and saw more of the blue paint on the bricks, but I couldn't make out what it was supposed to be.   She had work to do, and so did I.  

For music I had brought my home burned disc of Morphine, which I have written about back in December of 2019 on this blog.  No reason- just felt like listening to it.  Pulled out my current block.  Amy's email had caused me to look at the photo of the most recent version a bit, so I knew what I wanted to do.  I made a few modifications to some figures, redrew the recessed lights to what I decided were more logical places, and started drawing in light and shadows on the brick walls.  Also scribbled in some dark on the ceiling where I expect it will be, though I will probably handle the texture in a way that resembles what I did with the ceiling in my Vesuvio print a few years ago.  Below is what it looks like now:

My current thinking is that this is pretty much all I can do with it right now.  I think the next step is to set it aside, start drawing #2 in the series, and come back to it with fresh eyes in the future.  If at that point I still think it holds up, I can start cutting. I may have to buy more wood.

Meanwhile, I let Elyse know that the window was now clear, and the bricks were being worked on, then left.  I wanted to stop by the deli I was planning to go to for lunch before the noon lunch crowd showed up, and I barely did.  There were a lot more people there when I left than when I arrived.

Color Pencil Class #3

 

I had prepared for the latest class a few days ago, gathering what props I could from around the house.   Much of what I used to use for classes is still in storage, but I figured I could find a few brightly colored objects, and I did.  There were possible predictions of rain for a few days, so I decided to move stuff to my car on a dry day.  As it turned out, there was no rain on class day, and the drought continues.  

I got up to the building about an hour before as usual.  Took two trips to bring in everything from my car, started the AC in the room, and later set up the still life.  The day before I had made a little complement mix of blue and orange and literally everything in between, to help explain how shadows work.  (normally I would have the students do this, but with only 4 meetings of two hours each, I'm doing a few things myself to show examples)  About a half hour before class, I unlocked the front door.  Later I went down the basement to see if my supervisor was going to be there today.  She wasn't expected, but I while there I talked to new director Elyse, who wanted to know about my former student Mary and her plan to donate print equipment to the building and why.  I told her what I knew, which is all second hand, gave her another tour of the basement (she's new, and it can be a very confusing place) and then skedaddled up to my classroom a few minutes before my class began.  I had two students present, and the other two showed up after a while.

I talked a little about color, then we began on the still life.  One of my students took an earlier drawing class, so she knew the drill, and there others caught on quickly.  Elyse stopped by to see the class in action, and was impressed with their skills.  Most of the credit goes to the students, but it's always good when the boss thinks you're doing a good job.  Asked a few questions about possible future classes, but otherwise it was business as usual. At 4 pm I wrapped things up, cleaned my room, packed up my props, and loaded my car.  Went back and locked the door, and went home.  One more week to go.

Walkin Blues part 5

 

Decided today would be a good day to continue on my Robert Johnson print, as it was a fairly nice day, and probably nicer than tomorrow, I had the time, and there is a deadline on this project, thought it is several months away.  Headed up to Ocean Grove in the late morning, when there is less traffic and heat.  After dropping off my stuff in my Studio, I stopped by the office, hoping to talk to either of the people in charge, about classes and things.  Neither were around, but I had a chat with Katelyn, who may not have any authority, but is always pleasant to talk to.  I didn't want to take up all her time or mine, so I went on to my space and got to drawing.

For music today, I had brought a home burned disc of two Texas cow-punk favorites I got from Dave Kirkland (also from Texas) in Carbondale, albums from The Hickoids and Jon Wayne.  For detailed descriptions, you can go to Dec 2019 on this blog.  I pulled out my block, and got to work.  A lot of drawing has been done, but there is a lot of things to be fixed.  For instance, I moved one of the overhead recessed lights to a better position, and adjusted the clothing of one of my older figures.   I changed a few shadows on the two seated figures and darkened their chairs.  I had big blank spaces on two places, so for now I put in some floorboards, and bricks for the back walls.  I don't know if any of these are the final versions, but ideas I had, and so I figured I should put something down for now to look at and consider.  

And that's about when my disc ran out, so it was a good time to pack up, leave, and go home for lunch, so that is what I did.  The results of today's drawings can be seen in the photo at the top of this posting.

