I have two small pieces ready to be made into printing plates, but haven’t done that. I haven’t gotten some of my new 2009 photos of Ireland reproduced yet either. Lots and lots of potential, but little real progress.

However, I have provided four black and white designs to a printer for professional reproduction. The images are fuzzy, as I was in a hurry and only trying to get quick images done.

Maeve’s Spear is a simplified, smaller version of an original ink and watercolor piece I created a few years ago. The original is a very large piece and the design is the one most people have asked me to create as a print.

Maeve's Spear scratchboard

Spiral Raven is a simple, but dramatic design, and may be destined for t-shirts or other items.

spiral raven scratchboard

The Kells Bird is an older design, created for notecards. It has come out of the archives for a new breath of life.

Small scratchboard print plate

The Key Panel was originally made for notecards, but never was used. Out of the archives and into the market, it seems. This design was made with a lighter, crosshatch technique to add texture to the flat design.

Key Panel Scratchboard

I have also widened my circle of possibilities through writing some articles about my travels and possibly getting them published. Working on that, anyway.

Daily sketching continues. I have some interesting pieces done as projects for a sketching class in D.C., which I will provide when I get my scanner back up and running.

In my quest for seeing new things, I went to the National Zoo on Tuesday this week. I tried sketching the animals as they went about their morning routines. I despaired of catching the sinuous slink of the clouded leopard, with his eyes as clear as rose amber glass in the early sun. I couldn’t keep up with the pair of small-clawed otters as they tried to get closer to the tourists watching them.

The red panda hid behind a branch, and the Giant Panda cared little for my efforts, as he continued to munch on his breakfast. I watched the cheetah watch me for a while. He stalked, loose-limbed around his enclosure, walking back behind bushes when he heard screaming children and coming back to pace close to the fence when they were gone. He watched me carefully, but seemed more irritated by the occasional click of the power generator in the corner of the enclosure.

I tried to catch them all. Much more difficult to catch than people drinking coffee.

Anyway, I’ve decided to continue a version of the Derrybawn project through 1-6/2010. The potential is there, and I still need to do everything I started out to do, but the early part of the year has fewer distractions than the summer and fall.

Bloddeuwedd and the Arkay Sonney will carry over to the new year, along with my small Brambleponies print and a print of a willow tree I began as a gift for a friend. I will also document the final result for the Maeve’s Spear, Spiraled Raven, Key Panel and Kells Bird pieces that I submitted for professional printing, as well as any new black and white art. Reproductions of photos will also be documented and any new plates will be shown.

My goal is to have at least 12 new designs in reproductions for the Potomac show in June 2010.
A secondary goal is still to gather up the threads of my grant proposal, which has gathered new steam as friends have mentioned they may obtain a Letterpress and have been discussing using it to lure me to Pennsylvania to make my prints.

Additionally, I will be using the new prints to revamp my Etsy website.

Hmm. Is that enough for one project? As always, biting off more than I can chew.

kjn

I was convinced to spend Tuesdays down in DC a few weeks back. I needed to get out of the house, I was frustrated in the lack of progress on a number of projects, and my house is a depressing wreck as my roommates and I struggle with home renovations.

One day a week, finding new coffee shops, wandering through museums and walking through new neighborhoods, is a good thing.

I start my Tuesdays early, heading out with my roommate when she leaves at 5 in the morning. I found a new coffee place to sit and sketch recently, near the DC Metro stop at Eastern Market. A waiter named Josh has the whole thing down perfectly. Check to see if my coffee (or tea) is low, and otherwise let me sit in the early morning sun and watch the world go by. I think he sneaks looks at my sketches when I’m not paying attention.

Then I pick a museum. Recently it has been the Sackler Gallery, near the Smithsonian. A display on early Chinese bronzes and jade has finally sparked a bit of inspiration in my quest to finish my work on Bloddeuwedd.

For those not familiar with the early Shang Dynasty in China, it is the first dynasty to be documented archaeologically in Chinese history. An earlier dynasty, the Xia, is not documented through archaeological finds, and is often considered a mythical construct. The chronology of these dynasties is provided in the writings of Xiu Lin, and in the Bamboo Annals. The Shang Dynasty is believed to have lasted from about 1600BC to about 1046BC, and was followed by the Zhou Dynasty.

The display of Shang artwork is really amazing. Early bronze vessels and jade pieces are wonderfully complex and dramatic. Animal forms are stylized and shaped in elegant curves. One of the primary motifs in decorating ritual vessels is the Taotie mask. You can search for information on this in Wikipedia. It is a style of mask-like face, created in bold relief, of stylized pieces which are filled in with fine, decorative line designs. Eyes, nose, mouth, wings and claws, all are reduced to bold shapes and contained in clearly defined spaces. The parallels to Northwest Coast Native American art were inescapable.

