I'm hard at work...

I'm very excited about the piece I'm working on right now. I splurged and bought a nice 16x20" professional grade gallery wrapped canvas and its a joy to paint on. Now that I have a few studies completed and I'm back in the painting mindset I wanted to execute a larger and more ambitious piece. Things have gone great so far and I'd say I'm approximately 75% through it. As for the subject matter... anyone remember this lino print?

My second print

Today I printed an edition of 15 of my latest linocut. A few nights ago I planned it, the next day I sketched out ideas until I was satisfied, then I transferred it to the linoleum block in reverse and started carving. The carving takes quite a while but I quite enjoy it. For my first block (golf club) I just wanted to get to the printing so I rushed through the carving. This time I went slow and found that the carving is just about as good as the inking and pulling. Then I pulled a few proofs and made the necessary adjustments last night. Today came the hard work of printing but I'm happy to report that the result is exactly what I was going for. Nothing was lost in the transition from idea to sketch to block to print- in fact much was gained. I realize that the process is probably a mystery to some of you, it sure was to me a few weeks ago! So for my next print I'm going to record each step for a tutorial :) The subject is a South American cowboy drinking the national Argentine drink yerba mate.

El Gaucho con su mate' / The cowboy with his mate'

Image approximately 5"x7"

Black water based ink on white sulphite paper

Available for $10 plus $2 shipping

Exploring other media...

I have a new obsession. For the last couple weeks I've been doing a lot of research on printmaking, specifically woodblock and linocut prints. My artistic passion was ignited and I knew I had to try my hand at it. The catalyst was a little homemade face stamp I carved into an eraser last year-

I have also always been an admirer of chinese and japanese woodblock prints. So for my first foray into this ancient art I planned a linoleum print for a hand made Father's Day card. From the carving, inking, pressing, and hand pulling the print- I was hooked. The whole process is very tactile and rewarding. I love all the little irregularities and personality in each print. I loved making my first print and I'm already planning dozens more.