The Year that Was 2022

 

The year 2022 was kind of a strange year.  Not as bad as last year, but I've had better ones, too.  This one included another hospital stay, this time for a fever and some delusional behavior.  They never figured out what caused it, but they hit me with some general antibiotics, and that knocked it out and allowed me to escape.  I also had my first encounter with Covid, despite many injections and wearing masks often.  This was a few positive tests, but the disease itself never developed, just a bad winter cold, and that eventually passed.  The world is still recovering from Covid, so there aren't many places to teach or exhibit, so in these areas I just do what I can.

Prints- Better than last year.  I sold two older prints out of a show I had at my Studio building, a tenants show they organized.  This required me to print and color two new copies, as I didn't want to sell the one I had shown, and the purchaser wanted unframed prints anyway.  More exciting, I made 4 new prints.  Three were for the Robert Johnson project, organized by a former student and fellow printmaker, Tom Huck, and last I heard, would be exhibited at the Country Music Hall of Fame, would involve Hatch Show Print, a Nashville based letterpress shop and gallery, and some big names were attached to the project.  I don't know how things will end up, but I found three Robert Johnson lyrics that I felt I could develop into a visual form, so I created the woodcuts, sent photos to Tom, who seemed to like what I sent.  Perhaps I'll know more by next December.  I also did another holiday card, printed and now colored with watercolors I used to color those prints I sold.  

Shows- As I said, a lot is still closed down, but we did have a tenants show in the building that houses my Studio.  I had three framed prints in that show, two older ones, and one new one completed in the previous year, and being exhibited for the first time.

Firsts- That Robert Johnson project could be a first, if it happens this year.  It would be my first time exhibiting in Tennessee, and since Tom's work tends to get exhibited and collected, my piece could end up in some other places as well.

Teaching- This past year I ended up teaching four classes in my Studio building, all forms of drawing.  I've taught it before many times, in colleges, and there in the building, so not new for me.  The big issue I had to deal with is that most of my props are still in storage, so I had to find things in the basement, but I know how to find suitable props.  One new thing was a color class, making use of color pencils.  I have done color before, but always with paints.  

Studio- Still a place I enjoy being.  The table I have there is much better for cutting than anything I have where I live, and probably much better for printing, though I haven't tried that at home.   Molly tends to work odd hours, so I probably only saw her a few times the whole year.  

Robert Johnson project continues

 

Yesterday I spent a bit of time working from home, which is fine because I had been up to the Studio for two days already this week and gotten done all the work I was planning.  I had gotten an email from Elyse, saying that the sink in my room was dealt with, and all the wax cleared out of it.  She sent this to Molly as well.  Wax? I don't know about that.  I have never used the stuff, and it's not part of silkscreen, so I don't know why Molly would be using it.  I've never seen her using wax for anything.  But I am glad to have the sink working again, that is to say the drains.  I'll send Molly an email myself later, updating her on this and the card I left her.  I also sent a separate email about some upcoming plans-as the building was talking about another open studio and another tenants show.  I don't know about an open studio.  I have no problem with that, except I have nothing in particular I am working on right now, and the Studio is not that interesting if nothing is going on in there.  At least it's a little cleaner now, Molly organizing a few things before her daughter came in.  As for the tenant show, I can do one of those (I have some recent prints) as long as I have frames suitable for the new prints and can pick up and cut window mats the right size.  Buying mat board is not as easy as it once was, as most of the places I used to get it from have gone out of business.  I did recommend going with the later date (her mass email had said either May or September) if for no other reason that some of the tenants want a lot of time to do anything. 

I also sent Tom the images of the first three items I had produced for his Robert Johnson project, all the 11" x 14" versions.  Unfortunately, the email was sent at that point, so I sent the longer version of Love in Vain in a separate email.  Got a response of sorts this morning.  He said the project is still on, and he plans to be working on it soon.  He loves what I did, and is glad to have me on board.  However, he responded to the second email I sent, so I don't know if that means what he likes is the slightly longer version of Love in Vain.  And he brought up again sending a jpeg at 300 dpi (it was 600 dpi in his phone conversation early this year), which is a problem as the instruction book that goes with my camera says nothing about DPI settings, just sizes of photos and files.  He promises more information soon, and I have questions for him.  If nothing else, I can take photos of whatever it is he wants at every size and send them to him, or the print studio, and let someone there decide what they want.  Once it's decided exactly which image they want.  Either way, I don't have to do any more new prints right now, which helps.  I may pull a better proof of the short version on Love in Vain, just to have it ready, and I'll think about others in the series, but until I have a firm idea or a model lined up, no reason to do anything more yet.