The Shang masks were primarily of unknown creatures, perhaps demons or spirits. But a few were definitely meant to be natural animals. My favorite is a pear-shaped ritual wine vessel, with a mask of an owl on it.

One of the other things I really find fascinating about the Shang artistic style is the line filler between elements of the Taotie masks, which are tiny spirals. It is extremely difficult to get detailed pictures of the fine designs, due to the emphasis of photos on the larger mask motifs. But I am hooked on the idea of the owl mask and spirals for my Bloddeuwedd piece.

I’m definitely working it out.

It is a good thing someone was kind enough to push me to leave my cave and limp down to DC for the day, forced to walk through museums until weary and worn…

Friends make it all worthwhile.

This is a sketch from the Barnes and Noble Bookstore on Westnedge. I suppose it can’t really count as another sampling of my mocha, as it is still a Starbuck’s and tastes the same, even though I’m in Michigan.

wifi but no coffee

Broke my sketch pen while sketching at a church picnic, so this one is in pencil. It is one of the four cats who live with my parents. This is Avery, a Maine Coon cat, showing you his ‘happy cat’ face.

Avery showing the 'happy cat' face

This is a quick value study of early morning sunlight on the small cemetery across from the church where my father is a deacon. I should note that three people who saw the sketch were quick to point out that I had not included the dead deer under the tree in the foreground. I replied that I had not seen it. They stated that it had been there quite a while and was probably hard to see from where I was sitting when I sketched.

cemetery across from the church

Back on the train to DC, this is an early morning sketch in the observation car, where one man enjoys his tunes.

early morning on the train

And here is a man searching diligently for a signal on his blackberry while we travel through the mountains. He had the patience of a saint as he searched. And searched.

hunting for a blackberry signal

kjn

My trip to Mackinaw City for the Labor Day Walk across the Mackinac Bridge has reached the day before Labor Day, and we were enjoying ourselves at the touristy shops. This group of pictures is from the crowds at the shops, especially near the food court at the Mackinaw Crossings, and from Mackinac Island.

Note: Mackinac Island, Mackinac Bridge, but Mackinaw City and Mackinaw Crossings. All pronounced the same way.

This sketch shows a smoothie maker waiting for a judgment on his skills from a small smoothie drinker.

smoothie maker and critic

This picture is mom, chillin’ at the rocky beach at the hotel in Mackinaw City. Note the cranky seagull who swooped in behind her from the hotel roof. Mom did not see the seagull until she saw the sketch.

mom and the cranky seagull

We went to Mackinac Island on the ferry. Note that there are no personal cars allowed on Mackinac Island, only police, construction and emergency vehicles. All other transportation involves walking, biking or hiring horses.

After Labor Day, Mackinac Island begins to wind down, and many of the horses are sent back across to the mainland to spend the winter at a farm. Here you see a quick sketch of one man taking four horses down to the ferry.

taking horses down to the ferry

An example of the taxi service on Mackinac, though I didn’t leave myself room for the second horse.

Mackinac Island Taxi service

This gentleman is hosing down the sidewalk, as one would expect, considering the large quantity of poo deposited there every day. You may have seen the ‘Dirty Jobs’ episode when Mike Roe did this job.

road cleaner

kjn

This man was a professional. Coffee in the right hand, briefcase with two fingers, and working his blackberry with the left hand. Not sure how well he communicated with the blackberry, but probably did well, as he was a professional.

professional

I had a view over a shelf to the station where people added cream and sugar. I faced them as they pondered. A large, black coffee did not make this man happy, and he stood for a while, then moved on without adding anything.

Unhappy

After a good wander, I ended up for lunch at Kelly’s Irish Times, a pub near Union Station, DC. This waiter was quietly waiting for the lunch rush, which came shortly thereafter.

Waiting for the lunch rush

This sign was visible from the window at the front of the Irish Times, where I was enjoying my Bailey’s and coffee. Quite judgmental, I’d say.

Judgmental sign IT

I travel with my Canon Rebel camera, and I was sorely tempted to drag it out when I saw this man. But he was very nervous, and I figured he would notice the camera, but perhaps not the sketchpad. It was startling to sit down as I waited for my train and see this. A man with a rolling suitcase, and the suitcase sprouting LONG antennae. I looked around, but no one seemed to notice. So I drew him, in case the FBI wanted to know about him later. He had shiny, new headphones, and was listening to something….

Startling man and suitcase

I sketched as I traveled on the train from Union Station to Elkhart, Indiana. This woman wore a lovely yellow and black caftan, and she was a wonderfully commanding presence with a ringing voice. She used the ringing voice to dispense worldly wisdom to a relative or friend who was making bad life choices. Very bad life choices… I heard alllll about it.

lady in caftan dispenses advice

My trip to Elkhart was only the first leg of the journey. We left from my parents’ home to drive north to visit family in Ellsworth, MI, and then onward to Mackinaw City. We then boarded a bus on Labor Day to get to the starting point to walk on the Mackinac Bridge. Photographs of all of this will be posted to Webshots soon.

