Rushing...

At the end of a semester in Etching, everyone is running around like a chicken with their head cut off... myself included. Trying to get those editions finished and last minute proofs through the blotters. It's cool to see the lab working like a well-oiled machine with everyone pushing out a ton of work. I finished/got sick of my grapes and moved on. Actually, I literally got sick. Massive head colds are not good times. Ugh. While I blew my nose into oblivion, I worked on a couple of plates.

First, a 9x12 zinc plate with a layer of soft-ground wax. The Prof. introduced us to this technique earlier in the semester. You make a rig for your plate with cardboard so it doesn't shift, then lay a piece of paper over top. I used charcoal paper, but generally you use something less dense. Then you draw right onto the paper and the marks you make get transferred into the wax ground on the plate. I used a ballpoint pen, since I'm so comfortable with them.


Got it to the lab without messing up the wax and dropped it in the acid for a while. I flat-etched mine for something like half an hour.

The result...

Having never used this technique before I was pretty blown away by how well it worked. It's not a great composition or anything, but WOW I didn't expect it to read the pressure with that detail. *amazed*
I added a bit more value in places and some very rapidly drawn branches (last printing day rush ^^) and kicked out a few of these.

It needs a lot of work, but I rather like the overall idea so I'll keep working on it when I have time in the Spring.

I took a little doodle from a sketchbook and put it on a tiny 4x5 plate. I haven't done anything abstract with any of my etchings, so I thought this would be fun. Not much to it. Only a couple of states, but I enjoy it. The blue is true to life. Very quickly mixed it thinking I might use it on the Scrub Jays above. I like it on this one though.

Needs some aquatint and further tweaking. Reactions from classmates were really interesting. It evoked very different images/ideas from each person. So...

what do you see?
:)

Tasty...

Don't hate.
They count as art.
They totally count.

Gingerbread for the canvas and Powdered Sugar for the medium.

You really can't go wrong.

OM.


NOM.


NOM.

Happy Holidays from the Alley Betwixt!

Backyard Bunch

Back to the grapes... that hardly look like grapes! Ha!
Too bad.
A couple of later proofs here in different inks with different wiping. The overlap of the grapes in the top right corner was a last-minute change. scrapeburnishscrapeburnishweeeeee.


The final edition has three ink colors. The overall green, the brown in the twigs, and a deeper blue-green for the touches of background. It's also printed on Arches Cover, which is a paper with a warm tone to it.

So glad to be done with this. Eesh. XD
Next, I'm working on a soft-ground drawing through charcoal paper and possible a tiny little plate if I have time. We only have four classes left. Time flies!

For the trees...

Here we go!
The transition from the portrait being scraped out and slowly turned into trees. I thought it would be fun to maintain some of the face, rather than scrape it out entirely.


This is probably the last print I got of it that was decent before the burr smoothed out. It's incomplete and not particularly strong, but the process was educational and I don't hate it.

A little steamy...

I editioned my grapes and brought a print home. I'll scan it tomorrow or Friday.

This was the last thing we did last semester. A woodblock print!
We each got a huge slab of pine shelving, drew up our sketches, and then got to carving.
It was so hard.
Oh, geez.
It takes some serious elbow grease to get through one of these things.
Brutal.
Our prompts for subject matter:
-cropped, no complete figures or objects
-evoke a sense (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell)
OR
-something related to the arts (theatrical, culinary, fine, etc.)
I chose the former.
My result...


I'm pretty adamant about using only my own sketches/photos for reference with school work, or anything that would potentially be sold. I didn't for this piece. Yep, I'm a thief. Since it was my first woodblock, experimental, and I knew I wouldn't be printing it much... I decided to do what I wanted. Definitely no profit for this one.


Hahaha.
Very glamorous shot of Yoochun, neh? Poor boy.
So, I blatantly stole Junsu's image.
I think this is an offshot from A-Nation 2008. The original is a video, so it's my own screencap.
Still a thief.
Heavily stylized and added to.
Still a thief.
But it's Jun-chaaaaaannnnnn! I can't resist! The quickest food-vacuum in Kpop! I must pay homage!

