Towards a new Vorticism

I'm confused and excited by what this print might look like when I'm done.  Maybe making a 3 block linocut with no plan is a bit ambitious, I don't know.  But I do like this aesthetic.

More linocut

So the spider linocut is done, here is the first proof.  I want to print it on a full sheet but my press is too small, I'll have to go to the University.  There's a motorized Brand in the drawing studio, but there's not blankets and the whole outfit looks pretty dicey.

I'm starting to think about my print for the SGC print exchange, I'm thinking about continuing this dystopia theme but maybe with a Vorticist sort of aesthetic in three or four colours.  I printed up a few quick postcards to get my hands used to the chisels again:

this of course bears no resemblance to Vorticism, but I did cut it on two pieces that could be inked independently so that it wouldn't be a boring old one colour print.

Further proof

Progress is progress, I suppose.

How to hang a coffee maker

I found this diagram in my studio stuff, I'm not sure why I have it, but it's a technical drawing on how to hang the coffee maker at my parent's house.  They've had this coffee maker as long as I've been around.  It's so unnecessarily and beautifully complicated.  How hard could it possibly be to hang an under-the-cupboard coffee maker?  All those measurements...why?

A Mess

Like a damn bomb went off.  This is why I haven't posted in a few days.  My studio is a mess, so I cleaned it up today and started on a new print.


It's going to be a linocut that yields some monoprints.

Daisy

This is Daisy the donkey.  Painted from a quick cellphone camera shot.  I don't care if watercolour is for old women and school children, I like it and think I should do more of it.

Oldie But Goodie

This is some camera art that I painted a few years ago, acrylic on tracing paper.  It's pretty big (like 36" x 25") and I've used it for various projects, but I think I need to revisit it for something.  It's so fake, yet makes no apologies.

Shadow Puppet

A drawing form a series that I've been stewing on for a while.  About the impossibility of making things with your hands, especially since those things end up being useless/impractical in addition to being improbable.

Variations on theme

Medals don't work as well as trophies.

Collage

I had this pack of acid-free Canson paper with a self-adhesive backing, 10 sheets in 5 basic colours. So I decided to make some collages of trophies. I think they could also make nice prints, though they're sort of like sketches but then again they're archival. I suppose it's not a bad method of working, to make sure that everything is acid free.

What is the value of a trophy, honestly? $5.00 wholesale? How could a piece of gold coloured plastic that possibly serve to commemorate anything? And who decides who gets recognised for and what level of accomplishment? Is any trophy really worth anything? Is any achievement?

Dystopia

I've been thinking about dystopia since this afternoon. So here's some woodcuts that I did a while back that never saw the light of day to speak to that...

A weekend spent

Bucky Fuller never played tennis, or at least it doesn't mention anything it on his Wikipedia page. I spent last Saturday in the John Talleur Print Studio in Lawrence, KS making prints. this is what I ended up with.

Although I did an edition like this (and I like the the print for its graphic and narrative nature), I think I prefer this proof:

I like it because at first glance it looks like a map of an island, and only the subtle white tells you that it's a crushed tennis ball.  I think I should have made the edition of these.

Both printed silk screen on BFK 250lb white, top in four colours, the bottom in three.  Blue, yellow, white and black.

Linocut Proof

Here's a proof of a linocut.  I think in two colours, a pale yellow flat and a sort of ochre for the figure.  Something about bowling trophies, especially really old ones.

You were sort of good at something inconsequential a long time ago.  Congratulations. 

New! Blog!

I sometimes get things done between classes and sleeping.  I am starting this blog to showcase my new work and I implore everyone who comes across it to comment on or critique anything that you see.