A Quick Update!

Hey everybody, I hope you're doing great. I wanted to touch base and write a mini-post for you tonight. I've been working on a post that will take the Think Digital/Act Analog design that I developed a few posts ago, but since I'm documenting the steps that I'm taking from the design to the final print, and because I was away this previous weekend, everything is moving just a bit slower than I would like. That being said, be sure to keep an eye out and check back soon, because I'm planning on having that update posted by the end of the weekend. 

Even though that post is in the works, I wanted to make sure that I actually got something up for you to read tonight. Until recently I was a sporadic blogger (at best), and I don't wish to relapse into old habits. This being the case, let me bring you up to speed on what's going on in my world... As I mentioned above, I went away this weekend. I took a whirlwind drive to South Dakota to see my ladyfriend, which entailed more driving in one weekend than I would have preferred, but it was a much needed visit. In printing news, the daffodil run that you saw last time turned out great across the board. I didn't need to print nearly as many proofs as I did to make sure everything went smoothly, but better safe than sorry I suppose. 

Daffodil #1 and Daffodil #2 mounted on acid-free card stock

I sent these first two prints to my friend Chris Willis. He made the unfortunate mistake of complimenting my work and asking me questions about my printmaking. In exchange for his curiosity he was trapped under a novel sized explanation of paper size, variety, and other details, because if you get me started in a dialog about printmaking, I have trouble stopping. All that being said, I'm glad that these two prints are going somewhere that I know that they will be appreciated in their new home. 

Another interesting development; tonight I attended my first meeting of the Left Bank Art League. I'll admit, it was a little intimidating, but it seems like a great group of people. I haven't really worked in any group settings for a long time, and I kind of missed the camaraderie that I recall from studio time with Sean-O and others in my teen years. So I gave it a shot and it seems like it'll be a nice place for me to develop. I didn't meet any tonight, but apparently there are a few other, more experienced, printmakers  in the group from whom I can hopefully learn a few things. Additionally, after the meeting portion of the meeting, we made squeegee paintings in the style of Gerhard Richter, which was an interesting new experience for me. 

And they didn't turn out too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Well, this update ended up being more substantial than expected. Thanks for checking in and reading and remember to come back soon to see how Think Digital/Act Analog is coming along. If you'd like updates on when new posts are coming out, or if you'd just like to experience the art project that is my life via random bursts of information overload in 140 characters or less, follow me on Twitter: @CaptGam

Keep your eyes peeled for the next update, and don't hesitate to hit me up on the comments!

Unless otherwise noted, all work by Wade Ellett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Daffodil Run

Greetings all! I hope your week has been kind to you. Mine has seemed long, but it hasn't been too shabby. I've been busy working on a few new designs, as well as taking a look at some old ones, doing a little inventory (I'm just about out of lino!), and reviewing some proofs and final prints I've already pulled.  

This past weekend I finally got to do a complete run of my daffodil prints. I have been working on these blocks for awhile now, and pulled new proofs on Friday night. After reviewing them, and making a few additional corrections, I felt like they were ready. So, come Saturday afternoon, I got started. 

The first step is tearing the paper, which isn't the most exciting thing in the world. It would be quicker to get a paper cutter, but I prefer tearing for three reasons. 1) Traditionally, that's how block printmakers have prepared their paper, and I'm a little sentimental. 2) I like the appearance of the torn edges. While I almost always end up performing a "trimming" tear after the prints have dried, I prefer to tear the sheets from the beginning, in case I accidentally print too near an edge. 3) I'll admit, I rather like the sensation of tearing the paper. I'm very tactile.

After I've torn the paper, I prep the blocks, the ink, and the table. I currently make all my prints either by hand with a baren, or by using a small hand operated lever press. When I make test proofs, I try both methods to see which works best, and in this instance, the results were pretty comparable. That being the case, I decided to use the lever press. I'm only doing small runs with these blocks, with twenty final prints for each design. That isn't a huge run, but generally I print extra in case of errors, so after printing both blocks, I ended up pressing 60 prints that night. I'm glad to have the lever press for that, because hand-printing 60 of these with a baren would have taken a whole lot longer!

