Terraplane Blues part 2

 I had the block back in the Studio today, continuing work on drawing the image area.  I had done some work on the block at home over the past few weeks, getting done a lot of it, though at this point, I don't know if they are final versions or not.  I wanted to have something to show to my guests earlier this week, and I did.  I have the two main figures more or less done, and the body of the car and the engine pretty much what I want.  The open hood of the car has been more of a challenge, as I now have a figure blocking part of the car (the part where the hood meets the car body) and my source doesn't.  I have drawn it many times unsatisfactorily, but I think today's version is the best so far.  In any case, I am moving on to the background for now. 

As I as doing all this drawing, I did have some music on.  I had brought with me from the pile of loose discs my home burned Morphine disc, containing their first and most of the last album.  You can read what I wrote about it back on this blog back in December of 2019 if you want to know more.

Still not showing it here, but I hope to have it all filled in and ready to show sometime next week.  I'd like to have the drawing done and be ready to cut it at the open studio in about 3 and a half weeks.  When I have something worth showing, you'll see a photo here.

2024 Tournament of Art part 2

 It occurred to me today that I never put up a post for the first weekend of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.  Maybe because this week was very busy, what with guests from out of state, and numerous medical appointments.  With games scheduled to happen tonight. I figured I had better put something up soon.

My picks worked out ok, but not great.  I had 22 right the first round out of 32 games.  Some of my upset picks worked out, some didn't, and some upsets I didn't pick at all.  Luckily most of the ones I got wrong were just teams I had as one and done, so they didn't hurt me too much.  In the second round, I had 12 of 16 right, a better percentage. For the third round, 6 of 8 teams I picked are still alive, and all my Final 4 teams and those who follow are still in it.  Of my art schools, I had Northwestern to win one game and lose to UConn in the 2nd round, and that is what happened, so I lost an art school, but got the pick right.  My other art school, University of Illinois, is still alive and playing for an Elite 8 spot.

Next week, earlier than Thursday I hope, I will post the results of the 2nd four day weekend, and let you know if I have anyone left alive. 

Studio Visitors

 Occupying a bit of my time the past few days has been a visit from one of my old college friends and her traveling party- her husband and two friends.  This is Jenny's fourth visit to my area in the past decade or so, each time with different people in her car.  I know Jenny from the three years we lived in the Italian studies house in college, from staying at her home in Northern Virginia, her visits to a few of my art shows, and her recent visits to the shore area.  In the last case, sometimes buying art.  I would think that at least some of this is that she enjoys being around me and seeing my art, but I know that part of it is that she loves New Jersey pizza and wants to get some of that treat.

I got an email from her saying that she was coming to the area, and had reserved a room in Asbury Park.  She finds Asbury and Ocean Grove to be fascinating places, especially for the architecture.  But that was back in January and I hadn't heard anything new.  So I exchanged some emails with her a few weeks ago and we hammered out the details.  She was planning to stay in Wildwood on Saturday night, then drive up to my area on Sunday, and if she got to town soon enough, pizza at Vic's, her favorite area pizza place.  I would be invited to that if it happened, but either way, we would definitely meet on Monday morning for a building tour and to see some art.  I had the days free, so it was a plan.

I had my phone ready all day, and did finally hear from her, with the sun still up. I changed and met her at Vic's, which I pass every time I go to the Studio.  I was surprised to see so many cars in the side lot and parked along the street, it looked like all the way to the ocean.  However, as I waited at a light, I saw a lot of cars seem to pull out of the restaurant's parking lot.  If any of those were cars leaving after an early dinner I was in luck.  And it turns out, this was the case and I got a spot just across from the door.  But big crowds inside (to match all those parked cars), and though she had called me from nearby Asbury, she and her party were still waiting for a table.  Eventually we got in, and we ordered her favorites- a salad with provolone and salami, and two pizzas, one with eggplant.  She loves eggplant, and Virginia pizza places just don't have it.  Yet it is very common in New Jersey pizzerias.  As for salad, she said she has been perfecting a salad dressing of similar nature.  We talked of friends and family and stuff like that.  She said she had enjoyed the trip so far, though she found Wildwood kind of boring this time of year.  Wildwood is mostly known for its boardwalk, so this isn't surprising.  It was dark when we left the restaurant, but I've driven that road so many times, I could almost do it blindfolded. 

