Photolithos

Friday- Friday (1//21, 2010)

This week I dedicated my time to experimenting with different possibilities of printmaking.  I decided that I wanted to see what the photographs of building blocks would look like if I transferred them onto a photolitho plate.  I originally wanted to use my drawings of the blocks, but when I transferred them to the milar, the images were too light and would not have created a clear image.  Amanda also suggested that I use the photographs and then possibly draw on top of them to make them more of my own.  I really like this idea and decided that I would begin by making a plate of just the photographs and then possibly go back later and create a second plate with my own marks.

I began by choosing two of the most successful photographs of my building blocks.  I then printed them to a milar and created a photolitho plate from the images.  Black ink seemed to be the obvious color that I would print in, since I felt that by adding another color I would be adding another unnecessary layer of meaning to my images.  I began to print my images and my plate began to fill with ink very quickly.  I tried to make as many images as I could before I had to stop printing and I plan to try printing more images of the plate this weekend. 

I also would like to see if I could create another plate with my own hand drawn marks.  For Tuesday I hope to have more images of my photolitho plate and possibly make a collage to see whether I should expand the images or not.  I will also see if the images hold up when they are cut into different shapes. 

(20 hours)

For Next Week…

Finish another photolitho plate

Experiment with the images and figure out the best layout and cropping

Sketch more

And… possibly… start to cut into a wood block

On an on

Friday….Thursday 1/13/2010

20 hours

This week was another thinking period for me.  I sketched more of my block arrangements and continued to contemplate how I am going to eventually display them in the gallery.  I also began to carve into a piece of MDF, but I think I may have rushed into it and decided to put it aside for now. 

On Tuesday, I was lucky enough to talk to Seth, Erica, Amanda, and Janie. At this point in my experimentation I think that talking is the most helpful.  I showed them my photographs and the drawings I had done from them.  Seth and Amanda raised the question whether or not I should be doing woodcarvings and more.  They asked why I was so on including it in my final piece.  Other then that I really enjoy working with wood I couldn’t come up with a better answer.  Seth then said something that I really enjoyed, he said woodcarving is something that you do now for fun as play, in replacement of what you did as a child, played with building blocks.  It’s almost like this project is an evolution of my play throughout the years.  I really enjoyed this answer and was thinking about a possible name for my exhibit, which I know is very premature, but I came up with the name PLAY.  Amanda then suggested I try and do a photolitho of one of my drawings for the coming week so that I can see a little better at how the prints are going to turn out.

After my conversation with Seth and Amanda, I was able to talk to Janie and Erica.  Janie suggested that I begin to cut up my drawings so that I can begin to play around with the arrangements of my blocks.  This was a great idea and began to give me more of a visual for my final project.  When I showed these to my small group yesterday they suggested that I continue to play around with the configuration and ultimately draw more and complete a photolitho for this coming week.

For this coming week and weekend…

I plan to complete a photolitho for Tuesday and sketch more of my building blocks.  I will also work with some more configurations of the possible blocks and maybe explore more constructions.

I hope that I will be able to feel more comfortable with starting my woodblocks after I complete my photolitho and begin to start carving soon.

Frame Idea

I was considering putting ornate frames around my prints and wanted to see how it looked.  What do you think?  Does it take too much away from the image itself?  Does it help, hurt, do nothing for my image?

This Short Week and Break

Over break I really started to reconsider my thesis and the work that I had completed.  I was really excited about the prints that I was doing first semester, but after taking a break from them and looking at them all together, I realized they really didn’t relate to my idea of losing childhood memories at all.  This was a huge realization for me and somewhat disappointing.  I decided that I had been more excited about the printmaking processes and therefore disregarded the importance of my topic.  So over break I deeply considered how I was going to make images that relate directly to my thesis and started to think more along the lines of building blocks.  Wooden blocks are something that I played without all throughout my childhood and relate directly to my relationship with my sister and my memories of play.  I then started to actually play with the blocks; I organized them in different constructions and used different lighting to see what would be the most dramatic and appropriate image.  I took a ton of pictures over break and I think many of them are successful.  They really started to look like mysterious buildings with secret spaces and undiscovered corners.  I liked that they were so dramatic and I think that they show a sense of loss and solitude, which I want to begin to display.

After thinking about the actual image for a long time, I began to think about the layout of my final presentation.  I began to imagine a huge image of building blocks split up in to different woodcuts.  They would be displayed in different frames (which I have just found at Treasure Mart, my ultimate favorite store) close enough together that you could see the image when you backed away, but the spaces in-between would again address the issue of loss.  I am excited about this new idea and now I am trying to decide how many prints I can feasibly create by the end of the semester and my show!

(20 hours over break)

(4 hours this week so far)

Below, I am showing the first image that I am focusing on and I feel that the picture itself is very successful.  It is ominous yet sad and I have begun to break it down into different pieces.  I have sketched the images and I hope that I will be able to transfer these to a woodblock soon and begin to cut. 

I have also decided to focus more on the image before I lay it down on the woodblock and hopefully this will make me more successful.  I am excited about this week and I can’t wait to get carving! 