Love in Vain part 10

 

As I have said previously, some measuring found that my print of Love in Vain was too long by about an inch and a half for what was requested.  I had an idea how to shorten it without cutting any more, so I tried that on this second proof.  It involved a lot of tape and some careful rolling.  This new version in now the right length, and I don't think I lost anything important.  Results of today's experiment can be seen below:

I can see the changes I made to the faces, and while this seems to have worked for the male holding the suitcases, I am still not satisfied with the woman's face.  I may redo that for another print if it is wanted.  Some of the solid black sections look a little better, which is expected.  I also eliminated a few of the undesirable blotches, mostly in gray areas.  Unfortunately, I ended up with a smudge of light black on the left margin, some carelessness while adding in the border on this new side.   I know how it happened, and next time I'll make sure it doesn't.  Meanwhile, I'll send both versions to Tom, and see if he wants to include any of the prints I did for this series.  

Another Day for Printing

 

Today was a lot like yesterday, except maybe a little warmer.  Not going to complain about that.  I had more work to do on my various prints, not cutting wood but printing it.  But first I had a few other things to take care of.  I stopped by the bank to investigate my last check from Ocean Grove.  Jeanne had said she mailed it out weeks ago, but I have received no mail from the building.  Whats more, she said the check had been cashed or deposited.  So I stopped by the bank on my way.  I had the check number and date with me.  Spoke to a teller, who told me that if it was just cashed, they had no record of that, but if it was deposited it would turn up.  No deposit for the amount given, so she checked my other deposits, and indeed found it as part of a large deposit. I know I didn't get it in the mail, but perhaps she just handed it to  me and I forgot about it.  Next stop was filling my gas tank, then up to the Studio.  Got there about quarter after 11.

After dropping off my stuff in the room and turning up the heat, I stopped by the office.  I let Jeanne know I had found the check, so she could stop looking for it.  Let Kaitlyn know that I had put my new padlock key on my JSAC chain, and she asked if I knew Molly's plans for the coming year.  No idea, except that Molly doesn't like committing to things, but I do know she likes having a studio.  She will have to be contacted.  Left Molly her card, then got to work.

The first proof of the third print, Love in Vain, was a good print, but in measuring it I found that it was an inch and a half too long. Is this a problem?  I don't know, but I want to send Tom all the possibilities.  So today I took a second proof, but I shortened it.  I didn't want to cut it (wouldn't match up with the lyrics I cut into the block), so I came up with a temporary measure involving tape.  For inking, I measured the correct length from one end (I decided that the left end of the train could be eliminated best), and put down some blue tape over that section on the right side.  Inked everything that was showing.  Next I pulled off all the tape, and put some fresh tape over the un-inked section and a piece of scrap paper, large enough for the print.  Printed the diminished block, re-inking as necessary, then I lifted the paper,  Finally, I put in a new border on the left side, first with a brayer to mark its location, then heavier ink with a piece of mat board. 

Unfortunately, a little carelessness on my part resulted in a little line of light ink in the margin.  Otherwise it's a better proof of the image, though I may have to cut a little more to fix it before proofing again.  Next time I'll use the proper size piece of paper.  The posting regarding this print show it better, if you want to see it.  I'll send both versions to Tom, let him decide what he wants to do. 

I also printed several more copies of my holiday card.  This went fairly fast.  I left the new version of the Robert Johnson print in my rack to dry, and took the cards home to color and fill out when they dry enough.

For music today, I went with Joe Jackson.  Not related to any of the prints, just felt like listening to it.  First I played the oldest album I had, Big World, which I wrote about back in October of 2019.  I burned my copy from vinyl (as it was released back then), a 3 sided record album that seemed designed for disc. (just about one hour)  I think of it as a cold war album, but probably at least half the songs are the relationship type stuff that make up most of his music.  When that ended I put in later album, Volume 4, which was done with his old band, that had appeared on the early records.  (I have one of those as well, but it's in storage now)  Sounds a lot like his older work. Came with a short second disc with live versions of songs from the first two albums, I think practice for the later record, but I never taped that one.  My description of this later album can be found at March of 2020.  

32-20 Blues part 10

 The other block that I printed today was my take on Robert Johnson's 32-20 Blues.   Only one character this time, the woman that Johnson seems to be addressing throughout the song.  Most of the lyrics are about committing various violence toward her, but I chose one in which Johnson claims the problem is that she spent the night with another man.  In my version the woman wakes in a small bed, alcohol is nearby, and she looks a bit confused and disheveled.  Race is purposely left vague, which is fine as this person could be anybody- race is not relevant.  

Probably the most changes made to any of my blocks.  I lightened the floor, to help visually separate it from the dresser that rests on it, and I widened a lot of the lines of white in the blanket, to add some light to the piece overall.  I made the back wall a little lighter, to make it a little different from the shade.  I reduced some of the shading on her face, again to make her seem a little different from all the other gray tones throughout the piece.  Results can be seen below:

The new proof looks largely the same, as it should.  It's a better print, the blacks a little more solid.  But not much different.  As it should be.  It tells the story as I understand it, and I don't think my changes make any difference there.  I think this piece is done, so I'll set it aside for now and move on to the next one.  Text will wait for another time to make that decision.

