Litho News: Etching Chart

                                    

       Ta Da! My etching chart! The numbers at the top refer to the hardness of the crayon used to draw the column. Number 5 is the hardest and lightest and 00 is the softest. They vary because of their grease content, I think. #0 and #00 are a different brand of crayon from the others, which accounts for the abrupt shift from #2 to #0.

    The gradations looked pretty good to me when I took this pic, but now that I'm home and can't look at the stone directly, I'm not so sure. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. If anything, the top values are a bit too dark. But I swear, I was barely breathing on the stone with those crayons. I think it is mostly the photo balance here, and also because the stone itself is beige. So, the gradations might be less noticeable in this photo because the lens is picking up and blending in the color of the stone. I hope. Because going lighter is a no hoper.

      I also got the etchants measured and mixed. The strongest ones will etch the darkest values. 

      Next, I have to mix my roll-up ink. I don't have exactly the two kinds of ink I need, so I suppose I'll have to fly by the seat of my pants a bit. What else is new?

You know what this means, right?

Days of Leaves

     The leaves were coming down like rain this weekend, and to match them, I spent most of my studio time painting them into these two pieces.

    I very nearly painted out the ivy on the tornado painting. I'm kinda glad I didn't. I went through a couple more ideas, but extending the vines seems like the best option so far.

     Also, I haven't been happy with the scarf painting since I said I was done. There was something about the top of her head against that light sky that bothered me. So again, leaves to the rescue.

     I think the main problem with both of these pieces is that I have been ignoring the middle ground, (ha! typical artist!) and the leaves are helping to solve it in both cases. I like them better. So far.

A good day

    Today, I was able to paint for two and a half hours with only one small interruption. It was bliss. 

In that quiet, I realized I was tired of my indecision about this painting. I've been researching ivy, which is a symbol of strength, especially when we join forces with others. I like that idea, as well as how tenacious they are.

    I guess I'll brighten it up and then live with it a while. Decisiveness is all well and good. But we mustn't be too hasty :)

   

Changed my mind

You kinda knew it would happen, didn't you?

I've this little one on a shelf for a couple of months now, and I've never felt like it was really done. The landscape needed a little something. Last week, I was looking at a pair of older paintings, both sky pics like these, and way down on the ground in one of them were little buildings like these. I sketched some in and liked how they anchored the painting and brought some much needed balance. I'll probably fuss with it some more, but I think it is nearly complete. I've been borrowing from myself quite a bit lately. I like the partnership :)

    I'm still trying to solve the same sort of problem in the tornado painting. I keep trying solutions, but so far, none have really done it. The poor thing has suffered for my indecision, too. I hope I can settle on it, soon. At least I have the luxury of not being in a hurry. I never make good work when I rush.

    

IF: History

   This week's Illustration Friday topic is History, and it took me a while to decide that this image fit the description. Weaving has a long history as a metaphor for the fabric of life and culture. And often, the stories of history are told with patterns of thread that miraculously combine to illustrate them. This weaving has a history too, because it once had little figures within it. But they took the spotlight off the weaving itself, so I painted them out. On the way to repairing the surface, I liked this in-between stage in which the figures are gone, but evidence of their presence remains. Kind of like how many people remain with me long after they are gone from my daily life. The title of this one is Tapestry.

Three Level Stones :D

This makes me very happy.

   After the last time I grained, with no success, I was convinced I was missing a piece of the graining puzzle. It turns out I was, but it was only a matter of seeing the problem from the other side. I think I have the gist of it now.

   I'm so lucky because my excellent teacher Rebekah from my class at Zygote last summer is willing to help me long distance. And I'm talking really long distance, because she is currently in the middle of a two month long artist's residency in Taiwan. So bless her heart twice.

    I wrote to her with my questions about graining and she sent back three whole sets of drawings that detail graining patterns and which one to use under certain circumstances. That was my ticket.

     Today, we started fresh with two different stones. I now have a student working with me who is a true problem solver. That is another piece of luck, a couple times over, because he can think and he is tall and strong, two things that I am not. Litho takes quite a bit of muscle, and it sure was nice to have someone to take turns with. And to help carry heavy tubs of water.

     Admittedly, the stones were pretty level to begin with. By the time the previous images were grained out of the stones (one of them was very dark, so it took a while. I'll have to remember to keep better track of the cycles so we know what to expect), the smaller stone was level, but the big one on the bottom was low on the edges. I was kind of discouraged, because it wasn't like that when we started. We had made the stone worse! My student had to go and I sat down with a thump to think about it.

   Then came the aha moment. Instead of thinking that the edges were low, I should be thinking that the center was high.

   If you use two stones that have the same problem as graining partners, like two convex stones or two concave ones, used together they will even each other out. One of the stones I grained last time was convex, so I hauled it out and used it to grain Fred, the bigger stone on the left in the photo. I did three cycles of 100 grit, dried it off, and yay. A level stone.

     We'll polish them next week, and then we can start drawing. Two of the stones will be used for etching charts, one for crayon and one for tusche. My student gets to draw on Fred.

    It's slow progress, but we're getting there. I just need to remember to look at things from the other side.

Look what I got :)

     Well, I'm being held captive by a mountain of grading, but I'm being kept alive by sneaking to my easel or marimba for a few minutes during breaks. Two classes to go and then I can get some work done.

     In the meantime, look at this! Our excellent student assistant 3D printed this for me after I mentioned that if I ever get a stone grained to level, I would probably draw the knot as a first litho in the shop. I've been turning this over and over in my hands to try to get it to match up with the first one, but now that I see it here, I think it is a mirror image of the simpler version. I love the complexity of it; I could get lost in all of those negative shapes. Plus, the cast shadows are amazing. I think I'll grain that stone with the ultra fine #5 grit (which makes no sense, because all the other grits are numbered in the 2 and 3 digit range, but whatever). It's fun when you can imagine how something will look before you even start it.

    I've also recently realized a mistake I made in drawing the first one, which is that I based it on a cube and it isn't one. I haven't actually measured the proportions yet, but my guess it is more like half a cube. What do you call that?