Suicide Print Step-By-Step

Last Saturday, I was in a science-themed show at The Yetee Gallery in Aurora, IL. It was called "Billions & Billions," so I decided to make a print of Carl Sagan with one of my favorite quotes of his. It's another suicide woodcut, and once again I documented the color layers as I put them down. I've had a lot of people ask me about the process, so here is the step-by-step:

Color 1

1. Carved out the parts of block I wanted to remain the same color as the paper (white, in this case), and then rolled up the block with yellow ink, which was the lightest of the colors I planned on using in the print. Stretched my paper and laid out my registration using a jig and pins, and then printed the first color.

Color 2

2. Between each color, I tried to let my prints dry as much as possible before adding another color on top. This prevents the colors from mixing together or bleeding on the paper. I also talc on my block to help absorb excess ink before carving back into it. For the second carving, I removed all parts of the block that I wanted to remain YELLOW, then inked it up with the next color I'd be working on.

Color 3

3. Repeat the same steps for each following color layer.

Color 4

Color 5

Color 6 (final)

This is what my wood block looked like
by the time I was done printing.

4. When you're finished, all that will be left raised on your block will be the last color you printed.

Grand Opening of Antihero Prints on Etsy

I setup and opened my Etsy shop today! You can visit it at http://www.etsy.com/shop/AntiheroPrints. I currently have four prints up for sale, and will be adding more over the summer, as well as a series of greeting cards I'm working on.

I also updated the 2012 Gallery again, including my newest print, a reductive litho I did for NIU's Bandolier Press "It's All Useless" print and music exchange. Tricky Dick forever! The song I included for the mix is Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows." Definitely worth a listen...

I just added photos of my two newest lithographs in the 2012 Gallery, and I'm currently working on putting together an Etsy shop where they will be available for purchase.  Of course, I will keep you updated on the shop's opening, so you can snatch them up before anyone else gets to them. :)

Upgrade!

Finished overhauling the website today. Modifications include: improved gallery pages (featuring brand new work from 2012), an updated resume, new contact information, and a "Links" page to connect you with some very talented artists. Check it out, gimme feedback.

Also... leaving for the SGCI conference in New Orleans in three days. YESSSSS.

SGC Prep

I will be attending my first SGCI conference next month, which is being held in New Orleans this year. New Orleans! I can't wait. I've got all sorts of "professional" prep to do before then, and I'm working down the list, slowly but surely.

I ordered business cards from Moo.com last night, and should be receiving those in the next couple of weeks. I chose Moo because they have a really simple WYSIWYG design interface and you can have multiple designs in each card park, which allowed me to feature many of my favorite pieces. Despite the site's simplicity, it took me FIVE hours to design my cards. Why? When humans are provided with too many choices, they have to act against the fear of making the WRONG choice, many times over. Haha. This has been researched and proven (see this article for a quick rundown of the theory of "decision fatigue").

On a related note, while choosing artwork for the business cards, I noticed that the majority of the pieces I've made ask my audience to think about why we're here, to which my answer has consistently been "just because." One of my flaws as an artist, in my opinion, is that I spend too much time planning my pieces, racking my brain for the best way to convey a specific theme. Free will and existentialist ideas rate high on the list of conversation topics I hope to promote with my art, and it was reassuring to see a natural connection between so many pieces I had previously thought of as being unrelated. In reality, it was their style that was unrelated, not their message.

As an homage to this happy self-discovery, I used the back of my business card as an opportunity to mock my own fleeting existence, by listing my name "obituary style" (learned during my years working at a newspaper, when I spent many evenings writing obits for local funeral homes and families). Beneath my name, I included my birth year, followed by two little letters that spell out something big about my own beliefs: "c.e." Will anyone get the joke? We'll see.

And I nearly forgot! Prior to the business card design, I got myself one of those new-fangled QR codes to connect to a small mobile site I built yesterday. The site has a few pieces of my recent work, contact info, and links to this site and my Tumblr - all accessible from the smart phone of the person holding my card. It was super easy: (1) Get your free QR code here, (2) make sure you save a version that's at least 500 x 500 px, and (3) upload it as artwork for your new card. Bam.

Next on my SGC to-do list is to update this website. I need nice photos of some newer pieces and a better gallery configuration. That's next week's challenge, though. Any ideas? Let me know.

The Jackalope} Art Conference

I will be interning this week for The Jackalope Art Conference.  In the words of the developers, "the Jackalope Art Conference concentrates on developing a sense of community through exploring nontraditional ways of making." It will take place this Friday and Saturday (January 6th & 7th) at Northern Illinois University's new Gallery 215 (215 N. 4th St., DeKalb, IL).

As of yet, my winter break has consisted of nothing but work (saving up for SGC in the spring!) and holiday-related activities, so I'm stoked to finally spend some time "out in the field." Check out the website and register to come (it's free).