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Title: Rockwell Kent
Medium: Resingrave engraving
Size: 4X6 image size, 10×15 paper size
Materials: Daniel Smith oil-based relief ink on white Lenox 100 paper
Edition Size: 32 (+ 4 AP)

Here is the finished Rockwell Kent portrait engraving. I realize this image looks exactly like the one of the block, in reverse… I promise it is a photo of the print itself, though. Maybe Jeremy can take a better photo when he gets his impression in the mail.

I’m quite happy with the finished product, despite the “noise” in the white spaces of the print, caused by having only a small round graver with which to clear them out. I toned it down to what I consider an acceptable level of noise by cleaning those areas with a Q-tip each time I printed… a bit of a pain. Before I do another engraving, I will make sure to purchase a larger graver at McClain’s.

Since finishing the engraving on Saturday, I have made some headway on two other editions. For the first, a mini-print for a Print Australia solstice exchange, I printed the first state (of 2 to 3 total) last night. For the other, an image of Ajax playing in a paper bag, I purchased and cut enough brown Canson Mi-Teintes paper for a chine colle edition. Tonight I plan to cut the whites from the colle paper with a razor, and continue carving the accompanying lino block.

Earlier in the week I mentioned that I am wrapping up work on three more print editions for exchanges. (Well, maybe “wrapping up” is a bit optimistic at this point, but I am working fast and furious on all three editions.) I’m happy enough with one of them now that I don’t mind sharing a bit about it.

This photo is of an almost completed plate, and just needs a few adjustments before I can print the edition. It is an engraving done on Resingrave (a plastic resin matrix mounted on a wood substrate, which simulates more expensive endgrain woodblocks). I am greatly enjoying learning how to engrave, using the burins my grandmother gave me a few years back. The graphic, linear nature of this medium, most commonly printed in black and white, appeals to my sense of detail. I can say almost with certainty that this will not be my only engraving.

The exchange’s theme is “Tribute to a Most Influential Printmaker.” I chose to do a portrait of Rockwell Kent, an American painter and printmaker most active in the 1920’s and 1930’s. I have for some time admired the clean, bold lines of his black and white wood engravings. Although his work has not influenced my past prints, I anticipate that his style will spill into my future engravings, as it inspired me to overcome my concerns about engraving for the first time.

If I am happy with my future proofs, I may well print the edition this evening. More photos to come (and I apologize for the poor quality of the image above; the lighting was just not sufficient).

Well, Wade Schuman wasted no time in getting us started on a self-portrait this semester. They are supposed to be big, like life-sized, though perhaps not full-sized. Anyhow, I’m trying to work through a concept, but it’s just not clicking yet. Here’s a preliminary charcoal study. At least that seems to be working for me.

I should have more to post this weekend. Cheers.

– Jeremy

After finishing off my Roosters for the new year, I ignored my printing responsibilities for several weeks to hang out with Jeremy. Finally last week, I got on the ball and printed off a small lino block I had initially carved last summer. The finished product, a reduction in four states, took 2 evenings and a morning to complete, so I felt quite productive. And I think the print came out rather well, to boot. The title isn’t the most exciting, but it’s better than my working title, “Cat in a Crate.”

Title: Juxtaposition I
Medium: reductive ghost linocut
Size: 4X6 image size, 5×7 paper size
Materials: Daniel Smith oil-based relief inks on cream Rives BFK
Edition Size: 15 (+7 sacrificial proofs)

This edition was made for an exchange through Print Zero Studios, though it needed a few extra days to dry, and was consequently sent a bit late. It all worked out, though, and I am on to the next sets of prints for two more exchanges. More to come on those in the next week or two.

Jee, one of my classmates, and I, decided to head to the Met this morning. We got there about 10am. At that time, there wasn’t even a hint that it would be snowing (unless you count the weather reports). Several hours later, as we were making our way in to the modern and contemporary section, we noticed out the window that the entire world seemed to be blanketed in snow. As it was well past lunch time, we decided not to wait too long in making our way home (though we did opt to walk through Central Park rather than jump on the nearer sub-line).

There was a good three inches of snow covering the ground by the time we got back to Brooklyn. I walked down to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade to see if I could get a picture of Manhattan, but alas, the weather was so thick, I couldn’t even seen the near side of the East River, let alone the Manhattan side.

That’s pretty much what it looked like in my neighborhood. The snow is still falling fast and furious as I type this, and the wind is blowing so hard it looks like the snow is coming in at a 45-degree angle. We are supposed to get upwards of a foot of snow today, with winds gusting in excess of 50 miles per hour. I’m glad that I brought some of my art supplies home with me last night. Time for some hot chocolate.

