1000 Woodcuts Updates

OFF MY PLATE!!! New Year, New Resolution

2012-01-18T14:09:00.000-08:00

Last year I started out the year calling it a simpler year...or was that the year before that?! Hmmmm...see!? I'm already in trouble.
I am declaring this 2012 the OFF-MY-PLATE year. I'm deep into a bad case of project indigestion. I have one print to finish for an exchange and a commission for a block/print set.
And that's it, that IS IT!!!
Oh yeah, the puzzle project yet to be finished and printed...sigh... http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com

My to-do list is ridiculous with projects so old that I had to shut off the reminders in my Outlook so that I wouldn't see the annoying: "eight months overdue" notices.
My website in dire need of revising, my books in need of revising...hey, just those two things could take me the rest of the year.

Goldwell: Red Barn from the East

But no, no no nononono!!! I have little notebooks and pieces of paper hanging all over my very disorganized studio (in need of revision as well) that will keep me busy until I'm old and gray...make that older and grayer.
Blocks like the Goldwell series (above) yell at me every morning to get my act together or they're walking off. My piles of wood are dusty and sad.

So that's it, I'm done with the new and on with the old. Or something like that.
2012, Chinese Lunar New Year of the Black Dragon's Den, which is where I'm going to mercilessly toss anyone that tries to recruit me for any project that isn't my own. And that includes me.

2012, get off OFF MY PLATE!!! year.

You heard it here first.

Baby Grand is done!

2011-11-16T15:02:00.000-08:00

Wow I've never worked so hard on such a small print!
I experimented with waterbased inks, transparent bases, layering and just in general had a GRAND time making something so big, so small.

Here are all nine blocks of the Baby Grand printed, each adds a little something until the final result looks almost like a tiny painting:

1. Key block

2. Underpainting of blue

3. Forest green

4. Underpainting of tanish

5. Violet

6. Umber/sienna

7. Deep purple

8. Umber

9. Reduce and reprint key on foreground

Ta-daaaa!

Baby Grand, color woodcut

2.5 x 3.5 inches

October Update, where have I been?

2011-10-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

I've been in the studio, of course!
Working on the "Baby Grand", a tiny print with a larger than life subject for (what else!) the barenforum.org (http://barenforum.org) 50th Anniversary Exchange. I thought everyone in the world should have the Grand Canyon in their pocket.

I'm busy working on block number 4 of 9 blocks but they go quickly. The print is 2.5 by 3.5 inches (ACEO size) and it is delightful to work on. All the blocks are carved, now I'm just printing like a mad woman, an edition of 160.

The Grand Canyon is all about color so I'm going to make this tiny print huge in palette. Well, it's all about size too and thus my tiny representation. I was going to call it Pocket Canyon but I think Baby Grand is better. What do you think?

Here are the first three blocks:

Right to left: The key block, blue background, green foreground trees.

And here is the fruit of my labor so far...all those tiny prints! I built a registration board just for these little cherry blocks and also a small printing "baren" made of wood buttons and a doorknob. Works like a charm!

All these tiny prints will be trimmed even smaller when finished. I had to leave a margin to register properly.

All the blocks required for this print. The first three (the dirty ones!) have been printed. I built the registration board from foamboard to accommodate the cherry blocks. The tiny doorknob with glued on wood buttons makes quick work of printing by hand.

Discombobulated Bunnies

2011-10-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

It's been "that" kind of a year, this 2011. I find myself finishing projects late, chucking others off my to do list altogether and just generally feeling out of control.
Contrary to popular belief, I am not a control freak; that would imply I wish to control others around me. No no no...I just enjoy being under control, like...myself and my life. Unless I'm skiing downhill of course, but that's another matter.

So the Chinese Lunar New Year starts in February, yeah, like LAST February and every year I make a promise to some 50-70 printmakers all over the world that I will send them a Year of the- post card (http://barenforum.org). We all make that promise to each other. Quite fun to receive these all year long with postage from everywhere, some in envelopes, some in baggies, some just so.

My post-cards went out last week, naked as a jaybird this year but surely they will make it "there" safely, won't they? Surely. It's been that kind of a year...

In any case, here is my Chinese Lunar New Year representation of this crazy rabbit year. Officially crossed off my to do list.

Deconstructed Rabbit 2011

Go ahead, scan the QR!

Nature Printing and the yearly workshop

2011-08-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Nature Printing Society is a wonderful collection of slightly nutty but very well behaved individuals who get together year after year to print fish and plants and anything else that can sit still for just a few minutes.

Their website link is: http://www.natureprintingsociety.info/ and they now have a Facebook page so look them up there too. Exploring the work from past workshops will yield a variety of expertly pulled prints taken from natural things, including an amazing poodle print, (real poodle, like...the dog breed!).

I last went to their workshop in Santa Barbara, California and had a blast. This last workshop was in Fort Collins, Colorado and I learned even more stuff that would have never ocurred to me. Now every time I hike I take a brayer, not really but I feel like I could print "the trail" as I see it and walk by.

Certainly adds a whole new dimension to a printmaker's bag of tools!!!

Here's a sampling of everyone's work showing a wide variety of techniques taught at the workshop:

Long due for an update!

2011-07-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

What's been going on?! No posts since May, I can't believe it. Well, I can, really, that's just the way artists are. I've been remodeling and catching up on home projects again and I seem to be a one-project-at-a-time person.

The latest always available on my website, of course. But here is a print I just finished for a donation to the Japan Tsunami survivors. The prints will be available for sale and I will update when and where in the online world. All proceeds go to the survivors.
Here is my contribution:

Print Title: Inspired by Japan

Paper Dim: 10 x 15 inches

Image Dim: 8 x 12.5 inches

Block: Five cherry blocks

Pigment or ink: Oil based Daniel Smith inks and shimmer-pearl pigment

Paper: Rives Moulin du Gue

Edition: 64

Comments: The theme “Inspired by Japan” immediately brought images of cherry trees and cherry blooms, the ocean and the delicate legacy of Japanese prints.

All those images are far from my usual work, but I decided that I would honor the Japanese in this dedication and try to work my image accordingly. I went to the web and immediately fell in love with the shape of a map of Japan. After printing out a bunch of cherry trees, blooms and maps, the image came together of the islands that compose Japan bathed in cherry blooms and buds, signifying beauty and renewal.

The background was printed with shimmer-pearl and heavily embossed to simulate both ocean and the cherry wood I love to carve.

A couple of details:

That's about it. The cherrywood was hard and tough to carve and I tried to give the print that Japanese feeling. I enjoyed it even though I was too much of a coward to do it in the traditional Japanese waterbased pigment style. I thought it came out pretty neat even though you can't see the pearl shining in the ocean on the web pics.

Update, just keeping on...

2011-05-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

Block for City of the World project by Don Halpern

Let's see, since last post, I cut and mailed out the blocks for the City of the World project. In fact, some of the blocks are coming back to me already!
Here is the Puzzle Prints Blog:
http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com

Other than that, I finished a couple more prints. My latest work is always viewable from the 1000 Woodcuts Page in my website:
http://1000woodcuts.com/1000woodcuts/1000.html

Melchor, Gaspar y Baltasar
Reduction woodcut for SSNW Exchange

Aloja, five block color woodcut for Barenforum.org's 48th Exchange

For this last print, I tried printing a grissaille of sorts as a base before over-printing with transparent colors. I wanted the sky and water to have an uneven dark/light feel as if lit by moonlight. Many possibilities with this technique; I'm thinking a base of bright yellow to brighten a desert landscape, a base of red or blue to fire up or tone down a figure...

I have achieved a wonderful balance between taking care of the house and garden, making art and still keeping my collector's well fed with online sales.
I have another print on the bench ready to carve, a tribute to the Japanese for a benefit a bunch of printmakers are concocting in order to help out the victims of the earthquake and Tsunami.
And life just keeps going.

A project-obsessive personality

2011-03-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

I confess I'm "project-obsessive". Once I start something, especially a large project, I just put my head down and work until it is done. I think that's the only way I stay motivated enough to finish. Starting and stopping is just not the way I work.

Anyhow, here is my latest obsession:
http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com/
I'm planning on finishing the first stage this week. Should be a cool humongous print!

Where did the winter go?!

2011-03-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

Where did the winter go already?
Oh yeah, finished remodeling the kitchen and printed this print and another one for two exchanges (will someone remind me NOT to sign up for anything else?), and coordinated the latest Barenforum.org exchange.

I'm also working on a mega-project, another collab puzzle, can be followed here:
http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com/

But make art we must, lest we go insane.
Meet my latest creation, "Fool on the Hill".
Here are the specs:

Print Title: Fool on the Hill

Paper Dimension: 13" x 6"
Image Dimension: 12" x 5"
Block: 8 Cherry
Pigment or Ink: Akua-Kolor
Paper: Nishinouchi Natural
Edition: 100

I am challenged and humbled by the process once more. More blocks, more chances to goof. In the end I think I ended up with a fairly good success rate on the prints despite my annoying habit of experimenting.

I used Akua-Kolor without rice paste, with rice paste applied separately and with rice paste mixed in. It flows better with paste, although the "without" look is very deserty.

Image: I grew up listening and memorizing Beatles songs even though I never understood the words until I learned English later in life. "The Fool on the Hill" attracted me as a child, which may give some insight into what kind of child I was.

I always liked nature and climbing and being where others could only point to in amazement. Three years ago in the Grand Canyon (South Rim, Colorado USA) I again had a chance to climb and sit on my hill, and watch the sun going down.

Monumental Collaborative Puzzle Print #3 is in the works

2010-12-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

Announcing Monumental Puzzle Project Numero Tres!

EVERYONE INVITED! The City of the World shall be built in 2011!!!

Sign up is open now until end of January 2011. Deadline for returning a very small carved block is December 2011.

