Scratch Board for Amnesty

This is a 16x20in. scratch board I just finished up for a show in Providence this month. The show focuses on Amnesty International, and we were asked to make a piece that has to do with a topic that AI is involved in. In a nutshell, this piece has to do with Tibet and the injustice that the Chinese Government has over the people of Tibet's land and their lives. Lotus flowers grow out of muck in dark swamps, and as beautiful as they are there is an ever present symbol in Tibet of fear, restraint, and death. I worked with my little bird skull on this one too.

Here is a detail. Lots of little scratches.

Bird Skulls

This print is from the largest Resingrave engraving I have worked on to date. "Inside, Your Pretending" is an 6x8 inch print. The image is based on a small bird skull I have, next to some vine-like baroque looking ornamentation. I do not know exactly where I was going with this, and I am pushing to bring it somewhere different. For the past 3 years I have been looking at and obsessing over old traditional Victorian and Baroque period scrolls and ornamentation. I want to incorporate this kind of imagery along with my renderings. This direction is new for me, but I am obviously at the stage in which I do not have a set direction towards anything, be it imagery, medium, or even message. I always lean towards realism in my imagery; this could just open up new opportunities for composition and ideas.

"Inside, Your Pretending" was completed for a show I was in November of 2008 in Providence, RI. Printed in an edition of 12 prints on Kitakata paper with various Artist Proofs.




A Detail of the skull.

"Roland Kirk"

I have always had an obsession with jazz. Mostly50's-70's bebop, post bop, free jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Favorites include Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Miles, Cecil Taylor, Nina Simone, every session player from Blue Note for the 20 year span I mentioned, and this guy, Roland Kirk. Roland was a genius. A blind musician who often played 3 to 7 various saxophones, horns, and whistles at the same time. He was a messy horn player who could improvise and stretch out for hours. He also was known for his bird whistles!

To hear him is usually a pretty wild experience depending on the record. His standard stuff is tight, while his wild stuff is all over the place in the best possible way!

This print is the beginning of a series based on jazz musicians I admire. "Roland Kirk" is a 4x6 inch Resingrave engraving. I have printed an edition of 15 on white Arches 88 paper. This print is from Mid-2008.

"Peony"

This is a small engraving I made in the Spring of 2007. I gave the prints away as a thank you to my friends and family who attended my college graduation party. The image is about 3x5 inches, engraved in Resingrave.

Peonies are one of my favorite flowers that I look forward to exploring more in future prints. I have an official edition of 16 prints on white Arches 88 paper.

"Afternoon"

This is a small Resingrave engraving I finished for a show I was in last November. It is only 4x6 inches, but is based on a large 18x24 inch linocut that I made years ago. The linocut had so many problems that I tossed it, but I always liked the image, so I gave it another shot.

A Detail.

"Afternoon" is printed in an edition of12 prints Kitakata paper

Dummies

I have a fascination with ventriloquist dummies. I found an old worn Charlie McCarthy doll in very poor shape about 4 years ago, and started drawing it. The drawings slowly turned into prints, and after a while I grew bored and tossed him in a closet.

Drawing in graphite.

An intaglio etching, definitely not as successful.

Recently, when I started making detailed engravings, I dug the little jerk out of the closet and dramatically lit him. I got a very tightly detailed little print out of it.

Its called "Law and Order Marathon", tying together my love of bad television with the overall crime scene look of the print.

DETAIL.

This being one of my first engravings in Resingrave, I over-worked the block and ended up wrecking it. There are only a few prints of this floating around, 12 of which went to a print trade.

"Law and Order Marathon" 3in by 4in. Resingrave engraving 2007

The Elephant Engraving

I have recently begun engraving blocks of Resingrave to make prints from. Resingrave is basically a plastic synthetic substitute for endgrain boxwood. It cuts almost exactly the same, but is affordable (4in X4in piece of boxwood runs $90. Resingrave runs $6). I use very sharp tools called burins that remove the material from the block in tiny little slivers by pushing the tool across the block.

This is a print titled "Elephant".

Close-up. The tiny block and the very sharp burins allow for very fine lines.

Its 3in x 6in. There is an edition of 35 prints on Arches 88 paper. The paper size is 8in x 10in. You can purchase one on my Etsy account or by directly contacting me.

Etsy