The Day Has Come Around Again

 Today is September 11th, but more importantly, today is the 25th Anniversary of the original September 11, the day that the towers came down.  Not that anything different happened today.  We had the usual- all television (at least here in the New York City area; I can't speak for the rest of the country) pre-empted for the memorial service, pairs of people reading the names of all the victims (sometimes poorly) in alphabetical order, the ringing of a bell to mark the exact times that towers were hit or fell, interspersed with shots of memorials.  I watched for a while, then found something else to do.

One thing I heard recently is that a significant number of Americans weren't even born yet when the Twin Towers came down, maybe a third, if I remember correctly.  That makes sense I guess.  It has been 25 years since the original destruction, time for a lot of people to be born.  And no doubt there were some very young children alive in 2001 that didn't know about it.  After all, I was alive for several years of the Vietnam war, and didn't really know anything about it until refugees started arriving in my town.  However I was much older when September 11th happened, and I won't forget that.  

Part of that may be because I was actually in one of the towers, going up to the top level observation deck with relatives from out of town, and leaning against that window.  Part of it may be because there was nothing else on television for at least a week, and I had plenty of time to see all those images.  And part of it may be because I made art about it, as seen below:

I've posted this image before on the blog, but not in recent years.  When it first started, I didn't know anything about it- it started as just another Tuesday, and I had a vacation group home to get ready for another group.  Of course that group decided not to come.  Lots of time to record images to my VCR (no digital then- just magnetic tape) and prepare for the artwork that would follow.  Heard the first radio reports as I was driving around doing errands.  One plane hitting one tower didn't seem that strange, as the Empire State Building has been hit by planes before.  A second plane hitting the second tower was more significant.  Something was going on and I knew I better get home and put on a television.  

My art is about my day, some of which was normal, and much of which was not, and of the latter, this was all experienced through television.  (No family in the towers and lost no one that day.)  Some images were off the air the next day, but they were etched on my mind and would be part of my print.  Now it's just old news, and not a print I exhibit anymore.  

The Old Frame Shop is Open for Business

 My shipping box is pretty much done now (plastic sealing tape went on most places yesterday). so today I turned to the process of framing the work.   First step in that process was to get a piece of mat board from the supply I keep in the basement.  I have some in the Studio, but I don't know if there is enough there, so better to be safe than sorry and bring a piece with me.  Once I got up there, the next step was to take out the prints I expect to frame and put in the show and measure them.  The two already in frames are slightly different dimensions, so I thought it best to check these out and write down the measurements.  All were 11" x 14", two horizontal, and one vertical.  

I cleared off my table and got out my homemade mat cutting machine.  Essentially it's a double flat board with a mounting for a big metal straightedge, and a wooden strip that holds the mat in place, held down with a C-clamp at one end (also holds it all to the table) and a squeeze clamp at the other.  Windows to be removed are drawn onto the back of each piece in pencil, and a hand held bevel cutter slides along the straightedge to cut it.  It works every time and can handle any size I have ever tried to cut.  

As expected, I had one good piece of mat board in the Studio. and one that was a bit blemished, and no amount of eraser work could fix it.  I set that aside and got the one I had left in my car.  It had a Pearl sticker on it, and that chain went out of business a long time ago, so I have had this one in my supply for a while.  One little problem- the top side was not the same shade of bright white I had used for all the others.  However, the back side was, so I found a section that had nothing printed on it and used that.  Problem solved.  

I started by cutting out the full size (frame size) pieces, then marking the back sides with pencil lines for the size window I wanted to cut, then used my bevel cutter to make perfect windows.  A photo of this set up is shown below:

I brought the window mats and the prints home to be framed, along with my roll of linen tape.   I can do that step at on a table at home.  Then all I have to do is print out labels to put on the back, place them in my shipping box, seal it up, and take it to the place to ship out.  Before then, I need to contact the gallery and let them know all the information about everything, but I have all that now.

