two ribbons

My painter friend Pat Hollowell went to the opening reception at St. Joseph, Missouri. The 39th annual membership exhibition at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. She wrote that both of my entries had ribbons. When they announced to winners during the slide show, she stood up and cheered when my name was mentioned. The 12 by 9 inch, six color linocut reduction (ABOVE), "Tull Island II," edition 4 of 10, received 2nd place in the Printmaking category. The 12 by 12 inch woodcut, "Among The Mullberries," edition 2 of 10, received 3rd place in the same category. All together six persons entered the Printmaking category this year.

 

Category IV:  Printmaking
1^st Place – Cynthia Pederson, “Summer Meadow I”
2^nd Place – Cynthia Pederson, “Whirlygigs I”
2^nd Place – Karl Marxhausen, “Tull Island”
3^rd Place – Karl Marxhausen, “Among the Mullberries”
Honorable Mention – Jakob Ehlert, “Trio Trianos”
Honorable Mention – Sherrill Brooke, “Cirque”
(courtesy of AKMA, http://albrecht-kemper.org/event/39th-annual-akma-membership-exhibition-2/, accessed Feb 12, 2013)

june thoughts

      in this third week of june the "ease of blogging" has been disrupted. the fred geary presentation, the completion of the six color reductive linocut, photos stuck in a hard drive of a dead computer, all of it disconnected.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   joys come inspite of this circumstance. ~~~Thank you for protecting me from snakes as I move down the levee into the wild areas. You keep my truck safe. You watch over my tires. You give insight and keep me from getting stuck. You lead me to a pleasant grove with mulberries juicy and ready to pluck and enjoy. This is your abundance, this is your joy over me, a hidden delight  with you, your hands involved--I am not forgotten. Trees tall going up up up, sand, and shade,  just what I was hoping for, you lay it at my feet. You keep me safe, Jesus. Thank you for your constant attention.---
       This day I paint the surface of the river, the wind roars around me like a dragon, do I run now? No harm comes near, I remain and paint with my ears on alert for danger.---
       Before I fall asleep, you hear me. "Wake me up at 6 in the morning. Make me wide awake." Six o'clock comes and my eyes are open, ready to go out to paint. You answer. You enable. You travel.--
      With us, we work, we paint the donut window with dancing donuts, Jan's logo, her blue cup and brown donut and rising sun rays, yes, you make this pair, this team, click and work cooperatively, enjoying her, getting the work done, going forward, we help, we laugh, window colors in enamel, your YES glistens in our eyes---
     Surprised by a friend who remembers me, recalling our early days of service at the local newspaper. Your joy sweeps across my face, laughter, your YES, your happiness, welcome here.--
     Saturday morning I meet the one you picked out, the man from Texas, who will lead us forward into tomorrow's technology. You arranged for the agreement to take place, Jesus. One month later this comes forth, from the unseeable future, HERE HE IS, your gift to the Print Society, wow, look at that, wow.---
     Father, you hear. In the unevenness and uncertainty, among my garbage, inspite of my gripes and whines, you bring your surprises right now. Savior, Near, my Vast Intensity Joy Undivided.

linocut reduction - part two

Notes from diary (double click on images):

Feb 17,  Friday

Set up work table up, moved pet bowls out, and blocked doorway. 

1 ½ hours spent looking over printing sequence, to figure out which color to work on next.
 

Two hours spent cutting 6 x 4 inch block (above).
One hour spent pencil layout on 12 x 19 inch block (below).

Reference studies were taped to the front of each block for image placement.
 
 
















I rubbed graphite on the back side, and drew marks on the front side to transfer onto the block.

Feb 18, Saturday

Two hours spent cutting on 6 x 4 inch block and 12 x 9 inch block.
It was easier to tape the small block to the top of a small metal canister. That elevated the block and made viewing the tiny cuts better.

(See next video)

Click video to see transfer marks cut on small block. Six minutes long.

 

Feb 19, Sunday

One hour spent locating and setting out more clothespins.

One hour spent to put dried sheets in order for hand printing.

45 minutes spent to uncurl dried prints. Gently pulled each over table edge.
Wondered what my habit for drying and storing prints would become...See http://karl-marxhausen.blogspot.com/2012/03/studio-considerations.html

Mixed “baby blue” ink

15 minutes spent on blue ink test strips. 

(above) After inking small block, I noticed the cuts in the sky were too shallow and the ink was filling them in.

(above) Spent 40 min re-cutting the dapple in sky, made cuts deeper so brayer ink would not fill in cuts.

(above) After one more hour all ten 10 x 12 inch sheets received their second color, and one trial print of the 12 x 9 inch block was made (below).

The palette and inked blocks were wrapped in plastic wrap for the night.

 

Feb 20,  Monday (holiday)

½ hour spent to scrub ink off blocks with soap and water, towel dry.

Two hours to store small prints in museum box with glassine.