Practically broke my hands making the darn thing. I figured I should have an emotional investment if I was going to endure the physical strain. Haha!

When it was nearing completion my Prof made an aside comment that the figure's face was so boy-ish, while the hands looked like they belonged to a construction worker, pouring cement.
I laughed and agreed.
Internally, I was snorting/giggling/heehawing. I was thinking, 'good, an accurate portrait then!'
rofl.
Puppies, cuteness, and veiny hands.
Lovely bundle of contradictions.
/fangirl
*ahem*

Print-happy...

The blotters hadn't been changed, so I didn't bring home the grapes yet. I took one more print of it though. I'll have plenty to work with on next class.

But for now, I'll post some work from the spring semester of Printmaking.
We started with simple collages of found stuff, like cardboard, stickers, fabric, etc. I did a few, but it was so hard to get a feel for what was happening before printing.

I fished out a Mayan tablet from the internets. Interesting character glyphs. This one reminded me of the Simpsons. Ha. Blew it up, drew it on Bristol, exacto-knifed out a stencil and used it on this one. It's the only collage I did that looked semi-decent.

The first etching was a four and a half by six inch zinc plate. I took a cell-phone picture on the bus and used it for reference. I had been thinking of doing that big bus painting, but did this little etching first. Figuring this out was a mind-eff for me. I rely on what my eyes can see right in front of me when I'm drawing. The etching process kills that opportunity. The image will print reverse of what you're doing. The lights and darks are inverted. Wiping ink into and off the plate is a totally finesse/experience-based thing. And the acid is just... scary.

All things considered... I did okay. XD



Straight onto an 8x10 zinc. The assignment was to show texture, which I didn't really do.
Fail.
Took some pictures near Spring Lake. Went with this one. The whole plate was a learning process. A lot of, "okay, that didn't work"... and moving on. So, it has problems, but that's the way it goes.

Peace!

Getting fruity...

The tree drypoint was going well until the burr died. I took five prints, but they looked really weak. I'll scan one in and play with it some time.

Moving on.

We're back to a zinc etching for the 2nd plate. 8x10.
Our prof had us aim for something with a strong color theme. A field of color. A blue ocean scape, a red drape of fabric, a yellow honeycomb with bees... along those lines.

We had a large platter sitting in the kitchen filled with bunches of grapes picked from our little vine in the backyard. Grapes look kind of awesome when light shines through them. I took a bunch of photos, tweaked them in various ways in photoshop, found a crop I liked, and started sketching.

Last week, I pressed flattened grape leaves into a wax soft ground to get some texture. Next, I blocked out the highlights/tones with spraypaint through a stencil. Dropped it in the aquatint bath for a couple minutes. Re-ground the plate and started the drawing. Etched for 12 minutes. Took some proofs. The result was better than expected. Woo.
I reground it and over the weekend filled out the drawing crosshatching/stipling.
In lab today, etched it for 10 minutes, cleaned it, burnished more highlights and printed three. A deep burnt sienna on BFK, toned the ink a bit more for one on Fabriano, and finally whipped up some toned green on BFK for fun. They all looked pretty decent. I'll bring one home Wednesday to scan.

In the meantime, I brought the bare plate home to see what it would look like in the scanner.
Pretty odd. Ha.



The brighter stuff is etched more. When printed, it's dark. So, I inverted the whole thing.
Below is a little closer to what the prints looks like... but not. ^^


The real things will be... そろそろ COMING SOON!!!

Head-first...

A little late, but as promised. First etching of the semester. First on copper. First drypoint. Weeeeeee!
Our teacher had us try to 'trace' our own reflection in the copper, which is a totally disorienting experience if you've never tried it.

2nd state proof...
I swear, the first state looked like my mom. I started laughing as soon as I pulled it from the plate. Tweaked it a bit, hoping for something closer to me. It still looks too cartoony. *shrug*


Moving right along. I did about 12 total prints, from proof to edition. It took me forever to get a knack for the hand-wiping. This one is maybe a little under-wiped still, but I got the hang of it eventually.
The next is already in the works. He had us scrape out our portraits and go outside to get a plein-air drypoint of a tree on campus. I happened to be at this point in the process when it was about 96° last week. That was... rough. Ha!