Information page: http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cityoftheworld/index.html

As the page says, monumental puzzle projects are a collaborative effort among printmakers world-wide to compose an awesome print with little effort on the part of each printmaker.

Basically, each printmaker receives a smallish block of wood which fits neatly into the overall puzzle design. Each printmaker carves their block, returns to the coordinator and receives in turn a huge print containing the creations of printmakers from all over the world.

All the gory details on the page above. This time, in a fit of insanity, I am extending the invite to other groups so if you have your own group of printmakers, everyone is welcomed.

Once more, the information page outlines requirements, sign up form, and all the details.

http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cityoftheworld/index.html

For those of you who have never done one of these before, here are the pages from the previous Monumental Puzzle Projects:

The Baren Puzzle #1 http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/puzzle/project.html

The Great Baren Cairn #2 http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

Pssssssssst...tell a friend!!!

Catching up on website work

2010-11-19T16:11:00.000-08:00

When I first started this web site "thing" I had no idea how much work it was going to be. I really just wanted a little website with some info on me, my art and the woodcut process.

Fast forward 100 years (it feels like that!) and now my website is begging to be upgraded to modern standards and split into at least two, if not three, separate sites. Sigh!

In the meantime and following the adage, "never mind that the horse is lame, load the wagon!", I continue to update my projects, works, process and whatever else I can think of. Now I also update this blog, my Facebook page, my mailing list and various online galleries. I need another Maria!

But to the current post, my very favorite updates are to upload those tiny thumbnails of each of my works on my "1000" pages.
The main page is here: http://1000woodcuts.com/1000woodcuts/1000.html
And from there you have a glimpse into my entire output since I started making woodcuts.

I love how the little tiles change with my current style...

Well, back for more updates! My database is calling.

'Tis the Season!!!

2010-11-09T17:31:00.000-08:00

'Tis the Season for Shopping and thinking about giving art to everyone you know. No matter who you buy from, think about giving art this season!

Since I took a break off the festival circuit I've been searching for a way to empty my flat files so that I can happily fill them again in the next years. So the cycle begins.
During my "festival period" I was either always getting ready for a festival, going to a festival, in a festival or coming and resting from a festival. The creative spark had to take a back seat.
Now I'm back creating but I missed making that special connection with my collectors. I'm really not a gallery seeker nor an art scene groupie, so aside from festivals, connecting with collectors happens daily through the magic of the internet.

Which brings me to selling online. Definitely not all it's cracked up to be...well, maybe if you sell shoes or ladies purses, but making "a living", even a scant one, selling art online is not at all as easy as cranking out a website and waiting for the shopping cart to fill up.

So far, my best online ventures have been the unlikely wacky world of ebay http://www.stores.ebay.com/1000woodcuts and the delightful Etsy http://1000woodcuts.etsy.com/.

Ebay has by far the best traffic but can be a dangerous place; Etsy has a nice charm and is more suitable for fine prints. The price point on both of those is pretty low so I place my smaller prints and I sell unmatted and unframed. I think collectors get a good deal and all I have to do is kiss my prints and place them gently in a mailer and off they go!

But what to do with framed works, larger works and blocks? I started various other online shops through the years and traffic is just deplorable about everywhere. Many online galleries want outrageous amounts of money and don't seem to get the sales to justify the charges.

This year, I found Ruby Lane! Very elegantly done, nice offerings, great people and an overall very classy look to the website. And, very important for printmakers, no reproductions allowed! The price point is higher and that attracts a knowledgeable clientele as well. I started a shop and we'll give it a year or three and see how it goes.
They also have an alternate site, Ruby Plaza, which acommodates the lower price offerings and still (yeah!) reproductions have to be labeled as such. It's really a fine printmaker's heaven.

Anyhow, check it out for yourself. It's definitely worth a look and if you have been searching for an online shop that is classy, you might want to give it a try, tell them I sent you. Here is my Ruby Lane Shop:

NEW! Fine Art Gallery:

Shop Ruby Lane for 1000 Woodcuts

Maintaining all these little jewels takes time, of course, and I try not to let things get too stale on any one website. Then there's promotion and such things but life is much easier when the booth doesn't have to go up at 3:30 AM...in the wind...and cold...

Is it January already?

2010-10-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

Well, no, it's not January yet...but I did finish my contribution for the Wood Engraver's Network 2011 Calendar. This is an exchange of sorts, where volunteers print up 100 copies of their assigned month and receive a bunch of hand-bound calendars in return. I can't wait!
I must be getting picky in my old age because I stopped "production" to clean the block four times before I was satisfied that it was as clean a print as it would be. By cleaning the block I mean stopping, removing all ink, and recarving spots that were picking up ink without my explicit consent, the rascals!
Didn't help that I just knew that wood engravers carry around a magnifying glass everywhere they go just so they can hone in on the details. I know I do.

In any case, here is the final image. Two blocks, a standard background woodcut block and the engraved foreground in all its gory detail on end-grain maple. I used Daniel Smith inks, Traditional Black oil-based and a black/white/transparent mix for the background.

See? It is snow, it HAD to be clean! The image is from my garden, a quirky Mojave yucca that has the funniest looking seed pods. There was snow two years ago right here in the city, so I'm not completely inventing the composition. I imagine those strange looking pods dumping their seeds in the snow so that they can regenerate during the perfect spring.

I will leave you with a couple of details:

Hmmm...still see a speck or two...drat!

Willow Bloom, the latest moku-hanga creation

2010-09-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, our desert garden decided to reward us with some color. This "desert garden" used to be referred to as "the back-40". When we first moved in we gracefully called it "raw desert" and it was near five years before we got around to planting some desert hardy plants, shrubs and trees.

Fast forward another five years of planting, moving, about a mile of drip irrigation trenching, pipe, hoses and drip heads...and VOILA! A beautiful desert garden with flowering trees, sage, and other assorted Mojave native and Mojave hardy plants.

The willows, my first tribute to the garden, bloom all summer and recently in early fall. Here is my tiny willow bloom:

Mojave Willow 2010 Copyright Maria Arango

And the blocks that went into making of the willow bloom, sans words:

That's about it! I'm on to my second garden creation, the beaver tail blooms! This time my key block will be cherry which will allow me to do a more detailed line guide. Of course this will also raise the "degree of difficulty" for registering the key blocks but I think I'm ready.

Last but not least, the hanshita paper transfer for woodblock printmaking

2010-09-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, hanshita paper is simply a tracing paper that has been glued temporarily to a heavier stock paper. This allows the paper "sandwich" to be printed on any ink-jet printer and the tracing paper to be glued to the block without wrinkling or buckling.

The hanshita printout is perfect with all the detail intact. The needed tools are some rice paste or wall paper paste (anything that is removable later with water), and a sponge brush or, my preferred method, a sponge roller.

These rollers make quick work of the task of spreading a perfectly even layer of rice paste over the block. They come in all sizes!

There it is, a nice even light layer. I found the compromise between too much paste, which makes the tracing paper tough to remove later, and too little paste, which causes the tracing paper to peel off during carving. Sometimes it peels off before I am done carving details and I'm left to guess where the stem of the flower should be.

I just hand press the paper onto the block after aligning it carefully. I smooth it down evenly but not too much so as not to disturb the tracing paper.

The heavy backing paper is easily removed either while the rice paste is still a little wet or later after it has dried some. I have found no difference regardless of when the backing is removed.

If the ink was not dry on the paper for very long, it will actually transfer nicely to the block. The tracing paper can be rubbed very gently and removed leaving the ink-jet transfer on the block. I'm almost always too scared to do this so I just let the tracing paper dry under some weight to prevent any buckling. The carving can then proceed right through the paper.

The hanshita method yields perfect design transfers every time, which is why I use it most often on smaller works.

Lastly, a side by side by side comparison of the three transfer methods, the Studio Paper on the left, the ink-jet t-shirt iron-on in the middle and the hanshita on the right. The untransferred design is shown below each block.

I tint and oil the block a bit before carving and they all took ink and oil similarly except the iron-on transfer did not let the oil seep into the block. The block still carved fine right through the rubbery layer but, despite a perfect transfer, I probably won't use it because of that. Either of the other two methods works well, with the Studio Paper giving a slightly "freer" feel to the block since there is no paper adhered and the hanshita winning the detail-transfer race since the tracing paper gives slightly better contrast.

Transfering design to block with Iron-on T-shirt transfer

2010-09-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Here is the printed iron-on transfer stuff. The printout showed all of the fine detail with very good contrast so I was encouraged.

The detail of this transfer was probably the best of the three because of the high contrast.

Bring on the heat! I used an iron that's perhaps older than me...well, maybe not. This method needs a high heat setting and no-steam setting. I keep this old fashioned plain iron in the studio for just this type of project.
It takes some pressure and quite a high setting. My mini-iron (used for crafts) did not work; had to be a full-size iron.

The process of transfering with this method also "tanned" my block so no tinting would be necessary later.

The drawback is that the transfer is a rubbery ink designed for t-shirts, so there is quite a bit of relief that transfers to the block. It scrapes off easily enough, but it does transfer a film of rubber all over the block, even the white parts. I carved a little on it and the film comes off fairly easily by pulling it up without damage to the block.

Here is the enlargement of the transfer printed and on the block:

On to transfer number three, the hanshita.

Transfering design to block with Studio Paper

2010-09-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

It has been an experimenting year for me so I wanted to try out different methods of transfering image to block. I vary my own approach, depending on what my plan is with a certain image.
For multi-color woodblock prints, I almost always carve the key block and print on hanshita paper as many times as I will need color. For reduction blocks, it really doesn't matter so much; if my composition is complex and I need to work out things in Photoshop first, then I might use one of the methods below or simply transfer with tracing paper.

Most of my designs are drawn straight on the block with sumi ink. It really just depends on what print, how much detail, method, etc. But I wanted to add a few more methods to my arsenal, just in case. These three are very suitable for highly detailed work and for printouts from any printer.