Part 2 of the plan was to meet up at my Studio building at 10 am.  No problem getting up for that with this sunny weather.  I first stopped downstairs to fix things up and put out recent work to see.  They were just arriving as I went upstairs to the 1st floor, I guess let in by someone else.  Jenny wanted the building tour first, so we checked out the theater there on the 1st, then walked up the stairs to see the 2nd and 3rd floors, on the latter she found a painting showing the platform tents that are available to a lucky few in summer.  Eventually we took the elevator to the basement, where they saw my art and toured the spooky features of the basement.  I had organized a pile of relatively recent works, done at the beginning of the pandemic and since.  For example, my most recent supermarket print, which shows empty shelves, a cart filled with canned goods, one way signs, and masks.  This is the way stores were back then.  (Jenny remembered her husband was able to go to special seniors only hours at supermarkets) We talked about living underwater last night, and today Jenny saw the prints I had made from my narwhal relief sculpture a few years ago.  She remembered the deer print from a few years ago, and now saw its mirror image copy.   Her favorite, though, was my St Dwynwen print, a saint not acknowledged by any church, but still the center of a major holiday in Wales.  Below are some of those:

I also had out my recent Robert Johnson prints, some framed from the show they had been in upstairs.  Her male guest knew of Johnson and his place in the blues.  I also showed the latest completed unframed print, and the block drawing in progress for the next one.  Jenny particularly liked the print for "Cross Road Blues", which she got to see as a print, as well as the block.  I showed a few other blocks as well, and her guests were suitably impressed.  She wants to know more about the Nashville show, but even I don't know what is going on with that.   Below are the framed prints, and she took a photo of the one from "Love In Vain."  

We had originally talked of taking a walking tour of the town, and getting lunch somewhere, but she decided to give that up, to avoid the cold and wind, and to just start their trip back to Virginia.  Besides, she had seen the painting of the tents, and didn't want to eat pizza a second day in a row (I don't mind that) so she and her party left, and I went back downstairs to put everything away, then went home myself.  Much closer for me that for them.  Meanwhile, she has promised to look into some art opportunities for me in her area, so I may hear something about that before long.  

Blood Draw- Finished

 Took off from home about quarter after 10, made a couple of stops on the way, and ended up at the Studio  a little past 11:00.  The parking lot was full, which I assumed was for classes or something, but when I got inside the building I realized it was because they were hanging the incoming show.  Makes sense, as I think the opening reception is tomorrow.  Hanging was still in progress, so I'll look at it later. 

My plan for today was to make some minor changes to my Blood Draw block, and print it, hopefully producing the final version of the print.  The block was still not completely dry, but I didn't want to put off completion for another week, figuring I'd just clean up as I expected to do many times.  I had brought the rock/pop collection of discs today, and from that selected my home burned collection of Jayhawks, songs from the first two albums I think. What put me in mind of this was a song I heard on the radio on the way there, a song from another Americana/Alt-Country band- Uncle Tupelo. Actually I have an Uncle Tupelo album in storage, but not one that contained the song I heard today.  I wrote about this Jayhawks disc on this blog back in November 2019 if you want to know the details. 

The block, paper, ink, and printing tools were all up in my Studio, so all I had to bring with me today was cutting tools. I used some of those tools to make minor changes to the block.  I was even able to reuse the long pieces of painter's tape for the edges of the block.  Not wanting the paper to shift this time, I made sure there was plenty on ink on it, though it turned out that I still needed to re-ink here and there.  The paper didn't shift, I got a good proof of it (the paper is at a bit of an angle, so I won't make this part of the edition) and at this point I am satisfied.  I think I can declare this piece done.  The results from today can be seen below:

I don't have a particular plan for where to show this piece as of now.  It is designed to fit in one of the boardwalk frames, so when the time comes, framing it shouldn't be too difficult.   If there is another Tenants show in our building in the near future, I could be ready with three prints again, but no such exhibition has been mentioned yet.  I do want to pull a better proof, an edition worthy print, but I'm not worried about that right now.

I finished printing it before the disc finished, but then I had to clean in from my palate, my tools, and my hands, so I put on some music that felt compatible, Too Much Pork for Just one Fork by Southern Culture on the Skids, also written about in November of 2019, but in a different blog post.  