Walkin' Blues part 13

 Last week I went up to the Studio and made a few minor changes to my first block in this Robert Johnson series.  Not a lot of changes, as I was fairly satisfied with how it turned out, but I did a few changes, a little more being cut.  Now it was time to print the thing, and get it off to Tom to decide what he wants to do.  

First proofings are always the most difficult.  I figure it's because the wood absorbs a certain amount of ink, while after that the block is somewhat sealed by the ink already on it.  In any case, today the printing went much faster than the last time.  The first rolling of ink looked better, and the whole thing was done in less than an hour.  Here are the results:

Changes are minor in this one, but I can see them.  Mostly in the faces, since that's where I made changes.  Just as important, the black areas are a little more dark, more saturated, nice and solid.  One unwanted black blotch is gone.  Borders are a bit better.   So for now I call this one done.  I haven't printed one with the text yet.  My thinking is that it will be done by Hatch Show, since Tom had said they would be involved and that text could be in any typeface I wanted.  At some point I have to decide how I will frame them, and if I do want to print that text that I cut.

One thing I had to consider when doing all these prints was the idea of race.  Robert Johnson was a black man living in Mississippi, and his records would have been aimed at a black public.  He probably never was involved with a white woman, as it was likely illegal back then, and probably would have got him lynched on the spot.  In a color piece, I would have had to make decisions about skin colors, and probably would have integrated the location.   Being a black and white piece, I didn't have to deal with that.  Of the three prints I did for this project, this is the one where it may have been a factor.  The song does not specify the race of the people in the song, so I decided not to specify either.  In my mind, there is no obvious race in any of these figures.  Viewers can decide what they see, but I don't think it's relevant to the image.  We are told that the central character is an attractive woman, but we aren't told what her skin color is, just that all the men notice her walking in, and in my experience, race is not a factor in such situations.  For Johnson it probably was, and this is his song, but the universal nature of it is what makes this project possible.  So I made a black and white print, all the figures defined by contour lines and often with shadows, and as I said, I'll leave it up to the viewers to interpret.  I prefer to do that- let the viewers make decisions, and feel more involved in the process.

A Day for Printing

 

Temperatures are supposed to go up this week, gradually getting near 50 degrees by the weekend.  Don't know yet about precipitation, but at least it won't be as cold.  And the office will be open for a few days, which means the building should be open.  And I have things to print, a bunch of them, so I better go.

Waited for the garbage truck a while, then left around 11 am.  My ink and soap had fully defrosted from its stay in my car, so I loaded that just before I left.  Took two trips to bring everything inside, and that's with the paper already in the Studio, but at least I had Bobby working the door to help me.  (he was waiting for a ride)  

I assumed today would go a little faster, as second proofs always take less ink than first proofs.  Did stop by the office first, where I was told that I had been paid everything I was supposed to.  Going to check with the bank tomorrow about that.  Got a new key for the padlock.  And reported the clogged sink we had.  It looks like Molly hasn't been around the last week, as it looked like the same water that filled the sink last week, which wasn't there the last time I used the sink, and is likely from Molly spraying her screens.  Elyse wanted to see it for herself, so I showed her the clogged sink.  With all that settled, time to get to work.

For music I decided to go with a few Nick Cave albums that I had, first the earlier Henry's Dream, which I wrote about on this blog back in September of 2022.  When that ended, I switched to the later Dig, Lazarus, Dig which I also had on disc, and I wrote about that in August of 2019.   Good art music, and not unsuitable for the prints I was doing.  My goal was to print the two vertical pieces, both with some additional cutting done.  As I expected, today went faster than the first proofing, getting both printed, and darker than the first proofs where I wanted them to be.  And lighter where I had cut a little more away.  I decided to clean my printing tools at my inking table, since the sink was still not functional.  (I'm told that it may be dealt with tomorrow) Not much touch-up needed.  Took proper photographs of the works so I'll be able to send those to Tom soon, put the new ones in my drying rack, and took the old ones home with me to look at.  

I also took a few minutes to cut some heavier paper down to size for cards, as I promised several to other people, and that can't happen if I don't make them.  Printing will have to wait for another time- maybe tomorrow if I can get up there on time.

The Judith Story

As promised, I have a story related to the artwork that inspired this year's holiday card.  Goes back to Carbondale, in the early 90's.  I was teaching 2D foundations, a class that covers the basics of 2D- a little drawing, some color theory, etc.  Took it myself back in the 80's, and the way I taught was influenced by my undergraduate education.  So I would occasionally show some slides of relevant work, as I learned long ago that sometimes it is easier to show examples than to explain ideas.  Seems to have worked out over the years.  

