Time flies! New print

Exchange time!

Another print made for an exchange among printmakers. To the uninitiated this may seem like a silly exercise, artists make prints and send them to each other. But looking closely, exchanges allow printmakers (many without websites) to send their art to 30 fellow artists and receive a neat portfolio of prints from all over the world. I personally have built an astounding collection of 2500 prints and counting and in exchange, my prints are in possession of a thousand printmakers worldwide. Wow.

Some details and info here:

https://1000woodcuts.com/collections/unique-figures/products/original-woodcut-print-liquid-glow-figure-lake-sunrise-handmade-paper

Below is my contribution to Barenforum.org Exchange #84 with some progress pictures.

And here a YouTube Video of the print making!

Print Title: Liquid Glow

Paper Dimension: 10x15 inches

Image Dimension: 8x12 inches

Block: Cherry plywood x2

Pigment or Ink: Daniel Smith oil based, Gamblin transparent base

Paper: Lotka Rust with leaf inclusions, handmade in Nepal

Edition: 100

warming light

liquid glow

a new dawn

For some reason this size paper inspires figures immersed in nature (often represented by a lone woman, go figure). Nature is my safe place, my healing light, inspiration, stress relief, pure bliss, even if only in imaginary fantasies.

 I combined a puzzle cutout print, the sky, and two rainbow rolls. This combination of techniques allows me to print, with only two blocks, 5 colors and the intermediate colors of gradations, plus the paper color which I used as a midtone.

All the details: https://1000woodcuts.com/collections/unique-figures/products/original-woodcut-print-liquid-glow-figure-lake-sunrise-handmade-paper

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Website: https://1000woodcuts.com 
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Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Conversation With a Canyon, Lure Me In

Oh those canyons

They let you in
One of my first homage to canyons
this one in the Valley of Fire

Hiking alone sometimes results in some strange and wonderful events; as the feet trudge through rocky washes and rugged trails, the mind goes off on a fantastic journey of its own. Around these parts, there are a myriad of slot canyons, many well off the beaten path. I like to find them and then...

What are you looking at?

I'm trying to see how deep you go

Oh, I'm deep alright, why not come in and find out

(silence)

It's really cool in here and the breeze is fresh and smells like wet sandstone

Are you trying to lure me in?

Why not, what are you afraid of?

Not much out here...your eyes are staring at me, is there a way out?

The water carved me and my eyes, the wind rounded me smooth, both of them found a way in and they found a way out

just follow the water

    follow the wind

        then follow the light

Lure Me In

The first in the series (of two, not so ambitious!) is now carved and ready to print. Following the "color field" challenge, I decided to carve a key block first, then divide my color block into the fields of color. Not a new method with me and it was much fun to revisit my old puzzle color woodcuts.

The key block gets transferred to a single color block and that poor thing gets chopped into as many colors as I want to have in my canyon. Scroll saw in hand and a few hours and presto! I mixed inks yesterday according to my sketches more or less. Ready to print.

Key block all carved up

Color map top left, and some notes on newsprint
bottom right

Inks mixed, tested on the tan paper
and into the color coded tubes

That's part of my brain spilled all over
that piece of paper, makes sense
to me!

Tentatively, first pieces get cut

Three hours and six scroll saw blades later...

The scroll blade kerf is so thin
you can't hardly see the divisions.
Once inked, the lines between color
fields disappear under the key block

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Website: https://1000woodcuts.com 
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Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Beautiful cherrywood blocks

Why cherry?

Often I get asked why I insist on using cherry wood. My answer is usually that it is the traditional Japanese wood for producing woodblocks for centuries. But the "real" answer is, I like it! 

Not the easiest wood to carve, most wood carvers invariably point out that basswood is softer and easier to work with. If I wanted "easy" I would have gone into selling women's shoes! No, cherry is the wood for me. Amazing grain, amazing variety, every piece in my stash already has a beautiful image in mind, just waiting for me to find it and carve it. 

