Boardwalk Bar part 18

 I decided that the next logical step would be to ink up this block and see what I had.  I knew I had enough paper and ink to do the job, so getting those ready was my first step, once I got to the Studio.  Got out my printing tools, and started the process.  It wasn't easy.  First proofs are always the most difficult, and the slight curvature of the block proved to be more a problem than expected.  This now has me reconsidering the use of other pieces of lauan for making more prints.  Although my clamps and such have improved the situation of this wood some, some areas of the block were just hard to ink.  

For the purposes of printing, I used a sheet of newspaper on top of the Japanese okawara I printed this boardwalk print on.  However, I decided that I wasn't getting the best results, so I ended up removing the newsprint and just rubbing the paper directly.  This turned out not to be a problem, and I had no tears of the paper occur.  I ended up re-inking a lot, which may be because it was the first proof, or maybe because of the slight curve, or maybe both.  I wouldn't say the resulting proof is perfect, but it is good enough for practicing colors.  Results are below:

My plan right now is to go back to the block when it dries and cut a little more.  Most of this is details that filled in as part of the inking, though some of this is some minor changes I may make.  Although I blotted the block before I left, I probably won't try to cut anymore until a week has passed, to give it a little more time to dry.  Same for the proof- probably want to wait at least a week before I try coloring it, so I put that in the rack to dry.  

For music today I planned to go with all Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, what with two albums worth of material in my storage box.  In both cases, the desired album was the second one on the disc, so I had to skip to the later section each time.  The first disc I tried started with 100 Days, 100 Nights, an album I know well as I actually have an official copy of my own (see June of 2019 on the blog to find out more).  However, it came with a bonus track I didn't know, so I started listening to it there.  All well and good, but the next song stopped and I couldn't get the disc to play after that.  Remembering what happened last time, I put in one of Molly's discs (Doolittle, from the Pixies, written about back in June of 2023), let that play, then put in my Sharon Jones disc, and listened to Dap-Dippin, With Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, their first album from 2002.  No problems.  When that ended I advanced to the 13th song of a second disc to listen to the 2014 album Give the People What They Want (a title I believe was used by the Kinks for an album they put out in the 80's, but you can't copyright a title).  Both albums sounded like typical Dap Kings albums, but I like that so it wasn't a problem.  I guess I slightly preferred the second album, but I'd listen to both as music to make art to.  

Boardwalk Bar part 17

 Taking my car to the shop again yesterday got the warning light off.  There may be a problem down the road, but that's a problem for another day.  Meanwhile, it runs just fine, it didn't cost me anything, and the warning light is off.  So that meant put a little gas in it and get up to the Studio this morning.

My memories of bar taps weren't too far away from reality, at least when I looked online for some images.  I sketched what I found of the taps themselves on scrap paper, and figured I'd make up the rest when I got there.  And that's what I did.  I erased everything I had drawn the last time I was up there, and redrew in my new bar tap station, partly from my internet sketches, and partly just made up out of my head.  I then cut it out, using my small gouge.  That seemed fine, so I cut out everything else that remained in that part of the scene- the space behind the bar (including bottles) and one last head and figure.  And that was pretty much all I had left.  Results of this area can be seen in the detail shown below:

I then went back over the whole thing.  I found a few more details to cut, but not many.  I spent some time looking at the whole thing.  In general I like what I see.  Seems a good mix of black and white, an effective composition that way (both as individual panels and the whole diptych), so it should work even better when I add the color.  Next time I will ink it up, and if I like how it looks, pull a proof.  If I like that proof, pull another one.  Current state of the fully cut block can be seen below:

For music today I had planned two more discs from my storage box, but I couldn't get the first one to play.  After the first song it tended to have problems, and eventually stopped completely.  Then I remembered that sometimes this particular disc player has a hard time with home burned discs, but seems to work again on those after playing an official label produced disc. So today I did that, popping in one of Molly's discs, the original version of 1977's My Aim is True from Elvis Costello, which I wrote about back on September of 2024 if you want to know more about it.  After that I put in the home burned disc that wouldn't play before and it was fine and played all the way through.  Coincidence?  No idea, but it worked.  The second disc I played was the 2001 album Summer Of A Thousand Years by the Grip Weeds.   I don't know much about them, except that they came from here in New Jersey, and I have occasionally heard songs by them on the local radio station.  As far as this album goes, my initial reaction was that it reminded me a lot of the Shazam, which is not surprising, as both bands have a lot of the same influences.  (so does Elvis Costello for that matter)  Since I am also a fan of the Shazam, it's not surprising that I enjoyed the album, though only a few songs had the kind of hooks that make me want to listen to it a lot.  It's acceptable background music, but I won't be in a hurry to grab it again.  Never got to play the other disc I had brought with me.  Maybe next time. 

Boardwalk Bar part 16

 Got up to the Studio building in the late morning, and didn't bother to look for anyone, as I have all the information I need.  No, today was just about working, so that's what I did.  I started by doing some new drawing, the glass and ashtray in the foreground, and something new in the mid ground.  I had been thinking about it, and realized that there was one thing missing from my scene, and that was the station with all the beer taps.  It seems like every bar has one.  I couldn't put it any place I had already cut, so that eliminated some locations.  I settled on a space not far from the one bartender, and where some uncut areas were.  I went ahead and cut out most of the remaining figures, and my redrawn section of the bar with the glass and ashtray.  For now I didn't touch the area with the beer taps and the person nearest it, in case I want to make some changes and I probably will.  Everything I cut was on the right panel today, so I am giving you a close up of that:

And also a view of the whole composition, both sides, where it's at now.  Right now my car is acting up again, and I may have to take it in for repairs, which means I may not be able to get back to the Studio this week.  Everything is taken care of, so if I have to miss any time it won't affect me.  Rent is paid, framed images from the recent show are in a safe place, no immediate deadlines for the next image, etc.

For music today I brought two more albums from the storage box, though things I wouldn't necessarily put together.  I started with Saturns Pattern by Paul Weller.  Weller may be best known as the leader of the Jam, a band that was still active in the early days of MTV, but not for much longer.  I have a few records by the band on both vinyl and CD.  I remember liking this particular album when Doug first sent it, but today it didn't do much for me.  It may have to do with certain songs just not playing there in the Studio, but that may be the player more than the disc.  I'll have to listen to it again on my home player.  In any case, when that ended I put on another album by Old 97's, Most Messed Up.  Again, one song wouldn't play, so I didn't get a proper view of the album.  In general the sound is about the same as the other album I have, but the songs are not quite as interesting.  I can see myself listening to it again paired with the other album I have from the same band, and it might make more sense that way.  

Digital Fun

 

All over the news this morning was the story about the hacking of Canvas, an online educational system used by some 8000 institutions, both colleges and grade schools.  From what I gathered, an outside group hacked in and demanded a ransom, and the whole system was shut down by the company as a precaution. The problem is that some 8000 institutions are very much relying on this system, and this being a week when a lot of finals happen, this was a big problem.  The system has since been restored, and the company claims nothing of significance was stolen, but I'm sure there will be more to this story as time goes by.

This doesn't affect me much.  My process hasn't changed much the past 500 years.  I cut wood with iron, so I'm really barely out of the stone age.  And on the eve of Y2K, I even made a woodcut from a log using stone tools (see above), just to see if I could continue to make woodcuts if civilization collapsed, as some predicted it would.  (as it turned out, we didn't even lose cable)