I always put on music while I work, and today it was a loose disc from my rock/pop book, a home burned collection of the music of Matthew Sweet.  (blogged about back in June of 2020 if you want to know more)  Sweet probably should have been a bigger star- a very good instrumentalist and vocalist- but I don't think he ever had the look of a rock star, and in the age of videos and talk show appearances, that probably matters.

One More Day in the Box

 Over the weekend I was thinking about my shipping box and what I would have to do to finish it.  I have spent so much time on it over the past few weeks that I have the whole thing firmly in my head.  So not surprisingly, I had a good idea what I planned to do upon arrival in the building this morning.  And what I planned is pretty much what I did.

I knew I had to add a top flap to my box, and imagined how I would make it and what I would make it from.  And I followed that plan.  As the glue dried (weighted down with my heaviest clamp), I was placing pieces of wet paper tape in every seam I could find.  When I finished, it all looked exactly like what I expected.  A photo of it is shown below:

Meanwhile, while the glue was drying, I had a quick photo session on my white tack wall.  In about a week and a half, all my information is due down at Pyramid Atlantic for this Outlaw show, so I have started on all that.  For example, last week I used my blog to find all the years of completion for the prints I am sending.  Over the weekend, I updated an artist statement to reflect this current show.  Today I was taking large images of most of the prints for this show.  (had one already)  I just set my camera to the largest file size (for the purposes of this blog I usually go with small format photos) and took photos of all the other prints up on my wall.  Back home I edited all of them and stuck them on my desktop.   A photo of this process is shown below:

I decided to bring the box home for the next step, which will be to put on the address labels, mark all the cut lines to open it, and to put on all the clear sealing tape.  All that can be done at home.  The box probably weighs as much as the art, if not more, but it's worth it.  It is very important that these works make it safely to their destination, and I expect they will.  This is a lesson I learned a long time ago from the movie, Joe Verses the Volcano, in which the protagonist decides to invest in four large handmade steamer trunks for his journey and they save his life on a number of occasions.  As the salesman told him, when traveling, all you have to depend on is your luggage.  And when shipping artwork, all you have to depend on is your box.

For music today I decided to honor Cassandra Wilson (who died this past week at age 70) by playing her album New Moon Daughter, a copy of which I have in my jazz/blues disc book.  The album is more jazz than blues (it was on Bluenote after all), but one song was clearly blues, which turned out to be a Son House song, and the internet tells me that an extended version (which I don't have) has a Robert Johnson song, "32-20 Blues."  I don't have her version on the song, but I did a print of it as part of my series, which can be seen below:

If you want to know more about the album, check the blog back in January of 2022.   When that disc ended I pulled another disc from my jazz/blues book, and another female singer, this time Ella Fitzgerald and excerpts from the collection, Oh, Lady Be Good!, standards done with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, and blogged about back in August of 2021.

Still More Box Time

 This box isn't done yet, so today that was something to work on.  Got up there in late morning, found plenty of parking, took the elevator down to my space, cleared the table, and got to work.   I knew I had some big pieces of cardboard stashed behind my rack, so pulled one out.  No doubt this was stored back there for this purpose, but I don't know where it came from.  It had my name on one edge, along with a reference to a Thursday night class, and that's it.  Probably from my county college, but what purpose it had served there I had no idea.  All I knew was that it was a big flat sheet of cardboard with a few folds along the edges.  I laid it out flat on the table, and measured it at different angles to decide where and how to fold it and cut it, then scored it and proceeded with my task.

When I was finished, I had my outer box mostly done.  The top flap remains, but I have cardboard for that and will deal with it next time.  Meanwhile, I had my inner box now otherwise wrapped, with all the parts glued and taped down.  I might have done a little more, but my mother called and needed to be picked up where they had gotten a ride to this morning, which meant going home to grab a quick lunch, cleaning out a few crates from the back of my car (make room for my parents), and get up to place to pick them  up on time.  Below is a photo of today's work:

I noticed that I had an email from the gallery director down at Pyramid, which I was expecting.  Most of the information was the same as what the executive director sent me, but there were a few new requests for related information, which is what I was expecting.  Most important, now I have a contact for this show.  Eventually I will send her a reply email with a question or two.  