Constructed paper window to mask the border for the large block (above). The block was inked first and pushed flush against the wood rig. The paper window was carefully laid on top of the inked block. The blank sheet was dropped on top of the block and hand burnished from the back.

Dug and cleaned up cuts on large block.

Decide against a blue border along the edge of the large block.

Two hours spent inking test strips of blue to match.

Inked nine of 18 x 15 inch sheets with second color.
Hit a snag!! The inside edge of the paper window was leaving odd inked line on the prints. What could I do to prevent that? That frustration was wrecking my day....
The solution was to fold and smooth scotch tape over inside edge of mask. Then I added wide slick “packing tape” over inside edge of window. I covered both sides of mask window with that tape (below).

To insure no ink would be transferred by mistake,  I wiped ink off the slick paper window after each print was pulled. (below, I have pressed the mask against the back door with my hand, and wiped the ink off with a damp rag.)

Cleaned up and rearranged room

Feb 25, Saturday 
Set up work table up, moved pet bowls out, and blocked doorway. 

One hour spent to mix and match blue ink

(above) After five hours straight all thirty-one 18 x 15 inch large sheets received their second color. Done for the day. Whew!!!

 ½ hour spent on clean up and putting supplies away.

(above) Compare sizes of small print on left and large print on right.

Mar 4, Sunday

Set up work table up, moved pet bowls out, and blocked doorway.

One hour spent sorting and ordering large dry sheets. Some borders were uneven. Every impression was one of a kind.

Two ¼ hours spent cutting on small and large blocks for next color.

½ hour spent cleaning up.

One hour spent downloading photos and videos to work computer.

A few weeks rolled by while I waited for an ink order to arrive. The company sent me white screen printing ink by mistake. The Kansas City Utrecht store assured me that the viscosity would have been too thin to use for block printing. Finally, the New Jersey office sent the correct ink (below).

Four 8 ounce jars of white block print ink. During the waiting period, I came to accept my new border decision. No border for the large block.

In March cut both blocks for the next color. To be continued,,,,,,,,,,,

linocut reduction - part one

January 27th, Friday, after work I practiced lining the sheets up with my registration guides. A blank sheet was repeatedly dropped onto a blank dry linoleum block to get the rhythm, the flow, and to gain personal confidence.



Click to view practice from the top looking down over the guides.

Click to view practice from the table top, looking from the side view. 

Next morning, Jan 28, Saturday, the dining room was converted to a work space. Pet food bowls were moved into the living room. The room was blocked off from pets. Tools were set out, ink jars, glass palette, linoleum blocks, etc.

In just over an hour I settled on the base color and began to mix it for the edition. (See next video)

Click video to learn about test strips. Two minutes long.

"The base color that I am using for my linocut project is burnt sienna mixed with lots of white speedball water soluble ink. When I first started I made a 24 by 18 inch acrylic painting on paper. Next, I did a smaller study mixing all my colors from speedball blue and white INK plus the burnt sienna ACRYLIC. So, now I am trying to mix ink to match this color here (of the lighter sky). Here are my test strips. This first strip is much too dark when laid next to the painting. My next ink batch looked like this. It is lighter but not light enough. Here is another test strip. Then I made more test strips. One of the things I noticed,  when I print on the paper here, is that right before the ink is completely dry it looks much darker than it really is. At first I panicked. When it is completely dry it does dry lighter. It looks more like this cream one here. The color is faint and it will look real nice. Compared to the study, see how light that is? So, this is my base color that I am putting down, and this is the linoleum block that I have been using, and here is where I mix the ink on the glass palette."

Close up of small reference study mixed with speedball ink and acrylic paint. I know that "brushwork" and "carved cuts" describe "form" differently. I am interested in achieving some of the same color and pattern (ABOVE) in my finished linocut reduction.

After three steady hours-- the fifteen 12 x 10 inch sheets were printed and hung up to dry. In addition, ten of the 18 x 15 sheets were also printed. As this project moved forward I decided to ink the small 6 x 4 inch block and the large 12 x 9 inch block with the same ink colors. The designs of each were slightly different. Upon completion my lower back was tight and sore. The linoleum blocks were scrubbed free of ink, the area straightened up, and print supplies put away. The pets regained use of the dining room.

Click video to see mixing ink, rolling on brayer on the block, and hand burnishing of sheet on linoleum block. Four and a half minutes long. Each impression was made in this manner.

February 11th, Saturday morning, the work area was set up.

After four steady hours the remaining thirty 18 x 15 sheets received their base color and were dried on the clothesline above my head. That was quite a stretch. Sore muscles aplenty. I had used 8 ounces of white ink for that session alone.

Next, both uncut blocks were painted blue. The 4 x 6 inch (ABOVE) and the 9 x 12 inch (BELOW). Next time I cut them, the cuts would stand out in contrast to the blue color.

The glass palette was cleaned up with the water pump, a razor scraper, paper towels, and patience. 

After tools were stored, I downloaded camera shots onto my work computer. By 4:20 pm I was done for the day.