Anyway, I was showing a slide of Gustav Klimt's Judith and Holofernes, perhaps as an example of rhythm in two dimensional art, and mentioned that it was based on the biblical story.  From the other side of the room I heard a voice say, "that's not in my bible."   The speaker was one of my students, a woman older than me, one of my C&T students.  (clothing and textiles, a major that purported to teach about clothing design, though I doubted that anyone who went to college in Carbondale ever was hired to design clothing)  Here she was telling me that the Judith story was not biblical.  I believed it was.  The story was very popular in visual art, and had inspired many artists over the centuries.  If you are not familiar with it, the Jewish people were under siege from Assyrians, and a Jewish woman named Judith (a name that implies a Jewish woman, a female form of Judah), went out and attracted the attention of Holofernes, a general in this siege.  She was invited to come to his tent one night, assisted with getting him drunk, and when he passed out, along with her loyal maid, cut his head off.  She quickly got back home, the headless general was discovered the next day, and the army decided to leave.  Victory for the Jewish people.  The story was the inspiration for many artworks over the years, such as the above oil from Artemesia Gentileschi, but also an even more bloody painting from Caravaggio, and also works from Titian, Raphael, Ribera, Reni, etc.  Especially popular during the Baroque, when action scenes and high drama were praised.  Plus, artists had the opportunity to paint attractive women and violent night time scenes, also popular during the Baroque.  Klimt's version is from the early 20th century, and is less bloody, though it does show a very scary looking Judith holding onto the severed head of Holofernes.  I was familiar with all these artworks.  So how did this student not know the story?

Time for some research.  Now this was back in the days before the internet, so I had to do this from actual books.  But I found the answer.  Toward the end of the 1st century AD, the Jewish authorities decided to bring their massive number of scriptures to some kind of order, and the Book of Judith was removed from their canon.  (there are some historical issues that have resulted in the questioning of its authenticity)  A few centuries later, St Jerome translated the entire Bible into Latin (known as the Vulgate), and knowing this was one of books removed from their canon by Jewish authorities, placed it in a separate section of his new bible, a section known as the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonicals.  This continued to be part of all Catholic bibles, usually found between the Old and New Testaments.  But it was still part of the Catholic bible, so in those countries that remained Catholic (such as Italy and Spain)  the story was well known to both artists and patrons. However, in the Protestant countries (mostly northern Europe), these books either declared as separate non-canonical stories, or were completely removed.  Those who are students of art history may know more about the Protestant reformation than I do.  This student of mine did not know the story, because it probably never appeared in the bible she knew.  So during our next class meeting I told her what I had learned. I feared that she might be offended, by my stating this was a religious story, but she was actually very happy- she learned that there was more bible she could read.   A lot of my college students had never read a book or been to the library, so I was happy, too.

Look up Gustav Klimt on the internet and you will see his version of this painting, probably the most popular work he has on the web.  My version, which substitutes Santa Claus for Judith, and simplifies the image some, can be found on this blog on Christmas day.  Because of my student, I'll never forget Klimt's version, even though the Baroque versions had more influence on my art to follow. In any case, I chose it for this year's card. 

Merry Christmas from Studio Arrabbiata

 

Merry Christmas from Studio Arrabbiata.  This year's card comes courtesy of me and this year's studio assistant is Gustav Klimt.  He did his part in the early 20th century, and I did my part over the last few weeks, as documented on this blog.  As I said earlier, I do have a story to tell about this piece and one of my classes, but I'll save that for another day.  It is kind of educational.  Meanwhile, enjoy the holiday, because we all go back to work next week.

Christmas is Coming part 5

 

Today was a sunny cold day, but I didn't feel like going to the Studio again.  Partly because I didn't need to.  What was needed I could do at home.  My plan for printing is to do that next week, during the days that the office will be open.  But Christmas is coming this weekend, and that means I've got to get some cards ready.  Rain is expected the next few days, so today was a good day to color and photograph what I have done.  I can't take the photo for the blog until it is colored, and I hadn't done that yet, so after my parents went out (I unveil it on my blog on Christmas day), I got out the card proofs, and my watercolors.  On one computer I put on some music, in this case Jimmy Smith's Christmas Cookin' album.  It's one of the discs I had, burned from a tape I had acquired years before.  The tape includes several songs of him with a big band, and several songs of him with his trio. (He played B3 organ, and the trio included a guitar and drums.)  On the tape the two types of backing were mixed up, but on my disc I grouped the band and trio stuff together.  Meanwhile, on the other computer I brought up a copy of the image I was working from, so I could see the original colors.  