This sketch is one of my mom, who posed for me at a loud, family restaurant called the Dixie Saloon in Mackinaw City, the evening before Labor Day. Lake Michigan Whitefish is one of my addictions and I only get to eat it when I’m in Michigan, so sitting in the Dixie Saloon to get my first plateful was worth the noise.

Mom and ? at the Dixie Saloon

kjn

Man uses blackberry

This young lady was a dramatic sight amongst the usual career ladies at the early morning Starbucks. Rather than the standard shortish skirt, power blouse with boob tucks and mid-level heels, this young lady was in a purple sundress with a black shrug to protect her from some powerful air conditioning. She was the only person who seemed to notice that I was sketching her.

lady in line

So, I’m not much of a dancer these days, and it is very hard to catch dancers in a sketch. The bar wasn’t great. The Guinness ‘machine’ was broken, they didn’t serve cider and charged me crazy amounts for Bailey’s and coffee after giving me a funny look. Definitely not an Irish neighborhood. These people were obviously from a large group of ballroom dancing practitioners sitting around the live band, and they were enjoying ‘Volcano’ by Jimmy Buffet. Obviously better looking than I could manage.

Dancing under electric stars

Just a lazy, hazy summer apple tree sketch. Wee bit of color from the ink pencils.

apple tree

Late night travel on the Green Line in DC, this middle-aged lady with earrings and glasses was comfortably reading a book while leaning on her black bag and letting the world go by. Peace on earth.

lady on the green line

kjn

A bit of color. I use ‘Ink-tense’ pencils to color my quick sketches. They are Derwent brand pencils with a watercolor-pencil like consistency. But when you add water washes to make them into paint, they actually become permanent, making them less likely to smear or bleed in high humidity in my abused little sketch pads. I sometimes use a brush with an internal compartment for water when I travel, so I don’t have to carry too much. I also freely use water offered to me at restaurants, blotting my little 0 watercolor brush on paper napkins. I don’t use a lot of color as I go, but sometimes I find it helps.

shy holly dragon

And a few sketches showing how the sketch-a-day progress is improving my work in Celtic art. The first is a quick layout for a chariot, the second a quick layout for a piece on Bellanos.

two horse chariot

Bellanos

So, the sketching is definitely paying off, giving me a better feel for putting down ideas in quick formats and keeping them dated and organized. I feel more confident in putting layouts together without as much fussing, and saving the critique for later.

kjn

kjn

So, given an challenge to put my own suggestions to the test, I started a sketch-a-day program for 2009. On January 2, I started out. It wasn’t easy. New ideas, new sketches, what constitutes a sketch for the program?

In June, I attended a family event and my aunt from Britain, who is also an artist, looked at my sketches. There was a style of sketch she liked, rough and quick, that I used to block out ideas that would later transform into more finished pieces. She encouraged me to do more like that. Quick and light.

So starting in June, on my trip from Michigan back to DC, I pulled out a little ringbound sketch pad and began drawing other people at Union Station in DC. In the spirit of sharing and encouragement, I offer these new sketches for review. First, because it is hardly fair for me to encourage others in new pursuits without sharing my own rocky start on this type of thing, and second to let you know I am still working even though the Derrybawn project is a bit slow at this point.

The first pictures are from that initial trip from Michigan to DC in June, 2009. Before I started drawing my fellow travelers, I drew dragon squiggle doodles, leftover from my fantasy art days. I would draw a doodle of swoops and swirls and then create a dragon.

Squiggle dragon

Some are better than others. Be kind to a fledgling sketcher.

And another squiggle dragon

I drew some odds and ends of illustrations for some of my sister’s writing and poetry as well.

poetry illustration

And a quick sketch of Union Station, Washington DC

DC Union Station

one of my fellow travelers.

Lady with suitcase and hat

And the last for this post, the view from my favorite seat at Fado, one of my sketching outposts where the drinks are great and the staff is amused by my sketching.

view from my chair, Fado, DC

Halfway through the Derrybawn project and I’ve come up with a few new wrinkles. I definitely got in a bit too deep with this project, especially considering that all of my summer travel has been included in it, making it difficult to get a good run at anything.

So I’ve reconstructed the project a bit. Prints are still the focus, experimenting with various printmaking techniques. And I’ve kept the fairy theme. Sometimes you have to appeal to your favorite fans. And it continues to be fun.

I’ve done the linoleum block plate for the Boobrie. Very nice. I have a sketch for the Arkay Sonney. Also very nice. Working up a drypoint for that one. I also have a preliminary sketch for Bloddeuwedd which I will continue to refine.