Cherry is hard, but the grain is tight and allows infinite detail. Tools have to be sharp for sure and wrists and hands will hurt. But it will yield 200, 300 prints if I wanted to, registers beautifully without expanding or contracting and makes beautiful prints. 

Finishing the blocks

The greatest gift is after the print run is done. A cherry block begs to be carved again into a relief carving, which is precisely what I have been doing with my original blocks. Lately, I carve deeper in relief and stain to match the print that the block worked so hard to produce. 

Once carved, I gather the original print if it was a color print and set by the block. Then I use standard stains and some non-standard stain and raw pigment mixes to approximate the color. I apply with brushes and keep rags handy to lighten some areas. Letting the stain into the recesses produces a darker finish, while wiping quickly after applying makes nice highlights and variations in color. 

Soon after all the color stains are applied, I give it a coat of satin polyurethane finish. In some cases I have been using flat polyurethane finish (In the Shallows, below) which allows for the wood to be protected without too much shine. The poly layer also blends the not quite dry stains so that the whole image has the feel of a painting. 

Latest

My block collection grows! Here are the latest, some stained some au naturel. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. For a peeksy at all my available original blocks, go here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/1000woodcuts?section_id=17653011

Angry Skies, still drying!

Angry Skies detail

Angry Skies detail

In the Shallows, relief carving

Moonshadow

Hija del Sol

Hija del Sol detail

Hija del Sol detail

Stay in touch!

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Two New Works

Still of the Night

This is a pretty standard "wood" engraving, carved on Resingrave from McClain's Printmaking Supply http://www.imcclains.com/. Wood engravings in black and white are solely dependent on light in order to achieve a successful image. My own approach is to sketch with pencil first, then a thin permanent marker (Sharpie). Once I have all the shapes blocked in black marker, I proceed with the engraving. 

I use standard burins, gravers and such and on occasion take up a rotary tool with a very thin bit in order to achieve some random marks. Nearly all the disciplined line work done with a standard engraving tool, nearly all the squiggly stuff done with rotary tool.

I don't tend to proof when doing woodcuts but do use proofing when engraving. I also "ink" the block as I engrave with a thick marker and a very light touch to get an idea where the light and dark are going. I feel the light is very vibrant and always in motion and I think this engraving reflects that (ironically, despite the name: Still of the Night!).

The engraving depicts Omen, a stray cat who frequented our outside feeders for about 6 months. I learned her name, when, ironically again, Omen was struck down by a vehicle days after I finished the engraving.

Still of the Night
wood engraving, 3 x 6 inches

Old Cabin

About 3 years ago we purchased an old cabin built in 1972 that had been sitting unwanted for over 20 years. More than an old cabin, it has become a refuge, an ongoing project, a learning experience, a getaway, a delightful never ending occupation and ever present peaceful and quiet place. More irony, we said: "let's not get something that's a lot of work!"

The print is leading toward my new body of work as will be seen in a future post. This "guide" print is done with two cherry blocks. The key block carries all the information and the single color block is printed in two "rainbow" rolls, as shown in the ink slab picture. In this manner I can get all the color in one pass, in typical efficient-Maria-fashion.

I used hand-made banana bark paper, which was hand-torn rather than cut and printed damp. This poses a slight potential registration problem, so I run my fingernail along the registration guides to score the paper. The fibers of the paper have "memory" and retain the slight score, even as the paper was redampened for over printing the key block. Here is the process in images:

Print Title: Old Cabin
Paper Dimension: 7.5 x 10 inches
Image Dimension: 7 x 9 inches
Block: Cherrywood
Pigment or Ink: Charbonnel Aqua Wash
Paper: Banana bark handmade
Edition: 60

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Finished print for Barenforum.org exchange, onward!