St Joseph's Day 2024

Today is a special day in the history of the Studio, St Joseph's Day.  This is a major holiday in Italy, where St Joseph is the patron saint of the nation, as well as the patron saint of woodworkers, carpenters, and for some reason, bakers of desserts.  As a result, there is a tradition of eating a particular dessert, a zeppole filled with some kind of cream. Usually cannoli cream, but I have also seen custard and whipped cream.  Any way, it's tasty.  I think it's a better tradition than eating corned beef (an English food) or drinking an excess of alcohol, which is what happens on St Patrick's Day, two days earlier.  Still, in this country, it is Patrick's holiday that gets the most attention.  Sometimes it is hard to find the proper treat, as some bakeries will produce St Patrick's Day items, but never heard of St Joseph's Day.  I found this one in a local Shop Rite yesterday and decided to buy them right then.  Low cost, and it would save my mother from driving around to find a place that has them, and often charges a lot of money for them.  See it below: 

I had mine late in the evening, my dessert for the night.  I've had better ones, but this was not bad, and a nice treat.  If you want to hear more about the holiday, and how it once intersected with printmaking, and how it impacted on  the origins of this studio,  read my post from last year on this date (it's always March 19th).  This is a common way of finding it, a zeppole fried, filled with cannoli cream with chocolate chips, and with a cherry, or dried fruit pieces.  

Studio Business

 I knew we had scheduled an artist meeting for next month's Open Studio event, so I decided it was worth checking emails today to make sure it was still on.  Around lunch time I did another check and found I had some, three of them actually.  One was a reminder of today's meeting, one was letting us know that roofers were expected to be there on March 26th, and on that day not to park by the building, as the people working on the roof might need that space to move stuff up there.  That works fine for me, since my guests are expected to be there on the 25th, and on the 26th I won't be there.  The third mail was about the incoming show (photography) this week, and that we would have to take our work off the wall.  I was going there today anyway, so I figured I would try it myself, and if I couldn't get it down, ask for help then.

Got up to the building in time.  At first I had a hard time finding the meeting, as it wasn't in the usual part of the 1st floor lobby where we've had these things in the past.  But the lights were all on and eventually I found them, behind the stairway to the 2nd floor.  No problem really, and there were chairs already out.  Not enough, so more were procured.  I only knew two of those in attendance- Joe (the organizer) and Jeanne (the current director).  Another guy I have seen before, but I don't know his name, and the other participants I didn't know at all.  

All the chairs were put away quickly, so by the time I got my camera out, they were all gone.  As a result, the above photo just shows the space we were in.

I already knew that it was planned for April 21st, though there is still some question of time, mostly because no one seemed to know when it would be.  I was told cards would be produced for it, so I guess we get those some time before it happens.  It was also decided that no refreshments would be provided by the building, though we were encouraged to have some in our studios to lure people in.  (we'll see)  And instead of a DJ, they will probably just have a sound system.  I was told better signs would be put up, so maybe I'll get more visitors than I did last time.  I'll post more information here as soon as I know it, but I may not until I get the postcards.

From there, I went right over the wall that held my works, and easily took one down from the wall.  I could reach them and no help would be needed- a good thing.  I took the one down to my Studio and placed in on top of my table.  (Since I am expecting guests in a week, I decided to keep them there, to make it easier to show these recent works.)  Also left the other stuff I was carrying there.  Back upstairs to get the other two pieces, but this time one of the plastic wires from the hanging system came with the framed work and ended up on the floor.  So I carried that down with me with the last two works.  Dropped it off at the office while I was in the basement, not my problem to deal with.  The empty wall can be seen below:

From there I took the elevator to the third floor, to see if I could find any light switches, as my guests (still don't know who is coming, other than my college friend Jenny) may expect a building tour.  Still could't find a switch for the main hallway on the 3rd, but on a sunny day there should be enough light coming in the windows to make some things visible.  Then to the 2nd floor (all lit up) to check out the glass case that has been brought up in email and at today's meeting.  The idea is that we are offered a chance to show works in that case.  It's not very big, and I could maybe fit 3 or 4 pieces at most in there.  I won't be in a hurry to have work in there.  Then on to the 1st floor, and home.

