Boardwalk Rides part 2

 Yesterday I got in touch with both Kate at Pyramid Atlantic (email) and Tom in Missouri (phone), which answered a lot of my questions. What I now know is that the prints I sent to Brooklyn are not coming to the show in Maryland, so if I want those images in this show, I have to send them there myself.  This won't be a problem, as I have the necessary prints in my rack ready to go, so all I have to do is frame them, maybe cutting a few mats.  Either way, I was expecting to build a shipping box, just now I need to make a bigger one.  And as to the question of email notification, both parties apologized for the mix-up, but it was never agreed to that Tom would send emails to everyone first.  Almost as soon as Tom picked up the phone he said something like, "You got the email, didn't you?", referring to Kate's.  I'm still not sure of the closing date, but that can be worked out later.

So this morning, while still home, I got a big box out of the basement.  It once held a large television, and is made from double corrugated, so great for a shipping box.  Within was more cardboard and sheets of styrofoam, also useful.  I had been saving all this stuff for a future shipping container and now I finally needed it.  I also pulled a framed supermarket print out of a box I had once used to bring a bunch of such prints to Belmar for a show there.  The framed print, along with two others I had in the Studio, would be useful for building my Pyramid Atlantic shipping box.  All this I put in my car for the trip to Ocean Grove.

Not many cars in the lot, so I had my pick of parking spaces.  Most of the tools were gone from the area by the elevator hall on the first floor, but there was still a long board across the entrance to the hall, and a cone in front of the elevator, so I decided to take my backpack and walk down the central stairs.  The light was on in the front stairway, so I went back up that and left the door to the stairway unlocked.  I retrieved my big box from the car and carried it to the front door and slid it down that same stairway to my space in the basement.  In through the red door, which made the most sense for this large box.

After some quick measuring, I decided to cut the whole box in half, which would give me the pieces I need to make the inner boxes.   

I decided to stop construction there, as the next phase probably needs a large bottle of wood glue, and I don't think I have any around here right now.  Plus, I have plenty of time to get this done.

I set that all aside and got to my real reason for being there today, the new boardwalk print.  Mostly today I was working on the carousel, drawing a horse right in the center based on a newspaper photo I have of such a thing.  I also started roughing in some other horses on the carousel, as well as working on the round base, and the fence around it.  I also started putting in the fishing game next to the carousel because I pretty much had to, but like the carousel itself, there's a long way to go.  The area I was working on today can be seen in the photo below:

Probably next time I continue on this carousel, which is a big part of this right side panel of the block.  The stuff in the left panel can wait.

For music today I was going to listen to a recently found Doug disc, from a pile I had taken out of my storage box and not brought to the Studio yet, but I could not get the thing to play in my Studio player.  Played in the one at home, but multiple tries were unsuccessful today.  Luckily, I had my jazz/blues book of discs with me, and selected my Buddy Guy disc, the one with all of Stone Crazy and most of Sweet Tea, two hard guitar Buddy Guy albums.   (blogged about this disc back in February of 2020 if you want to read more)  It has not been that long since I listed to this disc, but actually Tom brought it up yesterday in our phone conversation, talking specifically about how much he liked the Stone Crazy album, so I guess it was on my mind.  Maybe Buddy Guy has issues with labels in Chicago, but I like the record, too.  After all, it's in my Studio.  

Outlaws Ride Again

 

I had considered titling this post "Outlaws Assemble!" or "Outlaw Printmakers Assemble!", but even I am not that cheesy.  What I can say is that it looks like we are having another official Outlaw Printmakers exhibition, almost 20 years after the last one.  Who are the Outlaw Printmakers?  A group of printmakers that I happen to be a part of.  It's a group put together by Tom Huck, printmakers he considered to be proper artists, even if not recognized by the art world as such.  I don't know if there was ever an official list, but they have done a lot of things together over the years- some exhibiting, some workshops, etc.  Sometimes that includes me.  Mostly they are just print artists Tom has met through various things he is a part of who share his interest in print media and making art from start to finish.  He once said he considered me perhaps the biggest outlaw of all, as I was the only one in the group who wasn't attached to a college.  Once again I am no longer attached to a college, so I guess I am still one.  

