woodcut with beveled plywood plate

This woodcut exhibit is amazing. After finishing this extensive post I was itchy to try a woodcut myself. Claire Leighton used dark silhouettes in her designs. See Under The Greenwood Tree (below). Double click on images to enlarge. 

Helen West Heller loved pattern in her work. 

See Flight Arrow (below)

In the dim morning light I sketched my black dog stretched out on the sofa. In homage to both Leighton and Heller I put in dark silhouettes and patterns. Drawn lightly with pencil, then over with Sharpie marker. Close ups (above). Digging with the lino cutter was much harder on the plywood plate. It was aggravating. Was I wasting my time?? Plate before inking (next). Turquoise inked plywood plate (next).

Quarters I, 5 by 7 inches, beveled plywood panel, turquoise inked image above. 

Click on inking of Quarters I print 2 minute video.

After experimenting with acrylic paint from the tube and then with the Speedball water soluable ink, I decided the acrylic paint printed too light. The commercial Speedball ink had a better tack to it. Rolled out on the glass pane, it had a better consistency--it laid down thicker and the print was more even.

5 minute video, talking about plywood plates.

Glidden Road was done different. I stained the plywood surface with watered down Raw Umber acrylic paint. Then, lightly drew pencil design on top, from a painting by the same name. Then, made cuts with my lino cutter. The flicked cuts showed up easier this way. The effect was clearer to see as I worked over the surface. This time I through myself into the project. The only way to get better was to get busy and do it. Just do it. 

I was wanting to be good at it before I even knew what I was doing. That whole "beginner's attitude."

 










Glidden Road (Homage to Lankes),
5 by 7 inches, beveled plywood plate (above). Turquoise inked plate (next). Last impression (below that).

      

It was practical to roll out on the plywood plate, lay a clean sheet of paper on the inked image, rub the back off the paper, then pull the paper off, set it aside to dry on the rack. Then repeat the process again. Ink the plate, lay on the paper, rub the back, pull the paper off, and set aside to dry. Then do it all again for each print, until the paper was gone. One hopes the image will print the same each time.

I had cut the plates on Saturday. Then, Sunday after church, we drove by her art room on campus and I sprayed a clear coat of fixative over the plywood plate. (This fixative only works at 50 degrees or more, thus spraying indoors was the way to go, not out in the cold cold snow, no.) Let dry and sprayed another coat. When we returned after lunch, the plates smelled lacquery (of course) but they were water-proofed, ready to be inked. Then, when the inking was done for the day, the ink came off easily with a scrub brush and tap water in the sink, and the moisture was toweled off the plates.

A set of three images are taped to my wall, where I can glance, and let that "new beginning" grow on me. I have bought more plates and want to do it some more. Here is to "new beginnings."

linoleum cutting

 

With tools purchased some months ago, a "snow day" at the beginning of the work week, an eraser, the back of a cradled support, jazzy music, warm stocking feet, and hot cocoa....I try my hand at a lino cut.

One minute video of cutting setup. Click on the X of the Google ad when it appears, and the ad will disappear. The 3.75 by 4.75 inch linoleum rectangle is secured to the back of a cradled support with tape. The support rested on a rubber eraser, which enables the support swivel and rotate as needed. Double click on images to see larger.

Pencil drawing on lino pad based on ABOVE photo. Next, went over the pencil drawing with thin Sharpie marker.

Cutter tip loaded into the cutter handle after loosening the chuck. Followed directions: After securing the blade in the handle, position your forefinger as close as possible to the cutting edge. As a safety precaution while cutting the block, position the hand holding the block behind the hand holding the tool. Apply even pressure, and ease off when completing the cut, It is not necessary to dig deeply into the block.

                 
Eight minute video. Click on the X of the Google ad when it appears, and the ad will disappear.

 

 

Click on 3 minute video tiny cuts.

 The inking portion did not seem so exciting to me. Not able to find a glass pane I improvised with aluminum foil.

 

click here for 5 minute video inking lino pad. Decided to roll water soluble acrylic paint out with brayer on aluminum foil.

Turquoise Speedball water soluble ink printed on dry typing paper.

Here is same print on black paper.

Used bristle scrub brush, soap, and water to vigorously wash off ink on lino pad.

After drying with clean cloth, the linopad want to warp -- so I sandwich the pad between two layers of paper towels on the table. Then I pile a couple heavy books on top and leave it to dry overnight. In the morning the pad is dry and flat.

I am exactly like anyone else who has not tried a new medium before. I do not know what my efforts are going to look like. I see the results and immediately hate what I see and want to throw it away. Inspite of my feelings my wife tells me it looks good. Well.... I must follow the same advice I hand out to any beginner. "Put the artwork aside, sneak looks at it from time to time, and let it grow on you." I will tell you this much--I enjoyed cutting it more than printing it. I want to try another one. And I certainly have gained a better understanding of the process myself. Now when I look at a linocut by another, I know more of the work that went into a piece.