After I finished the second run I needed to clean up the mess I had made. Which, lets be honest, no one wants to hear about. Because it's cleaning. Unfortunately, there isn't anything else to do with the prints until they dry, which means it's time to wait. Also, it means there isn't a whole lot of room in the apartment; I don't have a drying rack, so all of my counter space, and/or any other flat surface gets covered in prints anytime I do any sort of run. 

The ink I'm using is probably dry in about 2-3 hours... But why risk it. Best to check up on things the next day... So when Sunday came round, and the prints were dry, I could get back to work. It starts with more reviewing; some prints don't turn out well for a number of reasons (mostly my errors), which is why I always print extra.

After selecting which images to save, and which to disregard, it's time to trim them down. I like to have about a 1/2 inch margin surrounding my images. After all the tears are made, I can begin to edition the final prints. Editioning is simply recording the print's number and total number of prints in the run, the title of the work, as well as signing the work. This is traditionally done in pencil, and being a bit of a traditionalist, I do it in pencil as well.

The above picture shows the final product! It looks pretty good if you ask me, but I am admittedly a bit biased. 

If you like these prints and want to throw a little support my way, or if you have any questions for me I would love to hear from you in the comments. I'm also on twitter as @CaptGam, and regularly tweet about the random art project that is my life. Thanks again for reading about my misadventures in printmaking.

Unless otherwise noted, all work by Wade Ellett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

How My Designs Evolve.

Greetings all, and welcome back. Let me start by saying thanks to everyone who has come and checked out my blog here. I appreciate your views. I also appreciate those of you who sent me e-mails asking me questions or just telling me you liked one of my designs. I love talking to people about my prints, as well as just about any other creative venture. A few of you asked if I would be able to make prints for you or to do some design work; I would love to do some design work with pretty much all of you. Feel free to contact me via e-mail, twitter(@CaptGam), or comment here on my blog and we'll see what we can do! In fact, I encourage any of you who visit my neck of the woods here to hit up the comments section and share your thoughts, constructive criticisms, or questions with me!

After my last blog, I was thinking about how I shared a bit of my creative process with you. Tonight, I thought I would illustrate that process for you a little bit. You see, it all starts with a quick sketch or doodle, like this...

Well, that's not entirely true. It starts with an idea. I'm sure you know the feeling, you're going about your day and then an awesome thought pops into your head. I've found that if I don't write it down or do a rough sketch of it right that moment, I tend to forget it. To make sure I catch as many of my ideas as possible, I always have a Molskine notebook in my bag, and I have Evernote sync to my phone, tablet, and every computer I use so I can capture and work on an idea anywhere I happen to be. This idea, "Think digital, act analog," isn't new. It's a saying that a friend and I used to throw around years ago, but it's been on my mind a lot here lately due to my day job working on digitization policies and procedures. So the notion was there, and I roughed out the design. Then came the next part...

I had to find a brain!!! As well as a circuit board. Obviously, I don't keep brains stocked in the apartment, so I had to hunt for good images to use. This sounds like an easy Google search, but it is a bit more complicated than that. I don't want to copy an image of a brain, I want to draw one of my own. So I look for pictures of actual human brains, and just to be safe, I keep my searches to copyright free imagery. Then I do the same for circuitry. Then I start taking the elements of those images and reinterpret them into my design. 

The overall result is pretty good. The brain looks pretty good, although I feel like there is a bit too much black space. The circuitry, however, I wasn't very happy with at all. It looked more cartoon-like than I was hoping for. So I did a little more research, and looked at some gutted electronics, and gave it another shot. 

