Achluophobia part 3

 I decided to take a trip to the Studio today.  Had no other place I had to be, and felt like getting some more work done on my current block.  So after breakfast and bringing in the empty garbage can, I did.  Was in a mood to listen to some Zombies, so I brought my jazz/pop book of discs with me.  I only have one album of theirs with me right now, a collection of A and B sides of all singles from 1964 to 1969, which functions as a greatest hits album, and perhaps an unmade middle album, between their hit single debut, and their label swan song LP.  I've written about the band more extensively back in January of 2020 if you want to know more.

I knew that part of today's drawing would be working on the furnace built into the wall, there in the basement, which has a date on it as "modified 1897", one of the fun artifacts of life in the basement. I decided it had to be part of my print.  The elements of my piece are from all different parts of the passages down there, grouped together in my new composition.  As I stood there, with my cane getting ready to sketch those cast iron furnace hatches, a part of the maintenance staff asked if I needed help.  No, I told him, just sketching the furnace as part of my new piece.  Told him about my plan and he agreed instantly, saying he's heard the same thing from others in the building, afraid to go downstairs.  He even said something about comparisons to "Silence of the Lambs" and I told him I understood.  "It's all the bricks down here." I told him.   He left me to my task, and before long I had a more detailed version of the item in my sketchbook.

On to the Studio, where I worked some more on my block drawing.  Of course I redrew the whole furnace area, adjusting the perspective to better match the brick wall.  I also used the time to fix some of the bricks at the top of the facing wall, and drew in some things near the top of the tympanum above the door opposite one of the doors to our Studio.  I also changed the pipes a bit near the upper left corner- less detailed than what I had there, but perhaps more accurate.  Also went ahead and made some darker marks in the areas I knew would be solid black- won't affect my cutting plans, just to help me see the design a little better.  Results are below:

The new details on the furnace aren't necessarily finished, but are much closer to what actually exists.  I still have to come up with a figure in the shadows of the dark hallway, but I didn't need that today.  But it does seem to be coming together.   That's a good thing, and I have a few weeks left before I need to have it done.

Achluophobia part 2

 

Been a very busy week for medical appointments, but I had a few hours to kill today and took a ride up to the Studio.  I had planned to talk to Elyse regarding some emails she sent out this week, but she wasn't in. It can wait until next week. 

The open studio event is about a month away, so I do need to finish drawing the new block if I plan to cut it as part of my studio demonstration, which is the plan as of now.  I saw that Molly had been in over the past week, so that's a good sign. But I was there for me.  An appearance by someone on a morning show had put me in the mood for a jazz singer, so I started with something from my jazz/blues set of discs, New Moon Daughter from Cassandra Wilson.  A mix of unusual covers and originals, and a very mellow bit of music to listen to while working.  Previously written about back on January of 2022 if you want to know more. When that ended, I went with more jazz, mostly instrumental, the sound track from Fire Walk With Me, David Lynch's follow-up to his Twin Peaks television series.  Wrote about that back in August of 2022.

While I was there I was working on the new block. What I decided to do today was work on the brick wall that faces the viewer.  A lot of information that most will probably not notice, but it's important to me that it be fairly accurate.  Mostly I was working from my sketches, but when I needed to I took a step into the hallway to check on how things were constructed.  Over my years of studying art history, I have learned a thing or two about architecture, which gives me some understanding about how this basement was built.  (Not quite like the crypt level of a Gothic cathedral. but not too far off either.)  I have also seen a few videos of old building being restored and have learned a little bit about basic engineering as part of that.  Below is what the block drawing looks like now:

This was probably the most complex area of the drawing to complete. so it's good that I have gotten it out of the way for now.  These bricks are just penciled in, but this is probably how they will end up.  I didn't touch the furnace yet, or the second figure in the shadows around the corner, nor have I finished the figure inside the door, but I have time to get all this done.

2023 Tournament of Art part 3

I'm a little late in posting this, as I kind of forgot about it.  So better late than never.