However, once upon a time I was a college professor, and Canvas would have been relevant. I believe my community college took it on around the time I was let go there.  (full timers were entitled to all the classes and wanted them and were paid for them, even if the classes didn't happen because the students couldn't stand them)  Meanwhile, my state supported four year school was freaked out by Covid, and this accelerated their plan to shift as much as possible to an all online system.  I was still on staff during the start of the pandemic, and we had to scramble.  At least with my class we could.  I felt bad for students and teachers with things like furniture making, or ceramics, where access to classroom  equipment was vital to the process.  On very short notice I shifted as much as I could to an online process, posting everything to my own site, and doing the rest with e-mail.  That, and allowing students to substitute whatever materials they could find for what we had asked for at the beginning of what we thought would be a normal semester.  Somehow it worked.  The school thanked us for what we did, and in the same e-mail said we could never do it again, for now they were arranging an online system of their control.  That turned out to be Blackboard, a system that was already failing across the country, but it had been decided far above my department.  As a special bonus, the class I had been teaching the past 15 years (always with weekly syllabus approval each semester) was completely changed to something new- new projects, and only done in the order they had decided.  I still was willing to teach the class, and was originally listed as the assigned faculty, but the computer system decided I wasn't fit and I was let go.  

As it turned out, Blackboard was let go after two years (no surprise to me) and replaced with Canvas.  And that is what the school still has.  (I don't know if it's still at the community college, but that they did go through 2 or 3 other online systems before adopting Canvas)  What I was thinking about today was that for the past few semesters, I always taught on Fridays.  I didn't mind- I thought there was less traffic on the Parkway on Fridays, I never had a problem with parking (other days may have been worse), and one day is the same as another as far as work goes.  Even the last classes that I temporarily had were on a Friday.   I have no idea if I was still there if I would still have Friday classes, but if so, this would have been a terrible day to have classes, with the whole computer system down for hours.  No final exams in art classes, but final projects and papers were due.  

All I will say now is that there was never any hacking my grade book or my paper syllabi, or my personal website.  And everyone learned something.  It was a fine system.

Boardwalk Bar part 15

 Last night I went through my storage box, and found I had the equivalent of 16 more albums of material that hadn't been listened to yet in the Studio.  All seemed to be things from my college friend Doug (not to be confused with Chicago printmaker Doug, mentioned in the last post) all on CD.  That stuff should take me through the end of the month.  I set them aside.

In the morning I decided to make a couple of stops on the way to the Studio, things I had to deal with sooner or later.  As a result, I didn't get there until almost 11:00.  Not that it makes any difference.  A few more artworks were up on the walls. and if I read it correctly, art from some the current instructors there.  Perhaps I should look into doing another woodcut class there.  A few people asked me about it at the Open Studio.  

Today's work was to move over again to the right panel, and take on some of the figures around the bar.  I started with the three in the lower left corner of the panel, then moved over and dealt with some of the figures on the far right.  I did part of the bar top- around the first three figures and the far corner.  I left the middle front alone, as I currently have a glass and ashtray there, and I may want to redraw those before I cut them.  The rest of the figures and the area within the bar I also left alone for now, but I may take them on next week.   There just isn't that much more to cut.  All my work today was on the right side panel (left side of the eventual print) so that is all I photographed today:

For music I selected two discs that seemed to go well together- a couple of pieces of Americana.  I started with Just Add Ice from the V-Roys.  Once upon a time, the band was known as the Viceroys, but for legal reasons had to change it, so the album name is an inside joke- adding the letters "ICE" would change the band's name back to the original.  The band was out of Knoxville, and led by fellow William and Mary grad Scott Miller.  (I don't remember if Doug knew him or just knew of him, but his time at the school overlapped with ours) Mostly acoustic, leaning more toward traditional country.  Not bad at all, but not particularly exciting either.  I have read online that the live shows moved more toward punk, but this album is not that.  When that ended I put on Satellite Rides by Dallas band Old 97's.  A bit more electric and I actually knew two of the songs, probably from local radio.  Despite the college connection, I think I liked the latter album better, which is good, as I have another Old 97's album in my pile of discs.  I am now looking forward to it a bit more now.  

Boardwalk Bar part 14

My car is working again, so I was up to the Studio this morning.  The first thing I did was check out the wall where my work had been, and it was not there, as expected.  In fact, none of the work that had been up in that part of the lobby was up.  There was art up on the wall in the other half of the lobby, what looked like kid's art.  I continued to my space downstairs.  In that space I found Molly's three works, and two of mine.  Where was the third?  Made a stop by the office to see if it was there.  Jeanne had just stepped out I was told, but my missing third work might be in the back.  Actually I found it on a table in the side room.  I took it and headed for my space.