Left to right, these are three printouts from my computer. First is Studio Paper, a transfer medium which I purchased online at http://www.imcclains.com/.

In the middle is iron-on t-shirt transfer for ink-jet prints, available at any office supply store.

Last is the hanshita paper, a tracing paper attached lightly to a tougher sheet. This paper goes through any printer and is availabe from the supplier above and also from the Baren Mall at http://www.barenforum.org/ click on Baren Mall from there.

I first cut the three printouts to size; I'm working on 4x6 shina blocks.

The Studio Paper, a waxy paper that leaves the ink from the ink-jet printer very "wet" and requires little pressure to transfer, gave me a very light printout, although the detail was fine enough.

I simply lined up the corner of the block and pressed down lightly with a "doorknob-baren". Any pressure implement will do. The paper is slick and the ink is still wet so care is needed to avoid blurring.

I checked as I went along to see how the transfer was coming along. The Studio Paper transfered quickly and cleanly with very little pressured.

Overall, I was impressed with the detail, although I would have liked the ink to be a tad darker on the block. I am transfering on bare blocks for this experiment and usually I would have tinted the blocks with walnut or gray ink to help later in carving.

Aside from the lightness of the transfer, the Studio Paper worked as advertised! I'm always a bit skeptical about these products but this one works.

Next I will try the iron-on stuff. Last picture is a close up of the detail from the studio paper transfer.

Methods of transfering design to block Part I

2010-08-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

My preferred method of committing design to block is to simply draw on the block. I do this either with sumi ink and a brush or with a "magic" permanent marker, depending on the design. Sumi-ink drawings are more fluid and resemble more Chinese or Japanese designs while permanent marker drawings can be more detailed and "Western" looking.

Working out compositional details with pencil first eliminates the fear of committing drawing to ink. Pencil or charcoal on block can be erased easily. Two cautions: heavy application of graphite can leave a greasy film that will not accept marker or ink later, and too much pressure applied with a sharp pencil on soft wood will leave an indentation that may show on light printing.

One drawback with the direct draw method is that the design will be reversed in printing, but with some years of practice it seems I have learned to "flip on my head" and end up drawing exactly a flipped version of what I really wanted.

Another simple method is to draw on tracing paper or any light weight paper. The drawing can thus be more elaborate and "worked" because the drawing and erasing is done off the block and can be tossed and redrawn infinite times before transferring to the woodblock.

Once the drawing is finished, it can be transferred to the block by flipping the paper over the block and using either carbon paper or charcoal rubbing.

In the case of tracing paper, the drawing can simply be pasted down on the block with rice paste and the carving proceeds right through the paper.

One of my favorite types of carbon paper is a red paper sold at http://www.imcclains.com/ that is soft and transfers even the slightest line. I am also the proud owner of a stack of about 400 sheets of old typing carbon paper picked up on eBay for about $2.98. Pressing down too hard when transferring with carbon paper can leave a dent in soft wood blocks.

For transfers which are drawn (or photographs) and printed from a computer, the method I have been using most is printing on a plastic substrate such as transparency film. This is the stuff that was used in overhead projector presentations before the advent of MS PowerPoint.

I use laser transparency film and print on an ink-jet printer. The ink-jet ink remains wet and much care is needed not to drop it on the way from the printer to the studio, since it will invariably fall on its "face" (like the proverbial buttered toast) and will make a mess out of both the transparency and the floor. Not that that's ever happened to me.
In any case, the procedure is simply to work out the drawing or photo on the computer, print on the transparency, place the transparency face down on the block carefully and apply hand pressure to transfer the ink. Excellent detail can be achieved with this method.

Moving right along, this year I'm in an experimenting mood and I acquired some "Studio Paper" a wax coated paper, also from McClain's and a few sheets of iron-on transfer for ink-jets from my nearest office supply store. The last method, and the one I use most often now, is the traditional hanshita from Japan; I purchase prepared paper from the Baren Mall http://www.barenforum.org/ but it is easy enough to make my own.

The illustrated story of those last three methods in the next post, the dreaded sequel: Methods of transfering design to block Part Deux.

One more trick on the eternal quest for perfect registration!

2010-08-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

For my last print (previous blog post) I wanted to print through the press and maybe do a reduction or two on some of the blocks. With so many decisions to make along the way, the most flexible approach to registration is to resort to the traditional Japanese kento-cut-on-block method.

My usual M.O. is to cut the key block, kento and all, and print several copies on prepared hanshita paper to simply paste on the color blocks. I have a left handed toh to avoid flipping the block while cutting the kento; I have pretty good transfer and glue skills and getting better all the time at actually cutting the darned things straight and square.

And yet I always have to strive for another tweak that will make my art life less stressful and more efficient. The solution is so simple I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

Roughly, the tools needed, left to right:
-Close-up glasses if you are over 50 (yeah, even barely over 50)
-The block, of course, with freshly pasted hanshita or drawn kento
-A smallish steel square
-Cutting tool of choice, shown a toh and a standard utility knife
-Clamps behind the block, the quick release type
-Cat licking itself (optional to make things interesting)

1. Here we go, step numero uno is to carefully place the square EXACTLY on the kento marks.

You can place the square inside the line or outside the line or right on the line as long as you do it the same way on every block.

The easiest thing is to place it exactly ON the line, then you don't have to remember anything.

2. Once the square is on the line, clamp it down to the block with the quick release clamps firmly on two or (better) three spots.

For this step, the block has to be placed slightly off the edge of the table or work bench.

There is an illustration of clamping down the square. Notice I made some "tick marks" on the hanshita to help me find the beginning and end of the kento.

3. After clamping, just cut along the square keeping the blade perfectly vertical to the square.

I like to make a very "soft" cut at first and dig in gently with subsequent passes. Digging too hard on the first few cuts can result in the knife slipping away from the square.

And yes, I can cut with my left hand, not just faking it for the picture. Teaching the left hand to cut if you are right handed does wonders to avoid fatigue of the joints.

As I mentioned before, I have both a left and right handed toh for cutting kentos. But a simple and much cheaper solution for the initial cuts is to use a standard utility knife. The blade is certainly strong enough for Shina ply and other soft woods and will also work on cherry with some repeated cuts.

I must say there is a world of difference between using the toh and the utility blade! Even my cheapest toh digs into the wood much easier than the soft utility blade. But the utility knife does an amazing good job in a pinch.

Check it out, perfectly squared and straight kentos! Every block, every time, perfect registration to the mil!

My studio smells like HONEY!?

2010-08-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

I began experimenting with Akua-Kolor inks with my last two moku-hanga prints of the Valley of Fire. They work exceptionally well for this traditional Japanese method, but I also wanted to try them in the Western roll'em'up'n'press'em method (that is a long technical term requiring more explanation than this blog can possibly get into).

The best part of Akua-Kolor is that my studio smells like honey when I hang up the prints to dry. It is the sweetest smell! Maybe I just like working consistently again.

Anyhow, nothing like a print exchange or seven to get the presses rolling, or the baren sweating, or whatever. So for my Baren Exchange #45 I decided to jump right into the thickener of things and roll out the Akua.
The colors are amazingly impressive, the purity of the transparency is just incredible; I can't think of another word for it. Here are some of the plates:

Oh, forgot, if you are in Barenforum.org Exchange #45 and like surprises, read the rest of the blog post with your eyes closed.

The theme was "maps" so I went "flying" over the earth until I found a neat spot (insert credit here to Google Earth).

Key block on the right printed in violet/purple/umber containing all of the relief and some ancient petroglyph symbols thrown in for good measure.

Blue block on the left with the lake, river and anywhere I wanted blue or green.
So far, so cool...

Hansa Yellow on the right printed all over the areas surrounding the lake to make my brown eyes blue...er, to make some of my blue areas green.

The transparent sienna/orange plate was really a second state. After printing the first three plates, I wanted to "kill" the contrast a little and produce two more colors: a light sienna/orange over the cream paper and a slightly more rusty purple/umber over the open areas of the key block.

Next picture is the first three plates combined to make a "State 1" which really makes the blue POP!

And finally, the four plates combined to make "State 2" with the transparent rusty stuff all over. The blue still pops fine and there is more of a SW earth to it. Or something.

I haven't made my mind up which state I like best or which orientation I like best either. Looks good vertically too. Maybe I will sign it in all four directions and let the viewer place as they like it. The original reference is flipped but I liked it this way better.

I have a title this time:

36° 08' 45" N

114° 23' 49" W

Geographical Divides project is done...and needs a title!

2010-07-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

Here it is drying away in my studio. My print for the Geographical Divides print exchange among Nevada printmakers is done!

And this is where YOU, the viewer comes in! I am totally blanked out on a title. Here is the background of the project in a nutshell (or go to http://geographicaldivides.blogspot.com/ ):

Nevada printmaker and prof Anne Hoff, along with the tireless Candace Nichol decided to organize a print exchange between Northern and Southern Nevada printmakers. Not content with a standard exchange of prints, ha, the project dictates that a N printmaker starts a block, sends to a S printmaker who works on it. Then the original N pmker modifies the image again, prints and sends to coordinator. Some artists worked together on their project, but some of us were, er...geographically divided.

So my partner Lynne and I worked without meeting and decided on the theme "rural meets urban", something we both live and watch. I sent Lynne four pieces of my block in the true spirit of a puzzle block; she carved them, I received them back and proceeded to make them fit into a pictorial "whole".

The result is below, I wanted to do something with topo map "feel" following the overall theme; thinking of an image is hard enough, but when faced with someone else's interpretation, the degree of difficulty is raised substantially. My M.O. is usually to make a unified "narrative" regardless of how many different pieces I'm faced with. Since Lynne pretty much took care of the "rural" bit, I proceeded to fit her critters with some urban grids and symbols, splashed some color here and there somewhere between topo and traffic light, and came up with a four state reduction.