– Jeremy

Over the break, I did a bit of knitting, but generally avoided it so I could pay more attention to Jeremy. Therefore, I don’t have a single finished project to report yet. But when my fingers were really itching to knit, I worked on my third Flower Basket shawl.

I am also nearly done making Jeremy a double-sided wool hat, which has been speed-knit the past few days to combat the temperature out there in NYC. It’s easy knitting, but knit at a rather tight gauge to be extra warm, so it’s hard on my hands. Plus, knitting a single row on it takes about four times as long as one row on a basic hat. Hopefully he’ll get a lot of use out of it.

Jeremy, the hat should be finished today, and I’ll mail it Monday. Think your cold earlobes can hang on another few days?

This morning when I left to walk to work, it was extremely foggy. It looked so still and wintery in front of our house that I ran back inside to grab the camera.

Later in the day, the fog burned off and it got back up into the mid-50’s.

-Julie

Well, the first week, albeit a short week, has passed. I’ve posted a couple of drawings from the week. There isn’t much to show yet, and I apologise for the quality of these pictures. I’ve started using Pablo Caran d’Ache pencils. They’re very nice, and I like them a lot. Though not very erasable, they seem to suit my style.

Looks like we’ll be doing longer poses this semester, which I very much like. The first was an hour long, the second was a two hour pose.

Today I had Anatomical Drawing with Frank Porcu. Perhaps you’ll recall me talking about his Structural Drawing class last semester. Frank taught me more than any other single professor last semester and his was the one class that I absolutely had to be in this semester.

Structural Drawing was intense, but Frank’s speciality is anatomy. It took him but a moment to get oriented, tack up a six foot by thirteen foot piece of paper to the wall, grab a handful of charcoal, chalk, pastels and bamboo skewers (which he likes to use both as a measuring stick and, when broken, to show plane changes) and go to town.

During the course of the six hour lecture, he covered the paper with notes and drawings about proportion and artistic conventions (most rendered in perspective). When he ran out of room, he took to wiping out the charcoal with his sleeve, or simply drawing on the wall. Nothing seemed safe from his charcoal—even our intrepid model was drawn upon for the purposes of elucidation. The floor, forced to accept the attrition of half-broken pigment sticks, acted as a mortar as Frank buzzed back and forth, rendering on any available surface. At one point, Frank, in need of another hand, opted to stick his bamboo skewer through the side of his sweater-vest, leaving the weapon dangling by his side like a sheathed sword. By the end of the day, it looked as though a creature with multi-colored blood had been poorly sacrificed upon the broken skewers.

I was exhausted simply taking notes, but it seems that I won’t be disappointed in that class. I can only hope that Frank will feel the same way about me at the end of the semester. Such is the renown of Frank’s Anatomical Drawing class that several second year students and one of the third year fellows are auditing it.

If you ever find yourself in New York City, Frank Porcu teaches a year-long Ecorche class at the Art Students League. If you have an interest in anatomy, it would be well worth your time.

– Jeremy

Well, two days’ worth of classes are now behind me, and already I feel like I’m falling behind. There is a lot to do this semester. I had Perspective yesterday (I know, something I should have gotten a long time ago ) and Painting II today. The perspective class is taught by the very affable Patrick Connors, which is fortunate, considering that perspective, like British comedy, is the sort of subject that can be exceedingly dull in the wrong hands. Looks to be a great deal of work, though. Still, it’s invaluable knowledge.

Painting II looks to be a great deal of work as well, even though we are only doing 4 paintings this semester in that class (there will be other paintings in some of the other classes). Wade Schuman wants us to work large. During the 15 weeks, we’ll be doing 2 in-class paintings from the model and we are to do 2 homework paintings. One is a life-size 3/4ths or full size self-portrait (yikes). The other is to be a multi-figure interior space. He has also admonished us to stretch and prime our own linen supports. I spent the better part of this evening stretching two linen supports—one was 36″ x 36″, the other 36″ x 42″. Now I just need to prime them. I’ve never painted anyting that large, and I must say that it’s a little intimidating. I am looking forward to it, though. We also need to have a compositional drawing for our self-portrait by next Wednesday. Time to start coming up with some ideas for that one…

I thoroughly enjoyed my winter break, even if that last weekend could have been better. Guess it’s time to get the nose back to the grindstone. For those who are curious, my hard work last semester did pay dividends when grades were reported. Hopefully I can maintain that trend for the next three semesters.

– Jeremy

So we had all these problems with cancelled and delayed flights because of the freezing rain this weekend, and Jeremy barely made his connection in Seattle yesterday because of it. I understand it is about 13°F in NYC right now.

Today in Salem (and PDX too, for that matter), it is an incredible 64°F outside! That’s warmer than the temperature inside our house. People are walking around in amazement carrying their winter coats. A few days of this and the flowers will start blooming again.

I just don’t get it.

-Julie