Meanwhile, I have works that can fit those 3 frames I took down today, so if there is a plan to have another tenants show following the next one, I'll have things to show and a means to show them.

2024 Tournament of Art

 So last night I watched the Selection Sunday show, as I always do, and like many people, I was surprised by the choices the committee made.  A whole lot from the big midwestern conferences, and only 3 from the Big East, despite the tough conference and wins over quad 1 teams.  Well, maybe not too surprised, as these biases are common year after year.  Also not surprising was that I had few schools from my list of art schools, places I have shown work, attended, had work published, collected, etc.  I keep track of these things as the season goes on, and I knew that most of there schools weren't having good seasons, and unless the teams won their conference tournaments and thus automatically qualified, they weren't going in anyway.  As a result, only two teams from my list of art schools will be part of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament this year, University of Illinois, and Northwestern, the same two I had last year.   If you want to know what I did at each school, you can check last year's post.  

As is my custom, I will post updates here after each weekend, saying how my schools are doing.  

Terraplane Blues

 Another nice day today, almost 70 degrees and sunny.   Good day to head up to the Studio.  Stopped for gas on the way up, and got there around 11 am.  Didn't want to work on the Blood Draw block quite yet (more time needed to let the ink dry, and to look at it to see if anything more needs to be cut before the next proof is taken), so instead I started drawing the image area of the next Robert Johnson block- my take on his song, "Terraplane Blues."  The most obvious question I expect from viewers is exactly what is a Terraplane? I did a little research so you don't have to. I knew it was a car, but learned that it had been made by the Hudson Motor Company for most of the decade of the 1930's, and was known for being both inexpensive and powerful.  From what I have found, not bad to look at either, but it looks like a car from the 30's, and while that makes sense for a Robert Johnson song, it's not the look I go for with my art.  I'm sure I've written on this blog about my preference for cars from the 1960's and early 1970's, which is the last time I think cars looked like cars.  After that came the gas shortages and inflation, and cars reflected an interest in economy, and cars were sold based on gas milage or looking like they got good gas milage.  Maybe these are just the cars I saw on the roads and in parking lots back then as I grew up.  In any case, unless I have a reason to show something specific, I tend to go for those leaded gas 8 cylinder cars of my youth when I need something for art.  

Of course, there are no Terraplanes around now.  The Hudson company lasted until the 1950's, when it merged with other companies to form the American Motors Corporation.  That produced cars such as the Rambler, the Gremlin, the Pacer, and all the Jeeps, until it was absorbed by Chrysler in the 1980's.  I'd prefer to work with something in its automotive lineage, and I have a lot of choices.  

Over the weekend I got started at home by putting in the lyrics at the bottom, as I have done for all these Johnson prints, even though I don't need it for the Nashville show.  I did include that in one of the prints for the current Ocean Grove show.  Like most blues songs, and a lot of Johnson's, the main theme seems to be about sex, and though on the surface, the song seems to be about a car, there are many double-entendres related to car repairs.  The line heard most in the song is "Who been driving my Terraplane, for you since I been gone?"  And he didn't mean it about his car.  The lyric that I decided to work with was, "Got a short in this connection, hoo well, babe, it's way down below."  My backwards lettering can be seen in a photo of the block below:

I doubt that these letters are the final versions, but they are place holders for now.  It's the same number of characters as the last one, but I guess due to differences in word lengths, this time I needed three lines for the text.

Today I started working on the image area.  I roughed in two figures, basing them on photos in a reference book I had in the Studio, plus my own artistic training.  There are also parts of a car, based on sketches made from the internet, though I will wait until the drawing is done to tell you about what I chose.  And as is my custom, you'll have to wait until the drawing is done before I post it here.  But it has been begun.  Of course there was music, as Molly wasn't there, so I brought some old ones I burned myself- my copy of Generation Terrorists from the Manic Street Preachers (if you want to know how this guy from New Jersey ended up with a double vinyl album not released in this country, go to a blog post found in June 2022.  No ink to clean up, but I felt like drawing some more, so when that disc ended, I put on my copy of Ash's album 1977, which you can read about back in July of 2020.   The two albums seem to go together.

