More prints

Than you can shake a stick at. We had our midterm critique today, and it seemed to go very well. I had made all my printing plates and blocks the same size, 9" x 7", so they could be stacked up the same way I'd normally stack layers digitally. There were an awful lot of possible combinations. I've ended up with more than a dozen variations, three of which I put up in class today. Here they are:

Insomnia: Unresolved Conflict



This one looks the most traditionally "fractal," with iteration banding and a black background. It's a two-stage reductive woodcut on Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

Insomnia: Fever Ache



The second stage of the woodcut, printed on top of a photo-etch plate, printed on top of a larger monoprint.

Insomnia: Lucid Dream



Two fractal plates, one photo-etch and one hardground, plus a floating element from a third (aquatint) plate, done using a clever sort of not-exactly-collage technique which our teacher showed us. It's all printed on a single surface of paper. I have all sorts of plans for more things I want to do with this method, layering bits on top of other bits.

Embossed

I've finished the next stage of carving on my wood block. I'm now in the early stages of printing experiments, and it's looking like there are many possibilities for good effects. Before I started inking the block again, I did a couple of tests of embossing, with lots of pressure on the press. I like the textures where the carving marks show.

Insomnia: White Night



Fabriano paper, 9" x 7".

The subtle monochrome is soothing and pleasant, but my first tests of color suggest that it's going to get very eye-jarring, very fast. It will depend a lot on what color combinations I use, and how much contrast there is. I've got one in the drying rack at school that's probably a candidate for the Cosmic Zowie Award.

Hung out to dry

I did a dozen prints today, in a couple of different colors. I had planned to carve the wood block more at this stage, only now I think I want to do a few more color variations before I take anything away. It's always a bit of a dilemma; on the one hand, I'm impatient to hurry up and get to the next stage so I can see what these things are going to look like when they're done, but on the other hand, once you've cut, you can't go back. So it's good to do lots of copies before continuing.

I'd also like to try getting some different colors of paper, for even more color complications.

Woodcut in progress

Last night I got it this far:



Tonight I finished the carving for this stage of things:



Tomorrow, if all goes well, I'll print. And then start carving some more.

Grid system

This one is more geometric and less organic than my usual. It's sort of along the same lines as the thing I just finished in my sculpture class.

Factory Floor



General Tent Julia, eight layers plus one mask.

And I'm an idiot

The effect of art school (and too much internet-reading) on the fractalist.

I haven't learned to sleep

This is the same fractal that I've been using in my printmaking class, but with a bunch more layers of stuff piled onto it.

untitled (insomnia: counterpane)



Perforated Julia with some Pythagorean Triple and Thin Orbit Traps (which have already been used in copper plates), iteration banding (for later use in a woodcut, if all goes well), and, er, more thin orbits.