Today's postings

  1. [Baren 45131] Latest prints ("Harry French")
  2. [Baren 45132] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
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Message 1
From: "Harry French"
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:25:25 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45131] Latest prints
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Greetings Bareners.
Thanks to all the volunteers who have contributed so many hours to make this forum so successful.
The dialogue on how and especially why we should print always attracts my attention, but after some fifty years I don't seem any nearer the “why” as I was as a student.
*I would just like to inform you of an update of my latest works.
There are four prints that have caused me a lot of problems. I bought new Japanese papers and wood for another venture into Moku Hanga using Brusho colours. After two colour reduction prints I was very disappointed with my efforts and decided to abandon it and further cut the cherry wood as a new woodcut printed with oil based inks. As an experiment I printed some of the oil edition on top of my ‘failed’ Moku Hanga edition. Apart from some off registration they seemed to compliment the subtle Brusho prints. Anyway I have uploaded the results for your attention together with two landscape prints of Holstein one of which was intended as a wood print,but lent itself more to a screen print and finally a transcripted bas relief of Samson carrying off the gates of Gaza in Ripon Cathedral.
*Many Bareners both off and online have commented on my technique of using rapid and direct observations in my sketchbooks for print themes so I have added a selection of them to the homepage for your perusal.
*I am still struggling with a compromise website between 1024 x 768 to 800 x 600 screen resolution that shows paintings/prints without scrolling the screen.
I’m nearly there. It’s my fault for updating to the very latest in technology.
I should have taken note of the old phrase... ”if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.
Cheers
Harry
UK
print update :
http://www.harryfrenchartworks.co.uk

Digest Appendix

Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...

Subject: The ad ...
Posted by: Dave Bull

I wrote a couple of weeks back about a Help Wanted ad for the local newspaper, and it's finally ready to go:

The ad itself is of course too small to cover all the points I brought up in that previous post, but it covers the main concept, and points them to the URL for further information.

The paper is a weekly, published on Fridays, and the ad is scheduled for the next issue.

Overseas applicants need not apply ... (here in Japan, employers pay commuting expenses of their employees) :-)


This item is taken from the blog Mokuhankan Conversations.
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Subject: Scales (using a rotary drill for woodblock)
Posted by: Andrew Stone


Well, I had been looking for an excuse to use this tool.

My neighbor is a dentist, and when I asked to borrow a drill to put up some picture frames, he apologized saying all he has at home is an old foot-controlled, rotary dental drill; "like a Dremel", he added.

Oh, really? I asked.
I never did get around to hanging the mirror but I've had his drill with a small box of assorted bits for two weeks now (I promised to bring it back soon).

I like carving by hand but there are some jobs that I am still too inexpert to do well or quickly.

When I decided to do a lizard the idea of the scales presented itself. Either to carve individual scales or what I've done here,
Remove the scales with a rotary tool.

[Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here]

This item is taken from the blog Lacrime di Rospo.
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Subject: Drama unfolds for the goldeneye
Posted by: Sherrie Y


After the wood grain texture and the blue tones were sorted out it was finally time to remove a large amount of material from the linoleum block.

And then it was time to chew my fingernails a bit. What the heck color should go on next? I knew I wanted to suggest reflected trees, so green seemed logical. But how much green and what value? After a lot of hemming and hawing and mixing and remixing I settled on this sort of mid-value, warmish green and dove on in.


Holy mackerel! Did this thing suddenly take on a life of its own, or what? I got so excited at this point that I made the DM come in and admire the prints on the drying rack probably a dozen times. That night I barely slept.

And then, by the cold light of a new day, I realized I was stuck. What now? The reflection needed some more interest, but how to achieve that? The reference photo I looked at for the water pattern was just a flat dark, almost black, and not what I wanted. I carved a little bit more out of the reflection shapes and tried printing a brownish green. Ick.

How about a greener green? Also ick. Mostly boring.

Okay. How about another blend?


[Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here]

This item is taken from the blog Brush and Baren.
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Subject: Ontario Canada and Baltimore Maryland bring us two more city blocks
Posted by: Maria

Louise Cass, from Toronto, Ontario CANADA, says this about her block:
This is simply the view of downtown Toronto (with a smidgeon of Lake Ontario) seen from my studio window! Also to be noticed is what used to be the tallest edifice in the world - the CN Tower!

That's a very cool image, a city within a city. I'm just delighted!

Amanda Gordon Miller sends her block from Baltimore Maryland USA refreshes us with her image and words:
I have lived or worked in a city for most of my adult life.  I find myself both attracted to and repulsed by the city, and this ambivalence made it hard for me to settle on a subject.  I'm very excited to be part of the City of the World Project, and so I decided that my contribution should focus on the positive.  I chose to show water, as cleansing, restorative, and regenerative.  The fountain image is based on a photo I took when visiting St. Augustine, FL, the oldest city in the United States and one of my favorite places. 

[Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here]

This item is taken from the blog MCPP Puzzle Prints.
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Subject: "Testing Gravity" Progression



[This was a summary of the original entry. The full entry can be viewed here]

This item is taken from the blog Lori Biwer-Stewart's Printmaking Journal.
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