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Happy Day

"Happy Day"

One of the prints made from the linoblock I carved.

Happy Day - linoblock

"Happy Day"

Here's the finished linoblock.

Next Linocut

"Happy Day"

This is the next linocut. I've sketched out the basic design and tomorrow I start to cut. It started out as a birthday gift (or card) for my Grandmother's birthday that is coming up soon. As it progressed, I was really happy with the direction it was going, but I'm not so sure this is the design for Grandma now. I may have to do another.

Camping in Michigan

The 19th print out of 25. This one it looks like I loaded on too much ink to the linocut. I like the way the colors came out tho. Nearly all of it is done with Tombow brush markers.

Trying This Again

I think I've managed to make better scans of the limited edition. This is the 1st print in the edition. As you'll see when I post some other prints, I definitely got better as I went along. I've also discovered that I changed the name of the artwork part way thru the project. It started out being called "Michigan Camping", but after the 6th print I somehow switched it to "Camping in Michigan". Oh well. This is my very first try at making an edition. I had 6 "artist proofs". Really only one that I would consider to be done well. The other 5 were sub-par.



This first one was printed on very thick handmade paper. I love the quality of the paper, but it obviously effects the how well the ink takes. The ink in the first 6 prints was also done with water based ink. For prints 7-25 I used oil based ink on Dick Blicks printmaking paper.

Scanning Artwork

Scanning proofs didn't turn out as well as I'd like. I'll have to play around more with the scanner and get a better quality picture. In the meantime....here are some scans of the beginning of the edition.

I tried to manipulate this one and enlarge it. Unfortunately it looses clarity when I blow it up. But since I am at my office now, I'll have to play with it on my own scanner when I get home.

Camping In Michigan - First in Edition

"Camping in Michigan"

Here we go. This is the sixth pull of this print and the first of the edition. It will probably be a limited edition, but I haven't decided the final number yet. I am going to keep the background the same and change the color of the tent on each one. With a large edition, it will definitely have repeats in the color combination, and I am anticipating only about 5 or 6 different variations.

On a side note, I've ordered some oil-based ink for future pulls. I will probably switch over to that once it gets here. Although, with a bit of a steady hand, it's added a bit of interest in the spots where I allowed the block to slightly run into the color. I've also ordered more Tombow brush markers - the earth color set.

Watercolor and ink.

Artist's Proof #5

"Camping in Michigan"

This is the 5th Proof. I'll be keeping the first 5 pulls as Artist's Proofs. In this one I've finally worked out how I want to color them. The big issue has been the water-based ink that I used. It tends to run in to the colors if I'm not very careful. On this one I've used mostly watercolor pencils. The knots in the trees and the blue sky were done with Tombow brush markers.

Watercolor and ink

Running Some Proofs

"Camping in Michigan"

This is the 4th proof I pulled. The first 3 were pretty rough, but I used them to practice with various ways of coloring. In the end, I found that most areas work best to use watercolor pencils. The knots in the trees in this proof were painted with regular watercolor, but even using my smallest brush it looks bad. For the next proof I switched to using a Tombow brush marker. I've also used the Tombow brush marker for the blue sky. The ground in this proof was painted with regular watercolor too.

Water-based ink and watercolor.

Lino Printing

I am back to an art form that I have more confidence in. I'm going back to lino-printing. Here is the one I carved this week. It is a tent in the woods in Michigan. My tent, in fact.

Now we're talking!

Linoleum block carving.

Utah

"Utah"

This one was done for Sarah, my daughter. It represents the scenery in Utah. Sarah and I took a road trip a couple years ago, and the ride through Utah reminded me of that trip with her.

Pen and watercolor.

Sierra Nevadas

"Sierra Nevadas"

This one was done for my mother. It is representing the train tracks that wound through the mountains.

Grand Junction

"Grand Junction"

This one I did for my grandmother, who used to live in Grand Junction. This is the scenery and the western slope of the Rocky Mountains as seen from the train station in Grand Junction.

Pen and watercolor.

Nevada

"Nevada"

While away on vacation, I passed the time on the train by painting some postcards. I brought along a block of postcard sized watercolor paper, a travel size watercolor paint set complete with palette tray, additional paint brushes, watercolor pencils, waterproof markers, and some brush tip markers.

This one I call "Nevada". In the middle of the desert in Nevada, all that I could see was sand and sagebrush.

Pen and watercolor

Dude - Dia de los Muertos

"Dude"

Dia de los Muertos

ACK! Okay, I have definitely lost interest in this project. I'm almost embarrassed to put my name to this. This is #29 of the Every Day Art Project. Finalmente!

Pen and Watercolor

Frida - Dia de los Muertos

"Frida"

Dia de los Muertos

How could I do a collection of Day of the Dead without doing Frida? Come on! So here she is. She'll be #28 of the Every Day Art Project. Only one more to go. They changed the numbers to 29, due to some people dropping out.

Pen and Watercolor.

Sir Potter - Dia de los Muertos

"Sir Potter"

Dia de los Muertos

This will be #27 in the Every Day Art Project.

I'm growing very weary of the project. Boredom is definitely setting in. I think I will be happy when this is over. Although I am having some anxiety about giving away some of my favorites. I'm going to re-read the rules on this thing. I seem to remember that I can send good quality prints of up to 9 entries that I just can't part with.

Pen and Watercolor.

Migraine - Dia de los Muertos

"Migraine"

Dia de los Muertos

Someone had a headache the day this was created. This will be #26 in the Every Day Art Project.

Pen and Watercolor.

Yo Ho - Dia de los Muertos

"Yo Ho"

Dia de los Muertos

A pirate's life for me! This will be #25 in the Every Day Art Project.

Pen and Watercolor