Relief Printing

[Palmer Eldritch]

Its been a long time since I've posted anything in this section. I've been super busy with the program I designed for myself this quarter (students at my college can make their own classes as long as they get sponsored by a faculty member). I don't think I'll be showing any of that work until I'm completed with the class, but the premise of the contract is showing the concepts, devices and goals of transhumanism. I'll be depicting these cutting edge technologies with a printing method thats nearly 600 years old: copper engraving. Of course I have small informal essays each week plus scores of notes and drawings, its been fun but extremely stressful.

Anyway, what I did want to show was this lino cut I made. I'm currently a studio technician in the printing studio (not photography, but intaglio, silk screening, lithography, type printing, that sort of stuff) and the studio head wanted me to make some examples in the methods I just mentioned for the classes that are working down there this quarter. This is a linoleum block that I worked on for about three hours. If only I could work that fast in copper. I haven't printed it yet, but I've always like relief carvings more than the printed product anyway.

The scene is a typical landscape in the swampy mossy lowlands of the Pacific Northwest. Everything was cut freehand except the hanging moss which I sketched out first as you can see.

[CosmicSerpent]

Very nice... sounds like your school has a pretty cool idea with designing your own classes. Could be really productive, but at the same time I can understand how it would be stressful. I'll be taking Printmaking 1 next semester, which is something I've never done before. (So far I've been concentrating on painting and drawing.)

[gnomexgrown]

I've only done a few things with relief printing, but damn, it takes patience and a steady hand. I messed up a few times by pushing too hard with the carving tools but I liked it once I got the hang of it. Very nice, man. Anytime I see art of yours posted on here it makes me even more excited to go to art school. I can't wait for the artistic freedom that you just don't seem to get in high school.

[Palmer Eldritch]

thanks cosmic and gnomex

yeah this school is very different than most being that its mostly self directed learning. You can either have a chance to do some really great and interesting work, or you can give yourself hell by making a shitty plan. Setting up a 16/18 credit course isn't for the faint of heart student
I hope that the school you're choosing to go to gnomexgrown will allow you as much freedom as I get, because there are two types of art schools and I've experienced them both. I went to an Art Institute before and it was all about learning their techniques and doing only the projects that they assign that will eventually allow you to do commerical artwork but the conceptual focus is severly lacking. Right now, I'm at a liberal arts school that happens to have really good staff and studios. You get a lot of practice in making pieces on several intellectual layers but almost no practical business experience.