These past few months have been full of fun adventures and productive studio time. This post focuses on the commissions – the first commissioned by Larkspur Press for “Planting Trees” a poem by Wendell Berry that will be printed as a broadside and sold at Black Swan Books in Lexington, KY. Trees are complicated structures, akin to our circulatory or nervous system which branches outward into successively smaller branches. Finding the right balance of obsessiveness and playfulness was something I used to be really good at expressing – glad a found a good balance 😉
The red, orange and black are sharpie markers that I use to help define areas of the drawing on the block. The white is a powdered chalk I use to help me see areas that I have engraved – otherwise the engraved marks are too small and lack the proper contrast to see what I’m doing well.
More progress engraving textures and defining form – and my thumb for scale.
Here is the block and printed proof – the aim of this work. This block is now safely delivered to Larkspur Press and will be printed soon – after Wendell Berry’s approval!
The second commission is for an appraiser and curator in Nevada – this is to be a holiday print for close friends and family. The client provided photos he had taken of areas in Nevada and told me of his recent study of the artist Hans Meyer-Kassel. Using imagery that held great meaning to the client, I proposed a few loose drawings, settling on the one below. The resulting print, Carson City Wild, will be editioned soon. The client was kind enough to allow me to print an additional edition so that I may sell the print to others that really enjoy its spirit!
The surface of this block was stained with black printers ink and then the drawing was transfer using carbon paper. I then reinforced the drawing with micron pens (black) and add the brightest whites with a white colored pencil. the tan marks in the sky portion of the image are the raw end grain wood that my tools have exposed. The yellow squiggles seen in the lower portion of the image are remnants of the carbon paper used to transfer the image.
I have added chalk dust to the lines to help my eye see the marks and to better see the graphic contrast that will be in the final print.
The block sits on two very firm leather pillows of sand – this helps to bring the block closer to my eyes, thus saving my neck and back as well as allowing me to spin the block while I make marks with my trusty burins.
The last stage of development (before I get ready to print the edition) involves a lot of proofing and engraving and proofing and engraving, etc. I printed the block first, made some adjustments by engraving more here and there, and then printed it again to see how it looked. I did this about 9-10 times before I was pleased with the image.
