My #99DayProject continues, as does summer, though the temperatures have returned to closer to normal which feels downright cold by comparison to what we have been experiencing. Here are the seven squares I created this past week.
Day 71: grass seed heads turning golden in the pasture.
This week’s flick shows the production of another giant print, this time an 8 x 12 ft/244 x 366 cm linoleum block print. O’Rourke created some clever solutions so that he could print without a press large enough for the individual panels.
If you wish to look at more of O’Rourke’s prints and other design work this weekend, you will find some here.
Ten weeks into my 99 day project I am still enjoying the challenge of coming up with a new design daily. The one below is for today and was inspired by the setting first quarter moon seen through smoke haze. (The real moon was slightly more orange.)
Today’s flick, produced by Cristea Roberts Gallery, shows part of the printing of Caldera Overlook by Emma Stibbon. The four-panel print was done in an edition of 10 and measures a stunning 214 x 372 cm/84.25 x 146.5 in.
In Stibbon’s own words from the Vimeo page:
Woodcut has this graphic impact that can give tonal drama to an image. I worked in two sets of blocks, the blended under colour and then a second black block that sits on top. I was thinking about Japanese artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige who achieve this beautiful blend of colour on the block – a technique called bokashi. Woodcut has an organic feel to it; you have the grain of the wood obviously, but this also determines the marks you can cut because it’s more difficult to cut against the grain. I quite like that rawness as opposed to something flat and inert like lino. It also seemed appropriate to use wood to depict a rain forest. I’ve always felt attracted to woodcut – you are cutting your highlights out of a dark plane. It’s a kind of dark, god-like thing to illuminate something as opposed to building up a tonal image on a white page.
You might want to spend a little of your weekend checking out Stibbon’s website.
While Covid restrictions are easing in lots of places, many people are still staying inside because of the weather — either too hot or too wet to spend time outdoors. It seems appropriate to post a little two-player game this week.
Somehow it’s actually Saturday. I seem to lose track of what day it is in the hot weather! Here is this week’s flick, if a day late: a process video from Rui Abreu showing the carving and printing of a small woodblock.
I don’t know how hot it is where you are, but your plans for the weekend may be the same as mine. I’m going to find a cool spot and stay there, doing as little as possible!
July 7 is the nominal ‘birthday’ of this blog and I celebrate every year by posting a DIY star-themed project. This year I decided to share a planisphere.
Many people find ‘process’ videos relaxing to watch, and since it is summer and a time for relaxing, I have chosen some process videos about printmaking.
The first video is an animation produced by Chop Shop Studio (formerly The Chopping Block) for the Museum of Modern Art, and is an introduction to printmaking.
The four classical printing methods are presented here as interactive animation. The user could choose to actually grab the tools and do each step or simply click continue and watch the screen do the work itself.
The video is no longer interactive —at least not on my devices— but runs by itself.
If you would like to see more of these processes this weekend, The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an excellent set of stop-motion illustrated explanations: What Is Printmaking?
I have completed seven weeks of my #99DayProject, or 45 squares. I will show the squares in a moment, but first I am pleased to announce that my one-of-a-kind artist’s book The future isn’t what it used to be has been selected for the Unseen exhibition at form and concept gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The show opens August 11, 2021. There will be an artist reception on the 13th.
You can read more about the book at the end of my post from June 6, 2021.
Although I am including today’s video in my selection relating to paper cutting, I am stretching things a bit. I just couldn’t resist including it. It was made by Tim Allen Animation and directed by Catherine Prowse, who also made the sets. There are, in fact, lots of bits of cut paper and card stock involved.
I recommend checking out Prowse’s Instagram account this weekend and, if you have another minute to spare, watching her stop motion animation for Cancer Research UK, which really does use paper cuts.
