New Etchings

 In 2013 I began making etchings again, and posted some of my first work on this blog. You may recall the little guy with a sword. He grew up into this character. He may appear again in a different form. In the meantime he has become a kind of doorman.

"The Exit" 6" x 8" etching, monoprint

This character started out as a laughing plaster angel. He appeared in a painting some time ago. Since then he has become interested in geometry. He has both a comical and a serious side. He too may appear again.

"Rational" 4" x 6" etching, limited edition of 15

Here we are in Paradise, with intimations of things to come. Were we ever meant to be so peaceful and relaxed, not to say lazy?

"Before the Fall"  5.5" x 5", etching, limited edition in progress.

Now we learn to fall, possibly having been too prideful. Personally, I prefer this version of the Fall of Man over the one where Eve gets all the blame. 

"The Fall" 6" x 5", etching, limited edition in progress

All but "The Exit" were printed on my new (used) press.  Having a press is an inspiration, there will be more etchings.

You can see all of these right now at my solo show, available through July, at Torchon Bistro, 1921 W Dimond Blvd, Anchorage, AK.

Art Sale in Anchorage this weekend!

 If you are in the Anchorage area, drop by the Dena'ina convention center this weekend for the Christmas Arts & Crafts Emporium. My artist friend Emily Longbrake has a booth and will be selling some of my etched and watercolor cards, and also some cards by members of Tectonic Press. I have also thrown in some small watercolors and one small oil painting as well. Original art, very low prices!! Hope to see you there!

November 22nd & 23rd, 2014 -

10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sat.; 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sun.

Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center

600 W Seventh Ave. , Anchorage, AK 99501

 

Basket of Linens

It all started with a lovely detail from Zubaran's Praying Virgin. I loved how this simple set of objects  held their own in the corner of a wonderful painting, and the economy of Zubaran's rendering. 

Hard to find such nice baskets! I found one in a yard sale and removed the handle. Then I rummaged in my collection of old linens, and tried, unsuccessfully, to pose the folds with toothpicks. In the end, I arranged the folds without trying to get so close to my inspiration. You may recall this drawing.

I took the opportunity to play with the image as an etching. This 3 x 4 plate is waiting for me to print a little edition of baskets.

All this preparation was leading up to the painting. Here, finally, is the result.

Basket of Linens
Oil on linen panel

12 x 16

For more information, contact me at info@carollambertarts.com

A little bit more on printmaking

This week I posted about etching, drypoint, linocut, and woodcut as methods for making durable, quality prints by hand. I also experimented recently with "soft ground" etching, which delighted me by producing a print that looks like a drawing.

"Soft ground" is a softer version of the "hard ground" wax used for etching. When etching with hard ground, one must use a needle to scratch the image into the hard wax. For this technique, one can press a design into the soft ground with a pencil. One transfers the image by drawing on a piece of newsprint placed over the wax-coated metal plate. The wax will stick to the other side of the paper, leaving a duplicate image on the plate, ready to be exposed to the acid.

I lay this little sketch (based on a drawing I made last summer, at the Kenai River) on top of a plate waxed with soft ground. I went over it with a pencil, pressing my marks into the wax.

 When I lifted my drawing off the plate, this image, in wax, appeared on the reverse of my paper:

Wherever the wax stuck to the paper, the plate was exposed. Into the acid bath it went. Then I inked it and ran it through the press with a piece of wet paper. Here is the print:

Now I can make as many of these as I want! Neat, isn't it? 

I like this image a lot, but I liked the soft brown of the wax so much I might print it again using a sepia colored ink. I could also hand color the final print with watercolor to give it the Alaska Landscape finishing touch. Mostly, I want to experiment more with this wonderful, simple way to make prints.

Next post, back to oil painting. I am doing some small pieces (6 x 6, 8 x 8) which will be very affordable, especially if bought unframed. Stay tuned, shoppers.