For music today I brought with me a home burned disc from my rock/pop Studio collection, the live Kinks album One For The Road, which I wrote in detail about back in January of 2023 if you want to know more.  Had to restart it a few times, but after that it played through for the rest of the time I was building my box.

More Box Time

 I suppose I had a choice between working on my shipping box or working on the new print (or both), but after thinking about it a bit, I decided the box was the way to go.  After all, before this month is out, I have to get some framed work down to Maryland.  And a shipping box takes time to do right.  As much as I would like to work more on a print, I have no deadline for getting one done, but I do have a deadline for this next show.  So box it is.

Got up to the building in the morning and found plenty of parking.  For the first time in a few weeks, I took the elevator down to my space.  (that cone was definitely gone) Cleared the table and got to work.  The goal for today was to finish the inner box.  Toward that end, I prepared styrofoam pieces and glued them in the planned places, added some scrap boards to the broad sides (protection), pieces of cardboard in other areas (the same), and lots of paper tape on the edges and seams of everything.  I cut loose some cardboard I don't need, leaving just one top flap for now.  I still may add one piece of styrofoam in the bigger box, but essentially the inner box is complete.  Below is a photo of what exists so far:

Next will be to wrap everything in the outer box, which will include some more flaps.  In my Studio already I have cardboard in mind for that process, but it waits for next time.  

For music today I felt like listening to the Kirsty MacColl album I have (possibly influenced by the old movie I saw on Saturday night, part of which has a plot similar to one of the songs) so I had brought with me her posthumous album tropical brainstorm, blogged about back in March of 2020 if you want to get the full story.  When that ended, I put on another home burned Studio copy disc, the self titled Marc Ribot  y Los Cubanos Postizos, written about back in July of 2020.  I guess what both albums have in common is a love of Caribbean music, the former covering the variety of music found from North to South America and everything in between, and the latter a tribute to a particular Cuban bandleader.  

Box Time Again

Yesterday I went up to hardware store in Belmar to pick up a few things I need for the Studio.  Blue tape for printing.  (don't need it quite yet, but I will eventually, so I got it now)  And wood glue for box making.    I have made quite a few shipping boxes for various shows (and I have been much praised by multiple gallery directors for my efforts) and know that wood glue is the best way to stick everything together.  It holds fast and well.  It has been quite a few years since I needed one, but now I find I have to send several framed works down to Maryland next month, so it's time.  Yesterday was nice, and today rain was predicted.

Last time I was in the Studio (also a nice day), I had brought a large box and some other supplies up to the Studio, and cut the large box in half in preparation for today.  Lacking glue, I stopped there, but today I have it.  First stop on the main floor was to check out that elevator hallway, and that cone was still sitting in front of the elevator.  Took the stairs down one more time.

In my space I cleared off the table and got to work.  I used the extra framed piece I had with me to measure the box halves I had, and used my knowledge of box making and scoring/cutting to get both halves to their intended shapes.  Then I used glue and clamps to start putting things together, making two boxes.

With the two pieces of box done, the next step was to glue them together.  I removed some unnecessary pieces of cardboard first, then put the two box pieces together, with glue and clamps.  The two pieces will hold all of the framed works for the show.

By this point it was the early afternoon and I decided to put off the rest of my construction for another day.  Next up will be styrofoam on the inside for cushioning, wood and cardboard on the outside for protection, and lots of paper tape to hold it all together.  

At one point while glue was drying, I took a break and walked over to the office to settle this elevator question, since emails had said all work would be completed last week.  I was told that the floor was fine, that the cone was just left behind for no reason (I'm told it will be removed soon), and that I could use the elevator and hallway any time I wanted.  So in leaving today, I did just that.  Everything seemed fine. And I got home before any rain came.

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.