Color Pencil Class #2

The good news is that today is not as hot as last Tuesday.  Almost nothing could be.  The room looked more are less as I needed.  So I did gather a few things stored in my Studio, some blocks and my framed boardwalk print, still there from making copies for Jeanne.  I learned that Jeanne would not be there today, so I was teaching by myself.  No problem for me, so I just had to hope they could understand me well enough.  I had also brought with me the last pad of figure charcoal drawing, as examples of portrait drawing for the student who is trying that right now.  All I needed was students.  But first Rosemarie showed up, having missed a week and ready to go.  Then Shay came in.  It was Shay that asked for a pencil sharpener, which we didn't seem to have, an issue in a pencil class, nor did we have a wastebasket, which we used to have in that room.  I had left my pencil case at home today (it's full and very heavy) so I went down to the office to borrow a sharpener.  And I thought I saw some garbage cans out by the front door, and sure enough there was one there.  Also found my other two students there, so I had all four today.

The assignment was to continue last week's project with color palettes, a concept new to all of them, which is kind of a problem- they should have learned about this stuff earlier.  It's my standard assignment from 2D class, except for pencils taking the place of acrylic paint.  Some of them have some experience with watercolors and/or oils, so the discussion also included pigments, and mediums. Everyone was very impressed with the woodcuts I showed, and so I was asked if I will be teaching it, because they all want to do that.  Fine by me, but the building has to decide what they want me to do, not me. 

Last week I had remembered to bring my camera, but was so busy teaching color, that I forgot to take it out and take photos.  So I brought it back today.  One of my students left today before I took any, so I made sure to get it out and take some photos of the class working with pencils, as this is something I didn't have at all in my files.  Here's what I got:

Above are some long shots of my small but active class in action.  Below a close up of Carolyn working on variations of an old boot, and doing a pretty good job of it, a monochromatic palette in orange, and a complementary one with blue and orange.  She may also try an analogous combination with orange, I guess her favorite color.   

By the end of the day, not quite four hours into the project, no one had finished it, though at least most had done some drawings as starting points.  And some seemed to have discovered that specific palettes do result in some potentially interesting art.  One student said she was very excited to try a complementary painting in blue and orange (oil), while another was very pleased with her drawing in blue/yellow/black/white, and wanted to try a painting like that (watercolor).  So I guess that the project was partly successful, if it got people excited about the possibilities of color.  Next week we begin a two week project involving a color still life and the concept of local colors.  Hope they enjoy that as well.

Walkin Blues part 4

 

Had some time today, and the weather was less brutal than it was the other day, so I decided to put in a little time on my latest project, the Robert Johnson adaptation.  I continued on the block I have been working on, as I haven't bought any new wood yet. Besides, a lot of work still needed there.  The building was pretty empty, almost had the place to myself.  Brought music from home, a disc I burned of the Gun Club- their whole first album, plus a bunch of tracks from a live performance from 1992, a disc I bought on a day trip to St Louis in my Carbondale days, and you can read about the whole thing back in 2019.  One thing I always liked about the Gun Club is that the lyrics are very direct, meaning the singer says what's on his mind, which reminds me a bit of Robert Johnson, and maybe the blues of Howling' Wolf.   So it kind of made sense for today.  

I decided it was time to check out some of my value ideas, so I was filling in some pencil blacks and grays in my composition.  I also made a few changes to the original figures, turning the head of the male figure at the far right, and moving the leg of the guy sitting at the table in the middle, so he's starting to make a step toward the walking woman, the same direction that he is facing.  I also fixed the ellipses of the recessed lighting in the ceiling, but these may get moved around a bit anyway, so it wasn't important.  Also added a footrest to the structure on the right, but I don't know if this is permanent.  I put in some value in the previously drawn silhouette figures, and added a few more, again from my photo reference book.  I will look at the photo above in the coming days, and see if I like these changes.  If I do, they will become part of the piece.  If not, I will try something else, but this piece has a bit more pencil work it needs anyway.  I do have ideas for some of the blank areas, but I'll draw those in later, or just cut them into the block if I am certain how I want to go.  But what you see above is where I am at now, and today's changes look like an improvement to me.

Color Pencil Class

Today was the first meeting of the new color pencil class.  I have covered color before in many classes, such as GEC, Intro to Art, and 2D Design/Foundations, but this is the first class I've had specifically devoted to color. On the other hand, it's only 4 meetings, while those others all were 15 and had to cover a whole lot more.  Twice this summer I was scheduled to teach such a class, but each time I had no more than one person sign up, and so there was no class.  This time I had two early on, and two more this week, which makes for four, and the most I've had since a drawing class with 7 students a few years back, before the pandemic and everything else.  So this is the first time I have taught this class, but not the first time I have covered this material.  The one new thing is that it was decided above that this class would involve colored pencils, something I have never worked with before in an academic setting.  I have done watercolors, acrylics, pastels, and colored printing ink, but not pencils.  But the decision was made, so I am making the best of it.  I adapted two of my old 2D projects to the medium, and I will go from there.  I did make a watercolor color wheel for demonstration purposes, since I didn't like the colored pencils I had,  though I was told some were ordered for the class.  I sent out an email to the addresses I had a few days ago, introducing myself and the class, advising what to bring.  One of my students (who I knew from my regular drawing class) told me she had to miss the first meeting, but she will be present for the others, so I sent her a link to the college project and gave her some ideas what she could do before next week if she wants to.  (not being an actual college class, I can't use grades or rules to enforce deadlines or processes)

