Digital prints in my Etsy store

I am starting to offer 8" x 10" digital reproductions of some of my monotypes in my Etsy store at a very affordable price. I am using a beautiful archival quality Asian paper and archival Epson inks.

Horse of Course is the first offering.

Also available: a line of custom monotypes. You can order your favorite animal,  hand drawn and printed, 8" x 10" on lovely Hahnemuhle paper for a very attractive price. Interested? Visit me at
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jarabas

Ivory bill Woodpecker Monotype Print

 Here's a new monotype, The Ivory bill Woodpecker.

The story of present day ornithologists' search for the Ivory bill woodpecker in the Big Woods of Arkansas is a good read.   Cornell University's Ornithology website provides a very detailed account at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/evidence/segments/upperwing

New prints

Some new prints are hanging in the studio.

I have a show coming up at a biotech company called Cell Signaling.
I thought it would be an interesting challenge to try to come up with a monotype series about cell signaling --with a small c, small s-- for this show, whose primary audience will be scientists.

So, what is cell signaling? My untutored understanding is that cells communicate with other cells by releasing signaling chemicals. Sometimes they do this while touching each other, other times they are floating in an intracellular fluid (I imagine this like a sort of swimming pool for cells.)

If you'd like to see some scientific charts of this from Cell Signaling the company--with a large C, large S--take a look at this link: http://www.cellsignal.com/reference/pathway/index.html

So how to translate this to a work of art? What I noticed about the scientific charts is all the colored ellipses and circles that represent the chemicals and cells. Besides encoding chemical information, these charts can be seen as a set of color relationships, or shapes in spatial relationships. That is something an artist can work with, but perhaps not enough for me. I am a realist. So I decided to think artistically about another aspect of cell signaling. Cell Signaling says that their mission is, "... to provide the means to understand the signaling aberrations that underlie diseases, including cancer, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases."

Aberrations that underlie diseases. I just finished reading a very good book, The Bird: A Natural History of Who Birds Are, Where They Came From, and How They Live by Colin Tudge. While Tudge doesn't exactly address diseases, he does write about all sorts of aberrations, ranging from the mutations that changed dinosaurs into birds to the mass extinction of the dodo and the passenger pigeon by human hands. This connection figures into my artistic thinking. I am making extinct birds covered with patterns of colored  circles--an artistic response to the idea of cell signaling. It does not make sense in any scientific way, but art makes connections in other ways.

Printing the Solar Plate

Today I printed the Pool of Tears solar plate. I've photographed the process, so you can see how the print is made. First I assembled Hanhemuhle paper, Akua Intaglio Carbon Black ink, my solar plate and an old phone book for wiping the plate.

Next I dampened my paper and placed it between two cotton blotters. This opens up the dried paper fibers so they can accept ink. I always think of the fibers like little macaroni tubes. When they are plump, and then blotted, they are nice big hollows. The press then can push a lot if ink inside when the impression is made.

Now I ink the plate. I rub Akua ink into all the washed out areas of the solar plate matrix with my fingers. These areas are all below the surface of the matrix.

Now the surface of the plate is wiped clean. With Akua inks this is best done with some old phone book pages. I tell my students to remember how Mr Miyagi taught the Karate kid to wax the car--make circles across the surface of the plate.

Here is the inked plate ready to print on the press bed.

Next I position the plate on the registration grid and place the damp Hanhemuhle paper on top of it.

Now the press blankets are lowered on top of the paper. The pressure screws are adjusted. Finally, I can crank the press bed through the rollers. The top and bottom rollers give everything between them--plate and paper-- a good squeeze to transfer ink from plate to paper.

Here is the result--the impression hot off the press, so to speak.

These last images are the final print hanging on the drying wall and a close up of the image.

This print is for sale in my Etsy store if you want a copy. I decided to make a limited edition of 20. The images measures 4" x 6" on an 8" x 10" sheet. The price is $20.00 per print.
Jan

Making a solar plate

Here are the steps I use to create a solar plate. I will use this plate in a new print series I am working on for my upcoming show.

The first step is to prepare a drawing. I used pencil to create this sketch of a scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland--the pool of tears. I drew the Dodo, a duck, a lory and an eaglet.

The next step is to translate the drawing to a black and white image on a transparency. The transparency will be used to expose the light sensitive solar plate. I drew with a Sharpie fine point and scratched into the ink with an Xacto.