I cleared my table, got out the current block, and got to work.  I had spent a few minutes at home looking at my photo that included the ceiling of the Headliner bar, and took some quick notes of what I saw.  I brought those notes with me today, so I took that out and set it aside.  My plan was to finish the left side of the image.  First I designated and cut two little pieces out between the first and second band member, something I had noticed in my photo from last time that needed to be done.  Next I moved up top and took out all that needed to be removed from the ceiling, such as the shadow of the palm tree and some of the supports holding up the roof.  I also did a few thin cuts near the overhead tower, just clarify what was there a little more.  This all done, it was still early, so I moved over and did the right side ceiling- the tree, the supports, etc.  That took me up to about noon, and I decided to halt things there.  I cleaned up, documented today's work, and put the returned framed prints up on top of my table.   Results of today's work can be seen below:

For music today I went to my storage box one more time and one last home burned disc, called ZOCK!--AAAY!.  What is that?  It's a home burned copy of a mix tape, complete with cartoony cover, from Doug Huston.  Doug was a visiting artist, a printmaker from Chicago Art Institute, there in Carbondale as part of a four session joint State of Illinois-State of Jalisco, Mexico print collaborative project.  One of the sessions took place in Carbondale, with artists from all locations.  (that session also included Audrey Niffenegger, then a printmaker from Chicago, later a novelist with a best seller that was turned into an HBO miniseries)  On a later trip to Chicago, Joel Feldman (our printmaker in Carbondale) brought back tapes Doug had made for all the grad students.  Mine was this ZOCK thing.  It's an odd mix of music, a combination of novelty songs, classic r&b, country, pop songs that sound like they are from the 40's, and lots of western stuff.  Once my NJ printmaker (who set me up with Carbondale) Bob Sennhauser, put down (what I think was) Doug Huston, complaining of a print artist in Chicago who would rather be a dj than an artist.  Maybe so, but what I think he really wanted to be was a cowboy, based on the high number of western theme songs on this tape, plus his later novel, "VAST" which was made entirely from excerpts (all footnoted) from western pulp novels. Whatever his outside interest were, at that session Doug was there to work as an artist, and he turned out a number of multiscreen prints, some of which are in my personal collection.  (I later adapted his screen printing registration system to woodcut for my own multiple block prints)  Later Doug sent me another tape, with two complete albums, one from Reverend Horton Heat on one side (used for the tape cover as well, along with the words "this is not for Sunday" and Shadowy Men from a Shadowy Planet on the other side.  No album titles or song listings, but I later learned the former was "The Full Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat".  I know because I later bought the official album from the label, and a copy of it was in the Studio.   This disc I listened to today was pretty strange, but as always, good music to make art to.  Doug may have been on to something.  

It's Over

 Yes, the recent exhibition of art by building tenants at the JSAC is over.  Kind of a short show, only a few weeks really.   In the past these things have stayed up for months.  However I was told that this one had to come down today, no options to leave it up another day.  I wasn't actually there today, but this is what I was told- the work would come down today and be placed in my Studio.  My car has been repaired, so I expect to be there tomorrow to see all this for myself.  But what I can tell you now is that I have been told the show was coming down today.  If you didn't see it, you have no chance now.  It's too bad, as there was some nice work up there.  I assume something else will be replacing it soon, thus the reason it had to come down today with no delays.  

I still haven't heard anything about how the show went, or how it was received.  I spent the whole five hours of the Open Studio in my space, and it was a successful event, but as a result I didn't get to attend the show or talk to many viewers.  A few people who came down to my space mentioned having seen my prints upstairs, at least once with enough detail that I knew they had really looked at them.  Jeanne, who was upstairs during the show, has been on vacation for the past few weeks and I haven't been able to get her reaction to the whole thing.  Perhaps this week.