Morning on the Paint - a long time coming

I finished this one up today.

I was fishing with Joe, Grizz and Todd on the Paint a few years ago. It was the first time in recent memory for me fishing in the UP, and we were fishing to especially fussy brookies during an early morning trico hatch. I think I might have caught one or two (where I should have caught dozens), and so it was an especially frustrating morning. I had hung it up for awhile, maybe even sat down on a rock midstream to watch my friends downstream do their own fishing, when someone nodded to me in that way that made me turn and look upstream. There was a whitetail doe, cautiously picking her way along the bank, not far away.

I started a print of the scene immediately that fall, but as I worked my way through the blocks, something was lost, and I eventually put them away. From time to time over the next couple of years I'd pick them back up and try something new: a new paper, a different color, etc, always putting them aside and working on something else.

I picked them up again a couple weeks ago, and the answer was obvious: what the blocks needed was just a little bit more carving and just one or two additional color layers.

Here's a proof of one of the last runs I did:


You can see where I drew in a line of birch trees to cut out and a line of grass to add. I also printed it on brighter paper and adjusted the colors a bit.

Here's the finished print again:

It's been awhile - New Print!

I haven't taken time to post anything since August. That doesn't mean that I've not been working, though; it's just been extremely hectic late summer/fall/winter.

I've been working on a couple different prints this winter, with the goal of combining what I've been doing with my reduction woodcuts with what I've learned about the moku hanga technique. The result(s) are prints that are as visually full of depth as before, but with the added versatility and aesthetic appeal of the traditional Japanese woodcut. At least, that's my own thoughts on the matter...

So here's the latest:



This is a 9 block moku hanga type woodblock print. I carved a new and different block for each color, starting from the lightest grey and ending with the black.

The technique is pretty straight forward - I used a master image to trace each color area onto an exactly sized piece of maple. I then carved each one out by hand with various shaped/sized gouges:



I apply the colors in the traditional manner, using a boar and deer hair brush. The ink I use is made by a company called Akua Kolor. My friends at Wet Paint have been my local source since stocking them last year.







There are a couple darker colors that were printed that I didn't record, but you get the point. These are artists proofs, printed on a relatively cheap paper. My task now is to decide on which, if any color layers I want to get rid of, and make final prints on good quality paper (which will change the appearance somewhat, usually to the better....)

Dragonfly

I finished up the dragonfly/cattail print I started last week.



I printed all the color blocks in succession up until the grey wings (I wanted to print them last, over all the other colors, to give a sense of transparency) and stopped because I wasn't happy with how it was progressing, and slept on it. I printed the wings this morning, and it looked better. I then printed the whole black key block over everything and was extremely disappointed.

Hmmmmm......

I went back to my books on Hiroshige and Hokusai, and really looked at how they did things, concentrating on how they used black, particularly as an outline, or in this sense, how it isn't used.

I thought at first that I'd carve another black block, because I didn't want to wreck the keyblock. but i found that I can ink just the portions of the block that I need to, and with selective burnishing, get pretty much the results I was looking for. I'm going to experiment with the background colors just a bit, maybe add some orange to compliment the greens, but overall, I'm extremely please with this print!

A week of work

I finally got a break in between shows and hot, hot weather to get some studio work done. It's too hot to work in the indoor studio on the 3rd floor of the house, and the outside studio isn't insulated, so it get's pretty warm (and humid!) out there, too. So it was with great relief that I took advantage of the gorgeous weather we've been having to get some work done with the Dickerson out in the shed.

I've been printmaking under the name of Trout Lily Studios for some time now, so I thought it time to print an image of some Trout Lily's. It's hard to get a decent image to work with, because the flowers tend to look straight down. But I got some good ones to work with this spring, and of our less than abundant yellow ones, too boot.



I decided to go with a reduction on these, to go along with the Trillium I did several years ago. It came out "interesting"; I'm fairly happy with it.

I also printed an image that's been swimming around in my head this summer, that of a Bee on a Purple Cone Flower.



This is a multi-block print, done in the Japanese style Moku Hanga. Again, there's things I don't like about it, but I'm finding myself really liking the colors. The nice thing about these types of prints is that I can work with them more until I'm satisfied: add a block, change colors, etc.

Finally, tonight I finished up the key block for another Moku Hanga print, this of a Dragonfly:



I'm really liking this image - very simple, but very elegant. I cut up the rough color blocks, and will be carving them and proofing them this week. Stay tuned!

Cottonwood Pool

Truth be told, I've never done very well at the old cotton wood pool. Oh, I know there's some good fish in there - real nice. We shocked a 28"-r years ago during a DNR survey that I helped out with - the first real 28" brown I'd ever seen with my own eyes. I'd caught plenty of 28" fish (northerns and the like) but I'd never seen one like that come out of this creek. I'd heard about them, but then I've told my share of fish stories, too.



