The Block

I have a ton of Daniel Smith relief ink coming in the mail. I’m pretty excited because I had been using litho ink which requires a good bit of modification to print relief. For this piece I plan to have one more block, a light color for a little modeling. I am interested in using color in a more painterly fashion than just laying out flat shapes. To be painterly, it would make more sense to have several more blocks, building and mixing color using various marks. For this one, though, I want to get it knocked out and on to the next. I intend to make this the first in a series of about 10-12  and am eager to build some momentum. And right now I need to get a handle on printing by hand. Then maybe I will increase the complexity. I have 2 different kinds of barens coming to try printing with.

Here I have tried to avoid just cutting out outlines and shapes and clearing the rest. Also different in this block, I’m using 3/4″ birch plywood instead of the crappy 1/4″ birch I had been using. Plus I stained the block before drawing so cuts would be apparent. I will be sure to stain it a color that doesn’t obscure the drawing material next time. Also, I sealed the block and fixed the drawing with Bullseye spray shellac.

Just for fun. I realize that is a pretty stupid look on my face.

Here’s the latest on this one. I’m going to try a few different things here. I’m going to print by hand - this block is larger than my press bed anyway. I’m going to try adding color in a more painterly way instead of using a simple comic book style fills.

After seeing the work of and talking to Endi Poskovic, I have a long list of things I want to try. We talked about some technical stuff and about the art world and being an artist. I appreciate him being a very laid back and approachable guy. I could have asked him hundreds of questions that I never got to but I think that might be a little annoying. His work is really cool and he has achieved a level of success in the art world that that very few wood cut guys have. Anyone in Charlotte should go by the McColl Center and check him out. After talking to him I realized I really need to figure out what my goals are and get my act together.