But the other Celtic fairies will probably have to wait for another time. While on vacation I had a hard time focusing on the rich research and symbol laden development of the other fairies I had picked, and I hadn’t made decisions on all of them. However, being on the road, and looking for some light-hearted sketching, I’ve come up with some other, less serious fairies.

I had used some of my photographs of butterflies to develop some fairy art last year, and I had also worked with designs of dragonfly wings. So, in a moment or two of whimsy, I added them to some sketches of horses and when I did some sketching and photography of wild blackberries this year, I had my brambleponies almost draw themselves.

In testing some acrylic plates for drypoint printmaking, I have found that the acrylic does not hold the burr of the stylus and the lines will not have the characteristic softness of drypoint. However, engraving tools do not leave the side burr, so I will experiment with engraving the brambleponies on acrylic.

I also have some excellent new photographs of butterflies from my most recent trip, as well as some studies of herbs and leaves from my garden. Also, inspired by my dip into fairy art, I have included prints of butterflies and flowers in my shop on Etsy. I had been very focused on Celtic art for so long, I hadn’t thought to include my non-Celtic photography in my print sales. It has been a change of view as well as a change of style.

So there have been some things moving along, moving forward, moving moving moving…
My plan for prints to sell at Christmas seems to be a workable thing.

My work to resurrect the Derrybawn printing press is a bit slow off the mark, but it will be a long term thing. At least the studio cleaning thing is progressing.

KJN

BLOCK PRINTING: This is a technique in which the spaces are cut away and show up as white or the color of the printing paper. The raised areas are inked. Plates are carved from just about anything that will take the carving. Stone, linoleum, rubber, wood, potatoes, etc.
….Woodblock: a block printing plate carved from wood
….linocut: a block printing plate carved from linoleum

INTAGLIO PRINTING: This is a general term for the techniques which require gouging into the surface that will hold the ink. Ink is pressed into the grooves and gouges, and wiped off the raised areas. Dark areas are created with fine crosshatching, or closely spaced dots which print black if done properly.

….Drypoint: A stylus of steel or one tipped with diamond, is used to draw directly on an untreated plate. A burr of metal is thrown to the side of the line drawn, and the burr also holds ink, giving drypoint a characteristic fuzziness that is eventually lost as the plate is reprinted. Copper and zinc are popular plates, but laminated cardboard and acrylic sheets are also used. The burr makes this style of printing very limited in the number of plates that can be run. Drypoint can also be used to fix small details in printing plates of any kind.
….Engraving: A sharp, specialized tool called a ‘burin’ is the primary tool for engraving. The excess metal is not thrown to the side as in drypoint; it curls up ahead of the burin, and then is cut off with a sharp scraper to leave lines for the ink that are sharp and clear. Lines in engraving are usually thicker than in drypoint, though some engraving tools can produce very fine lines if used lightly.
….Etching: Etching is the use of acids to bite into the plate and create the lines which hold the ink. A plate is covered with an acid-resistant coating such as wax or roisin. Then lines are drawn with a sharp tool through the coating to expose the plate. The plate is then set in a bath of acid, and the exposed lines are eaten out. Varnish can be applied to cover up marked areas when only a light line is required, and the plate can be set in the bath multiple times to create varying depths of line.
….Solar Etching: Solar etching plates have a specialized coating. A transparency with the drawing rendered in opaque ink is placed on the coated plate. The plate is exposed to direct sunlight, which goes through the transparent areas of the drawing and hardens those areas of the plate. Protected, opaque areas of the drawing keep the plate soft, and the soft areas are rinsed away with water. The entire plate is then exposed to sunlight to harden everything. Either block printing or intaglio techniques can be achieved on a solar plate.
….Aquatint: This is a technique of dusting a plate with fine particles of rosin, and heating the plate to melt it in place. When the plate is set in the acid bath, a fine speckling is created instead of crosshatched lines to create shifts in tone. By altering the time in the bath for the plate, subtle shifts in tone can be created with soft edges.
….Mezzotint: This is a very grueling technique in which the entire printing plate is covered with fine pits that hold ink, to create what would be an overall printing of black. Then, with burnishers and scrapers, the highlights are smoothed back out to be wiped clean of ink when the plate is printed. The plates are ‘rocked’ with a ‘mezzotint ‘rocker’, which has the look of a flat chisel with a curved edge blade. Sharp points along its edge create the marks in the plate. It is rocked back and forth across the plate, over and over again, until the plate is covered with pits that hold ink. There is a great deal of control over the tones in a mezzotint plate, and the dark areas are rich and velvety.

And there ya go. Lots of things can be used to make prints. Sculpting clay can be baked into hardened plates after the design is created. Objects can be fixed to a base plate and inked, creating a raised design, or Collagraph. Leaves and seeds can be inked and pressed to paper, and so can fish.

My cats have so far refused to take part in any experiments of cat-printing, however…

kjn