I started with the least of my proofs, one I would never send out as a card, just to practice the colors and make a few decisions.  Not too bad.  Made a few changes and started #2.  A better proof, and some better color choices based on what I saw with the first one, and I found that one satisfactory.  So while I still had light, I colored the second one, mounted it to a piece of foam core, and took it outside.  Not much light in the house, not even with the electric lights, so I wanted to shoot it in daylight.  (Normally I do this in my Studio, where the large bank of fluorescents provides enough light to take photographs.)

As for the above photo, I took that indoors, earlier while we had a bit more sunlight coming in, showing all the palettes and pans of watercolors that went into this one.  I have a lot more, but didn't need them today.  Got my photos, will post this one today, and the one of the completed card you will be able to see on Sunday.

Fixing some problems

 

One thing that I expected from seeing the images, is that I could see the flaws in the prints.  Every artist is the first to see the problems in their own work.  Some were known to even go into museums with brushes to fix some issues they had seen in their own paintings hanging there.  Some were caught.  Since I haven't turned these in yet, now is the time for me to fix a few things, before the next printing.  

I had all the blocks in my Studio, so I didn't have to carry them in.  As I expected, they were almost dry, but I still did a little blotting first.  Not much ink came off.  Next was measuring.  I found my original instructions, and it called for 11" x 14", but the other day I wrote that I had done 10" x 14".  Which was right?  And what had I actually done?  I used a wooden yardstick in my car (much lighter than my metal one), and accurate enough.  The two vertical pieces were as I was supposed to make, but the horizontal piece (the train) was a bit long.  Don't know how that happened.  I don't think I can change that in the next printing, so it may end up that way in the photo I send.  I will let Tom know and if he wants that one in particular, either he'll have to take an extra large one, or I'll have to redo that one quickly.  Used my tools, and looked both at the wood blocks and the resulting prints (which had been in the drying rack) to judge what needed to be done, based on what I had seen in my photos of the first proofs.  

Actually started with that one, Love in Vain.  There were a few blobs on ink that resulted in dark spots on the first proof, okay for this test image, but I don't want those in the final version.  Lines that had been cut, were handled either by the same v-gouge used to cut them, or in some cases made thicker with a u-gouge. Used the latter especially to lighten my two figures, both the faces and occasionally some of the clothing and other things they had near them.  Didn't spend much time on that one, as it may not even be used directly.  

Took a break to go wash my hands and see the people in the office.  Most of that was to talk about class related stuff.  Like, where was my missing check, and would I have any classes coming up?  Since the old check never turned up, a new one will be issued.  As for classes, nothing right away (fine, as I am still a little sick, and I could use the break), but maybe in the early spring.  Kaitlyn was all in favor of woodcut being a class, and some of last year's students requested it, but as I warned Jeanne, a lot of people talk about taking woodcut, but many are never heard from again.  And there is the issue of sharing tools in this age of Covid.  So that remains to be seen.  

Back to my work.  Next I dealt with Walkin' Blues.  Just a few changes to faces, a little to clothing, but that was all that was needed.  More time to work on the block that needed the most, 32-20 Blues.  Three things I had picked out to work on were the wall behind the subject (above the bed), the floor next to the bed, and the blanket on top of the bed.  All of this was done with the small u-gouge, widening the smaller grooves that were already there, making these areas all lighter in tone.  The idea is to create more separation, and to improve the balance of value in the image.  Also did some to there figure's face, and a few isolated spots.  

The blocks all look better, so the next thing will be to print them. That will wait until next week, as I expect to be busy this week with some other projects.  As to what I did today, not much on the blocks can be seen easily, so here's a photo of some of what I took off the blocks:

Note the black ink found on this little pieces of wood.   That's what you get from cutting inked blocks.  

Took care of some holiday related errands, then I headed home.  Lot of traffic today, but I got there in time to eat lunch at a reasonable hour.

Christmas is Coming part 4

 

When I finished proofing my 3rd Robert Johnson print, I turned to my Christmas card.  My friends are used to getting them late, a function of those years of teaching, which often went until a few days before the holiday itself.  But since I started this blog, I have always posted the card on Christmas Day, and I want that tradition to continue.  I had the ink out and my brayer coated with the stuff, and it turned out I had a sheet of Rives Heavyweight, which is the paper I used last year and probably will again this year.  That sheet is enough to pull a few copies of the card, try out colors, and one hopes get a good one to photograph and post.

Switched to my T-Bone Walker disc, his T-Bone Blues album, a collection of Atlantic sides put out as an LP in the 60's and long a favorite of mine.  (details on this blog back in October of 2019)  And then I printed a few of the cards.  None are perfect, but good enough. I will set aside the best one, and practice colors on the other two, one of which I hope will be close enough.  I'll use my best colors on the best printed one, and be ready for the 25th.  No, you won't see it here before then.

