Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Color Proof



November 29, 2006

Copy and ballpoint pen

10"x8"

This drawing is ready to be tranfered to the color block for the East Hardwick chiaroscuro print. This will be much easier to carve than the key block as there is more area for ink and less to carve. This is nice as a drawing itself and has some interesting qualities.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

East Hardwick Color Proof



November 28, 2006

Copy and green hi-lighter

10"x8"

This is the second version I made with a hi-lighter to figure out how the color block will work. I'll re-work a mirror image of this drawing a bit then transfer it onto a block for printing.

Monday, November 27, 2006

East Hardwick Proof



November 26, 2006

10"x8"

Relief Print

I worked off and on all weekend trying to finish this block and finally pulled two proofs around 3 pm yesterday afternoon. There is easily thirty or more hours of carving invested into this print. Now I have the task of creating the color block in the coming weeks. I'll take a copy and work on it with a hi-lighter and then transfer that drawing to a second block.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Little Machias Cartoon

November 22, 2006
Copy, whiteout, marker and tape
3 3/8" x 5 1/8"

This is the next cartoon for a wood block relief print. I have a nice scrap of cherry wood ready to roll and hope to have the drawing on the block so I have plenty of time to meditate on the image before I actually start carving.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

River Nocturne


November 15, 2006
Monotype
7"x5"

I am my own worst enemy when it comes to making artwork and I was not satisfied with the first three prints that I pulled this session. I was almost ready to head home when I thought I would pull one more monotype from my imagination and it came out very well. This exercise has me convinced that spending time out in the night sketching and looking has payed big dividends when I am in the studio removed from nature. The trees in this memory exercise seem more real to me than the trees in the three prints that follow.

Barr Hill



November 15, 2006

Monotype

8"x10"

At first I did not like this print at all but it is starting to grow on me. The clouds have great energy and the blackness of the trees create a rhythm that captures the memory I have of making the drawing. It was last spring and I was looking up this little grassy hill to these trees fresh with new green leaves. The wind was strong and the clouds were moving fast behind these solid pine trees that seemed majestic and powerful. Sure of their place in the world.

East St. Johnsbury Ghost

November 15, 2006

Monotype

9"x6"

It is a shame that I rushed this ghost as it could have been so much better than it is. In my haste I did not rework the entire plate and the added black elements seem spotty and isolated. There is always next time.

East St. Johnsbury

November 15, 2006

Monotype

9"x6"

There are some good and bad things going on in this print. The bushes on the lower left look like cotton balls and I am disappointed with how they came out. The tree, clouds and the background hill all came together nicely. It has some character that saves it from the obvious flaws.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Landscape State I



November 7, 2006

Intaglio Etching

3.25"x4.5"

This is just a start for what me be a small series of old Vermont farmland.