Carving and more carving of woodblocks.

Been working on two new woodblock prints this week.

Very addicting for some reason.

I love the old war ships from before WWI and I think I may do more of them also.

USS Olympia 24 x 14 inches. Oldest iron war ship in the world and can be found dockside in Philly PA

Also been working on another plane at the same-time. WWI Folker Tri-Plane.

More new proofs in the Gambin Ink

Titantic - Woodblock first oil proof - 21 x 6 inches

John Cudahy - Woodblock - 9 x 20 inches

"The Flying Scotsman - Woodblock - " 15" x 10" inches.

My order of Gamblin Relief Inks are here!

Well the Postman came by yesterday and dropped off my Gamblin Relief Inks in a big box. Strange that they pack them in glass jars instead of metal tins.... must be because they are using vegetable oil rather than the other nasty stuff.

Any way I printed up two old blocks and one new one to see how the ink works. I used less than the water based Speedball inks and the coverage was fantastic. No fill-in on the fine lines and a very nice black.

Here are the AP sample proofs.

Polikarpov I-16 - Woodblock print - 18 x 10 inches

Sopwith Camel - Woodblock print - 18 x 10 inches

"The John Wilkes" - Woodblock - 22 x 9.5 inches

More Planes.

Started this Russian I-16 yesterday afternoon and got the first proof done at 2 PM. My new oil based inks are coming in today via FedEx so this is going on one of my t-shirts!

 "I-16" - woodblock first proof - 11 x 17 inches

Why do you create all this stuff?

I believe that “Art” arose as a way to communicate between people.  The Neanderthals created fantastic works of “Art” as a way of communicating stories to each other  and we the H. sapiens managed to continue to use their communication tools.

We as humans all the way back to the Neanderthals have created ways and tools to communicate with each other.  I do believe that “Art” is one of the earliest forms of communication along with pointing and grunting. What real difference is there between using a stick to scratch a map/figure/animal form in the dirt to using a paint brush or Wacom tablet stylus and color?

It’s all just an attempt to communicate with each other.  “Art” as a communication tool sometimes does not work as good as the written word. So we tend to clutter up our first viewing of “Art” with all types of personal experiences that the creator of the “Art” may or may not have had. This is not a bad thing since it causes certain “Art” to speak to us in ways that we never expected. Beethoven's 9^th, Sergeants’ Madame X and other works struck cords in my soul that still reverberate 40 years later. 

Can I tell you why these works of “Art” and others had such a profound effect on me? Not really. Sometimes I know that the "Art" work just touches our soul and grabs us by the throat , we can write and talk ourselves to death over it (as I did in college) but there will just never be an true understanding of the power of the “Art” on our physic.

This is why I create “Art”, to exorcise myself of my most powerful feelings (anger, want, nightmares, lust, etc.) and get them out there for others to see and interact with.  The basic human need to connect and communicate with others is something that we are all born with. Some of us are truly gifted with the talent of making music, using words, painting, and drawing to exorcise our self’s of personal truths/feelings and use it to communicate with others.

Working with others to communicate about my "Art" creations is most fascinating. Everyone sees something different based on their life experiences. The real understanding that both the "Art" creator and the viewer is that sometimes our “Art” of communication has more than one truth. The creator and the viewer each have their own personal experiences that they are both trying to use to understand the “Art” object and resolve into a personal truth that has importance to both of them. The best of us creators manage to use their talent to communicate with more force than others. Ernest Hemingway, Frank Lloyd Wright and others had this talent. 

Me? I'm just trying to get better at my communications with practice and yet more practice. There will never be an end point, since its almost impossible to communicate perfectly. 

“Art” is just a cry in the darkness for a truly meaningful communication with both the self and the audience.

A James Cameron kinda day.

Well been a busy day so far. Just doing a James Cameron kinda day.
Worked on this on all day and now I just need to get a proof done to see if its any good.

Titantic - Woodblock - 21 x 6 inches

Did the first proof, looks like all I have to do is more work on the ocean and then we are done!

Titantic - Woodblock first proof - 21 x 6 inches

Well while I had the ink out and the roller all ready I inked up the"The John Wilkes" block and did a second proof. Needs some minor touches but .... almost done. (Don't mind the tape mark, I will use right sized paper for the production run. 

Might make a good tee shirt also?

"The John Wilkes" - Woodblock - 22 x 9.5 inches

Trains! Love the old Art Deco streamliners.

Sorry so quiet on the art front but I have been working. Here is the first state of the woodblock plate of the Lehigh Valley 462 "The John Wilkes" steam streamliner.

"The John Wilkes" - Woodblock - 22 x 9.5 inches

Just got word that my order of Gamblin Relief Inks has shiped. I have been using the water based Speedball inks and to be truthful they really suck. Depending on the temp and humidity the ink is either too watery or too stiff. Its nice to clean up with water but.... I can't wait for oil based ink.

Here is an AP that I pulled of the "The John Wilkes" steam streamliner and a lot of the fine lines have been filled in and do not show. Grrrr.

"The John Wilkes" - First Proof  -Woodblock - 22 x 9.5 inches

Just an update on the Comet. I had to stop working on this one and give it up. I just could not resolve it to where I liked it. So.... I flipped it over and used the back side to do the "The John Wilkes" train instead. RIP "Comet".

Update on Lewis Hamilton - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes - 2010

I heard from my friend in the UK that I painted the "Lewis Hamilton - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes" below that he managed to find Lewis Hamilton and got him to sign my painting! Most cool.

Now if I could just get him to send me a pic of the painting with autograph .... Come on KEN!