My good luck ran out over this past weekend.  I only had 3 teams alive in my brackets in the round of 8.  Of course I am not the only one.  As it was pointed out in the telecast, this was the first year since they began the current brackets that no #1 seeds made it to the Elite 8.  The selection committee did a terrible job of assigning the seeds this year, as most of the expected high ranked teams were gone in the third round.  I only had one team in my brackets left to be part of the fourth round- University of Connecticut, a #4 seed.  The good news is that they won their game, quite handily, and moved on to the Final 4.  The bad news is that I had them losing in the semi-final, so I am now done with my picks.  I can't get any more points in the last 3 games.  

It goes without saying, that all my art schools are gone now, too.  I am close with some, but not actually in.  For example, I have shown art in Miami, but not at the University of Miami.  I have shown art and spent a week as the guest of the University of Texas, but at the branch in Arlington, which has its own team, and is not the one in the basketball tournament.  I have shown art, been discussed, and my show written up in Princeton papers, but none of this occurred at the University, but at an unrelated Theological Seminary.  One of those teams is still alive, but it is not one of my art schools, so it doesn't count.  So I am done with this year's tournament.  I still plan to watch it, but I no longer have a link to any of the schools.

Achluophobia part 1

 Time to start a new block I think.  Not much I can do with the Robert Johnson prints right now, and the open studio thing happens in about a month. It would be better if I had something to work on that day, which means I have to get a block started. 

So I set out for Ocean Grove this morning, with plans to draw.  I had gotten an email yesterday from the open studio organizer, requesting that we let the office know if we were planning to participate in the event.  So after dropping off my stuff in my space, I went to the office and let Elyse know I would be there. (I figured she already knew, as I am on the postcard for the event, but as long as I was there...) Another thing I had realized was that the postcard for the event could not be mailed as a postcard, but she knew that already.  I also asked about whether she had contacted Lisa Bagwell regarding an Earth Day event.  She had been in touch, and there will be an exhibition now, as Lisa is not available in the appropriate month.  Well, as long as things work out for everyone.  She also gave me the news that Molly may be part of this open studio thing (her studio, too, so she is certainly welcome to be there) and she finally signed the lease.  Good to know I am not being thrown out of there right now.

All that settled, I could get to some work.  I had brought my jazz/blues set with me today, and from that I ended up listening to some John Coltrane while drawing.  Two of his sixties albums, when he became most famous.  I started with A Love Supreme, probably the work he is most known for, and definitely something that shows his individuality more, and a sound that only he had.  When that ended, an earlier album, My Favorite Things, which includes a cover of the title song and 3 other songs, which I think were all standards, though my original copy is in storage like most of my stuff.  All good performances, and he and his combo arranged the songs the way they wanted, but not quite as ground breaking or unique as the other album.  I found I have not written about either album before, so here's something new to everyone here.

This new block has roots in occurrences over the past few years, some written about here, no doubt.  For example, as I took the elevator ride to the third floor for a Christmas volunteer luncheon in the cafe place,  I was questioned by three older women, going to the same place, who weren't sure if I belonged in the building, through I know I had been renting space for more than a decade.  Why?  They had never been to the basement and had no plans to go there.  At the last open studio, I shared the elevator again with people who took the ride with me to the basement, but didn't get out there, going back up.  As I left the elevator, they talked about how creepy the basement was.  and I heard more after the doors closed.  Even in the office a few days ago we talked about how people who are from the upper floors never go down there.  The basement was not as fixed up as the rest of the building (I have said that it has kind of a 'Silence of the Lambs' vibe), but I've been working down there for 15 years, and I'm not bothered by it.  But obviously some people are.

