What's New in the Studios

         This morning I taught a one-shot block printmaking workshop in Wellesley, and I’m in the middle of a series of classes in Newton in July, and I’m all fired up about the work my students are doing!  So today I’m going to share a few samples.  (As always, I didn’t manage to photograph everything, alas.)  I’ll start right in with the exciting reduction prints that were done in class on Wednesday.  This first one is in three rounds of carving, 3 layers of ink, plus white paper.  If you need the basics of reduction block prints, you can read a two-part post on the process: Reduction and Completed Reduction.  The essence of it is, however, that instead of using a different block for each color, the same block is carved more and more for each layer of ink.  The day lily was printed with a light orange, then a red-orange, and then a black.  The black ink, however, rather than print solid and opaque, tended to cover the earlier colors only lightly.  Variables affecting this probably included how thick or textured the earlier layers of ink were, how dry the earlier layers of ink were, and how dry the current black ink was.  Plus there’s always the variable of the ink’s thickness and how hard it’s pressed, so when you add all those variables together, each print comes out unique.  The prints ended up with this luscious ember-like glow that was really pleasing.

        We were an a real orange kick that night, and the second reduction print is a Baltimore oriole.  This was based on a design that had a background in another color, so the decision to make a textured background really made this piece unique and interesting.  The tension in printing this block was how to balance wanting the black on the bird to be as dark and solid as possible, while wanting the black in the background to be less bold and obtrusive.  Carving out more of the background might be a solution, but there’s pretty much always a compromise between too dark in some places and too light in others.

        Other projects in the class were the classic one-block one-color-ink that just never gets old.  What works really nicely in the chicken is how the background can be a very simple cross-hatching that works well as an abstract pattern to set off the chicken, but simultaneously works as a suggestion of chicken-wire for a hutch or yard.  (The chicken’s comb was colored red, but I didn’t get a picture of the final result.)  And I think the theme of the night might be backgrounds, because I like the unusually finely textured background of the whimsical Christmas tree car, which gives the piece lots of energy and movement.

        This morning’s workshop didn’t have enough time to get into more complex projects, but that’s a nice moral of its own: even really simple blocks can look great.  I think this blue daisy is absolutely charming, and it’s been printed on note cards, so who wouldn’t enjoy receiving this cheerful hand made card?  There was some experimenting with different colors, there was some interesting work on background textures, there was adapting a more complicated colored painting into the simple but dramatic lines of relief block printmaking…  Great stuff!

        Finally, here are a few blocks I’ve been working on myself:

1. The largest one is based on my photograph of a robin’s nest, and is intended to be an illustration in my forthcoming book Bittersweetness & Light.

2. The medium one is, I think, just about finished and ready to print.  It’s what I carved while doing a show last week.  It’s Triceratops doing a crossword puzzle.

3.  The smallest one is a hooded merganser, and is the sample I brought to the workshop today so that I could demonstrate how to transfer the design to rubber, and how to use the carving tools.

        If you’d like to get in on the action, I’m always trying to spread the gospel of relief block printmaking!  The next classes I’ll be teaching will be in October, offered through Needham Community Education.  (The fall catalogue will launch on August 15, but you’ll be able to find it here.)  And of course you can always dive in on your own.  You can find my handout of process and materials here, plus plenty of resources on this very blog.  Try the label Step-by-step to get started, or browse through all the amazing block prints I’ve shared for inspiration.

[Pictures: Day Lily, in process and finished, reduction block print by JK, 2024;

Baltimore Oriole, in process and inished, reduction block print by VS, 2024;

Chicken, rubber block print by LB, 2024:

Christmas tree car, rubber block print by SC, 2024;

Assorted work by students at Wellesley Council on Aging, 2024;

Robin’s nest, Triceratops, and Merganser, blocks carved by AEGNydam, 2024.]