(BTW If you click any of my pictures it goes to full size on your computer)

Lewis Hamilton - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes - 2010- 30 x 48 inches - Acrylic on linen  

Last time I saw the painting was when I hung it over my fireplace took the picture below. It was then taken off the stretchers rolled up in a mailing tube and sent off to the UK.

Lewis Hamilton - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes - 2010 

Trains trains and more trains.......

The goal of all this woodblock carving and proof printing is to get more time in behind the carving tools and to get better at thinking in Black and White. This then helps develop a sense of how far I can push my skill, tools and the material.

The more that I do, whether the print comes out right allows me to get more time behind the wheel, so to speak. Using only Black and White areas and lines make you think far differently than you would when working on a painting where there are so many more options to express your self.


Doing double time by working on two plates at the same time. Here is a new state of the "The Flying Scotsman" 15 x 10 inches.

Also started working on a new BIG Train print "The Comet", 11 x 24 inches.

Just an update on the Comet. I had to stop working on this one and give it up. I just could not resolve it to where I liked it. So.... I flipped it over and used the back side to do the "The John Wilkes" train instead. RIP "Comet".

The Flying Scotsman

Working on a new print. "The Flying Scotsman" 15" x 10" inches.

Here is the plate inked up.

"The Flying Scotsman" - 15 x 10 inches.

"The Flying Scotsman" - First Proof

More Trains.....

Opps! Forgot to reverse the drawing!

Fail! Now to get the KiwKwood out and fix this one. :-)

Union Pacific 4466 - 16 x 6 inches - Block Print

Break out the KwikWood to fill in my mistakes

Cut off a small slice

Kneed it up till all the same color

Use your thumb and smear the Kiwkwood into the bad areas

Use a palette knife to scrape off the extra. Leave it a little high and you can sand it down when dry.

Fixed the writing and it just needs some clean up. That's a job for tomorrow.

Boats, Planes and Trains.......

Boats, Planes and Trains, I wonder what might come next?

I had a small piece of MDF left over and thought that a train would fit. Art Deco Streamliner steam engine and train. C&O 4-8-4 streamliner 490 built in Jan 1947.

Here is the block in its first state inked up and ready for paper.

Streamliner 490 - 11x8 inches

Well I worked some more on the block Did not like some of the lines so I used KwikWood to fill in the lines and then did some final work and DONE.

Streamliner 490 - 11x8 inches

January has been a VERY busy month

I did a woodblock holiday card print and my hands were cramping from the cheap tools that I was using.
Here is the 4 color card of our dog "Boo" with antlers on.

So with my arm in a sling (Joke), went down to Rochester Art Supply and got me a new set of wood carving tools made by the E. C. Lyons Co.. WOW! They cut the pine like its butter. 

I decided to experiment on what wood would be better, solid pine board, pine plywood 3/4 inch or MDF.

First one to work on is the  passenger steamer "Perdita" from Puget sound Washington. I found that the quickist way to get an image on the block is to use my large format ink jet printer and 11 X 17 inch paper and Elmers "washable School Glue Gel". Spread it on the block with a bayer and then place the printout on top and use a clean bayer to roll it down and get all the bubbles out.

When you are done carving you can then use warm water and a scrub brush to get the remaining paper off for the first proof

Glued down the design of the Perdita on a pine plank

This is how far I've gotten in an hour

Moving along

First proof

These things are getting addictive! 

Next up is the Martha Foss, Steam tugboat Seattle WA. on pine plywood.

Design glued down and carving started.

This one went fast.

Block done with carving

Inked up

First proof

The new tools are amazing, no hand cramps and cuts like butter. I do not use a sharpening stone but a piece of leather to hone the edge of the tools when the get dull.

Working on the "City of Aberdeen" steam boat using 1/4 inch MDG. 

Design glued down and carving started

Carving done and block inked up

First proof

These three prints are experiments to see what material works best for me. 

"Perdita" was done on a pine board, "Martha Foss" on pine plywood, and "City of Aberdeen" is MDF. So once this is all done the quality of the fine lines and the ease of working will dictate what I will stick with for a working medium.

I then ran a small run of "Artist Proofs" on good rag paper to see how they would hold the ink and their fine lines.

Going to be using MDF for the woodblock prints. It cuts easy, no knots or grain issues. Holds a good thin line and you can patch it with Kwikwood epoxy for repairs and mistakes really easy. The MDF is also very stable and holds the ink very nice. You have to give it a coat or two of gesso before using it but that's no hardship.

November - December 2012

Well the  RoCo 2012 Members show required that I submit some new work so started to think about doing kinetic art that you can hang on the wall. Wanted to do some wooded gear work so this was number one on my list.

Only problem was that there was only one week to get it done. Yikes!

So I purchased a gear drawing program from http://woodgears.ca and using the idea that money makes the world go around (Thank you Cabaret and Joel Gray!) the brain started to work.

First idea only used a few gears and I wanted more action so this idea of using the seven deadly sins came to mind.

Just having text and letters did not seem too interesting. But! The elections were going on here in the US so.... my brain just took off.

 Here was the first idea laid out in the max size of 36 x 36 inch space.

 Well I then cut out the gears and started to put the back board together so that everything would have something to spin on.

Its all together and here is what it looks like in action.

So some more thought and I came up with the idea of using the Republican Party members for fun. (Some others did not see this as funny BTW.)

And now a video of the whole thing in action. BTW I had to rework things a bit before I hung it at the show to make it all work right. Felt like Turner, he used to still be working on his painting the day of the show as it hung on the wall.