Robert Johnson Project

 

I had business at the JSAC today, so I decided I would also work on some art while I was there.   I took care of business first, stopping by the office, once I had dropped stuff off in the Studio.  After that, I had another reason to visit the office- I had seen some Molly product (towels) and know she had been there.  Elyse had asked me if I've seen her lately last time I was there (I hadn't, not unusual), so now I had a better reason to stop by.  Told the director that Molly had been in the space since the last time I was there, but where she was right then I had no idea.  She's looking for Molly about possibly doing another bag (silkscreen on canvas) for this year's Trunk or Treat function.  Molly's bag last year looked really cool, so she'd like another one.  If Molly is making product, it seems like she'd be open to making bags as well- a job is a job.  Meanwhile Kaitlyn had come back from a trip to the building's attic, which she found kind of creepy.  I've never been. Kaitlyn offered to take her, but not before first putting on a pair of latex gloves.  Since I wasn't invited, I left them to their exploration, and headed for my space.

I had brought a few discs with me, and prepared to put one on, the one I made from my last college radio show, which seemed a good thing to listen to while working on some Robert Johnson inspired prints.  However, the disc didn't want to play.   Couldn't find the beginning, and eventually it came to a stop, the machine claiming no disc.  Figure out what happened later, and go on to disc 2.  I had also brought with me my home burned Homicide soundtrack, and to paraphrase from House of the Dragon, it's an album that should have been, but since one was never issued, I made it myself from things I had on my shelves anyway.  (Full story back on this blog in February, 2020.)  It did include some blues, so why not?

Today's task applied to all three blocks drawn so far- fixing the lettering.  In my conversation with Tom earlier this year, he mentioned that Hatch Show Press would be involved, a Nashville print studio that is famous for letter press, and they turn out lots of posters.  The plan here is that our prints will be turned into relief plates, and (I assume) combined with their type to make the prints that will be shown.  However, a lot may have happened since then, and I don't know even if I am still part of the show, so I am planning my own text carved into the block.  What I will send Tom is computer photos of the three prints (without text) and he can decide what he wants.  If he wants the text, or if I want to show them myself, I'll print the lyrics as well.   I included lined sections for words under each print and roughed in words (backwards of course), but I want to start cutting soon, so I need proper lettering, stuff designed to fit the half inch high lines.  So today I did that, redrawing all the lettering, including punctuation, so that it was all the proper height, and checking the spelling while I was at it.   The above photo shows what they look like now.

About ready to cut, which will take a while.  I probably should order some more ink soon.  I will definitely need it to pull the proofs I need for the next step.  I have the paper.  But cutting will take time, so I'm on schedule for now.  My disc ended, and out of curiosity, I tried the first one again.  Machine found the start this time, and when I pressed play, the first track played.  Go figure.  I would have liked to listen to that blues show, but lunch was at home, so I went there.