Blood Draw part 21

 Another beautiful spring day, unlike the extremely windy day we had yesterday.  Sunny, but the wind was so strong that it felt below freezing all day.    Made my way up to Ocean Grove by around 11:00.  Brought two discs with me today, and a plan.  The plan was to pull a proof of the new Blood Draw block, to see where I am at with it.  

First step was to stop off at the office and look into a question regarding rent that the boss hit me with by email the other day, but it turns out that is resolved now, so I am not getting kicked out this month.  Back in my space I pulled out a fresh sheet of Rives Light Weight and the discs, got all my inking and printing tools ready to go, and got started.  

Put on the first disc-some from the Gun Club, and old studio favorite that you can read about back on November of 2019 if you want to know more.  I put out some fresh ink and rolled up the block, now altered a bit since the last time I printed it.   I seemed to be making good progress, but I saw the paper had slipped a little at one point, and once that happens, there isn't much more that can be done.  At least I was mostly done with it.  So I hung it up to let it dry.  Results can be seen below:

The good news is that all the things that I fixed with new cutting are better than they were.  The bad news is that thanks to the paper slipping, there are marks I don't want and did not intend, and I can't use it for an exhibition. As long as this one is printed, I will spend time looking at it and decide if there is anything more that needs to be done with this block, or if I just need to do a better printing of it.

First disc ended, so I put on the second one, an official copy of Vitalogy by Pearl Jam, which you can read about on this blog back in September of 2023.  Took care of all that, packed up, and went home.

Studio Business

 A very sunny and nice day today, the kind of day to go up to the Studio.  Had nothing that needed to be done, but I can always find something to work on.

Having finished the latest Robert Johnson block, and deciding to hold off on proofing my Blood Draw block until next week, the next logical thing to work on in the next Robert Johnson block in that series.  I have an idea in mind, but I'm going to hold off on showing it or writing about it until I have something to show.  But I can still start working on it in a way.  For example, I did some sketches last night off the internet, things that may appear in it.  And today I prepared a block.

I decided today was a safe day to bring my saw in from the back of my car, with plans to maybe cut a few more blocks off the large piece of birch I keep on my Studio table when I'm not using it.  I have a piece the right size and grain orientation for what I plan for the next print in the series, but one side has some knots on it, very tough to cut.  And the other side has a stuck on price tag and some colorful ink (must be Molly being sloppy), and I was unable to get that price tag off when I tried the last time I was there.  However, it would be easier to use the one I already have sawn, than to saw off another one.  

I tried peeling off that adhesive tag again, but ran into the same problem- hard to get any of it up, and when I did it tore off rather than pull off the rest of the label.   Not going to happen.  But then I thought, could I sand it off?  I did have a piece of fine grain sand paper there in my Studio, and decided to give it a try.  First try was promising, so I did some more.  And some more.  And some more, etc.  Eventually, the price tag was gone, the wood surface was as smooth, and I didn't have to use my saw.  Took off the colorful ink the same way.

I always have some yardsticks in the back of my car, which may be a teaching thing, or a hardware thing (had family in the business), so also brought one inside with me.  Carefully measured the image size (which is the thing that counts in this case) from other blocks from the series, and reproduced it on my new block.  I've done blocks with two and three lines of text in this series, and without the lyric with me I wasn't sure what this would be, so for now I didn't put any lines or letters down yet.  Results can be seen below:

While I was there, I decided to check my photo source book one more time, to see if I could find any figures to help me with my planned drawing.  Did find one that may be helpful, and others had been previously marked on an earlier visit.  So I am ready for the next step, whenever that happens.

Blood Draw part 20

 Today was not a particularly nice day.  Gray, rainy, etc.  But I've driven through much worse over the years, usually to teach art classes, and I have a car and a Studio with a ceiling above, so I wasn't too worried.  However both my mother and father were concerned with me going up there today because of the weather, and when I got to the building, Jeanne (working the table near the front door) was also concerned that I had come out in the rainy weather.   I had work to do, and a little rain was not going to stop me.