The artists who would become the Outlaws were involved in various things together, but the first official function was an Outlaw Printmakers show in NYC that was part of the Southern Graphics convention at Rutgers in 2004.  That show was in the Big Cat Gallery in Manhattan (still not sure what neighborhood that was), a place that I believe no longer exists.  Besides being a show in New York including my art, it's where I met Molly, the other half of this Studio.  The piece I showed is below:

According to this blog, we had another show in St Louis back in 2008 at the Museum of Contemporary Art.  I don't remember this, as a lot has happened in the years since, but that is why I have a blog.  It seems that the art I showed is this:

While I have seen and done things with various Outlaws since then (and no doubt they did other things with each other) and at least four I've seen their names on endorsed products, it has been a while since we officially had a show together.  What led to all this was a few days ago I found an email in my art box from Kate Davis, the executive director of Pyramid Atlantic, a print organization down in Maryland.  I've heard of them, and remember applying for something there a long time ago, before I had this blog.  Didn't get it.   But she says this mail is a follow up to Tom Huck's email about this upcoming show.  Never got any mail from Tom, but that's neither here nor there.  This mail I did get mentions the show, and gives some deadlines, but I don't know more than that. They want to hear from me by the start of September that I will be participating, and I can do that, but what is going into the show is still debatable.  For example, Tom took two of my Robert Johnson prints (unframed) for a show he was doing in Brooklyn last year, and still has them.  Are these going to Maryland?  If so, great and I will give them some other things.  If not, I may include these same prints (minus text) in what I send.  They are good prints after all.  Unfortunately, neither Tom nor Kate answered their phones yesterday, so this question remains unanswered.  I'll try again next week.  

I did take a quick trip to the Studio yesterday afternoon to see what I had in the rack. Whatever happens, I assume I will be sending some Robert Johnson prints, and I was curious as to what I have done and in the rack.  Now I know- a variety of the likely suspects, both with and without the lyrics, and I expect I would frame the non-lyric ones for shipping.  (if Tom brings the unframed ones that had been in Brooklyn, they have lyrics) The prints themselves are not due until October, so I have plenty of time to build a shipping box for them.  

So what I know now is that we have a show at Pyramid Atlantic (confirmed on the gallery website) that runs from mid October (with an opening on October 16th) to either mid November or the end of November- there's some discrepancy there between the email and the website.  Work will be professionally photographed (for the website I assume) and the gallery gets about 20,000 visitors in a year, so I can expect an audience.  Sales are permitted.  I still don't know exactly what I will be showing, but when I figure it out, I'll post it here.  

Boardwalk Rides part 1

 I want to give my best proof of the bakery print a few more days to dry before I color it, so today I planned to start on my new block.  I drove right to the Studio building this morning, and found lots of parking in the main lot.  No sound of power tools, but a whole lot of stuff laid out by the elevator hallway. I guessed that whatever is going on with that hallway (and we did get an email about it finally) might still be going on, so took the central stairway down to the basement.  I cleared off my table and got to work.  

For me the boardwalk we went to when extended family was in town, and even on our own, was at Point Pleasant.  It seemed like a major journey, but now I know it was just a short ride over the nearest bridge over the Manasquan River.  Back when I was a small child, the main thing on the boardwalk was the rides.  By my current standards, rides intended for children are nothing spectacular- mostly things that go in circles.  Below are a few photos of classic examples, taken back in 2012:

As a little kid, they seemed awful fun.  There were also rides that could suit an adult or a kid, and I went on those as well.  Also we played some games, and got some treats, but I already did prints focused on those, so a game will appear in this one as a small piece, but really this one is about rides.  A boardwalk print about rides was always in my plans from the beginning of the series, but it didn't get done until now.  

I knew I had some sketches of ideas for a print about rides, and had taken and collected some photos over the years, but the only sketch I could find was the one below from 2015:

I think I may have done others more recently, but this was the only one I could find, and it seems like a good plan, so I started with that.  I began by sharpening a few pencils from my set, then got out the block I prepared last week, and started doing a rough sketch of my idea.  I decided I liked the arrangement of my paper sketch, so I put them backwards on the block, so they will be right in the final print.  However, I don't think I've ever seen a carousel that didn't go counter clockwise, with the horses or other riding things facing forwards.  So in the right side panel I used an outside source to directly draw the round floor and ceiling of the carousel (just being round and symmetrical, they will work when reversed), but for the horses I have sketched them in backwards.  Much better versions will eventually be done, but for this rough sketch, this will do for now.  Next to the carousel I have for now a little piece of a game, in this case a fishing game, where players hooked little wooden fish that floated through the trench, and got prizes named on the fish, no doubt worth less than the cost of playing.  Meanwhile in the foreground of the left panel, I have the far side of a circular ride.  For now I just have boxes there, but later these will be turned into something else, perhaps the biplanes seen above.  In my original paper sketch, I believe what I had in the upper part of that corner was a swing ride, but for now what have there is a piece of a ferris wheel, a common ride on boardwalks.  In the deep background of that panel I have pieces of a roller coaster, based on a boardwalk photo I took, while in the center I have another circular ride, which will be based on the above photos and whatever I don't use in the foreground.  The results of today's sketching can be seen below:

There is a long way to go with this one, including adding some figures, but I'm in no hurry.  I've been planning this one for almost 20 years, so taking my time is not a problem.

For music today I started with my home burned Elastica disc, blogged about back in October of 2022 if you want to know more.  Fine music to work to, but even with the whole 1st album and most of the preceding EP, it was still a relatively short disc, and it ended with a lot of time left.  So I put on one of Molly's (and something I also had on my shelf at home), My Aim Is True, the debut album from Elvis Costello, blogged about back in September of 2024.  Although the latter album came out more that a decade before the former album, I decided that both had a few things in common and fit together- both British, both guitar bands with some punk influence and aspects.  

Bakery part 7

 Today was a big day- to see if I could get a good proof of the latest block.  Got up to the Studio building with no problems, found a parking space in the main lot (only handicapped available, but I have a permit for that) and went inside.  Stopped on the 1st floor to use the men's room and to grab some extra paper towels for cleaning up my printing.  While still in there I heard power tools, and saw some workmen by the outer edge of the hallway that leads to the elevator.  No problem- I figure I can get around them, but then Jeanne shows up to tell me the elevator is out of order for now.  There are a few stairways down to the basement, and I decide that the central stairway (under the main staircase) is the best bet, as it has a banister.  For me, going up stairs is easy, but going down it really helps to have something to hold on to.  I make it down to my space.

After cleaning off my table, the first task is to clean up the recent block.  Mostly this was removing all the areas that took unwanted ink.  A little time was devoted to improving things already cut (mostly lettering on the sign) and a few little cases of cutting things missed the first time.  I got all that done and the block looked good, as you can see below:

I put out some ink and began the process of rolling it up.  I took my time and wanted to make sure I had enough ink on the block, as I didn't want a repeat of the slippage problems I had last time.  Blue tape after inking, and I can say for sure that I needed less tape this time, so all that earlier cutting wasn't wasted.  I had a piece of Heavyweight ready to go, so I just put that on top and hand rubbed everything.  Here are the results:

Not perfect, but good enough to show, assuming I make no mistakes in coloring it.  I do have two practice proofs to use if I need them for coloring experiments before I get to this one.  After documenting it, I left it in my rack to dry.  I will let it sit at least a week before I touch it.  My source photo is on a computer at home, so I guess I will take a proof home eventually to start the coloring process.  But for today, I left everything there.

For music today, I decided to start with a home burned copy of a classic disc from my collection, Bob Brozman's Devil's Slide album, a late 80's collection of slide guitar in all genres, and previously written about on this blog back in February of 2020.  That ended about the time I finished printing, but I still had clean up to do, so I went back to my jazz/blues book and took out a collection of Django Reinhardt, a home burned copy of a collection I had on disc called Djangology Vol I 1934-1935.  (blogged back in May of 2024)  In that era, there were no albums, so these songs would have been issued as 78's.  I have played these two discs together before (according to this blog) as they kind of go together, with Reinhardt doing jazz and blues in the 1930's, and Brozman playing mostly early 20th century music.  In fact, I think the two discs may share a song, though the former has it as an instrumental, and the latter includes sung lyrics.  

As expected, climbing stairs out of the basement was easier than going down.  On my way home I was parked at a red light next to the construction site along route 35, and while I decided not to do a print about the long ago Pat's Diner that was once on that site, I  decided to take this photo of what they have built there so far:

Long way to go on this, and they have done nothing so far on the northern half of the lot, but I am told that the plans for all this are apartments.  I pass this site twice every time I go to the Studio, so I guess you will find out eventually as well.

Studio Day

 I want to give my most recent block a few more days to dry before I cut some more out of it, so I decided to work on something else today.  Made a number of stops on the way there, then pulled into the main lot of the art building in late morning.  No meetings going on in the hallway today, so I went right to my space.