Incidentally, for those of you who don't know, that is roughly (very roughly) the alignment of Las Vegas (South) and Reno (North) within the mountainous great state of Nevada.

Now that you know all about it, I need a danged title! "Untitled" just doesn't do anything for me...would you help?! Either comment or send me an email to 1000woodcuts AT gmail DOT com

Da print:

Last week at the Valley of Fire, it's getting HOT!

2010-06-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

I've been visiting the Valley of Fire weekly to keep up with my show. This year the lizards seem to be in great health and, early in the morning, come out in the open to sun themselves and enjoy the morning I suppose, just like the rest of us. When I first get there and snap some quick pictures, the thing that strikes me the most is the absolute silence. My feet crunch the sand and the only sound when I stop is the breeze russling through the pods in the various bushes, now beginning to dry and drop to the ground.

This guy was about 18" long and must be in the welcoming committe, right at the visitor's center parking:

This will be the last week my work will be at the Valley of Fire. Below some pictures of my little display area.

More Progress on the Geographical Divides

2010-06-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

Please see http://geographicaldivides.blogspot.com/ for all the other prints and artists.

My topo/puzzle idea came to life when I received Lynn's puzzle pieces. We had talked about keeping the individual images simple and I was pleased with her choice of imagery. Lynn will be pleased to know that the rat transplant went without a hitch (perhaps she can further explain that one!).

Just to refresh, we had gone with the theme urban/rural and how somehow we work things out with natural things when we live on the edge of a city (as Lynn does) or smack in the middle but with an acre of desert "elbow-room" as I do. On a bigger scale, of course, every city in Nevada deals with the issue of sprawling into the habitat of the few and hardy creatures with whom we share our beloved desert.

In any case, with Lynn's images in place, I started sketching in PhotoShop again. I wanted to keep the topo colors and somehow bring out the positive concept of sharing among urban/rural, rather than some of the more negative connotations that come to mind. I decided to add some urban elements since Lynn's critters pretty much took care of the rural part, and after some mulling and browsing, settled on semaphores (traffic lights for US folk :-). The "traffic lights" I picked had a hint of primitive symbols and, rendered in the topo colors, blend in quite nicely without losing meaning. Caution and courtesy, please, when urban and rural meet...

The computer is really a luxury when it comes to "sketching" and I don't use it often enough to develop my imagery. When I do, I find it most exciting to change imagery, save stages, tweak elements of design here and there, change color schemes...luxury!

I even changed the "paper" several times to see what the image would look like printed on various choices. Here is the almost-to-be-final image. I need to let it gel for a couple of days and then it should only be about another week or two for carving and printing. My Valley of Fire show concludes next week and I should be able to dedicate myself to this project fully and finish printing by the second week of July.

The sketch, reversed as it will be in print, a little messy in PhotoShop but will clean up and simplify nicely when printed because the woodcut process tends to do that. I think the colors will work well to represent both the topo features and the red/yellow/green of the traffic symbols. The "city grids" will probably also be finer and cleaner in line when cut on wood.
Comments welcomed!

Valley of Fire II - States of the Print

2010-05-30T18:29:00.000-07:00

Again I had some fun with this print. Also, an accomplishment: I made mold in Vegas! I didn't think it was possible, but there it was...tiny bits of round fungus right on some of my paper. For the record, the New Hosho paper did not mold at all, the proof paper got the most mold and the Stonehenge Cream somewhere in between. Oh, HOW I made the mold...too long inside the plastic, too hot in the studio, too lazy or dumb to put stack in fridge.

I can't really help mysef when printing I like to try different papers and see the paper "change" the final print. Stonehenge Cream is tough to print on (literally! hard stuff) but some very nice results and registers very well because it is thicker than the New Hosho.

Here are the blocks in sequence:

And the final image on New Hosho:

"Final" is debatable, still thinking on adding another color, perhaps a blotchy olive green in the closer desert to add texture. And maybe on the foreground mallow as well. We'll see...right now I have to get ready for my show, setup in two days, loading tomorrow. Oh, see previous post if you missed the announcement!

Upcoming SHOW! at my Favorite Local Spot

2010-05-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Finally, I finished the second Valley of Fire print, right on time for my...drum roll...
Bi-Annual Valley of Fire Visitor's Center Exhibit
Er--where's the picture? Oh shoot, wouldn't you know it...I need to go format some digital images.

Well, in the meantime, here is the announcement, to be repeated soon:

I'm back at the Valley of Fire!Starting June 1st and through the entire month of June, I will be showing many of my nature woodcuts and some new color works in the Visitor's Center at the Valley of Fire. Better get there before the heat does!

Here is the link to directions to the Valley of Fire State Park: http://www.parks.nv.gov/vf.htm

And for those who miss the show, a shameless plug follows for my
Memorial Day Collector's Appreciation
http://1000woodcuts.com/

Adjusting that floating kento, now that you ask!

2010-05-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, a few of you asked how to adjust the floating kento.
With a "real" kento, little pieces of wood are inserted into the kento to adjust "out" and the kento is carved to adjust "in".

How to tell whether your kento needs to go "out" or "in" is something you have to figure out on your own. I think hard which way I need to adjust and when I finally decide, I do the exact opposite and I'm right about exactly half the time. I figure that's why God invented proof paper. But seriuosly, I have a much easier time adjusting the color image with respect to the key image since I started using this movable kento.

But back to the floating kento adjusting matter...

To adjust "out", that is, to move the block "pa ya" or "over there" or away from the kento, I simply insert little pieces of painter's tape into the kento. The tape is removable with no residue and can be added one layer (mil) at a time until the registration is as good as it's going to get--er, perfect, that is.

Them's the little pieces of tape, about the thickness of the kento-board; I stack them as thick as the registration is off...which it never is, of course, hardly...ever...

Next picture shows the little darlings stuck in place at the crucial corner and lower edge of the kento-board. This pushes the block and therefore the image AWAY from the kento.

And the block flush against the adjusting tape.

If the adjustment requires that the image or color block be moved TOWARD the kento, or "pa ca" or "over here" or "inwards", I just shave the block with a straight chisel, one millimeter at a time until I achieve registration.

Although this seems like a permanent non-reversible fix, if I shave too much...well, there's always more tape!!!

Progress on the Geographical Divides collaboration

2010-05-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

I am working with another printmaker on a collaboration piece, actually two. She starts one and I add to it and then she prints, and I start one, she adds to it and then I print. Then a bunch of us exchange prints. Kind of cool. I have reported before that I'm doing a puzzle print and you can see the progress of all of us here:
http://geographicaldivides.blogspot.com/

Things are quietly moving along with our happy creation. My partner in printmaking and I chose to do something along the lines of the dichotomy between rural and urban, generally speaking.
Lynn lives on the outskirts of the city and enjoys rural views from her urban digs. Maria lives smack in the middle of the city (formerly the outskirts!) in an acre with plenty of "elbow room" between neighbors, neatly simulating a tiny rural environment.
Anyhow, Lynn is in possession of my puzzle blocks and I am about done carving my part on my own block, plus the four pieces. I might do a color background on the...er, background, but that is to be decided.

In the meantime, I received Lynn's block, neatly carved with a variety of interesting images and shapes.

This is a proof of the block, with my "blank canvas" at the bottom. I really liked the roof shapes and the shape of the vegetation-divider in the middle of the image, so I decided to replicate them.

Since I don't often sketch except right on the block, I had to revise the way I work. I took this very picture into Photoshop and proceeded to doodle on the bottom with my trusty graphic tablet pen.
I wanted those very interesting shapes to tie in my design and Lynn's so I simply copied and pasted some of her shapes with some stretching and replicating and mirror imaging and all that is possible with PS.

I find that looking at images very small on the computer screen helps balance compositions and blacks and whites. Also help in color schemes.

Lynn's rooftops became my mountains, the little house in the middle of the desert was "stolen" from Lynn's housing complex, the horses shrunk to fit the scale, and the bushes flipped and distorted to fill in the foreground and balance the blacks.

After a few days of looking at the thing, I came up with three very close versions of what I wanted to do. Since Lynn chose to depict the urban environment with a little "rurality" for contrast, I chose to do just the opposite. Here are my sketches, you can play "find the differences" if you like. We decided on No.3 and I'm carving today as soon as I get off this chair.
The carving begins!

Studio trick to keep barrier paper handy while printing with baren

2010-05-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

I cover the back of my paper with a barrier paper to avoid damaging it while printing with my powerful muscles--er, my powerful baren. As you well know, efficiency is an obsession of mine and I struggled to find an "elegant" method to place the barrier paper on the back of the printing paper so that the effort was minimal, the paper didn't blow off between prints, and it was placed same-side-down every time to avoid staining the baren.

Here is one trick, I'm sure there are others. I use glassine, by the way, which I buy by the roll to interleave my finished prints.

The barrier glassine paper, pinched under the registration board, ready for its duty. If you do not use a registration board, the sheet can easily be taped to the working surface or even to the back of the block.

Placing the barrier paper on the printing paper is just a matter of reaching with my left hand (while my right hand is busy reaching for the baren) and laying it down. Obviously the barrier paper has to be large enough to allow for the arrangement, much longer and a bit wider than the printing paper.

Rub a dub, I don't grab my baren like that when I'm printing "for real". Try to keep the barrier paper from wrinkling because the damp printing paper will pick up the wrinkles and mysterious lines will show up.

Voila! I let go and the paper is ready for the next print without taking up valuable "within-reach" space and without blowing off somewhere.

Gradient key block for Valley of Fire II

2010-05-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

Back on track after a few weeding days. It's hot now and printing moku-hanga is just not nearly as fun as it was in the winter. Just a bit too stressful to try to keep everything the right dampness when humidity dips into the 4-8% range. Sigh...my kingdom for a HUGE humidifier.

