Woodcuts

I've been having a little trouble finding things to do in my art life so I resorted to my trick of changing mediums. I think about printmaking often and wish I had a press available to me. When I was in school I loved all of my printmaking classes except lithography, which was too volatile. You could lose something you had spent a week doing in a flash because of some chemical process you didn't control correctly. Intaglio was interesting in that it was so labor intensive. I learned how to slow down and work in stages, building up the image over time and using a lot of different techniques to make textures. There was a lot of satisfaction in that, coupled with the anxiety of wondering if each run through the press or acid bath would ruin the image irrevocably. Now it is not so toxic as it used to be, and I probably wouldn't know how to do it.

Monoprint and block printing were, and are, my favorites. I had a wonderful teacher from Chicago for both of those. I can do relief printing without a press, and actually monoprint is possible, too. I have collected several pieces of wood from the construction next door that are quite suitable, though very hard. I have no ink, so used watersoluble oil paint instead. My tools are very dull and I don't know how to sharpen them..........it was always a problem for me. Anyway, armed with my enthusiasm for doing something different, I tackled these two pieces which are both about 5x7. I love the portrait, but as soon as I thought I had the process under control my thoughts turned immediately to making a salable image. Hence, the scene of Stonington's warf from a painting I did on sight probably thirty years ago. As is always the case, I lost my enthusiasm as soon as money came into my mind and the image is less than wonderful. I need to work on it more if I can muster the enthusiasm, make things clearer.

I am the original prude when it comes to prostituting my art..........how snotty.