Now I get the exposure frame ready. The frame keeps the transparency immobile while the plate is exposed, and insures contact between the plate and the image  (If the transparency is not in full contact with the plate, the exposed image will be blurry.) Here are the various parts--1/8 inch glass, foam rubber, 1/2 inch plywood, and 4 clamps.

Next, I unwrapped the solar plate  (In the picture above it is wrapped in black plastic to protect it from light) and positioned it on the foam--the orange side of the plate faces up (the plywood board is under the foam.) The transparency goes on top of the plate and the glass is placed on top of everything. I clamped the exposure frame together. I try to do this efficiently so that the time from unwrapping the plate to walking outside to make the exposure is under a minute.

Here is the exposure unit outside. I am making a 90 second exposure for this plate. The time was 12 noon on a partly sunny day.

The last step is washing out the plate. I have placed the plate under a stream of lukewarm water and will gently rub it all over with my fingertips for about 5 minutes. This washed away the soft emulsion left under the ink drawing on the transparency. Exposure to the sun has hardened the rest of the plate.

During the next step--inking and printing-- I will push ink into the washed out areas and wipe the surface of the plate clean. When the plate is cranked though the press with a sheet of print paper on top, the ink in the washed out areas will be transferred to the paper. This process is called intaglio.

I will post photos of the inking and printing next. Probably over the weekend.
Jan

Who else belongs in Alice's pool of tears?

I am trying to decide what other creatures belong in the pool of tears. I need suggestions.
Aurthur Rackham included a stork, a mouse, a crab, a raven, an otter and several unidentified birds. Kiki Smith drew a swan a mallard, a monkey, an owl, many birds and a couple of hard to identify critters--a sort of mousey thing, a hariy ape? and a pointy nosed fox-like animal. Take a look at the original illustration from Lewis Carroll's book. Just Alice and the mouse.

Here is the passage from Carroll.
"It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with the birds and animals that had fallen into it: there was a Duck and a Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious creatures."
Let me know what you would include?
Thanks,
Jan

More detail added to the transparency

I didn't expose the solar plate after all (Please see the previous post). Instead I added more detail to the transparency. when the drawing is done, I will expose the Solar plate--perhaps on Monday. In the mean time, I will continue to develop the details using Sharpie markers and ink wash.

Making a Solar Plate to add a line drawing to a monotype

Here is the next step in creating my solar plate. (Please read my older post to see the beginning step) I have worked a black ink drawing on a transparency. I am using Sharpie markers and scratching into the ink with an Exacto blade to add some grey tones.

To expose the solar plate, the image must be on a transparent surface. I have found that it is much better to have the image at this stage be greyscale--black and white and grey tones-- as this gives more details in the final print (The final print can be in color--you just ink the plate with colored ink.) I have tried different strategies including printing from an inkjet printer onto inkjet transparency, hand drawing with drawing inks, hand drawing with the sharpies, and painting on the transparency with black etching ink.

 I will work on this drawing a little bit more today. Since it is a nice sunny day, I will also expose the plate today. I'll post that step later--perhaps tonight.

Jan

Making a Solar Plate to add a line drawing to a monotype

Today I decided to do my own version of the Dodo bird swimming in the pool of tears with Alice. I want a solar plate that I can print on a monotype--a way of adding some line work to the print. I'm going to illustrate the steps involved.
I started by looking at several versions of this image for inspiration. I love Aurthur Rackhams picture, circa 1907 (Thanks to Artpassions.net.) Another wonderful version is by Kiki Smith circa 2000 (Thanks to MoMA.)
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Another wonderful version is by Kiki Smith circa 2000 (Thanks to the MoMA).

Next I began to sketch out my own version. Here is the pencil drawing.

Next, I began to sketch out my own version. Here is the pencil drawing. The next step is to develop the drawing and translate it to a black ink drawing on transparency paper. I'll be using Sharpie markers to make the transparency. This transparency will be used to expose the solar plate. 
I'll post this next step tomorrow I hope.

The Sky Is Falling In Wonderland

Here is one of the prints from today. All in all a very productive session. I managed to channel my anxiety into my work. Actually, it was fun. I started with the alarmed horse--an image I have worked with before. Clearly,  the sky was falling. But what exactly was it plummeting down on the poor horse? I decided to look up Dodo birds and ended up having grand time reinterpreting the Dodo from Lewis Carrol's illustrations for Alice. I added a white rabbit as well. Drawing the fur and getting the posture was engrossing.
There are also four half finished pieces in the shop. Another version of this print, and some cheshire cat-like critters. Hopefully I will finish and post soon.

Jan