Not really related, I checked the stats on my blog, and it turns out I passed 100,000 overall views sometime last week. I have no idea what this actually means, but it does seem to be a big number.  Most seem to come from this country, but I have no idea who they are and why they are coming to see my blog. But apparently they are.  For what it is worth.  I know that when it comes to the internet, numbers can be in the millions, so this may be nothing.

Love in Vain part 9

 Another sunny but cold day, which made it a fine day for a Studio session.  I had left some of the materials from yesterday's printing there in the Studio, so I only had to make one trip in this morning, arriving around 11:15.  Had my book of blues discs with me still, so I started with Bob Brozman, his Devil's Slide album.  This is actually the record (which was on the B shelf of my radio station in Virginia for much of my senior year), plus some songs from another album to fill some of the commercial disc space. I was familiar with Brozman from my days as an intern, where the dj I was interning with was doing a jazz show, and was a big fan.  Some of this album is indeed jazz, but it also includes some blues, in fact a song or two from Robert Johnson.   Not the one I was pulling a proof of today.

Once again I tore a piece of Rives Lightweight (my choice of paper for these first proofs) while my hands were still clean, then put out some Outlaw Black ink for the job. I had pulled the other two of my Robert Johnson prints yesterday, leaving me with the one left.  This one differs in that it is a horizontal image, but I had asked Tom if he wanted vertical or horizontal, but he never replied. So he gets some of each, and can decide what he wants. All are the 10" x 14" he requested.  

As I said before, this is one of the more famous of Johnson's songs, if only because it appears in a few versions on some Rolling Stones albums.  Still, it's a good song, some interesting poetry, and one that suited the treatment I was giving it.  If it was a color piece, I would have dealt with the colored lights on the train as mentioned by Johnson, but since I was told it had to be black and white, I came up with a different idea.  I've shown the pencil drawing and cut block in progress, but here is the first proof of the inked print:

I'm of two minds about this one so far.  Some things definitely need to be recut- I'm thinking of the shadows on the faces for sure, and I'll consider more after I've looked at the proof a while.  However, in general I do like the balance of dark and light in the image, this night time scene, which is how I envision this song.  The rail car and the rest of the shadows seem to work.  

My plan is to go back into all three of the Johnson prints when the blocks have dried a little, and make a few minor fixes.  In an emergency, I can send these photos to Tom, examples of what I want to do, but I'd rather send him my fixed prints, even if that means waiting a week or two.

32-20 Blues part 9

 After I finished the first proof, I decided to go ahead and pull one more before I went home, as long as I had ink out, and my brayer was already dirty.  Rather than do the second block, I decided to proof the other vertical piece I had done, which was 32-20 Blues.  A simple image, but one that seemed to work for the song.  I continued to listen to the Robert Cray show I had, and when that one ended, I switched to my Buddy Guy disc, which I had written about back on February of 2020.  Paper was already torn to the right size, and  ink was rolled out ready to go.  

In some ways, this image isn't quite as successful as the other one I did today.  I probably went faster with cutting this block than I did any other one.   Mostly this isn't a problem, but I may have made some decisions faster for that reason.  The figure/bed and background seem to be fine, despite having been almost completely made up.  The thing that bothers me the most is the similarity in value between the floor and the night stand holding the whiskey bottle and glasses.  I can't darken anything, so I will consider if I want to further cut one of them to make that part lighter.  Results can be seen below:

Maybe I'll lighten the far arm, and take some dark out of the top of the bedspread, but there's not much more I can do in those places.  Like with the other one, I'll study my photo for a while as the ink dries, and decide at that point what else I might do with this print.  The balance of light and dark isn't quite as good with this one as the first image.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the same kind of weather, so I may go back to the Studio,  pull a proof of the third block, and maybe a few of the holiday card so I can start playing with color on that one.  Meanwhile, I have these two photos, and if Tom needs something right away I can send them, along with my planned changes, if he needs to know what I am up to.

Walkin' Blues part 12

 Time to start pulling proofs of these Robert Johnson prints.  I have three blocks done, which is all I planned to have at this point.   Plus I have my holiday card also cut. I think I have paper to print a proof or two of that, enough for posting here on December 25th, but that will wait for another day.  I'd like to have some images of these Johnson prints to send out soon, and that means printing them first.  My investigations showed that I had enough ink and paper to do them, and today was likely the nicest day of he week.  Cold to be sure, but at least not raining, and that is important when transporting paper and wood.

I decided to go with the Outlaw Black for these, partly because it picks up detail more than any other ink I've ever tried, and partly because I know I have enough to pull the three proofs.  And I started with the first one completed- Walkin' Blues.  Two trips to bring everything in from my car, but I expected that. While my hands were still clean, I tore enough paper for two proofs.  I wanted to do the third as well, but I didn't think I'd have time for that last one today.  

