Test Print

After carving away for awhile on this lino block (see last post), I decided to do a test print to see how it was looking. I don't have access to a press right now, so this is hand printed, hence the grainy, uneven quality of the ink.

My thoughts after test printing are that I could still work on carving away some areas. I'm not sure about the background- it's probably a little too busy. I do like the front leg area on the figure and the skirt. Well I will keep going and see how this all turns out. It's been awhile since I've done a linocut anyways.

In progress work....

I am currently working on a Linocut print. This plate is mostly about experimenting with textures and creating values with the medium. It seems counterproductive to work on creating values with this type of print, but I've seen it done. I mostly just want to make sure it doesn't come out looking "flat."

I'll try to make this a habit.

"If 98% of our medical students were no longer practicing medicine five years after graduation, there would be a Senate investigation, yet that proportion of art majors are routinely consigned to an early professional death."

- From Art And Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

If you are an artist of any kind, visual, performing or otherwise, I recommend this book. It was given to me by one of my cooperating teachers when I was completing my student teaching. After reading it, I wondered why more college professors don't use this as required reading for the art senior seminar classes. It really gives some great insight into our internal motivators and the psychology behind why we, as artists, are driven to produce art.

Since graduating from college, I have continued to produce art, mostly for my own benefit, and as an emotional outlet. Without the support and the atmosphere that a class environment provides however, producing has not been without its challenges. There are many benefits to being out from under the influence of college professors and academia; one being that I don't feel the pressure anymore to move the subject of my work from the representational to the non-representational or conceptual, as is popular in so many college circles these days. However, one major downside is the lack of the social aspect of college. There are no peers to act as my sounding board for ideas or to give me that morale boost when I feel that my work is just not quite where it should be. I have realized that the post-collegiate atmosphere for an artist can be a lonely one. That's where this blog comes in.

Because I still feel a desire to create, I need some sort of sounding board, something to keep me accountable for continuing on this solitary path. I hope that this blog will fulfill this purpose. If you have happened to stumble across this page and would like to leave any comments for me, please feel free to do so, because you are now my new sounding board.

Thanks for reading,
Macy