When I got there I found I could not turn on the air conditioner, a big problem on what may be the hottest day of the year. (locally the heat index may be at 107 degrees in nearby towns)  So I went right to the office and found Jeanne, my boss for this class.  She was confused a bit at first, since the on/off switch was not doing its job, and it was plugged in.  Turned out to be a breaker switch on the extension cord had tripped, but we got it straightened out and started cooling down the room.  No still life today, so I left all the tables and chairs where they were. 

A half hour before the official start of class, my first student showed up.  First choice of table and chair for her.  She said she had not received my email, so I gave her an explanation of what was planned for the day, and showed a student example of the project that I found in my basement along with other student work. Sometimes it's easier to show than explain.  The two others (related) showed up closer to the official start time. Jeanne (also present for today) figured we should just get started, so I did.  A few words about color theory first, talking about the visible spectrum and color wheels, then we got onto the palettes project.  

About 45 minutes into class, Jeanne decided I was doing fine and she could leave.  I think the class went well.  All present worked on the first project, and got well into the first image during the two hours.  All know how to continue, so how far they get before next week is up to them.  They know that we will continue work on it next week.  All departed with a set of colored pencils and instructions.  Temperatures were brutal as I left, but I got home without incident, so I was happy.

A Color Wheel

 

It looks like I will have a class next week, as I have now three people signed up for the color class at the JSAC.  There are only four meetings, two hours a piece, which limits the time I have.  I picked out two projects, which we can spend two weeks on each, all based on college 2D color projects I used to do with classes, so I know they work. Of course, those were done as projects involving colored acrylic paints, and the boss wants me to do this with color pencils.  This is not something I favor, but they are the ones who are promoting it, so maybe they know what will work for the students we are trying to get.  I do know that the other color classes that were set up for me to do did not make enrollment.   I don't know if that was the materials or the schedule (those were to be on Saturday afternoons), but I just do what is asked.

I figure it would be a good idea to have a color wheel to help explain basic color mixing theory, and that is something I can do in advance, and have to show them.  They can probably learn more by doing it themselves, but with a limited time to work, this is one thing I can do in advance, and if they want to make their own later, they can.  This will be one simpler than the one I made in 2D class, but good enough for our purposes.  Primaries, secondaries, and intermediates, which will get them through the projects, and what they would likely find if they bought one, or found one in a book.  And I even had some colored pencils in the basement, from a Christmas present I got a few years ago.  I retrieved those pencils, part of a 50 pencil set I had received.  Yesterday I decided to try making a color wheel with those primary colors and white, the minimum needed for a wheel.  Maybe they are low quality, but they didn't mix well.

So today I tried option #2, use my watercolors to make a wheel.  It's a task and material I've worked with in numerous intro classes, so I have some experience with it.  As I would have done with the pencils, I skipped the tint part of it, just going with the 12 hues. I scribed a circle at home this morning, in case I couldn't find an appropriate circle to trace in my Studio, and everything else was in my car.  Left late morning to get up to Ocean Grove, and brought in my backpack and my watercolor bag.  I know from the prints I colored in recent months that I had enough watercolors to do what I wanted. 

As I arrived, I met Andy, who said he was a new handyman type, recently hired, and wanted to see the inside of my Studio.   Why not?  So he looked around (mostly by the heater), made notes in a notebook, and moved on.  Molly had been there over the last week, creating even more of a mess if that is possible, but also leaving some  discs.  I guess she got tired of just listening to the radio.  I had brought a home burned disc with me, some soundtrack albums from David Lynch films- Fire Walk with Me, and most of Wild at Heart.  The latter I got around the time the movie was in theaters, a mix of original songs (instrumental) that were part of the movie soundtrack (mostly by long time collaborator Angelo Badalamenti) and a few lyric songs from outside sources, a mix of previously recorded songs, and commissioned songs.  The former album was purchased around the time I saw the movie on cable, well after it was released, a sequel of sorts to the television series that had originally aired in the late 1980's.  I had read a review which referred to it as a previously unseen genre- horror jazz.  Probably accurate.  A very strange film, but then so was the eventual tv sequel, which came (as originally promised), about 25 years after the original show.  Incredibly, most of the actors were still alive, though some died during production.  In any case, the music does fit together.

Results of today's work can be seen at the top of this post, exactly what I was expecting.  I'll go in with markers at home and label it as necessary.