Anyway, it's a nice place, regardless if the fish are cooperative, as in my friends case, or not (being my usual lot...) There's this huge cottonwood tree parked right on the corner - the river has been gnawing at the trees root ball for so many years now that it's almost fully eroded. Some day soon it's gonna fall. When it does, I 'd like to be there, because it's a going to be one hell of a show. And it would solve that stupid old question once and for all - you know: if a tree falls in the woods, yaddy yaddy yadda...

This is a Whiteline woodcut. An image is transferred to a maple block, the line then carefully traced with a small V-gouge. The resulting raised portions are individually inked with a tiny paintbrush, and the paper is burnished with a wooden block by hand. Printed with Akua Kolors on Revere Polar White Silk paper.

"Plum Orchard" Artists Proof

I finished off a run of proofs from the blocks I've been cutting this week.



This woodblock printing thing confounds me... I get several colors down the run, and it looks like it's all falling apart fairly quickly. Just when I think seriously about throwing in the towel and start wondering just what it is I'm trying to accomplish, I finish printing the last color and viola! it all comes together.

I've got some work to do yet: get rid of some lines on the black block and maybe, maybe cut a pale yellow block to print amongst the "white" blossoms as flower centers, but I'm really, really happy with how this turned out.

New Print: "Plum Orchard"

It was "Bring Your Spouse to Work" day a couple weeks ago at Maple Leaf Orchard, were Deb works. Since she is the only employee right now, I was the only spouse to participate. I spent the morning wandering through the plum orchards, watching the morning light stream through the blossoming trees, while Deb and Mark went to work with the bees:




I later got the key-block carved. After a marathon day of carving tiny, tiny gouges, I now have a blister on the inside of my middle finger of one hand (where it rubs against the gouge handle) and a very deep, very "V" shaped cut on the end of the other one from when it slipped and jammed straight in. Stupid, stupid! Always use the bench hook! That's what it's there for!

But, four band aids later, I also got the block cut (ignore the blood stain...):




...and even ran some proofs:



next: the fun work starts of cutting and proofing the color blocks.

"Squaretail" White Line finished

I think I could spend the rest of my days fishing for, catching and printing brookies.



Spent the last couple hours tonight finishing up this print. It took about 10 hours from start of inking to finish, but at least half that time was hemming and hawwing about which color goes where. I won't have that problem with the next ones, as the block is as colorful as the print itself, and all the colors are now mixed.

A few more colors added, and it's starting to take shape...

Progress steps

I finished up carving last night, and got the first few colors inked in:



Once the inking gets started, it goes pretty quickly:

Brook Trout White Line Print

I started a new white line print, this time a brookie. I got the image from the last Great Waters Expo, from the folks at Three Rivers Lodge in Labrador. One of these days, I'll take my son, and together we'll fly up there and catch one of these beauty's. Until then, I'll have to make do with printing them...

I got the image transferred earlier:



now comes the tedious task of carving the lines:

Cherry Tree

To go along with the botanical "theme" I've been working on this spring, I finished up an image of a cherry tree, to go along with the pear I pulled last week, and the plum I'll be doing soon.

I think a bright purple/blue plum is going to look good along side these cherries and next to the pear.

I've got some pretty good photos of our plum tree in all it's glory from the last couple years, but I can't find them. Gotta keep looking...

follow up to "Something new from something old"...

I finished up the moku hanga print I started a couple weeks ago, after I printed a run of proofs off the the left over block from the reduction print "Brook Trout Yin Yang."



I like it. It's much simpler than the original (far fewer colors) and it's printed lighter, too, giving it a lighter, flowing feel.

And just in time for the Minneapolis Great Waters Expo, too!

on to the Fruit...

As I mentioned before, as I get ready for the Flower and Garden show at the River Falls Library, the next series I want to work on is a triptic of fruit trees: pears, cherries and plums. First up, is the Pear.

a key block, some B&W proofs, and the first color block:



too green, but the registration is right on.

I carve the rest of the color blocks, proofing them as I go. I discover I need to carve and extra color block, to get the red/orange "blush" to the fruit.

The finished print:

More Flowers...

After the Poppy, my next flower was to be a Purple Iris, also called the "Blue Flag". I see these in the early summer up along the Apple River. A beautiful flower.

the first step, of course, is to produce the key block:



from this I print a shot series of black and white proofs. These proofs are what I use to create the color blocks from.

Starting with the blue:



Eventually, I'll have cut and printed a total of 5 blocks for the finished image:


I'm getting these prints ready for the flower and garden show coming up in May at the River Falls Library. I want to have three triptics done: one of garden flowers, one of fruit (pear, plum and cherry) and one of apples.

Something new from something old

I made some head-way with the cracked-block reduction print; printed a couple more colors on friday:

mmmmmmm - the pukegreen/yellow and gray really look good togeather....

hopefully, the next few colors will pull it together (!)