Nevertheless, we plow on with plastic and spray bottle handy. Key block is now printed in a gradient from raw umber to violet; what the heck, time to get fancy even if lacking in skill. What's the saying? "Never mind that the horse is lame...load the wagon!!!"

This proof is a bit messy on the bush, my fault for having clumsy paws today. But I was pleased with the gradation from rock to mountain. Tomorrow the first color or two if I feel energetic enough.

Back home and as promised, registration details

2010-04-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Back home again, oh boy do I have pictures!!!
I decided to play with my digital camera and push the features a bit and I fell in love with the "stitch" feature. I mean when you travel the West US all you see are HUGE panoramas...anyhow, we save that for a later post. For now, here are the promised detailed pictures of the registration board thinguie, nicely annotated for your viewing pleasure.

More tid bits about registration boards

2010-04-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

I can't post any additional pictures until I get back to the ranch, but I thought for those of you who have asked and are currently running out to the home-improvement store to purchase materials and make your own forever-registration-board, I would point out some details:

The brass corners sometimes have a rounded inside corner. I found that this interferes with placement of the paper. To be safe, I filed the inside corner with a standard fine metal file to allow the corner of the paper to fit unhindered. This is sort of visible on the picture in a previous post but I will be sure to post a detail pic when I get back.
For those who are used to the "open corner" arrangement so that the thumb can hold the paper down "through" the corner piece, an easy remedy is to use straight brass pieces rather than the pre-made corners and arrange them perfectly squared but leaving the corner open.
And finally, for blocks that are a bit taller, a paper "shelf" made of a layer (or two or three) of matboard can be lightly glued next to the kentos so that the paper is supported. This works well when the kentos are raised due to a thicker block.
Pictures next week, promise.

Registration Simplified

2010-04-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

Being an over-efficient maniac, one of the things that has always bothered me when printing a la Japanese, is the registration method used in moku-hanga. Don't get me wrong, I have faithfully cut kentos in every block just like the old methods explain. But I believe this way of doing things introduces a margin of error for every single block that is cut. I'm sure the masters, er, mastered this kento cutting so that they were identical for every block.

In Western printing, long ago I started using registration boards. I've made them mostly of foam-board so that they could be fed through the etching press (or hydraulic press). A registration board is simply a "movable kento" system of registration. Any two pieces of material glued together as a square corner, then another piece of material as a paper guide glued at some pre-determined margin. Not really a complicated device. There is some error introduced in that the block has to be placed exactly in the same place every time, but in my experience this is less prone to error than having to cut exact kentos in as many as a dozen or more blocks. Seems that every kento in every block could introduce some error into the registration process and I would rather spend a little time upfront into building a semi-permanent movable kento.
With a well-built registration board, the only but very important requirement is that the blocks have to be cut perfectly square, the paper has to be cut perfectly square and the placement needs attention, but no more attention than if placing paper on a standard cut kento.

When I started printing with waterbased pigment, the dampness of the whole process was not compatible with a foam-board registration jig. So I made a prototype of wood with a 1 inch margin wood paper guides built in. If I want other margins, as for the tiny tigers, I just glue kento-mat-board to the board at the appropriate distance. You can see the margins of the tiger prints in burgundy matboard. They are glued with paste so they just come off by a bit of soaking and scraping. The wood guides are glued with white glue, also steady but removable with a bit more effort.

I used cheap wood and simple staples to see if the board worked okay for printing but I was careful to use a square at every step to make the board corner and the kentos a true 90 degrees. Also, the "ruler" is just cheap wood I had around the studio; I used it because it is slightly lower in thickness than my blocks, allowing the baren a free "ride" over the printing area without fear of catching on the registration guides. After a few prints, I brushed the whole board and mat-board kentos with clear acrylic to make it easier to repel water and clean pigment and paste off (not that I'm messy or anything).

Once I was satisfied that this was a suitable movable kento for woodblock, I made myself a slightly fancier board. This time I used a nice board for the backing and brass corners and straight pieces for the "kento". I brushed it with polyurethane again to make cleaning easier and installed semi-permanent one-inch and two-inch margin kentos. Despite the polyurethane, matboard still sticks to the wood, so I can still temporarily "install" a shorter or longer margin. Also the screws can be removed and the kentos moved according to my next project demands. I screwed the brass pieces quite firmly so that there would be absolutely no gap between the board and the brass kento where the paper could slip in. The whole board sits on a sheet of slip-proof drawer liner, which I also use sometimes directly under the block.
And again, I emphasize, the corners must be perfectly square, as the blocks and paper.

Much prettier, easier to clean.

Perfect registration is now a breeze, no need for cutting kentos on every block and wasting all that time and wood. Baren glides over the board without problems, cleanup a mere wipe with a damp towel, can life get any better than this?

The Printing Desk and Registration Boards

2010-04-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

One of the things I'm enjoying most about doing moku-hanga is the "compactness" of the whole process. I thought I'd share the arrangement of my printing desk (also doubles as mat-cutting desk, framing desk, doodling surface, cat bed and various other things).

At the left top, the Valley of Fire II blocks all cut and ready for me to get the courage to print bokashis. Just below, one of my registration boards, close ups and more details below. Front, center, the brushes and ceramic cups I just used to print my tigers; blocks laying on anoher registration board.

Just to the right, bottom, that blue cloth is an auto drying cloth (faux, synthetic chamois) which I dampen and put inside a Tupper-ware (plastic with tight-cover) flat container. I keep printing paper in there throughout the printing process and stays nice and evenly dampened for as long as I keep the lid closed. During printing, I take the entire stack of paper, place in a plastic bag with another of those dampened synthetic chamois. I then pull out a sheet at a time, print, and then place in the plastic container. Works well and I have had absolutely no registration problems...well, other than "operator error" when placing the paper down on the registration board.

Behind the whole setup, to the right of the paper towels, a set of small stackable plastic drawers. There are four drawers in all and I keep pigments on the larger bottom drawer, paste and brushes in the next one up, barens and more brushes next, and miscellaneous printing containers and other paraphenalia in the top drawer. My entire supply of woodblock printing "stuff" right there in that portable little set of drawers and they are see-through plastic so they are protected from dust and cats and I can readily see what's in them.

Registration boards in the next post!

GRRROOAAAARRRRR!

2010-04-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

I had all intentions of finishing my Valley of Fire II print before I left on a little trip across the West US, but I decided I needed more bokashi-practice. So my blocks for that print are all cut and ready to print when I get back.

Meantime, I actually got my Chinese Lunar New Year 2010 Tigers all done!
This was a fun little print where I wanted to push the Shina ply a bit and see how small I could go before cursing and throwing my tiny blocks out the window. Luckily, none of that came to pass and my proud little tigers are all ready to travel.

The three blocks needed to make the tigers, key printed in sumi ink, green/yellow mix and bright orange and just below, the two first stages of the print:

I must say there is something immensely satisfying about seeing a whole lot of prints drying on the desk (or hanging, depending on size). I think this is the part I like most, all those near-identical prints...

In any case, the tigers will fly off tomorrow. I'm still debating whether to buy actual Tiger stamps or use up the Ox stamps that I overbought from earlier this year. I guess you'll see when you get them!

Oh, I didn't include an official info sheet with these, they are going as First Class postcard mail, so:

Title: 2010

Woodblock on 3 Shina plywood blocks, Akua inks, key block black Sumi ink

Paper are ready cut postcards from the Baren Mall http://www.barenforum.org/

Happy Year of the Tiger everyone!

Valley of Fire II - Key ready for transfer

2010-03-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

Working on the second image from the Valley of Fire series. This one will highlight the ruggedness of the rock formations and the contrast with the valley floor. This place is really amazing, if you ever visit the Las Vegas area, it is just a short drive away and worth every mile.

In any case, here is the key block in progress with my arsenal. All my knives now hang on magnetic holders. For a long time I struggled with boxes and cases and canvas rolls...this arrangement allows me to readily see all the knives and grab just the right one. Putting them away is a matter of placing it near the magnet and letting it "grab" it back. Efficiency is one of my life obsessions.

Next a detail of the progress...

And the final key block, ready for printing on hanshita paper and transfer to the color blocks. At this point, I have a vague idea that I will need five more blocks, but I always print at least two more than I think I will need just in case. That's tomorrow's task.
Also, I might point out that usually have creative interpretations of the reference photos. I often take the photos to remind me of the place, then I let my memory take over. I guess I feel this way I can be more creative without worrying too much of what the place "really" looks like.

The close-up glasses hanging on that clamp are a real...er, eye-opener! I started using them about five years ago (sigh...or should I say, sight!) and they really make close up work less tiring and more accurate. When I really want to work on details I have a magnifying lamp with a light, but use it mostly for engravings and very small works.

Next, the color blocks, I better start thinking...

Moving right along to Valley of Fire II

2010-03-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

Got my wood from McClain's today (http://www.imcclains.com/) and paper and other goodies from the Baren Mall (http://www.barenforum.org/) which motivated me to start my next print. I want to continue experimenting with smaller prints in moku-hanga.

Over the years I've toyed with the idea of transferring photos properly doctored in Photoshop to start my woodcuts, but I find that most of my "image making" happens when I cut, not when I sketch.
Here are my original reference photos on the right of the block, some doctored photos at the top, and a pencil sketch on the block.

I generally let that "gel" for a few minutes to hours and then proceed with a permanent marker, strengthening the lines and forever committing the design to the wood. The character of the magic marker (Sharpie) also makes me simplify the design a little so as to leave some designing leeway for my trusty chisels.

Often I play with the reality of the reference photos, I liked the wild brush in the front plane, but later decided against it since I wanted a clear view from the "V" of the canyon edge into the valley below. Here is the design, ready for walnut ink and oil and sharp knives.

Carving tomorrow!

What do you know! How'd dat get on my work-bench? (I think I have a "printing gadgets" addiction...could someone please recommend a good eBay-sniping support group?)