Put on some blues music of course, my live Robert Cray show, written about back on October of 2021. and maybe a few other times as well.  The ink was stiff as usual, probably not helped by spending the night in my cold car.  But not frozen.  Brought the bag with ink and tools on my first trip, and got the paper and other blocks on my second trip.  Used an ink knife to pull out some ink, and worked it a bit on my inking table, to loosen it a bit, as well as warm it up.   Put on some blue painter's tape to cover the areas I didn't want inked, including the text, since I don't want that in the images I send to Nashville.  Selected a 4" hard brayer to roll it up.  Gave the block a good coating, which revealed the image in a way I hadn't seen yet, but nothing happened I wasn't expecting.  Ink went on a little thick in a few spots, but I blotted up the worst of it, and I knew that in hand rubbing the block they wouldn't appear.  And of course, the first proofing is always the most difficult. so I had to re-ink a lot of the image to get a consistent black over everything I wanted.  

As such, it took over an hour to get that first proof done, not including the hand inking of some areas that just didn't take ink the first time.  But in the end I had a decent proof, good enough to let me know what if any changes needed to be made before the next proof.  Here it is:

So far I like what I see.  I can see lightening the face of my walking woman a little, and adjusting that lopsided eye (too much ink) on the standing man mostly behind the bar, but this one seems to be what I had planned.   I'll look it over in the coming days (this ink has to dry a little before I try cutting any more), and make decisions after that.   The second proof should print a little easier.

Christmas is Coming part 3

 

Another sunny day, and I did all my errands yesterday, so it seemed like a good day to go back to the Studio, and maybe do all the things I had hoped to do yesterday, but had to call off when I was needed to do a bunch of other things instead.  I brought another radio related disc with me, another thing that reflects one of the non-Christmas songs that appear on that show, a song from the then new album from the Gin Blossoms, then Kathy's favorite band of all time.  (probably a highlight of her radio broadcast career was when a station person set it up for her to do a phone/over the air interview with a band member on her weekday rock show, promoting the first small label LP)  This is a home burned disc, with mostly material from the small label "Dusted", the later major label "New Miserable Experience," (the latter included a lot of rerecorded versions of songs on the first album but my disc took some from each with no songs repeated) and some from the EPs  that filled the time in between, I think called "Up and Crumbling" and "Shut Up and Smoke".  (by the way, the songs from the Christmas radio broadcast were "Sister Cry" from the Jayhawks, and "Pieces of the Night" from the Gin Blossoms, which weren't Christmas songs, but I do now own those albums)

First task was to finish that Christmas card block, which I did.  Took about 20 minutes.  Mostly a lot of detail work near the top, producing very little wood shavings, not enough to photograph.  Put all that away and got out what I had hoped to also do yesterday, but had no time for.  I need to pull proofs for the three new blocks in the Robert Johnson series, so I can send the images to my contact and see what he wants to do about our collaboration.  I also want to print several copies of this new card, which will need to be colored as well, and I want to have one to photograph and post here on the holiday itself, now about two weeks away.  I have paper for the former, but not the latter, and then there is the question of ink- did I have any or enough for either one, or do I need to order some of that as well?   I have a large heavy tote bag in the back of my car with all my printing stuff, including whatever ink I have, so today I was seeing exactly what I had.  

The answer is I have some ink.  Two cans I had of black general purpose relief ink were just dried out scraps, and will be tossed out next time it is convenient.  Another two cans of the same ink have some bits under the dried stuff, probably enough to make my cards, so for now I will keep those and try them when I get the proper paper.  I also have a larger partial can of Outlaw Black, which does better with details, so I'll save that for the Robert Johnson series.  I have paper for that, and the blocks seem to be carved, so I may start printing those next week.  Don't have to pull editions, just one good one of each to shoot and send to my collaborator, and we'll go from there.  

While there I took care of some other business.  I asked about being paid for my fourth drawing class, which hasn't happened yet.  Their records show that a check was issued, but was never cashed, so it is not known if one was actually written, or sent or to whom.  That will be investigated further.   The large number of tables and chairs are for a breakfast thing tomorrow, but I have no connection to that group, so I am not worried about it.  Our new director, Elyse, also had a positive diagnosis for Covid last week, and also has gotten over it.  Her theory was that the infection source was that craft fair last week, which was crowded and we both were at, so maybe she's right.  We will never know.

Christmas is Coming part 2

 

I brought home the block for the new holiday card after making it, with intentions of getting all the cutting done at home.  As mentioned last time, there was a Covid problem. Never got the big condition (at least not all I have heard about it), but maybe that's the benefit of all the inoculations and boosters.  I did get a phone conversation with my GP, and he called in a prescription to a local pharmacy.  (I'm sure they didn't want me in their office) and so I took that and it did the trick.  So quarantine for 5 days, mask for 5 days, my prescription (6 pills over 5 days, overlapping both other things), and today was day #6.  I took a Covid test and it came back negative.  So I guess that all worked. Today I celebrated my negativity by going to the Studio for a little while to work.  What could be better than that?