Some corrections, and more on printmaking

I wrote several things in the last post that were not accurate. First, regarding Japanese woodblock prints, I should have noted that they were not printed on a press. Those prints were hand-rubbed onto the paper.

Second, I said that for my color linocut print "Eden" I printed the dark outlines first, then the color sections. In fact, the colors went through the press first, then the outlines were printed on top.

Third, I talked about putting the "Falling Sword" plate into a dye bath, when I should have said acid bath! Alert printmakers will have caught my mistakes. Did my time dying wool gave me a wooly brain?

Now a note about another way to make prints from a copper plate: drypoint.

Drypoint does not require an acid bath, because the grooves are made on the plate directly with a sharp point. The drypoint grooves have edges, like a furrow, which catch the ink and hold it, giving a deep rich tone to the darks. The effect is softer than etching. You can see the difference in two images I made of the same object.

I began to make an etching of a basket, but I didn't like the first state, so I set the plate aside and started over on a new plate. The print is very small, 3 x 4 inches, so I had not lost much effort. Here are some states of the etched basket.

First state:

A state from the middle of the process:

The last state:

I then went back to the plate of my first, failed attempt and used it to experiment with drypoint. While this version began as an etching, you will see that it ended up with softer, darker qualities.

Looking at these last two images, I wonder, which do you prefer? Because these prints are from two different, plates, I could do an edition of either, both, or neither of them.

Here, by the way, are the two plates. The etched basket:

The drypoint basket:

I would love to hear from you. Which one you think would be best for an edition?

My New/Old Love, Printmaking

Along with drawing and painting the figure, while I was in New York I renewed my familiarity with printmaking.

One frequently sees the term "print" used to refer to a reproduction of a work of art,. These can be posters, or the more expensive "giclees" produced digitally from photographs. In this post, I am discussing the older technology of making a print by hand on a printing press.

The "press" of rollers under pressure transfers the image from a metal plate, a block of carved wood, or other hand-prepared, inked surface into damp or very lightweight paper. The product can last for many centuries. You have probably seen such prints by Rembrandt, or woodblock prints by great Japanese artists of the past.

Printmaking is process-rich and lots of fun! It is thrilling to put a plate through the press and then raise the paper up, seeing the image in its new form. Having just joined a printmaking co -op in Anchorage, I will soon be doing more.

I got into printmaking in college, many years ago. I still have some of those pieces, here is one, a woodblock from about 1968.

Later, I took a class at University of Alaska. This etching titled "Family Portrait" from 1987, commemorates my time living on a boat in Kodiak with my young son, husband, and the dog. If it looks a little grim, well, it was!

The process of etching involves coating a metal plate with wax, cutting through the wax with tools to make the image, bathing the plate in acid to bite away grooves where the metal is exposed, putting ink into the grooves (or tiny dots, as the gray areas on this plate had) and running it through the press with paper. Voila!

At that same period I experimented with multicolor linoleum block printing, with this result, titled "Eden". (Forgive the reflections on the glass, this one was photographed in its frame.) The dark outline was carved and printed first, then each separate color was inked onto a piece of paperboard and dropped into place for a second trip through the press.

Here is a sequence of "states", or increasingly developed images, from my recent studies in New York. This is a simple etching.

State 1 of "Falling Sword":

A state midway along the process, after a few trips back to the acid bath and the press:

The last and seventh state. From here I can continue to develop the image, or print an edition of 20 or so, mat them, and sell them to people who want very affordable original art!

Finally, here is the plate. (The dark spot at upper left is just my shadow, its 's hard to take a photo of such a reflective material.) I love working with copper, it's lovely.

Re: the photos in this post, several are slightly distorted as they were taken quickly with a hand held camera. The corners really are square, despite what you see here. I preferred to get this post out quickly rather than set up the good camera and lens, that's a morning's work all by itself.

I hope this will give you some idea of the process and of the value of a genuine "print" made by hand, by a human printer on a real mechanical press.