Valley of Fire I a new moku-hanga adventure

2010-03-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here are all the stages of my newest woodblock adventure. The Valley of Fire State Park (Nevada, USA) is an amazing little place, close by with views to savor endlessly, colors beyond imagination, a variety of desert to delight all, and the background music of perfect silence.

After printing all the basic colors, I reprinted the umber to strenghthen the foreground details and also reprinted the lower portion of the key block in a rustier purple.

These are on proof paper:

KEY

BLUE

BLUE/RED

BLUE/RED/UMBER

BLUE/RED/UMBER/SAND

BLUE/RED/UMBER/SAND/RUST

FINAL IMAGE ON NEW HOSHO

THE END

The Mysterious Case of Disappearing Ultramarine

2010-03-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

I've reported on the Barenforum the baffling disappearance of ultramarine Akua pigment on Kihada paper. Believe it or not, the blue sky and lake was "there" one day and gone the next, but ONLY on this type of paper. The rest of the run on New Hosho paper was fine.

Someone suggested (thank you) that it might be too much water mixed in with the pigment. I didn't use much dilution to begin with because Akua colors are already pigment dispersions. But just to humor myself, I tried re-printing all 60 blue skies and lake prints on the paper in question. All went well, in fact the blue was too strong for my plans but I figured it was bound to fade a little and would match the rest of the edition after drying.

Next day, ultramarine disappeared, but this time left me with 23 good prints, nicely faded blue, and 37 prints mysteriously refuse to "take" my renewed effort. With this kind of ratio, I figure if I print the blue daily, eventually, they will ALL stick. Or else I will develop amazing triceps. In any case, I sure wish I knew what the dickens is going on because the results of my experiment yield nothing. This is not only the same paper, some take and some don't, but they are random pieces of the same sheet of paper, that is, I tore one very large sheet of paper to make little pieces for this print.

But see for yourself. First shot is the Kihada, second is the New Hosho. Sky blue gone, red faded, purple faded.

One more for kicks, this is the latest shot of the two papers, after one day of reprinting the entire Kihada set. Top is New Hosho, bottom is Kihada. Beats the heck out of me! And why only a portion of the run faded out? I printed everything in one sitting, same pigment, same rice paste...

Geographical Divides, a collaboration of NV printmakers

2010-02-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

This is something that I’m working on currently. Geographical Divides is a collaboration project dreamed up by our very own conspirators Anne Hoff and Candace Nichols. The plan is simple, 14 NV printmakers start a print, send it to their assigned partner, partner does something and sends back, original printmaker prints. Everyone receives a portfolio with all the prints and the exhibit goes a-traveling all over the place.

Sounds like FUN!!! I couldn’t resist and was honored to be invited. This is a copy of an email that I just sent my partner, Lynn Schmidt from Northern Nevada:

Here is the GRAND PLAN!!!

This is the BRAINSTORM

I wanted to do something with our idea of the dichotomy between rural and urban.

So I thought of maps and how our respective cities are representative of that concept. Cities in the desert are sort of like islands in the ocean, separated by a vast expanse of impassable terrain.

I dug up some topo maps and fell in love with that “spine” and decided to use as a separator, symbolic of the rugged desert ocean that lies between us.

After some serious “photoshopping” I came up with this design. The left is the printout, the right is our block. The design is already reversed so our cities will resemble their proper orientations in space when they are printed. The image is vertical as in the first picture, by the way, I just didn’t rotate the pictures.

Now, here’s the grand plan! ARE YOU READY??!

Today I am going to reinforce the design in permanent marker, this “sets” the concept on the block and gets me ready for carving. Then I will stain the block and let it dry to make it easy to see the carving.

NEXT! Comes the jig saw…

See those two areas representing the cities? See the roads crossing them?

I am going to cut all those 8 “city” pieces out and scramble them so that our designs will either be in the north or south free to co-mingle with each other in a random way. You will get four and I will get four. They may end up together or separated, north or south.

Your MISSION, should you wish to accept it…is to design and carve four little scenes representative of our overall theme: rural/urban.

The pieces are about 4-5 inches wide or smaller and I will mark which way is UP on the back so you can orient your designs accordingly. Obviously working small will restrict detail and they really can be very simple, in fact preferably so. For example, one of mine I will carve a simple native American symbol representing a map/route, another will be a figure of a woman cross legged taking in the desert, another I may do a little skyline of the Strip merging into mountains, etc.

Once I receive your pieces and carve my pieces I will assemble the puzzle and print.

The background will be very light topo-like. The “spine” I will develop more in a three state reduction to resemble a topo map and its wonderful markings (I may have to carve a separate block). Our pieces will print over a very light background of yellowish/green. Once I get your pieces back I may carve some additional lines on them to integrate them with the background so they don’t look separated from the rest of the design.

Sounds crazy, I know, but these puzzle prints WORK! And they ROCK!

Any questions? Comments? I’m warming up the jigsaw…vrrrm vrrrm vrrrrrrrrm…

Here we blog again...

2010-02-10T14:52:00.000-08:00

I moved...follow me!
http://1000woodcuts.blogspot.com/

Don't ask why...just follow me.
Blogger is making a nifty migrating tool so I can consolidate my blogs, I think. Meanwhile, this blog is closed and neatly followed by its twin at the address above. It's seamless...really...except for the seam, that is.

New print: 3 seeds

2010-02-10T14:17:00.000-08:00

3 seeds

Wood Engraving 2010

11"x7.5"

Here is my latest, "3 seeds" for the SSNW exchange. A long time ago I did 2 seeds for a Baren exchange and always wanted to revisit the series. I have 4 seeds all ready to print.

These are engraved on boxwood rounds, straight from Matsumura San in Japan. I don't think he quite understood that his "discards" are a treasure trove for someone like me who gets inspired by the shape and rings of every piece of wood.

I print these on my bottlejack press, plans courtesy of Charles Morgan. I made my press with a 5-ton mini jack, so it's quite portable and the footprint and height a bit smaller than Charles's press. Works great for engravings, although engravings are always ticklish to print. Too much ink and detail goes away, too little and coverage is not even. It is especially difficult to engrave three different blocks at once. I cut out a piece of foamboard and fit the blocks snugly into the cutouts; this keeps them together and steady for printing.

The paper is pre-printed acid-free bought at Office Depot. They have a wide variety of papers that are acid-free, smooth and perfect for engravings.

Details

Also, having a blast raising money for Haiti in my ebay store. So far I've raised near $300 by donating a percentage of sales to the Clinton/Bush Haiti Fund, which happens automatically when I sell something. My goal is to donate $1000 by spring. I thought of sending money but doing it with art is more rewarding.

http://stores.ebay.com/1000woodcuts

Baren cover pictures, as promised, but I still want to use duct tape...

2010-02-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures of my attempt at recovering the baren for the first time. It's not a thing a beauty but it amazingly works just fine. I still think a double layer of duct tape would work "ducky" as my hubby would say. But who am I to question the masters...

Let's see, the "knot" is a bit funky and definitely not symetrical but it is nice and tight. Also a bit bigger handle than my previous but I see that I can correct that by trimming the skin thinner.

After a little scare it really shrank right to the baren and now looks pretty good. A few more hundred to practice and I will be an expert...or maybe not.

Oxen plowing a year late but plowing nonetheless

2010-01-29T17:23:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is, a year late but sometimes the oxen run into troubles...

I dedicated this print to those who taught us to keep the plow in the ground no matter what life brings. After all, the fields can't wait and the harvest won't come if we don't keep working. So here it is, a little woodblock print in the Japanese tradition; must say I enjoy the change in process.

Aside from that, I wanted to do something to benefit Haiti and decided to use my ebay store to do just that. So from now until the end of February, maybe longer, who knows! I will donate pretty much all my profit from auction sales on ebay. The donation happens automatically when a purchase is made and it makes me happy to know that my art is being used for the good of all those poor people.

Two more prints already on the bench, an engraving and a puzzle collaboration print. It feels good to be back in the studio and this year I vow to keep the plow in the ground.
http://1000woodcuts.com

Works in progress, finally...but not yet

2009-12-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

When I can't make new art, I entertain myself doing something in the studio. I HAVE been carving a large project and been designing some new but these days I just can't bring myself to print. Tough year!

One of my long-standing projects on my never ending list of things to do was to take better photos of my artwork and complete my digital files. With almost 300 images on record, this has been a tedious and boring project. And I'm not done yet!

But I'm liking the results and now all my images look better. Since it's "the season" I also decided I had too many prints laying about and, not in the mood for returning to the festival circuit as of yet, I decided to revamp my online shops in ebay and Etsy. The details work very well to give someone a better idea of what they are getting within the limitations of online art displays.

Automating tasks in Photoshop and Dreamweaver makes the process a lot faster, although there is still a bit of work for each image. And since I can't seem to do anything without thinking of my fellow artists, I'm also working on a guide on just how to do this, imaging, online selling, and so on. Great...another book project...just what I need.

Here are some examples of some of those details. With ebay's new "free gallery" policies for the art category, it has become a lot easier to make better looking and more visually informative displays. For anyone that has been thinking about placing a couple of older art items online in one of these shops, this is the time!

Carving Goldwell blocks these days

2009-03-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

While I was at my residency last October at the Goldwell Open Air Museum, I fell back to my old habit of taking a bunch of "sketch blocks" with me on daily walks.

Here are some of them. I favor Sharpie markers as my sketching weapon. No room for mistakes that way which makes me capture things in a very spontaneous and direct manner.

I made quite a few of these and plan to print them as sketches and bind them as a coloring book.

Here are some progress pictures of the smaller of the two East blocks. This one is the Red Barn as seen from the East.

One down, seven to go! Oh yeah, and all the little ones...

Keeping in touch with collectors!

2009-02-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

My two cents on marketing...