I took a disc out of my pop/rock book and put it in its own case, one that made sense for today.  The disc was one of those I had made for Texas, a collection of favorite songs by the Shazam from all the albums I had at the time.  You can read more about it on this blog back on January, 2020.   The reason I chose it was because it had a song from the band's second album, Godspeed the Shazam, called "Super Tuesday", and today happens to be Super Tuesday, a day when over a dozen states hold their primaries, and at the end of the day often one politician from each party has a big lead toward the eventual nomination.  Of course the Shazam song has nothing to do with politics and uses the occasion as a metaphor for relationships.  ("Tomorrow's Super Tuesday, and the people on the news say, that you're sagging in the polls, but that's how it goes")  Still, seemed like a good day to listen to that disc, though almost every day is a good day to listen to the Shazam.

And I had a plan for working, more cutting on my Blood Draw block.  I haven't proofed it since early January, but I have looked at the now dry block, cut into it, and looked at photos of those cuttings along the way.  That has been enough to tell me what to do each time I cut some more.  Today it was more cutting of the figures, particularly the nurse drawing blood (check out the hand to the right below, as well as the hair and face)

Also some of the self portrait as well.  The main goal with all of this was to make some more separation between the skin and materials found elsewhere in the image. I worked on it until the disc ended, at which point I cleaned up my shavings and headed home.  Where I ended up can be seen below:

Is this piece now ready to print?  Still not sure.  I don't want to print another copy until I am sure I don't want to cut any more.  On the other hand, I don't want to get too fussy with this block.  I can work on this forever, make slight improvements each time, if I let myself.  One of the main points of my Fourth of July series was that I finished each day's block and no matter how it turned out, the next day I'd turn to the next block.  It is improved over what it was two months ago?  Absolutely.  I took more photos today, and I'll study those as I go.  I hope to be done and ready to print it again some time next week, and once again I'll see what I have at that point.  Unless I see a major problem, I'll be satisfied with that second proof, especially as I still don't have a planned place to exhibit the print.  

Bugs Bunny and Art

 The way I see it, there are three things that were the biggest influence on my art: comic books, animated cartoons, and historical art.  All were referenced in a piece I did in 2008 called "A History of Art", which was about my own historical development as an artist, including all the things that seem to have influenced my art, either in terms of style or subject.  It took the form of a tower, based on one of Bruegel's Tower of Babel paintings, though for my print, built out of all the things I felt influenced the art I have made over the years.  I printed, colored, and framed two copies of it, one of which is wrapped in the basement, and one of which hangs on the dining room wall where I live now.  That piece can be seen below:

This piece was on my mind because an artwork I referenced I saw tonight, namely a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The print does include some black and white things, including animated cartoons (Felix the Cat, Popeye), as well as other black and white things (Oscar the Grouch on the black and white tv I grew up with, and Spy Vs. Spy from Mad Magazine) which I believe is as much an influence on my love of black and white art as are the numerous historical prints I have seen.  But color animated cartoons were big, too, and that includes the whole of Warner Brothers animation.  As a child, I had great admiration for the artwork that was found in the cartoons, whether it be the background paintings, or the characters and foreground stuff painted on cells.  This was definitely the kind of thing that made me want to be an artist.   And one of the cartoons that I particularly liked was a Bugs short called "Little Red Riding Rabbit", which has a plot much like you'd expect.  Of course, being from 1944, there were many World War II references (Granny is not home because a note on her door reads that she's working a swing shift at Lockheed), and much of the humor comes from an obnoxious girl who is bringing a rabbit as a present to her Grandma, but there is a wolf dressed in the nightgown, even though he is far more interested in eating the rabbit, and keeps throwing the girl out of the house.  However, I was very impressed with this cottage in the woods that Granny had- it was huge, with plenty of wood grain accents, slightly cracked plaster walls, all painted and drawn by professionals who knew what they were doing.  That's what I wanted to be.

So I had to put something from this short on the second level of my tower (reachable by the living room staircase from our old house) and what I chose was a scene by the fireplace, where Bugs hides under the  wolf's nightgown, and burns the wolf with a coal he retrieves from the glowing fireplace, then later tortures the wolf with a shovel full of glowing embers.  I replaced the wolf with a Bugs peaking around the doorway, and I didn't include the grain on the green chest on the floor, but I think I made my point.  Below you can see the original cartoon version and my woodcut and hand colored version.  

The cartoon version a little better, but I never had a job working in the Warner Brothers animation studios.