I was looking through my stacks of old used-up reduction blocks, and noticed a few of them that had images (in black, of course) that were more or less intact. I started wondering about pulling some Moku Hanga style prints off them, since the keyblock was already carved. I went ahead and pulled a bunch of prints off them, and I liked what I saw, so I took one (from a reduction print I ddid seeral years ago called Brook Trout Yin Yang) and took it through the process.

I found some nice clear maple (no cracks!), cut them to size (I decided to forgo any keneto this time) and got them ready.

I started out printing just black and white proofs. I then took a proof, cut it down to exact size, and transferred my image to the blocks. I then carved out the separate colors, starting with the Olive block:

A good sharp chisel makes carving short work:

I used one of the proofs as an AP to check the alignement of the color blocks as I carved them. I had a little excess on the red block that needed to be trimmed:

I carved and printed Yellow, Olive, and Red - black was already carved. Everything came along "swimmingly"

Because of the absence of kento marks, I knew registration was going to be an issue, but I think I worked out a great solution. I built a registration frame.

I glued a deep "L" of black foam core (blue arrows) to a piece of scrap, to serve as a paper rest. The piece of scrap is glued, along with another piece of scrap (red arrows), to a 1" sheet of plywood (green arrow) Each block will be fitted into the "L" these create, with the sheet of paper laid over them, fitted into the "L" of the foam core paper rest.

This is the one print I pulled today from the blocks, in order, without using the frame:

I've got the let the frame dry overnight, and I've got a couple more colors to carve and proof (gotta go see my cabinet maker friend for some more wood - I hear he's got some cherry for me...!!!), but otherwise, This is going to be a succesful experiment!

Progress on New Reduction print

After some consultation with some fellow printmakers on the WetCanvas forum, I decided to go ahead and repair the offending block that split on me.

I first forced as much Gorilla Glue into the crack as I could using a toothpick, clamped it, and spent the next hour wiping any excess glue that foamed out of the crack (as per instructions...):

The patch job held, and I was able to print two more colors, a darker blue, and a light purple:

Agfter washing and a bit of air-drying, I see another crack has opened up, near where the original is/was. Back to the Gorilla Glue and clamp.....

What a PITA! At least, judging by the 5 colors I've printed so far, I'm confident this is going to be a worthwhile print.

Reduction disaster

midway through printing the first color of the latest reduction I started over the weekend, the plate developed a crack:



I think I'll be able to live with it, but I'm afraid it's getting bigger. And of course, washing it over and over will only make it worse. I'm debating on weather I should finish what's started and pry it apart, and then print two plates, or just leave it and see where it goes (it might be interesting...)

anyway, it's going to be a nice print, I think. Pretty inauspicious now, but with only two colors, I can't expect much.



I'm using Daniel Smith ink for the first time, and I think I like it - it rolls out nicely, has ample working time, mixes well and prints suprisingly easy with hand burnishing. I'm printing on 250gsm Ivory Revere paper; pretty thick for hand burnishing, but like I said, it's printing without any undue effort on my part.

Well, it's done. At least, the first printing off this block. There's a couple things I want to different, but I've got 49 more tries to get it exactly the way I want it (!)

I may get one more off from this block before the Minneapolis Expo; I'm not sure. There's some other things I want to get to before then, so it may have to wait.

Technical details: Whiteline Woodcut printed with AkuaKolor waterbased ink on Polar White Revere Silk finished paper. Size shown is @ 22"w x 12"h

Brown Trout White Line Print

At the recent Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo in Chicago, my booth was directly across the walkway from that of a Michigan Lodge/Outfitter, RiverQuest Charters. They had the ubiquitous posters of clients with giant trout and salmon, each one two or three times the size of anything the average angler has ever caught. One photo, that of a magnificent hooked-jawed brown trout, caught my eye. Since completing the Rainbow Trout white line print earlier this winter, I wanted to do one of a Brown, but needed just the right image to work with. There it was!

Talking to the guys manning the booth, I asked asked and received permission to use the image. It's been two weeks since getting back, but I was able to get going again and make a good start on this next print.

First, of course, is to transfer and carve out the image on a wood block.



I'm using a piece of birch plywood for this print. I went with this due to the size of the print: the fish is nearly life size, and I'm printing the whole thing. I didn't have a piece of maple of that size on hand, and had this nice largish sized piece of plywood that seemed to be just right. So far, so good - the birch is of course softer than the maple, and it seems to be more brittle, too, so the ultra fine details are harder to maintain. I don't think I'll use it again, but I think I'll be satisfied with the results.

The carving took quite some time, but I finished last night, and started inking the piece today.

It's painstaking work, but finally seeing actual color after all that carving makes it worthwhile. First, the individual color fields are inked in by hand with a tiny paint brush:



then the print is printed:



Over and over, ink by ink, the print starts to slowly appear:





Technical notes: I'm printing this on Reveere print making paper, with AkuaKolor water-based relief inks.

I should have this print done tonight; I'm hoping to have another printed from this block (and eventually, 50 in all...) in time for the Great Waters Expo, Minneapolis.