I went to google and looked up fear of basements, and found that there is no official psychological disorder for it, though it is the most commonly feared room in an given building.  (is there no Greek word for basement?)  However, it gave four related fears that are recognized and may relate to a fear of basements.  There was xenophobia, or fear of the unknown.  Well, there may be some of that, but the term is often used for fear of foreigners, so I'll skip that one.  Another was kenophobia, fear of empty spaces.  That doesn't apply, as the basement of our building is full of furniture, tools, boxes, garbage cans, etc- definitely not empty.  Next was cleithrophobia, or fear of being trapped.  This one is maybe a little closer, as the basement can be a bit confusing.  Our new director has been there in a basement office for months (there is an outside entrance to it) and is only now learning her way around all the hallways down there. Molly painted a yellow path down the hallway from the front lot staircase to our space as it could be hard to find.  However, I don't feel trapped down there.  Our studio has two doors to the hallways, both accessible, and windows on the ground level outside-just climb a chair, open the window, and you would be in the back parking lot. Our space is also just steps from a central staircase to the first floor, and from a back staircase that leads to the back stage and a back parking lot, steps from the loading ramp that also leads to the back parking lot, down the hall from the front staircase, down another hall from the office (with it's door to the outside), not to mention the elevator, but in a fire I wouldn't take that to escape.  No, I never feel trapped in my space, so that one is out.  The last option was achluophobia, or fear of darkness (not to be confused with fear of night, a very different thing), which could apply.  Individual rooms are lit inside, but the hallways used to be dark.  Now there are motion sensitive lights in the hallway that come on when approached, but otherwise it's pretty dim down there.  So that's the one I'm going with.

Another factor may be the recent Robert Johnson prints.  All involve some darkness and shadows, either at night or interior spaces, and I liked those black and white prints with a lot of black in them.  It works for me as art, so maybe that's why I'm doing another black and white print set in a dark space.

I started preparations a few weeks ago, drawing aspects of the basement in my sketchbook. A partly open door to a boiler room. An unfinished (or partly broken) brick wall.  Dark hallways. Lots of overhead pipes, which may be part of the original plumbing, or something worked out later by Herb and his co-conspirators.  Wall mounted furnaces that date from the 19th century.  Electric lines leading to switches and unknown devices.  Later I worked out a basic composition, combining many of these elements, and others (figures will have to be in this, lurking in the shadows) again in the sketchbook.  I also cut a block to the right size, same as my supermarket prints.  I have frames and mats that size, so I might as well use them. 

With nothing else to work on, today I began the block drawing for this piece.  Results are below:

I didn't get too far today, just some basic composition.  There will be a lot more detail in this one eventually.  Next week is a busy one for medical appointments, but I expect to get in there at least once, and can continue filling in parts of this drawing, or change things around completely if I'm not satisfied with it.  My self imposed goal is to get it done in a month, so I'll have something to cut at the open studio.

Love In Vain part 12

 I was not satisfied with my last proofing of the full block, including the cut text, of my Love In Vain block.  The repairs I made were probably good enough for a photograph to send out for the Nashville show, but inspection of the proof showed that it wasn't good enough to be exhibited, so I decided to take another crack at it today.  The block and paper were there in my Studio, and everything else was in my car.  Warm enough (today is the first full day of spring), that I didn't have to worry about fluids freezing, and they wouldn't take long to warm up. 

Left my backpack by the driveway until I was back from filling my gas tank, and forgot to bring discs with me completely, so I had to rely on what was there.  Luckily there are always some there for emergencies like this.  Stopped by the office to give them the update about the lease and provide more information about stairs and dormers and the third floor, then on to my space and getting dirty.  

What I did first, after getting out the block in question, was do some more carving.  I knew I had picked up a little ink here and there in the last proof, including some around the cut lettering, and the best way to not get that again is to eliminate the wood that picked it up last time. Using the block and the last proof (still there in the Studio), I took care of that.  Tore a sheet of Rives Lightweight to the right size, then got out some ink. I was a little more careful with the inking and printing this time, and the result was a better proof. Not perfect, but better for photographing, and probably suitable for showing.  I will let it dry first before I try to fix anything, but I think I'm done with this one for now.  Didn't take an official photo of it yet, but this shot of my table should give you an idea of where I am at.

By the way, the music for today started with one of the discs I left behind, for Molly and for emergencies- The Righteous Ones by Toshi Reagon, which I have written about back in August 2021 if you are interested.  When that ended I played one of Molly's recent pile, Doolittle from the Pixies.  Actually it is one of the discs I used to keep there as well, and it is that disc that I wrote about back in October 2019.  Those two albums were enough for the time this took, a relative quick process since I had just printed this one a week or so ago, and this one is maybe the fifth proof I have taken of this block.