Several months ago I cut up my last piece of lauan, left over from a long time ago, and surfaced two pieces with wood filler.  I had decided to buy it in tube form this time and found it very difficult to get on to the boards.  So this time I decided just to slice open the tube and get it out that way.  Meanwhile, I had been working on straightening out the boards not used for the last boardwalk print, especially after I noticed the curvature in the board I had used.  To do this I was clamping the two remaining boards to my table, gradually increasing the number of pieces on the far ends, trying to bend it in the opposite direction of the bend that the wood already had.  Below shows what that looked like:

Last week I had decided that this clamping process seemed to be working, and that the board intended for the next boardwalk print was fairly straight.  It's also the one I hadn't surfaced with wood filler yet.   Still, I left it in the clamp one more time, and took it out today.  The curve was almost gone, and when placed down on my table, it laid flat.  A good sign.  

I remembered from last time that it was very hard to squeeze that wood filler tube, and deciding there wasn't that much left in it anyway, decided the easiest thing would be to just slash open the tube and pull out what I needed.  Problem- I left my cutting tools at home this morning, and I know I keep an x-acto knife in there, perfect for this task.  Okay, I think there's a knife in my blue pencil bag.  Use that.  Problem #2- when I got to the Studio, I discovered that the pencil bag wasn't in my back pack, so it must also be at home.  On the plan #3- use an metal ink knife from my printing go-bag to open the tube.  A quick stab and a slash, and that tube was open.  Took some out with my ink knife, and used one of Molly's plastic putty knives to spread it thin, then used some fine grit sandpaper from my drawer to smooth it out after it was dry.  (you can see this bit on the linked post near the top of this one)  

I decided to go ahead and do the next step- putting in the panel borders.  Kept it the same as all the other boardwalk print- a diptych with little concave corners, like so many other Japanese woodcut prints.  An image of that can be seen below:

As for what is going there- I have an idea, but I will wait to post that information until after I have a start on the drawing.  My two previously clamped boards were now on top of the table, under another board and some other stuff.  I stopped by the office, and the people were back at their desks.  Jeanne confirmed that she had gotten email from me yesterday (teaching and showing) and hadn't looked at it yet, but would.  I left it at that.  And he leftover wood filler and open tube, I wrapped those up with wax paper (had a roll in my print bag) for the trip home.

For music today, one from the pop/rock book, my Studio copy of the 1999 Red Hot Chili Peppers album, Californication.  (written about best in June of 2020 if you want to know more)  According to this blog, it's been a few years since I had it in the Studio, so it seemed a good time to bring it and listen to it.  It played fine in my Studio machine until track #10, when it would suddenly pause for a long moment.  Did this a few times and I gave up, but track #11 didn't want to start either.  So I stopped it, took out the disc, replaced it, started with track #10, and it played through with no problems.

Bakery part 6

 My plan for today was to print two proofs of my latest block- one for practicing some colors, and one to be the final version to show.   However, before I could do anything else, I ran into the two people who run the building, having a meeting in the storage area of the basement, rather than the office.  (I guess they had their reasons)  This saved me the trouble of walking over to the office to ask some questions I had.  First I had some questions for Jeanne.  One was regarding a woodcut class.   When I spoke to her about it a few months ago, she seemed interested about maybe doing one in the fall, but I see some classes have already been scheduled for September and October (seems like fall to me) and some of them print classes.  My other question for her was regarding exhibiting on the 1st floor, since most the walls are currently empty.  In the past she had expressed some interest in maybe me putting some work up, but I don't want to be the only one, and I have seen no emails regarding showing work.  Her answer to both issues was the same- just talking to her would be unlikely to work, as she rarely remembers anything that anyone tells her, so the best thing would be to send her an email.  Okay, I can do that.  As for our facilities manager (Frank?), I asked him if we had a new policy regarding the main doors (north side) as they have been unlocked in recent weeks, but had been locked 24 hours/day going back to Covid, when we were very concerned with having all our paper products stolen.  He said we had no new policy, just that we had a lot going on in recent weeks, lots of people coming and going, and the doors were left unlocked for convenience.  For now, expect to still meet guests at the main door in case I have to let them in.   And with that business settled, I continued through the basement to my space and opened up.

