Today's postings
- [Baren 37998] Re: More Baren videos update - Andy English (Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com)
- [Baren 37999] Exchange #39 prints finished; next time use bigger margins/blocks (Rosposfe # aol.com)
- [Baren 38000] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
Message 1
From: Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:05:39 GMT
Subject: [Baren 37998] Re: More Baren videos update - Andy English
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Andy English, including an Open Studio tour.
http://barenforum.org/blog/
If you know Andy's work you know he makes those exquisite engravings on
boxwood and pearwood. He has been a member at barenforum.org since 1999, a
contributor to many Baren exchanges and makes his home in Cambridge,
England. His website and online gallery are at :
http://www.andyenglish.com/
thanks....Julio
Message 2
From: Rosposfe # aol.com
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:50:51 GMT
Subject: [Baren 37999] Exchange #39 prints finished; next time use bigger margins/blocks
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California and a few long night sessions after the kids were in bed and a few long
morning sessions after they were off to school and I finished printing early
this morning!
A big problem was the false economy of getting blocks just a little
bigger than the paper and image size meant that I had just a 1/4 inch border
along the kento side and the top and bottom about an inch to the sides so I had to
be REALLY careful inking the blocks as the small border of paper would get
smudged/picked up ink unless I was equally careful with the baren while
printing. SO, while I saved a few bucks in wood I spent easily 3 times as much time
printing. I'd have save lots of time if I used a bigger piece of wood and
paper to move my kento away from the image and trimmed the paper to size after
printing.
All in all, I had far fewer problems this go-around technically. I
figured out which side of the paper was sized, printed drier than I had in the past
and was aided by the rare week of humidity so my reject rate was just a
handful of prints instead of my usual 30-50%.
The bad news was I "discovered" that a nagging problem with the
design/image won't just go away by carving it in wood and printing it 40 times or with
the addition of more colors. But, I guess I knew that already.
Well. Time to get cracking on the Year of the Ox.
--andrew.
Digest Appendix
Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...
Subject: Toh-less Carving
Posted by: Annie B
I've been invited to participate in an exchange print portfolio by a group of Boston-area illustrators called "Limited/Unlimited." The image area (8" x 9"), paper size and type (12" x 16", probably Rives), and ink colors have all been chosen. Interpretation of the theme is up to the artist. The ink colors are red and blue, which I've found VERY limiting. I just can't stop seeing Shepard Fairey's Obama poster in my mind's eye. I've always wanted to try doing a portrait, and I have some portraits coming up in my Pilgrims series, so I finally decided to give in and try a portrait. Rather than do Obama, I've decided to work with Lincoln as he is portrayed in the Lincoln Memorial statue. I found a photo online and used it as a base for my carving, pasting the printout right onto the block. Here I'm peeling away the back of the paper to reveal the image:  Then I wipe on some mineral oil to make the image completely visible: [Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here] |
This item is taken from the blog Woodblock Dreams.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.
Subject: Crisis of Confidence
Posted by: Robert Simola
 For my most recent wood block I suffered a crisis of confidence. Knowing I have no real artistic background, that the embarrassingly few art classes I have taken have been scattered through and separated by decades, and with the vision in my right eye wobbling between almost usable and looking out through an impenetrable fog, I decided to trace the image I was planning on using as the basis of my next print. I found the result illuminating. While the tracing bears a nodding similarity to the original image, it also looked like the death mask of a cadaver. But most importantly, the tracing didn?t capture the underlying sadness I wanted the finished print to express. And now that I didn?t cough nor the surgeon sneeze at a critical time, that there wasn?t an earthquake during the surgery, that a meteor didn?t come from outer space and crash into a power pole right outside the surgery center causing the electricity to go off, that there were neither fire ants nor scorpions biting either me or the surgeon, and I can actually see again, I have a drawing I am happy with instead of a tracing that made me feel like a cheat.
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This item is taken from the blog Robert Simola.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.