Probably at my next visit, I start a new block drawing.  

2023 Tournament of Art part 2

 

We are now though the first week of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and thought the first two rounds.  In general, not doing too bad with my picks- I chose #15 Princeton for two rounds, not because they are a local team, but because I have seen big schools struggle to deal with their idiosyncratic Ivy League style of play, and it paid off as they reached the sweet 16.  In fact, I did well everywhere but the East region, where I am now wiped out for the rest of the tournament.  However, everyone I have in the other three regions is still in it, with the only teams I got wrong in early rounds already eliminated by other teams.  So, 23/32 in the first round, 11/16 in the second round.  No more games until Thursday, and I'll post and update after next Sunday's games.

My art schools haven't done so well.  Both Illinois and Northwestern lost to higher seeds, so not unexpected.  Of course, with a #15 and a #16, both from New Jersey, winning on the first day and one on the second day, there will be some thought to how teams get seeded.  But probably not, as the selection committee is dominated by the large schools of the midwest, so we get lots of those teams, even if they rarely get past the first two rounds.  

St Joseph's Day 2023

 

There are two food related holidays celebrated at Studio Arrabbiata.  One of those is Mardi Gras, which can be a lot of things, but I think of it as a food holiday, since part of my annual celebration includes cajun food, even if it means making a batch of jambalaya myself.  The other day is St. Joseph's Day, always on March 19th.  St Joseph is the patron saint of carpenters and woodworkers, and for this alone I should mark his day.  However he is also the patron saint of Italy and all Italians, and this studio has an Italian name.  But the way this day is celebrated is with an Italian pastry, as Joseph is also the patron saint of bakers of desserts.  This is a good holiday.

Many years ago, when the Southern Graphics annual convention was being held at Rutgers, I made the drive up each day to hang with my printmaking friends and go to interesting panels.  On that Friday, which was on a March 19th, I decided to bring some St Joseph pastries up to New Brunswick for everyone to enjoy, including some disposable plastic utensils to cut them up.  Unfortunately, most of my friends were gone, up to the city to make final arrangements for our group show in New York City, which was the first official function of the Outlaw Printmakers.  So I did benefit from this, and it's at the opening of this show that I met Molly, who I share this studio space with.  But it did leave me with a box full of pastries.  No problem- all the college students were still there, so I shared these delights with them, who of course had no idea who St Joseph was or why I was celebrating it, but they did enjoy some sugary delights.  They also thought it was a good holiday.   I made some friends that day, and probably got some shows out of that.  My professor friends missed out on what I brought.

Yesterday, not knowing for sure if I was going to get a St Joseph pastry or not, I decided to make another Italian delight, pappardelle bolognese.  The noodles (wide, flat) were store bought and dried (purchased for my mother who kept complaining that my nephew hadn't selected this dish for his family organized First Communion party) while the sauce was made at home adapted from a recipe we got from relatives in Tuscany.  There are many recipes for a bolognese sauce on the internet and television, and all are a little different, but it seems to be the closest thing to this recipe.  The relatives called it sugo, which is just Italian for sauce.  Years ago I adapted it for American availability and everyday eating, and I have probably made it hundreds of times, so I can easily do it from memory. Just needed some beef, and got that yesterday.  Made the sauce yesterday, the pasta last night, and had a feast.   Below is what it looked like:

But as it turned out, my mother did go out this morning and get some St Joseph pastries, in this case large zeppeli, filled with some kind of cream.  I favor cannoli cream, but some prefer custard, and I've seen whipped cream. But why would I want one of those others when I can have cannoli cream?     

As it turned out, I decided to eat only half, and save the other half for tomorrow.  (did have a cream filled donut this morning, and I shouldn't be eating two of those in one day) And we did have ravioli for dinner, so there was some Italian food there as well.  Plenty of sauce for this coming week, and I'll probably freeze a little as well.