When I first started this crazy "business" I sent everyone that collected my artwork a thank you card, a Christmas card, and a quarterly printed newsletter. Marketing is a full-time job; making art is a full-time job; selling art is a full-time job. Who can keep up! (Besides Annie Bisset and David Bull, that is, my heroes!).

Anyhow, here we are a few years later...my little customer list grew and grew! Where I began with about 100 faithful followers, I now have around 2100 in my database. What to do?
First thing I did was start to "clean it up" so every year I drop a few that have gone silent. I drop bounces and returned cards as I don't want to waste precious marketing pennies and I'm sure my customers don't want to be bothered again and again after they are no longer in touch.

Still keeping up with the thank you cards for every purchase at festivals. NOT even close keeping up with Christmas cards or printed newsletters; the Christmas "card" and the neatly printed newsletter have metamorphosed into:

- An email Christmas greeting.

- An email newsletter, I call it 1000 Woodcuts Updates and am pretty faithful about sending about 2-6 a year depending on how busy I am and how much I have that is really "news". Here is a sample: http://1000woodcuts.com/1000woodcuts/updates/updateindex.html

- This blog, which is a Blogger blog but kept archived in my own website just in case. Every artist should have one (did I just say that?).

- My own website, of course. Actually, two websites, one for me and one for my Art Festival Guide http://artfestivalguide.info
They take a bit of work to keep updated, but the "building" is the hard part. I would like to have more Studio Notes for all the artist friends out there, but they will come in due time.

- Pages in Facebook, Inkteraction, eBay ME page, Etsy Shop, AbsoluteArts, and every once in a while I find one that I had forgotten and is in horrible need of an update. Now that I can update Facebook from my iPhone I might keep up a little better there.

- I also belong but rarely log on to WetCanvas, various online printmaking groups, various online art festival groups, the National Association for Independent Artists, the Nevada Arts Council...I'm getting a headache...

Every little bit helps and the world wide web has really changed the way us lowly artists can market themselves to a global audience. Keeping up with it all is the problem!

This year I'm going to surprise my collectors by sending them all a printed newsletter again. The printed physical piece has become so rare in these days that I always welcome post-cards and letters from people I want to follow in their art adventures.

What a wacky career we have chosen...

Workshop at Goldwell Encore!

2009-02-12T10:30:00.000-08:00

Once more I'm dragging a few unsuspecting souls out into the quiet of the desert for another workshop with all proceeds to benefit the Goldwell Open Air Museum http://www.goldwellmuseum.org/

In addition to joining their Board of Directors I have been ordained their Workshop Director? Organizer? Anyway, I will be recruiting instructors and attempting to put together a program of workshops and demonstrations.

The Red Barn Art Center is ideal for workshops because of its remote location. Participants can work in a great setting without distractions and the desert has a way of making us focus on what's important: ART!

For starters, here is the information on mine:

Intermediate Woodcut Printmaking Workshopwith Maria Arango
February 20-22, 2009, Red Barn Art Center Instructor: Maria Arango (2008 Artist-in-Residence)Members: $140 for both days Non-Members: $175 for both days Beatty Residents: $50 per dayAdditional studio time: $25 per day

Woodcut printmaking is a very simple and rewarding process. An image is drawn on a block of wood (or linoleum). The areas that are not part of the image are cut out, leaving the image in relief. Ink is rolled onto the block, paper is placed on the inked block, and pressure is applied to the back of the paper. When the paper is lifted the image is transferred, transformed by the cutting, fresh and beautiful.

This workshop will cover the essentials of relief printmaking and introduce more advanced techniques. Instructor will demonstrate various techniques to achieve multi-color woodcuts, including puzzle woodcuts, reduction woodcuts and multi-block woodcuts. Participants will be encouraged to complete a multi-color project during the workshop. Participants of every level can be accommodated. In the spirit of printmaking tradition, participants will create a minimum of one small edition in order to exchange prints with every other participant and walk away with a beautiful collection.

Two full days of dedicated instruction from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m, on Saturday and Sunday.To reserve your space, send an email to goldwell@goldwellmuseum.org with the word WORKSHOP in the subject line.Lodging is available in nearby Beatty, lunch, a Friday night arrival dinner and all basic supplies will be provided. For more information call 702- 870-9946.

Goldwell Blocks Get Going

2009-02-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been four months since my residency last October!

Anyhow, I managed some trench digging projects (ongoing) and other home things and now I'm beginning to carve the 8 Goldwell Blocks.

First cuts are always pretty cool; I'm using cherry plywood which shows the marks very well and allows me to see exactly what's going to happen in the print. Almost exactly.

Notice to the right of my block is my new favorite device for keeping tools handy: a magnetic tool organizer from either Rockler.com or Woodcraft.com, I forget which. Keeps all my carving tools handy, at eye level and off my working desk-- not that my working desk is clean at any time, but the tool holder helps.

The second picture is of my favorite helper. She makes me stand up by taking over my chair because she knows I carve so much better when standing (hmmm...)

Me in a tree in progress

2009-02-11T10:30:00.000-08:00

The key block, on the hanshita paper ready to be transferred. This hanshita paper is a huge time and head-ache saver! I just print the carved key block, kentos and all, as many times as there will be color blocks.

I pasted down my hanshitas with rice paste, ready made and purchased from Dick Blick http://www.dickblick.com/ , search for Nori. I then stack the blocks and put weight on them so the hanshita won't wrinkle. It dries perfectly flat. The hanshita is composed of two layers, a thick backing sheet and a thin sheet.

Once dry, the thick sheet peels off and the thin sheet remains on the block. A few drops of oil and the paper disappears (visually speaking) leaving just the perfect image on the block to be carved right through the paper.

The first picture is the key block printed in blue with the green block, leaves background printed as well. Fun working with such transparent inks and certainly very different from using oil-based inks. The second is the sienna block printed over the key block on the tree trunk. I printed the leaves and the tree twice to achieve saturation.

Lastly a purple block to get some depth on the leaves, a bit of shading on the tree, and a background for the "hiding place" behind the figure.

My favorite part of being a pritmaker! A bunch of prints all in a row. Next post shows the finished print and some details.

Me in a tree...

2009-02-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest attempt at moku-hanga, the traditional Japanese technique.

I actually had fun this time! I enjoyed working with transparent colors even though some need to be printed twice for my preferred saturation.

I used the Baren Mall's hanshita paper to transfer the key block to the color blocks, kento and all. Then a mixture of tube watercolors, raw pigment also from the Baren Mall and Akua suspension pigments for tinting.

All in all, a fun image to work with. I tried for "goma" on the tree blocks, but the truth is that I can't control it quite yet. No problems with registration, actually got 46+ good prints out of 48 pieces of New Hosho paper.

When I was a child I used to clim trees, mostly as an escape from the "cliques" and "groupies" that children form around each other. I was a bit of a loner...and a great tree climber! While I was printing with my Murasaki Baren (in dire need of a new skin) I got swept by the rhythm of the printing action and a poem came to me. My husband says it's sad but I didn't really see it that way.

Me in a tree
No one looks up
No one can find me
Or laugh at me

The gory details:

Holiday Greetings from Las Vegas?

2008-12-18T16:46:00.000-08:00

How's this for a strange Las Vegas almost-Christmas??

Last time I saw snow like this was 1979. I used to ride a bike in those days, not for pleasure but as transportation. I believe that was the year I abandoned my road bike in favor of a mountain bike, more grip on them fat tires.

And now, a carol...

12 broken branches
11 flattenned oleanders
10 hours of snow
9 frozen palm trees
8 years a'coming
7 broken cacti
6 snowball fights
5 freaked out kitties
4 inches of sno-ow
3 snow angels
2 howling wolf-dogs
1 gorgeous sunset
and a partridge in a pear treeeeeee

thank you, thank you very much...

Goldwell pages updated with photo albums

2008-11-26T16:39:00.000-08:00

Updated my photo albums section in the Goldwell Open Air Museum Residency pages.

Next on the project is to continue to carve the blocks, make some prints and publish a book with photos, journal entries, woodcuts and even some poetry. I'm well into revising my first few pages and the template so I can begin the painful process of getting it all together.

Here are the recently updated links:

Projects Index page:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/projectsindex.html

Goldwell Index page:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/goldwell_residency/index.html

Photo Album:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/goldwell_residency/photos/index.html

And don't miss the Panoramas page:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/goldwell_residency/photos/panoramas.html

Enjoy!

Updated Latest Works

2008-11-25T17:24:00.000-08:00

My latest creation: "Moonshadow" is done on black Arches paper, a cork color block and cherry line block.

Printing on black paper with opaque inks can be tricky because the opacity is different for each color. Obviously white prints best, but it also "eats" other colors and makes everything milky.

This time I chose to use pearl pigment in the inks to make the image glow and give opacity to the subtle colors wihout milk. Not that I'm against milk, but with breakfast, not on my prints. The pearl pigment makes the inks shimmer.

When the prints were drying in the studio, the image could be seen in the dark. I thought it was pretty cool to have a fluorescent moon lady (or a bunch of them) hanging in the studio. The cork once again traps some of the ink and spits it back out in darker lines and clumps, but this time I used lighter ink on the moon to let the black paper add some irregular shadows on the moon.

So there she is, "Moonshadow" in all her glory.

Goldwell Adventures Update and the Red Barn Art Center

2008-11-25T17:14:00.000-08:00

The Goldwell Adventure has been partially uploaded. I uploaded pictures from the workshop which show off the interior of the Red Barn Art Center and me working away. Well, if you can call making art in eden "working".

I also uploaded pictures of the workshop, some of my faithful and fearless students, and their work. It was fun leading them into the world of the woodcut in such a great place.

Photo albums of the place itself are coming but there are about 1200 photos to go through and I get tired of sitting, click, click, click...so they will get there but in due time. Meanwhile, the view to the South is prominent in the Goldwell Project page, it's almost enchanting even in a small web size. Imagine the silence and the wind brushing gently against the creosote ocean...