This time, I feel like I've hit on gold. I still need to do some work on the font, and work out some details, but this design is getting pretty close to where I want it to be. Obviously, there is still a lot of work to do before this is ink on paper. I'll need to hammer out the remaining details, figure out how large I want the final print to be, transfer the image to the block, and start carving. Even after I finish the carving, I'll print some artist's proofs and then go back to carving some corrections in the block. It may sound like a lot of work, and it is. But it's a labor of love, and as I'm sure that many of you know, when you love something the work is well worth it. 

As this design moves through the steps to becoming a finished print I'll bring you along for the ride. Meanwhile, I would love to hear from you. Again, catch me on twitter (@CaptGam), or leave a comment. I'm open to any and all questions, and I would love to hear about anything you like to create, or anything you're passionate about. And if you're wondering if I'd like to work with you on prints or designs, don't be shy; I believe in a community of creativity, and love to collaborate! 

Until next time friends, keep creating. Even if it's just in your imagination!

Unless otherwise mentioned, all work by Wade Ellett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

New Stuff in the Works

Well hello everyone!

It's been awhile since my last post, and I've had a lot of great stuff going on here in the Quad Cities area. I've taken some art classes, checked out some stuff at the Figge, had my first life drawing experience, and have been exposed to a lot of new inspirations. This all translates into some great new ideas. And those new ideas are being materialized into new designs. So far, the new challenges have been incredible, and the results have been fantastic. I just pulled some proofs last week, and they look pretty great. They still need a little fine-tuning, but I can't wait to share them with you!

In Con We TrustStill needs some work, but it's one of the pop-art inspired prints on which I'm currently working.

I have a lot of things in the works right now, and I'm excited about all of it, but I hate to get too far ahead of myself! So first of all, thanks for those of you who have read this blog before and are reading it now. I have a lot of notes that I've been writing to myself about subjects I'd like to discuss on here, so expect new posts more frequently, and some new work as well. Second of all, if you want to stay updated on when there are new blogs coming down the line, when new artwork is on the hook, or if you're just interested in seeing the random things that run through my brain, please follow me on twitter; @CaptGam. I apologize in advance for the occasional mushy tweet between my ladyfriend and myself. I assure you, my clever and oft hilarious tweets more than make up for it. And speaking of the lovely lady, she too is a bit of an artist, so if you're in the market for some handmade jewelry (and the holidays are coming up, so I'm sure some of you are), check out her Etsy site, ClarissaThompson.etsy.com.

But I promise, I didn't just start writing this post to promote us! I also wanted to briefly talk about my creative process a little bit, because a couple people have asked me, "what were you thinking when you made that?" Well, that's a little bit of a complicated question for me, because printmaking is a long process. I spend a lot of time brainstorming a design, making a lot of doodles and quick sketches before even really sitting down and trying to work on a serious design. The process of finalizing a design can take me up to eight hours. Then I transfer it to the block, and the carving takes at least a few hours as well. I usually have fifteen to twenty hours of work in a print before ink is even brought into the process! I'm sure a lot of printers work faster, but everyone's process is a bit different. Anyway, my point is that it's incredibly difficult for me to narrow down "what I was thinking" while making a print. My thoughts on a design evolve while I'm working on it and what it means by the time it becomes a finished print can be completely different than what I was thinking when I started! For those of you who know me, my brain can move a mile a minute, so I think about a lot of things while I'm working, or sometimes it helps me clear my head and I think about nothing. That's part of why I love printmaking. 

My process isn't always a neat and clean one. Actually, it never is.

What do you do that's creative, and what kind of process do you have? I'd love to hear about it, so please feel free to leave me a comment. If you like what you read, and you know anyone that you think would also enjoy it, I would appreciate it if you shared my blog with them. And don't forget to check me out on twitter @CaptGam.

Thanks for checking out my blog today everybody. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you're having a great week. See you next time!

Unless otherwise mentioned, all work by Wade Ellett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.