Friday, Saturday, Sunday
I was very productive this past weekend. First, I went to Treasure Mart to search for the toy train that I had wanted to buy a couple weeks ago. Luckily, it was still there and, even more to my surprise, it was discounted! I was able to buy two toys that are going to be perfect additions to my toy collection. After purchasing my new toys, I drove to Home Depot and bought a very cheap piece of MDF that I was able to cut into three separate blocks.
After returning home and sketching the toys from different angles, I searched through my sketches for my favorites. I picked four that I eventually narrowed down to just one sketch. I used this specific drawing because I thought it started to push me towards a child’s viewpoint and I also thought it was a little off, which reminded me of a child’s drawing.
I then drew the train onto my block and began to cut into the board, only to realize that it wasn’t as soft and easy to cut as I had hoped.
(5 hours)
Monday/Wednesday
I transferred the image of my dollhouse onto another block so that I could start to carve. After transferring the image, I decided that I would use the second block to outline the rooms more and put wood paneling in the background to make it clearer that the image was in fact a dollhouse.
(3 hours)
Tuesday/Thursday
I carved further into my train and slinky images. I had a really hard time with the slinky image and in the end decided that I had cut too much away and scraped the idea. It was just a study and so I wasn’t so upset that it didn’t work out. My train image became more of a texture study, but I kind of enjoy it. I’m excited to print it and hopefully this coming weekend and week I will have a chance to make a few prints/proofs.
(3 hours)
Coming Week…
I hope to start a new block. Hopefully, I will sketch more from my Treasure Mart toys and find another angle that I enjoy. I also hope to make a few prints/proofs of my two new blocks.
Anna, I'm interested in the type of toys you are choosing to work with. Both the train and the (...old fashioned fired truck?) have the same antique feel to them, as do the strange dollhouse figures you brought from home. Is the feeling of this era important to you? The slinky print has a lot of motion/action in it which negates the sense of a discarded toy.
ReplyDeleteColor is an important marking of time and place: a hot pink slinky would scream 90s, while a metal one becomes timeless). Are you planning on printing exclusively in black and white or will color play a role in your prints? I love the background texture and posts in the dollhouse print. It creates a delightfully ambigous sense of space. Good work!
Erica