I'm working on the 3rd state of that one. I invested in a diamond-tipped needle via Blick. I'm hoping it'll arrive before next class.

がんばります！

Returning...

Two weeks at the JC down.
The group in Etching is so exciting. The vibe is lovely. Diversity in art and experience, but everyone is enthusiastic and engaged. Loving it.

We started with a drypoint on copper. Totally new to me. A self-portrait. Oh heavens.
Challenging, but fantastic.
My first proof looked like my mom. Freaky. Haha.
I'll try to get one home to scan next week.

We'll be scraping it out and doing a plein-air on campus... trees.
Gotta love those oaks.

At home, we're overhauling the 'office' so that it will actually be functional. Novel idea.

on the shoulders of...

Acrylic continued...

Magritte's Umbrella
on canvas
Magritte's 'Hegel's Holiday' with a Northern California Twist

Diebenkorn Remix
on bristol
A JC project to re-color Diebenkorn's 'Window'

Shoulder
on bristol
thumbnail copy of Morisot's 'Lady at her Toilette' seen below

JC work galore. Ha.

Transit
on unstretched canvas
referenced from a photograph I took on SR citybus...

My second home. :D

All acrylic paint.

Toes
on canvas
she popped into my head while watching TV and I had to get her out

Thunder
on canvas
inspired by tattoo cloud designs

Peony
on canvas
I was studying the ukiyo-e books at the library

Hikari
on bristol
JC project referenced from the Whale sculpture on the 4th floor of the library

Peacock
on canvas
Kim Jaejoong of TVXQ

Most beautiful man I've ever seen. Good voice, too. ^^

catharsis

Abstraction is restorative. Especially with paint. All of these are from high school or just after. I was on a really abstract kick for a while.

Aqua
acrylic on canvas

Sugar
acrylic on bristol

The Girls
acrylic on cardboard
this was a collaboration with a number of girls in art class, Junior year

Tir (land, in gaelic)
acrylic on wood panel

anthem
acrylic on wood panel

The bottom two were from a project. I had four sets in total, four panels each. Two sets were sandwiched together and attached with clear vinyl strips to create a giant 'Jacob's Ladder' toy. One of them was sitting at Chop's for a while.

oily

I love oils. They blend like butter. They stay juicy and workable much longer than acrylics. They shine on the wall.
But, my friends, oils are nasty. The chemicals involved, the smell, and the mess are a major turn-off for me. A class at the JC pretty much contained all the work I've ever done with oils. This one was a 'master' copy. My choice was Mondrian's 'Ginger Pot'. Mondrian did those paintings that everyone knows... all black lines and geometry and squares of bright primary colors. He did a lot of other stuff before that, including still-lifes that were increasingly abstracted.


This was a massive challenge for me. It never felt finished, but as the years pass... I don't mind it so much.

arid.2

Continuing...

wine bottle still life
graphite pencil

Stovetop
bristol paper with a layer of acrylic paint for color
b/w prismacolor pencil for the drawing

Sushi Bro
similar process with acrylic paint to the above
b/w conté crayon for the drawing

arid

As much as I enjoy painting, dry materials also strike my fancy. Blackened fingers give soap and water a lovely challenge.

Matisse's 'Laurette in a White Turban'
graphite pencil

fruit still life
vine charcoal

Beach. Figure drawing class project
Conté crayon

JC prop closet still life
graphite pencil
(sorry for the bad picture quality)

abalone shell and branches still life
graphite pencil

copypasta

For a change of pace...

Editing pictures falls into the category of meticulous fun. I love me some Photoshop.

Combining pictures...

Cleaning up damage...

And good clean fun...

washy

More pen and ink.


Some odd geometry while I was bored between classes. This pre-dates the new Doyle Library.

A feather.



Northern California much?

A still life that was set up at school. The guitars were over-sized props made of wood and other junk.