Sunday, November 08, 2009

Call Me Kathe Kollwitz



I persisted with my woodcut from yesterday and actually ended up liking it. Encouraged, I went on to try another one. This is the Unitarian Meeting House, backwards. I feel that I am experimenting and don't want to go to the trouble of reversing my images when I cut them. I still have a little more to go with this one. My attempt to put in the telephone pole and wires failed and now it looks like a crucifixion is about to take place on a white cross. Since I cut so much around the house, I think a little chine colle is in order to give the sky a gray color against the white building. Also I need to turn the Fisher-Price figure on the left into the church steeple it was meant to be.

It's fun to be doing something different, even if I do have sore fingers from pushing on my dull tools. I decided to mix up some black paint in order to give these that gloom and doom look that woodcuts all have. I shouldn't have hesitated to make the effort since it is so easy to mix blue and orange together. Most things aren't as much trouble as you thought they would be............unless you thought they were going to be easy.
Posted by Picasa

3 comments:

Lili said...

Wow! I am so impressed with all the talent you possess. I can't even begin to imagine how you can do something like this without the benefit of some sort of machine...I can't even figure out how to do a stencil. Those are gorgeous. Are those also known as etchings? (Oh, I made a comment over on one of your paintings post in your gallery blog...I hope you don't give up trying to sell on-line...your paintings are hands-down major stand outs among so many other artists that I see selling.)

Cheri Walton said...

Thanks for the tip on the gallery blog.........I'll look into it when I get the mental fortitude to tackle that enterprise again.

These prints aren't the same as etching. You need a prining press to do etching,because no human can press paper into metal enough to transfer the image. Woodcut and linocut are relief prints, which means the part that prints is what's left after you cut the rest away. With etching you cover the plate with ink and then rub it off, leaving the etched lines of your image full of ink. When you put it through the press, the pressure pushes the paper hard enough to pick up the ink hiding in the grooves. It's more sophisticated and the results are more refined because you are actually printing what you drew on the plate.

AAAAGGHHH......brings back memories of slaving over those plates....

Lili said...

Thanks for the explanation! Sounds like you have done both...maybe I should just start out with a potato to practice carving, or maybe even my clay...so much more forgiving!