Route E Snow, linoleum pad, 4 by 6 inches (above) Last impression (below)

After looking at the print over a couple weeks, I went back in and cleaned up the image. I like it better now.

organic and abstract

The 23rd Annual Artists Choosing Artists Exhibit features artwork this month by Burkholder Project member artists and their guests in a variety of mediums. The artist I chose for this exhibit is my wife of 28 years. Her work (below) is beside two of my paintings. The exhibit runs January 4 - 29, 2011. The gallery is located at 719 "P" Street in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Before I met Jan Nelson Marxhausen, she was a diversified artist. She boldly created wood sculpture and clay figurines. In her oil painting RED SKY (above), she experimented with abstract and organic forms. That took guts. Double click on image to see it larger.  These days she works with over one hundred students. She teaches kindergarten through sixth grade ART at Carrollton, Missouri. Her artistic gusto continues to amaze me. Below are a couple examples of her sculpture that are not in the show.

"This is called Spring Chick. It was made from metal parts I found at a junkyard in Seward, Nebraska. The body was a rusted air duct. The beak was made from two plow pieces. The wings were two car visors. It had a long curved metal tail. The eyes were made from rear view mirrors on a Jeep, I think. I welded it together in class. I can't remember if it was arc or acetylene. We learned how to do both. My sculpture instructor was Don Dynneson. We had class at the Art Annex. It was a house the art department used, across the street from the administration building. Concordia used to be a teachers college, but now it is a university."

"This figure is called Joy. It was another assignment our teacher gave us. Dynneson had some log chunks to pick from. They were probably walnut. The first thing he had us do was make a "mock-up thing out of wax." That gave him an idea of what we wanted to make. It was part of the process. With a chainsaw, the bigger chunks were removed. I used wood chisels and a mallet (made out of a wooden bowling pin) for the finer cuts. A power sander was used with different grades of sand paper to make the rough areas smooth. The work was rubbed it down with linseed oil. A layer of furniture wax or floor wax was used for the final coat. It was made out of ONE piece of wood."

Photo of artist, Jan Marxhausen (above).
For examples of sculpture by her former professor, click HERE and HERE and HERE.

(Interview with artist Jan Marxhausen January 8, 2011. Painting and sculptures courtesy of private collection by artist. Professor Dynneson sculpture links, courtesy of City of Olathe, Kansas, http://www.olatheks.org/GIS/SculptureMap/ods_07_catch,
http://www.olatheks.org/GIS/SculptureMap/ods_07_firebird, http://www.olatheks.org/GIS/PermanentSculptureMap/pos_ferro, May 21, 2007 post http://www.shareandenjoyblog.net/2007/05/21/what-a-bird#more-284 accessed January 8, 2010.)

follow the process

One of the things I loved about ceramics in college was the sensation of muddy slip and texture of grog, clay which has been fired then ground up, sitting in an encrusted bucket of liquid grit, oh yeah!!
 

 (above and below) Here are close-ups of a 1978 "floor piece," from my senior year at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I had my own 10 by 10 foot studio space on the second floor of Richards Hall. The 24 by 36 inch paper was taped to the floor, and I was dropping bits of texture right into the paint. Look closely and you will see sunflower seed shells. A "whole-other-wonderful" strategy was in place to savor and excite.

 
That "strategy" or "process" was about being physically engaged, reaching over, mindful of the taped edges, precarious steps across the image, looking down, hurling liquid color, drinking in silence that surrounds me, the intermittent cooing of birds from the eaves of Richards Hall outside my window, the sharpness of the temperature in the room, the charged excitement I felt within this Nebraska winter, immersed in the piano and vocals of Billy Joel from my Radio Shack cassette player. Independent, wide open and moving about in my studio space.  The swirl of it all, focused, creating, doing, moving, being intentional, occasionally stopping to assess what the image looked like. An entirely different mindset from "landscape painting." Enriched, hands-on, visceral.

       This morning, sponge in hand, my eyes creep over gridded particles, taking in the general appearance, and hand dabbing liquid pigment on raised grit, my eardrums awash with the jazz music of Spyro Gyra (above). That same "process" is taking place here twenty-two years later. A large heavy support is centered on a stool and rotated as I sponge. There is a balancing act, muscles wrestling the support, and an awareness of my studio space. The underlying grid, made earlier in the gel medium, resurfaces. Selective sponging the grit is key. 

   

 

In this video you can see the "intention" for yourself. I am watching as I dab. Surely my father worked in a similiar manner, that is, experimenting with materials, and expecting to be surprised by something new. Working from a calculated hunch. Setting the work aside. Coming back, drinking the image in, being open minded. Assessing "which results" I like, entertaining what to do next, moving forward with the next hunch. 

laying down layers sunday afternoon

click on triangle to view hands-on video (3 minutes)

close up - what would you call this material ??

click on triangle to view screen work (6 minutes)

wet - do not touch

 

click on triangle to view third layer (7 minutes) 

click on triangle to view residual materials (4 minutes)

Rein made art out of rubber tire patches, dryer lint, burnt waxed wood, and discarded woodwind instruments. In all the years I watched him create on his studio deck there were no cameras running to record his creative process. His manner of creating was up for speculation. Today I am out in my backyard applying layers to panels for a 2011 exhibition. My video camera is set up to record some of my manner. Perhaps my father went about materials in a similiar fashion. Trying this and attempting that, playing around with texture and glue, in the sunshine, out in the backyard. My artwork is not that of Rein. but Rein's grownup son does likes to build. What materials do you think I am handling?

 

wait till it dries

click on triangle to view overview ( 2 minutes)  

click on triangle to view the difficulties with drying too long (3.5 minutes)

 
works in progress for 2011 - warm weather - hands on with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Death Cab For Cutie and Stan Getz saxophone to boot.