A personal effort to stimulate the US economy (wink wink)?

2008-11-14T19:50:00.000-08:00

Warning: shameless self-promotion follows...

Who says you can't find affordable great quality art to give for the Season?!
I just re-opened my ebay shop, in view of their new friendlier seller terms and lower selling fees. I haven't been doing festivals and hate to see thousands of prints in my drawers collecting dust.

I also tried my hand at an Etsy Shop and even made some sales. Different "animals" the Etsy Shop seems to attract mostly other Etsy users and perhaps some die-hard craft and/or hand-made by the artist lovers. The ebay store attracts anyone from scammer to print dealers to serious collectors, but mostly nice folk looking for bargains.

I figure by the time the art festival circuit recovers from these turbulent times I will have plenty of new works. What to do with all these darned prints is always a big dilemma, but I am just not willing to sit on them forever. I have an idea to put in my will that any of my works that didn't sell while I was alive must be burned upon my death so that art vultures don't make a penny from my art after I'm gone. Really, society should support live artists above all.

So there it goes, ink on paper at bargain prices.
Etsy Shop 1000 Woodcuts at http://1000woodcuts.etsy.com
Ebay Store 1000 Woodcuts at http://stores.ebay.com/1000woodcuts

Cairn on the wall

2008-10-05T17:19:00.000-07:00

I got this far with the Cairn... The plan is to cover it with plexi mounted with mirror clips when I get permission to climb the heights again.
It looks like Lynita and I had similar ideas, but she is obviously (from the looks of her studio) much better organized than I!

Sharri LaPierre

Cairn 2008

What did you do with YOUR Cairn?

2008-10-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

I'm taking my Cairn on the road to show off all my Baren friends to my workshop attendees this next weekend at the Goldwell Open Air Museum.

Should be a nice way to expose new initiates into the woodcut art to a variety of carving styles and, at the same time, smaller image suggestions.

Here is what Lynita Shimizu did with her Cairn! I cracked up...

Check it out at the project page and send me your images of the Cairn, framed, shown, exposed...???

I got my plexiglass and will be sticking mine on the ceiling also; then I can see everyone while I work.

Is everyone ready for the next Great Puzzle Print?

Nature and fish prints!

2008-09-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to an artist development grant from the Nevada Arts Council this fall I was able to attend the Nature Printing Society's 2008 workshop in Santa Barbara, California.

The place for the workshop is a 26 acre retreat and conference center appropriately named La Casa de Maria. Wonderful trees and hiking trails, quaint little dorm rooms and plenty of space and inspiration for a nature printing workshop.

Among the workshops I took was a fish printing class in the tradition of Japanese fish printing and a Foilography class with Charles Morgan of Moss Street Studios.

These are some of the great fish I got to play with. The process is both like and unlike relief printing. There is really no pressure involved to print, more like hugging the object with the fingers until the ink is released onto the paper.

Of course the "inking" is alike, only with a brush instead of brayers. The layer of ink (water based inks) is much like the layer of ink that successfully prints a woodcut.

Quite fun and something I will integrate with my works planned for the upcoming residency at the Goldwell Open Air Museum.

Quirky cork prints and a new Studionote

2008-09-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

I started printing with cork plates way back when and for now I'm hooked on the "look" that cork plates give my new series of prints.

Here is the latest, fresh off the press. The image is one of two I'm printing for the Earth Exchange offered by Four Oceans Press website and print organization, check them out: http://www.fouroceanspress.com/

The cork plates are fun but hard to work with and I'm starting to control the process. I caught up some stuff on my website and wrote a new Studio Note on it. If you haven't read all my silly Studionotes, feel free. I love sharing the info on printmaking as I learn it.

Have fun! http://1000woodcuts.com/studio/method.html

And direct to the quirky cork: http://1000woodcuts.com/Studionotes/cork_prints.html

Cairn grows again! Middle block is done, Days 4-6

2008-06-06T18:32:00.000-07:00

Well here we go, another three days and another block is printed.

The whole is looking awesome and my studio really stinks now with all these prints hanging, not even the cats want to be in there. My husband opens windows and turns on the fan as soon as he gets home; there is really no appreciation for the delightful perfume of oil based inks...ahhhhhh...

Looking forward to block number 3 and finishing.

Today I ordered the free domestic mailing tubes from the Post Office and bought some for my international friends. Should be able to mail next week if I work through the weekend!

Cairn Update Pictures Day 1 and 2

2008-06-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

Oh, here they are! Blogger is alive now...

First picture is the beginning of the bottom block. Something about those prints hanging together that always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Second picture is the resulting bottom block, all printed up and proud of itself. The amazing contrast of styles and cutting comes together as if planned. Maybe these collaborations are magic?

For more, see my previous post and visit the website puzzle diary.
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

Tomorrow, more printing...

Baren Rock Pile Grows! Day 1-2

2008-06-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

(Well, I tried to add pictures today but Blogger isn't cooperating. Go to the webpage for the illustrated version!)
First block is proofed, printed, hanging, drying...oh joy!
The Great Baren Cairn is now well on its way to being completed.
For those of you who need a refresher, here is the page on my website, soon to be updated with all the gory details:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

Every good rock pile must start with a solid foundation, so I printed the bottom block first. The "makeready" part of printing these puzzles is a bit complex. Summarized, the process goes something like this:
-level blocks "dry" (without inking) and glue to the backing board to hold steady
-proof and tweak any obvious low blocks or low spots
-proof again
-carve away inked spots not on images, usually backgrounds or edge of blocks
-proof again
-ink the darned thing and get in the "production mode" mood
-repeat to taste until done

Well, one major adjustment I had to make and need to report. The initial plan was to provide every participant with 2 complete sets. Unfortunately these cherry plywood blocks didn't hold up to that. After having to repair several areas several times and watching the edges of some blocks go "soft" on me, I decided there was no possible way to get more prints out of the bottom block. With 79 participants and 96 good prints, this means only one set per participant. Live and learn!

Anyhow, the bottom block is done and I'm progressing to the middle block.

A new print finally!

2008-05-13T18:06:00.000-07:00

First, a new image! Amazing, I know, it's been a while. I actually have two blocks carved and ready to go but life keeps getting in the way.

On the other hand, my home projects are coming right along this year and I'm getting buffed and tanned driving the wheelbarrow around.

But back to art...

There it is, an exchange print in full color. I kept the image simple. The key (black) block is standard cherry, the color block is a puzzle cork block. Cork is tough to work with, hard to print and generally a big pain in the booty. But I really like the irregular surface to fill with color but leave the paper showing.

Is this a sign of more color to come? Hmmm...mixed feelings here. I actually have two more blocks of the Grand Canyon series ready to print, and they are black on my favorite Beech Grove Paperworks hand-crafted paper.

The color was fun too, but there is something about the traditional honest one-color woodcut. We'll see!

Woodcut puzzles

2008-02-11T16:33:00.000-08:00

There's an activity I engage in every couple of years or so, and that is to bring printmakers together to make a print. These collaborations baffle those who know me as a loner, but nevertheless, they continue to fascinate me.

The procedure is simple, take a block of wood, draw something, chop it up into pieces and send the pieces to the various participants. Each woodcutter cuts their piece of wood and sends it back to me, I put it together, print it and send the completed prints to everyone.

IN progress is the Cairn, information is here:
http://www.1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

Completed is the first puzzle, a Web:
http://www.1000woodcuts.com/projects/puzzle/finalimage.html

Undoubtedly, there will be more...

Woodcuts in the desert

2008-02-08T20:22:00.000-08:00

My temporary gallery at the Valley of Fire Visitor's Center. This is a small Nevada state park that is just beautiful to visit, especially (and almost exclusively) in the winter.

Compared to an art festival, this is an easy setup. I used my festival panels for the back wall and also the browse bins for information on woodcuts, business cards and, of course those portable matted works that hopefully will find their way into the suitcases of tourists.

The park benefits from the artist's sales and for the artist, it is a chance to show works to countless tourists and other desert loving critters.
Woodcuts are again at an advantage because they are so rarely seen in these parts. Of course I have free for the taking my standard "How to Make Woodcuts" handout. Knowing that the State Park gets a percentage is huge for me. As I grow older, I yearn for the days when the desert was a largely uninhabited place. More and more developers are building and building and it feels good to be a part of a preservation movement.

The weather forecast for the rest of February in these parts calls for spring-like 60's and 70's, and, of course... sunny and clear!

Exhibit at Valley of Fire February 2008

2008-02-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

Valley of Fire Exhibit - February 2008
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Two Las Vegas artists are currently showing at the Valley of Fire Visitor's Center through February 2008.
Enjoy the beautiful watercolors of Mary Shaw, a long time Las Vegas resident and member of the Watercolor Society, and the woodcuts of Maria Arango (http://1000woodcuts.com/) , printed by hand on beautiful natural fiber hand-made papers.
Works depict our beautiful surroundings and remind us of the beauty of the desert. Enjoy the mild sunny spring-like weather and peruse and picnic around the Valley of Fire State Park, a true gem of our desert lands. All purchases benefit the Valley of Fire State Park.
The Valley of Fire Visitor's Center features monthly shows of regional landscapes and nature works by local artists. The Valley of Fire State Park is a gorgeous place in the winter, a truly meditative desert sanctuary. More information and directions to the park: http://parks.nv.gov/vf.htm

Launch of the Simple Year and the New Updates

2007-12-06T11:52:00.000-08:00

To celebrate 2008, the Simple Year, I combined the Diary and Updates into a compact and hopefully more frequent format.
What's the Simple Year all about? Well, for starters I'm taking 2008 off the festival circuit to get back on track on some art creation projects and home stuff. I'm no Thoreau, but hope to rekindle my love affair with wood, art, family, and all the important simple things in life.
For now, I'm on full rest and planning mode.

More later...