Vermeer

 This morning the CBS Sunday morning show did a story about a new Vermeer show that is going on in Amsterdam I believe.  These days Vermeer is quite a big deal, featured in all the art history textbooks, and a prize for any museum fortunate enough to have any of his paintings in their collection.  I learned about him in detail taking a course on Baroque Art as an undergrad, and he is a famous part of the Dutch Baroque.  In his lifetime, not so successful, which is typical of artists unfortunately.  At the time of his relatively early death (in his early 40's) he had completed maybe 3 dozen paintings, left behind a large family, and sold very little.  His widow traded his works for things to keep the family afloat.  His work is now in major collections and not on the open market, but one might expect hundreds of millions of dollars if they did ever get offered for sale.  

There are several in museum collections in New York City, but I was very excited by the opportunity to see 17 of them gathered in one place for a major traveling show in Washington DC, which opened in 1995 I believe.  I had a friend in Virginia within walking distance of the DC Metro, the train/subway system that serves the city and brings in people from the suburbs.  (signs in the parking lot directed drivers to the Park and Ride lots or the Kiss and Ride approach, the former for those commute and park there, the latter for those who get dropped off by loved ones- I walked up to the Kiss and Ride and walked in that way) My friend didn't mind letting me crash there to go see the show, but there was one problem- the government was shut down for months in a monetary dispute, which also meant the shutting down of things like national parks and museums, and this Vermeer show was in the National Gallery.  Finally this was ended, and I went down in early 1996.  The show was free, but you had to get a ticket that day.  So I got up early, dressed like a businessman, and took the walk and train into the city.  It was still winter weather, so in a cold rain (with London Fog raincoat and umbrella) I waited on a line that started around the back of the large building, and continued halfway around the building and into the front door, then up a stairway to a desk.  Got my ticket and an entry time in the afternoon.   To kill time I went to the other building that makes up the National Gallery and saw a nice show of Winslow Homer, not a bad way to spend a few hours.  This was a long day, but this was the most of his work seen in one place since the estate sale following his death, about 400 years earlier.  

I was there at the proper entry time to see the show.  Entry times were a common thing back then, to try to space out the attendance.  Problem was that there is no exit times in this case, so no one had left and the gallery was full.  I sometimes compare it to being on a subway at rush hour, people packed in shoulder to shoulder.  We gradually squirmed our way close enough to see each painting, but you only got a small time to see it up close, before someone shoved you out of the way so they could see it.  Still worth it.  As good as Vermeer's paintings look in reproductions, they look even better in person.  If I were still a painter, I would have been too intimidated by his skills to continue, but by then I was a woodcut printmaker, with enough painting background that I could appreciate what he did.  

There are those who say he benefited from the use of a camera obscura, a simple ancient device that would project images on a wall, allowing artists to trace shapes and get the perspective right.  Maybe so, but one still has make and mix paints and apply them to a surface, no simple feat.  X-rays done now show he often made changes as he went, so he was probably making use of artistic knowledge, not just tracing a projection.  One thing that was valued in the Baroque period was the use of values, light and dark, whether it be Italian, Spanish, or Dutch, and there were masters in each culture.  Vermeer was among the best, and I often showed slides of his paintings to my students as examples of what value could do in two dimensional art.  

Amsterdam is a long way from here, but it doesn't matter, because the show has been sold out for its full duration.  It's even bigger, with works by Vermeer numbering something in the upper 20's.  However, if it was much closer and I could get a ticket, I'd probably go see it.  It's worth it.

More About Love in Vain and printmaking

 Another long day today.  First, a doctor's appointment, but I'm not going to give the details here.  From there, I drove to the Studio.  I ran into Keely in the parking lot (or perhaps she ran into me) and she mentioned that the new cards and flyer were in and in the office, if I wanted to get some to hand out.  I was planning to go there anyway, but now I had another excuse. 

First I dropped off things in my space.  The lease was still on one of Molly's tables, still not signed.  I checked in the office about the cards and flyers, and got a few of those.  Let them know the status of the lease, which I couldn't do anything about myself.  

