After spending big bucks on engraving tools and a press, one that hurts to move even short distances, I read in the November 1946 issue of Popular Mechanics that I’d wasted my money.
It explains how to sharpen the nibs of straight pens into engraving tools and how to print using just my shoe. Not sure if I need a shoe like the one pictured but, if so, I might find it near the loud plaid jackets at the Extreme Vintage store.
Here’s hoping.
For some reason that escapes me I had a big sheet of a very nice pink print paper but it was getting wrinkled. With a process called ‘chine colle’ I cut it up and glued it to sturdier paper then engraved and printed a Bullarina on it.
It’s titled “When cows dream…an evening at the Bullshoi” and was a hit with two young friends.
As one of my friends wrote of me, I “don’t do winter too well.” I’m ready to move on into warm weather.
This is the time of year when I pull out the maps and the sketches and gaze longingly, my imagination drifting through islands that are still covered in snow and ice.
May 18th seems a loooong way off.
We canoed as fast as we could across this lagoon one night. The moon was full and we thought we knew where all the rocks were. The one we smacked into was just below the surface and stopped us instantly. Thank goodness for duct tape.
7×9 1mage with 4 shades of gray.
All set up and ready for Saturday’s opening. This show is a mix of Abstract and landscape, the abstracts being the larger portion, and size.
TWELVE, an exhibition of engravings produced over the past year.
The show opens Saturday, March 2nd from 2:00 until 4:00.
Nice when the moon is out, when it disappears the islands and mainland become one big, black shape.
4/c, 6.5×8.5 engraving.
I posted this as a reminder that winter can be beautiful. It has dropped to -21C/6F and, more than anybody, I needed the reminder.
This is a 12×18, 3 colour engraving. The van I was sitting and drawing in had a great heater!
A great print by my friend/student, Maria. It’s her third print which makes me think that it won’t be long before she’s teaching me.
13 x 8.375, 3/engraving; all engraved from the same plate.
Georgian Bay gets rough in a hurry and finding a flat camping spot out of the wind on an island like this is great.
A huge thunderstorm with torrential rain is quite enjoyable from inside a tent. Bring a good book.
3/c, 8×13 engraving.
An early morning pencil sketch in Sitges, a Spanish city on the Mediterranean, turned into a 2 colour engraving.
As I post this it’s -10C outside. I’d rather be in Sitges.
This is one of the only engravings I’ve done from a photo; it
shows my brother watching the rain when we were supposed to be bringing in hay. I was working on it 19 years ago today then I took my daughter trick or treating, got sick and stayed off work for a week. I remember all of this because 1: I thought I’d use that stay at home time to finish the engraving and screwed it up so badly I started over and 2: I quit smoking.
It’s a good thing I dated it, I’d forgotten how long it’d been:-)
If you’ve been in Guelph very long you’ll know Tracy McEwen and/or her work.
She is about to undergo brain surgery and the Artistic community is
rallying to help her hold on to her house/studio until she’s able to
produce pottery again.
My contribution to the Silent Auction was a print I created a year or so ago with survivors of all types in mind. I wanted to present the bleakness of their recent past coupled with the potential that the future held. It seemed a fitting contribution to Tracy’s Fundraiser.
The start of a new series of prints, ‘The Oregon Chronicles’. It’s about creating something new from the decay of something old.
The depth is lost somewhat in the conversion from print to screen, from 15″x22″ to screen size, but hopefully you’ll get the concept.
As it happens, I have better luck sitting beside rivers drawing than sitting beside rivers fishing. I always end up with a drawing. The evening I drew this was incredibly quiet but for the sound of large hungry fish jumping out of, and splashing back into, the river. Alas, alack, I had no fishing pole, only a sketch pad.
This is a monoprint, not really a print; more like painting with a printing press.
clive lewis, printmaker 