Angry Skies

Here it is the finished print for the Barenforum.org exchange and a little slide show on how it was made, step by step. There are a few other slide shows and also videos on my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts

Print Title: Angry Skies
Paper Dimension: 7.5x10 inches
Image Dimension: 7x9 inches
Block: Cherry wood plank key block, cherry plywood color blocks
Pigment or Ink: Charbonnel Aqua Wash oil based
Paper: Magnani Pearl
Edition: 55
Comments: Focusing on the beauty of the mundane this year, we have had a blustery January with frequent winds, clouds, rain...energy! On my daily walk, I see the winter desert and the cloudy days bring out the hidden colors popping from under the drab overall view.

Slide Show

Stay in touch!

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Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Finished the Red Rock Canyon puzzle print!

The Real Thing

Coloring a woodcut with watercolors is fun but also stressful. The print takes about 20 minutes to print and an $8 piece of paper and messing up is really not an option. After the first one, though, seems like the stress is gone and I enjoy playing with very dilute watercolors.

The first one requires that every color is mixed to "taste" both in hue and saturation so it takes a little while to get that first one done. After that, I just paint as many as I can until I run out of color. I can usually work on two at a time but this one was too big. Nevertheless, I finished two and hopefully my mixes stay wet until tomorrow under the lid of the palette.

List of Artists

The budding artists participated in my workshop and each received a tiny block. It was later my job to fit all the blocks into the overall composition. A slightly different approach to the puzzle print concept but it worked well. The overall has a real primitive feel, I think, and is reminiscent of some of the petroglyph imagery found around these parts.
Amazing all that you might find when you take a closer look!

From left to right on the little blocks, or from Sun to Pine Cones if you prefer.
Kate Sorom (sun)
Daniel Bo-Bo Clayton (the rock)
Kim Gilman (eagle)
Mark "The Red" Harlan (flower)
Laura Meg Viar (tortoise)
Maria Arango Diener (yucca)
Leslie Dill (yucca)
Mark "The Red" Harlan (petroglyph)
Me, again (globe mallow)
Maria Feinberg (beaver tail cactus bloom)
Graham Wimbrow (hare)
Kala Kales (joshua tree)
Kim Gilman (native corn baby)
Alba Arango (lizard petroglyph)
Me, again (pine cones)

Block is next in line to get cleaned up and sealed.

Here is the finished print and some details.

Red Rock Canyon: A Closer Look
Collaboration puzzle woodcut print

"A Closer Look" Printed and Colorized!

Artist At Work

My studio has been busy! These past few days I finished carving the block for the collaboration puzzle woodcut print Red Rock Canyon: A Closer Look.

Finished block, ready to print

Fast forward three days, printed proofs are beauties!

A very small edition, chillin' in the studio

Few printing problems, just like any other puzzle print, the blocks don't all behave the same when inked with a rather large roller. After a little tweaking, some begging and a lot of cursing, eventually it all works out. I basically maxed out the length of my press bed, the prints are 42 inches wide by 20 inches high.

I printed 10 "good ones" and am mulling the thought of printing about 6 more. Depends on how I feel in the next few days. Maybe that's just good enough!

Photoshop Colorizing Tricks

I planned this particular print as a hand-colored print so next step was to import the image into Adobe Photoshop to try out a few "watercolor" schemes. Briefly, I create a couple of layer-copies from the background, then by selecting the paper color and deleting the selection, I have a background layer and two additional layers with just black lines. 

I colorize the middle layer and leave the other copy on "top" to maintain the black line fresh. 

As I brush the transparent color (about 55%) over the lines on the color layer, the black lines of the woodcut get dimmed so the top line layer prevents the drawing from disappearing under the color.

Having the extra layer also allows me to "erase" some of the color (and consequently the black line) without affecting the top black-line layer.

The background remains in the...well, the background! and provides the nice tan paper color.

After trying out about three different color schemes and tweaking the hue and basically playing all day long, I came up with several finalists. My cats and my husband decided on the winning scheme. 

Next few days I break out the real watercolors and take brush to paper...wish me luck!

Red Rock Canyon: A Closer Look - the color grand plan!