I wasn't planning to do any major cutting or printing today, but I figured there was one thing I could fix if the ink was dry enough.  There was a blotch of ink on a white window, something that would be noticed.  Couldn't blot it away while it was wet.  However if dry, I might be able to scrape it away with a sharp knife.  Might be noticed by someone studying the proof itself, but might not turn up in a photo.  So I pulled out the proof I pulled last week of the whole block.  Good news- it was dry.  Bad news- there were some ink blotches besides the window problem, very noticeable on the surface, so this proof was unacceptable for exhibiting, and I'd have to pull another one for the show in the fall.  That can wait.  

Still, I might be able to use this one for the photo to send to Nashville, if that is how we end up doing this thing.  Best option I found today for this was to turn off all the lights and take a large format photo.  Somehow this all worked, and the results can be seen above.  Still some shadow on the left side, so I'm not done with this yet.  I would still need to pull a better proof for the exhibition itself, but as I said, that can wait.

I also took photos of the cards (put two side by side so you can see front and back) and the flyer (save that for the day of in April), since I had the camera there anyway.  Also went across the street after 1 pm (the lunch crowd would be gone by then) to get a big slice for lunch.  Had a beer with it brought from home- the only cold single serving beverage I had in the fridge.

 Brought back a copy of the latest Tri-City News, a free give away.  I looked through that while I had my pizza, a slice of what they call vodka sauce with chicken.  More ads than articles these days, but I guess that's how they pay the bills.  (its an entertainment paper, and I have been in it occasionally)  One thing I found was an article about an art show coming up this weekend in Red Bank, a four person show.  The interesting thing is that I know two of the artists.  One, Jill Kerwick, was a regular in our critique group.  The other is Joe Borzotta, the organizer of this artist studio event, and a resident of our building.  They are not the curator of this show, so they couldn't have put me in this show even if they wanted to, but the inclusion of Joe might lead to more art people visiting our building, and that's not a bad thing.  

While I was in the building, I decided to look in on the future print studio.  I saw that the sink I built for Mary was now on all four legs.  Not hooked up to any water yet, but it is standing up.  It was next to the current sink, and the press (on its cart) pushed to nearby.  The photo below shows how it looks now.

The room is still full of all kinds of tools and other junk, so I don't see it becoming a studio any time soon.  But things are at least a little further along. 

2023 Tournament of Art

 March madness has crept upon us again, and tonight was the annual selection show that goes with it, where all the schools invited to appear in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament are named and seeded. It is my custom on that day to make my own list of all the schools from that list that are also places I have had some kind of art involvement- a collection, an exhibition, a publication, a teaching job, etc.  I always have some, but this year it's a very short list.  I had some schools that were in contention, but they all lost too many games down the stretch, or to the wrong teams, or both.  In the end I have two.  Here they are in chronological order of my links there:

#9 seed University of Illinois- When I was in grad school at Southern (as it's referred to in that state), we had an exchange exhibition with U of I, and I showed the recently completed Fourth of July series, mounted to foam core sheets.  Probably for the best, as I was given a brick wall to hang it on, and one with  power strips and light switches mounted on it.  Luckily I was able to get a knife and cut my backing apart to work around those obstacles, and attach the separated pieces to the wall out of sequence.  

#7 seed Northwestern University- A juried show for college students in Illinois, and they accepted one of my saint prints.  A long ride from Carbondale, but an excuse to visit my cousin who lived in a town surrounded by nearby Chicago, which also gave me a place to crash that night.  Many of my fellow grads at my school submitted entries, and I think four of us were accepted.  

And that's all for this year.  As is also my custom, on each weekend I'll post updates as to how my schools are doing.  Based on the seeds, they are not expected to do well, but stranger things have happened.

Love in Vain and Other Stories

 A very busy day today.  However one thing I discovered early on was that my cell phone was almost completely drained, so I had to deal with that, rather then go out early.  While that charged (takes about 2.5 hours) I sent out a reply email.  The person who is doing the flyer for our upcoming open studio event had a question about Molly- essentially is she out there?    So far Molly had not replied to any of her emails requesting spelling and other verification for the flyer, and wondered if I knew anything.  Join the club, as Molly hadn't replied to me either on the topic.  So I told this person that I knew nothing, but that this was typical for Molly, so don't take it personally.  