The Critique

Work before the Critique

This week went by in a whirlwind.  While preparing my presentation for Wednesday, I worked, simultaneously, to finish my duck prints.  As I continued to cut into my block however, I began to get more and more frustrated.  The duck wasn’t becoming clearer and I was about to give up.  However, I had printed so many ducks that I thought I should try to collage some of the prints together to make the ducks standout more. After experimenting with a couple different combinations, I decided on these two separate prints as the most successful.  Although this isn’t how I originally saw my prints, I do like the outcome and I think that it was the right decision at the moment.

IP Consultations Ideas

I got some wonderful ideas from my IP consultation and they have really started to push me towards a clearer ending.  Most importantly, I need to go home and play.  Quite literally, I need to take out my old blocks over vacation and try many different combinations and buildings.  After deciding on a couple different layouts, I will light them with extreme lighting and document, by taking pictures, sketching, and just observing the cast of shadows over the block.  My hope is to fill many pages in a sketchbook with these different combinations and experiments with different toys as well.  Luckily, I will have my little cousins to play with and hopefully I will gain some insight into how it was to play as a child. 

There was also a suggestion to look at the artist, Alfred Leslie, who works with different angels and lighting.  I find his nude paintings very inspiring and beautiful.  I hope that I can light my blocks in the same dramatic way that he lights his figures.

The suggestion that I found most interesting was how I could display my prints in my final show.  Jim Cogswell thought that I could display my prints in a grid like format and then to make it more dramatic, make it seem as if all the prints were lighted by the same source.  If the “light source” were coming from the bottom, then each successive print would have shadows as if it were reacting to that same light.  That way they would also look as if they were seated on shelves, which would create an interesting dynamic. I am very excited to started sketching new ideas for toys, and I am happy now with the direction that I have been pushed in. 

Over Winter Break…

I will take photographs and sketch my different combinations of blocks.

I will think about new toys that relate better to one another.

Sketch A LOT

Relax 

Rubber Duckie You’re the One

Saturday/Sunday

This weekend and week I spent all of my time working on my reduction block print.  I am really enjoying the entire process of carving and printing multiple times, and I think I am headed in a good direction.  Specifically during the weekend, I worked to print 10 copies of the second layer of my duck block.  I had previously cut into it and so all I had to do was mix colors.  This proved to be a little more difficult then expected, as I had to figure out how the colors would mix on my paper.  I ultimately decided to print a bright yellow and a turquoise color and was very happy with the results.

(6 hours)

Monday/Wednesday

I continued to print the rest of my second layer.  After completing the remaining 10 copies, 20 in total, I decided to print another block on top of my single duck block.  I was able to make 6 copies of this small image, but I am not sure what I am going to do with it in the future.  After finishing my printing I started to carve into my block yet again.

(8 hours)

Tuesday/Thursday

I finished carving my duck block’s third layer and started to mix colors.  Color mixing seems to be the most challenging part of the process for me and I tested to separate possibilities yesterday.  The darker orange I felt was too similar to my previous color and the lighter color doesn’t seem to standout enough.  I think I may try and mix a color in the middle of the two, which will hopefully be just right.  I plan on printing the entirety of the third layer this weekend and then cutting into the fourth layer as well.  I hope to have six layers in all, but this may change as I continue with the process.

(6 hours)

Coming week…

I really enjoy working with the dremel tool in the cold metals studio and I have decided to purchase a cheap one from Home Depot so that I can use it after graduating.  I am really attracted to the marks that it makes on my paper and I hope that I can find a reasonably priced one.  As I said before, I plan on printing the third layer of my block on the rest of my prints and then I will hopefully have time to start to carve the fourth layer this weekend.  Also, before my IP critique I would like to have another image started on my block and may research different toys this weekend. 

Back to School

Weekend in New York

During Thanksgiving break I was able to work on my IP Presentation.  I had compiled photos throughout the semester and I began to write an outline for the slides.  I decided to include most of my work, even the blocks that I was not excited about so that I could show my growth and talk about why I was unhappy with these images.  It was very beneficial to work on this power point and I felt like he self-reflection enabled me to think more clearly about the direction I would like to head. 

 (3 hours)

Monday-Thursday

This week, after returning back from New York, I was able to start to print and carve further into my duck block.  The print that I showed last week was a proof just to see whether or not I liked the color and the cuts that I had made.  I wanted to tweak a few things before I printed again so I returned to the dremel in the metals studio and carved out a little more of the surface.  After completing this step, I began to mix my colors and settled on a dark blue and a yellowish-orange.  I chose these colors because I could easily use darker or lighter colors on top of them for the following layers.  I really like how the combined image came out and it gave me the idea to print the duck image on its own.  I printed the duck image on a smaller piece of paper so that if I felt like cutting it out and possibly mounting it on chipboard I could do so in the future.  Also, after printing the first layer of the duck, I carved back into it and printed it again.  I am really excited about this print and I hope that I can follow it with similar images.

 (9 hours) 

For this coming week…

I hope to carve further into my wood block and hopefully print a second layer.  My ultimate goal is to finish this print before my IP review on the 15^th of December.  I would also like to start thinking about other images that I could start transferring onto my new blocks.  I received my grant information back and now I need to start compiling my receipts and figuring out exactly what I need to purchase for my final show.  Finally, I need to finish up my presentation and work on a few graphic details.