Actually, in some ways it was an improvement.  Space was not a problem, the small block working fine with my limited table space.  And at homeI did have access to the Christmas themed music I was used to, only available on the internet.  But the lighting was not good.  By night I had the light of the chandelier above the table, and with its low wattage bulbs, it was a bit dim.  Hard to see my pencil drawing on the wood. And pretty much every day was dark and gloomy, even if it never rained, it was totally overcast, so I couldn't really work by the sun either.  But today was sunny early, even if I couldn't actually go up there when I wanted to.  (errands, family commitments) Finally left, and got up there around 12:15, but it gave me time to finally work.  Had to work around a large number of tables and chairs in the lobby and hallway, but I found my way to the basement.  

When it comes to music, there is one thing I might listen to that I haven't mentioned yet- a radio show from my old Montclair station, hosted by my friend Kathy, a Christmas themed show.  I burned it to a disk long ago, but the half dozen or so Christmas songs on it (the rest are the typical alt-country/folk she played on her Sunday shows) are why I don't listen to it much of the year, so there is no copy of it in my Studio music.  I can probably remember the artists and songs that made up most of it, and they can probably all be found on the internet, but on their various albums, not worth tracking them all down.  So I had been drawing my block to Christmas blues, and cutting to the Charlie Brown Christmas album (by the Vince Guaraldi Trio), all available wherever there is internet.  I knew I'd have no such luck today.  So I went with the next best thing- other artists I know she played on that Christmas radio show that I do have.  I had time for one such disc today- a home burned one of the Jayhawks, one I believe I wrote about back on November, 2019.  It was listening to this tape of her show that made me want to hear more of that album and band, which is what lead to this disc in the first place, a relic of my Texas trip.

Luckily it's a small block, because I didn't have a lot of time to work today.  Even with that, and the piece I got done in the dim light I had at home, I still didn't finish the whole thing today, but I made good progress, before packing up and heading for some more errands, then finally getting home to have lunch around 3:30.  Of course, I can't show you what I've done, so the image above is the evidence of today's cutting. 

Christmas is Coming

 

Now that we are in December, I have to give this Christmas thing some thinking.  That's because just about every year I produce a holiday themed woodcut card, borrowing from a famous color artwork, and though the card is small, it does take time to select my starting artwork and to do the rest.  Not helping is that my vast collection of art related books is in storage still, so I have to rely on my memory for ideas, and then at least I can go to the internet to find any image I need, as long as I can remember it in the first place.  Luckily my memory still seems pretty good, but if it wasn't, I wouldn't know it anyway.

In any case, I did choose a work, a painting I haven't done before, by an artist I do know well, and in fact I have shown this work to classes before, but that story I will save for another time.  I cut a piece of birch of a fitting size, and decided to do it after I finished the 3rd Robert Johnson block.  Then I ran into a little problem called Covid.  I was coughing and sneezing up a storm, but to me it seemed like a mid-winter cold, yet at my mother's insistence, I took a home test, and it said I was positive.  Took another test, same result. Okay, get it checked out.  Went out to a doctor's office/urgent care center, took another test, and still positive.  I don't think this means I have the disease, because this just means I have been exposed to the virus, and considering how much is going around, it would be a miracle if I wasn't.  I have never had a fever, or any of the other main symptoms, and obviously I am not in a hospital, since I have computer access right now.  I do know I have a cold, and that seems to be getting better.  But I do have to spend a few days at home relatively isolated until I see where this goes.  

However this is a good time to do so, as this is a small block to work on, one that fits my table space better, and my choice of music for this is only available on my home computers. When working on this annual project, I like to listen to Christmas music, which may be because I don't listen to it the rest of the year.  For that reason, I didn't make copies of that music to bring to the Studio, so like my art books, they are also in storage.  Luckily, almost any music I can name can be found on the internet, so if I can remember it, I can find it.  However I don't have internet access in the Studio, so being home for now isn't a bad thing.  For example, one of the things I listen to while working on my card is a compilation of Christmas themed blues songs, which it seems a lot of artists have done over the years.  I don't have access to that disc at the moment.  But I can pull up a themed playlist of videos on YouTube, and so I can listen to Charles Brown, Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Lowell Fulson, and many others, sing about Santa and others.  That's what I listened to tonight as I drew with pencil on a piece of wood.

As far as the card itself, tradition is that I don't show it here until Christmas Day, and that still goes.  All I will say for now is that it is based on a famous painting from 1901, and I will be turning it into a woodcut colored with watercolor.    As far as who is helping with this image, you'll have to wait a few weeks for that.