I also looked again at the recent email from Tom.  I had written him a few days ago requesting more information regarding his choice for a piece for his Robert Johnson project, as his last email was confusing me.  Didn't know what he wanted, and his request for dpi measurements for photos made no sense either.  He sent a reply a few days later, stating that he still hadn't decided which of my pieces he wanted for this show, though he was leaning toward the Love In Vain piece, which he called "badass."   I suppose it is.  Of the three woodcuts I sent him as possibilities, it is in my opinion the best one, even though it's a horizontal, and I don't know if that would work.  

Also while home, I checked out some of what I had in the basement.  The most practical thing for me to do in terms of framing work for shows is to work with frames I already have.  Saves money, uses things that already fit in the limited storage space I have, and all the places I used to buy frame parts have gone out of business.  Looking at what I had downstairs, and taking a few measurements, I decided that the frames and plexi I had will work fine.  I should recut the mats however, so I may try to buy more mat board (I think I can still get that) and make new mats for what I put in the tenants show.  But that's not until the fall, so I have time on that. 

My phone fully charged, and lunch eaten at home, I was ready to go to the Studio.  Brought my camera and my cutting tools, as I planned to make a few changes.  Tom was leaning toward the train image, but I still didn't know if he wanted the slightly too large one he responded to, or the properly sized one.  Simple solution- get one ready for both sizes and take photographs to send.  I had a good photo of the shortened version, so my plan for today was to print a proof at the full size.  And whether or not I used it for Tom's project, that can be the one I put in the local fall show, where there are no size requirements.  

Stopped on the way up for gas, then drove to Ocean Grove.  I was able to carry in everything in one trip, and all was going well, until I reached the basement.  From inside the elevator, I could hear power tools, which meant someone working in the open space in front of Bobby's studio, or in the room by the ramp to outside.  Once I left the elevator I could see who was working and a familiar sight.  It was our maintenance guy and a helper putting together the sink base I created for my former student for her planned printmaking studio in her house.  He asked if it was familiar and I said yes, as it was something I had made once before.  It was mostly intact, so I had to squeeze to get past it to my space.  Dropped off the stuff I was carrying.  Got my camera to take a photo of the assembled table, and it was gone, moved down to its space.  So I went to the office, to let them know that Molly had at least taken the lease out of the envelope, though not signed it yet.  And also let Elyse know about my exchange regarding the flyer.  She thought Molly's name was on the things.  I don't know, and it's not really my concern.  Stopped by the mens room to grab some paper towels for the eventual clean up, and took a look into the room planned for the future print studio.  My sink base was there, but now without the legs at one end.  Don't know what that's about, as I saw it fully built earlier.

I also spotted Mary's small roller press in that room, so I guess that was also picked up and brought over.  

That room will need a lot more work before it is ready to be a studio. but I'm glad the things have been brought over.

For today's plan, I needed to prepare a few things.  Paper first while my hands were still clean. Pulled out a sheet of Rives Lightweight, tore it down to the proper size. and set aside. Done.

Next I dug out the block for that print.  I removed all the blue tape that was left from the last time I printed it.  The ink under it was dry, but my idea was to cut all that dry ink away.  Removing that wood meant that it wouldn't pick up ink again.  Done.  Next was taking some ink out of the can and preparing it.  I went with the Outlaw Black I had been using, plus I had some available.  Used an ink knife to get some ink out of the can and spread it- warming it up and pulling out some bits of skin.  Then I inked the block.  One big change- for the first time I was printing the text I had carved beneath the images, lyrics to the song that inspired it. Paper was torn to a size to allow this.  Once the block was inked I place the paper on top and began the rubbing process.  Then re-inking, to get those parts of the block that had not been taking ink.  Took it as far as I could, then lifted off the paper and did some touch up with mat board, on places that just wouldn't take ink.  Results can be seen below.