I had suitable pieces of light and heavy weight Rives available, so I was able to get right to work.  I inked up the block.  It was not easy- too much open space, so I ended up with more ink than I wanted in some areas that should have none.  But that's what the blue tape is for.  Got it done, then pulled a proof on the Lightweight.  First proofs are always the most difficult, and I planned to re-ink and fix the problems, but the paper had shifted on the block and I knew there was no point.  Peeled off the blue tape, recut one area that needed it, then inked it up again to pull another better proof on the Heavyweight.  Parts were better, but parts didn't take ink the first time, and once again I noticed the paper had shifted, and to fix those mistakes would be impossible.  Well, I had two practice proofs now, good for color experiments, but not suitable for exhibition.  I thought about trying a third proof right then, and even tore a new sheet of paper, but then I decided not to.  Had plans to make at least two stops on the way home, so I decided to call it a day.  I did remove all the blue tape again, and blotted the block before leaving.  I put the block aside to let it dry a bit.  I don't need to cut more to improve the image, but I may as well remove those unwanted marks before I ink it again.  Meanwhile, here's what today's proofs look like:

I think the block is fine, so really I just need a better proof to color.  I will do that next time, or even next week.  No deadline on this, so no need to hurry it.

For music today I had brought with me some Jayhawks.  I had home burned a disc to bring to Texas with the whole first big label album (actually the band's third) and most of the following album (technically their fourth), which were the only two albums I had then, and two with band members Louris and Olson, both part of the band in their best years.  (this disc is written about back in November of 2019 if you want to know more) This disc ended up in my Studio set, so this was kind of a reunion.  One song skipped a little, but otherwise it played fine.  When that ended I had only just started cleaning, so went for a third album from the band, Rainy Day Music, which I had as an official label produced release, stuck in my storage box for unknown reasons.  I don't listen to this one as often for some reason (maybe because Olson had left the band at this point) but today it was on while I cleaned up, and it seemed to go well with the earlier albums.  I know three of the songs from massive radio play, and it isn't bad, just not up to the level of the two earlier albums.  

Bakery part 5

Got up to the Studio and picked up where I had left off.  I had taken the block home in between last time and this time, and had done a few things.  I put a little white glue along any horizontal carved shape, as a precaution before doing more cutting today.  And I pulled up my original photo and redrew the trees on the left and the wall triangles on the right. That all done in my time off, I could go right to work today with cutting.  First I did the letters on both parts of the sign, cutting out what will eventually be white.  Then I did the trees and telephone poles on the left side.  Next was the curved canopy over the front door, which will be red and white pieces eventually.  Finally, all the building itself, which is not the focus of the piece, but very important to the whole scene.  And with that, I seemed to be done.  It's not a large piece.  Next week I will proof it, and if I like it, try some color.  I left my camera home today, so I brought the block back home with me to get a photo to post here.  Here it is:

Since there was nothing left to do, I did a little pencil rubbing on it (so I could see it better), then I cleaned up, packed up, and went home.  Like I said, next week I'll print it and see what I got.

For music today I put on a home burned disc of Duke Ellington, favorite tunes from what I believe had been a two disc set called The Essential Duke Ellington.  (blogged about back in November of 2022 if you want to know more about this disc)  From what I remember, the set covers his whole career, which means some of the songs may even predate the bakery.  But I think most are from the time it was there, and definitely some were, so it was appropriate for today.  Played perfectly fine, from start to finish.

Bakery part 4

 As expected, there was some rain this morning, but a light rain, nothing to keep me in the house when I have a block to work on.  I got to the Studio, cleared off my table, and got to work.  My plan for today was to work on the big sign, the most famous thing that the bakery had, at least according to the photos I found online.  I got everything done except the interior white letters on both parts.  As I finished everything else, my disc was already done, and it was almost 12:30 pm.  I decided to save all those letters for next time, document it, clean up, and go home.  Results of today's work can be seen below:

For music today I went with an oldie but a goodie, my home burned version of the British double LP version of Generation Terrorists by the Manic Street Preachers, with the best write up on this blog being June of 2022.  Although my records show that it's been more than a year since I had this one in the Studio, a song from the album was running through my head the past few days, so it got the nod today.  As written above, the very long disc finished shortly before I finished what I did of the sign today, and rather than put of some other music, I decided to save the cutting for another time.  

No rain falling as I left, and just a light sprinkle as I got close to home, not worth putting the wipers on for.  Later in the afternoon, even the sun came out.  There are flash flood warnings for parts of the county through the afternoon, but at both my home and work space, we may be in the clear.