For music I had not brought either of my books of discs, and decided I would just find something that was there.  What I didn't know was that I would take something from the pile of discs that Molly had brought in and left on the shelving unit.  So as I worked, I had on two discs of music from Nina Simone.  Both released in the 60's.  I think the albums were I Put a Spell on You (1965) and Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967). Neither was something that I feel I have to own, but neither was worse than the lesser things in my Jazz/Blues book, so not bad to work to, and something new for me.

I also took photos of it at the large format, or what I think will work for the Nashville part of this project.  Saw one more area that could use some touch up and tried to fix it while it was up on my tack wall, leaning over bags and the shelving unit.  This turned out to be a bad idea, and a little ink ended up in one of the white areas.  I can fix this when dry, at least good enough to take a photo, if it's the one Tom ends up selecting.

Back home I edited the photos for this blog posting.  Despite the unfortunate bit of ink, I did learn two important things from today's printing. First, I can edit the photo in such a way to exclude that bit of text, so if it's not needed for Nashville, not a problem.  I also saw some reflection in the top of the image, that no amount of editing could remove.  So I couldn't use this photo for the Nashville project anyway.   Once dry I will try to remove the mistake with the ink and take some better photos of the result.

Another Open Studio Update

 

I had updated my posting about the next open studio event at our building in Ocean Grove, to include the chosen date of April 22nd, a Saturday.   However, since then there has been a change, apparently a concern by one artist that this would be a violation of Jewish sabbath law, and the person she shares the studio with won't participate, so she asked permission of the other participants and the building to move it, and it was granted.  So now the new date is Sunday, April 23rd.  For now I will assume the time is the same, but I'll know more when the publicity comes out.  We have been asked to send our names and descriptions of our media by tomorrow for inclusion on the postcards and such, and these may be available by the weekend.  So if I get an image or an object, it will get posted here, and you will know, too.

Studio Activity

 

Today seemed like a good day to get up to the Studio and get some work done.  I had an idea for a future project, and nothing more important that I had to do today, so I took the ride after breakfast.  I used by new power saw to cut a block from my sheet of plywood.  I don't necessarily have a project for it yet, but I will eventually need one and it fits a frame I have.  I did some sketches in my sketchbook of things there in the basement, and idea I have, but I don't know if it will turn into something or not.  All the sawdust generated by my cutting off a piece of wood gave me an excuse to sweep the floor around my table, so I did that as well.  I also retrieved a bag full of plastic parts, mostly bottle caps, I had in my Studio.  These are for my niece, who I heard collects them as part of her Girl Scout troop for possible recycling into a bench or something, so I planned to offer them to her next time I saw her.  If she doesn't want them, I guess they will go back.  I used to save such things for my 3D students at my colleges for use in their artificial materials projects, but I don't work at either school any more, so I don't need them.  I also used to give them to an artist I know who used such things to make art, and she was a regular in the critiques we used to hold there, but that stopped a few years ago also.  

I had noticed an envelope with Molly's name on it and a piece of tape, on one of her tables, which is something the office had planned to do, so I stopped by on my way out to confirm this.  Had my bag of plastic stuff with me. I had been jokingly accused to stealing things from the building (not that they have anything worth stealing there), and to prove what I had was not something from there, I showed them what it was.  This led to a whole discussion about recycled materials and holding some kind of Earth Day celebration there.  If that happens, they could do worse than get Lisa Bagwell involved.  Above we see one of Lisa's sculptures, from a juried show in Belmar.  (she's the artist I had been saving them for in the past)  Back when I taught 3D as a college class I used to borrow some of Lisa's sculptures as examples to show my students, and they were always very impressed with what she could do with what most people would consider to be garbage.  I also have a lot of photos of her work from various blogs, such as the one you see above, made from corks, plastic caps and lids, gloves, razors, and whatever else is in this "Giant Hoagie" of hers.  

Later in the afternoon, I sent Elyse the contact information I had for Lisa, in case she wanted to look her up and get her to be part of whatever Earth Day thing she wants to do.  It's now in Elyse's hands, but I did my part.

And my niece came by still later to drop off some Girl Scout cookies, and is still collecting plastic stuff, so my father gave her his small collection, and I gave her the giant bag full I had in my car.  A good trade I think.