Lisa Gets Litho'd

I wanted to work this sketch up into an etching, but I got sidetracked into experimenting with kitchen litho (see the previous post). So I spent most of the day doing fairly boring experiments in order to get a basic handle on things - and it does show lots of potential for abstract or decorative work (maybe tomorrow I'll put some of those up). But I also found its a really good way to start testing designs for an etching, since the process is pretty easy with a quick turnaround, and it is perfectly capable of handling fine and detailed work, and midtones (when I am not too sloppy). And although it is messy, cleanup is pretty simple, there's nothing toxic involved. Below is a test print, done by transfering a reduced copy of the sketch to the aluminum foil by way of carbon paper. Then the foil is dipped in Coke (the legal kind), rinsed with water, inked with a roller, and printed.

A little soap, a little coke, Kitchen Litho!

This has got to be the simplest lithography possible - and absolutely suitable for kids! I'm going to have to give it a try...
The latest PDF instructions are available in English and French (the French are a bit clearer). The whole site is definitely worth poking through.

Here's an updated list of what you need at Inkteraction

Hanna, Cooked

Well those of you who didn't read the last blog post before Blogger crashed and lost a bunch of stuff on Wednesday won't understand the title! Maybe they'll get it back, but in the meantime, tant pis, and do yer homework, and go practice Satie.

The next picture is of my first semi-decent litho, done Friday and Saturday at the Mahone Bay Arts Centre. Thanks Dan O'Neill for teaching the workshop, and thanks Sally Warren for doing such a great job organizing it.



There are a number of things I would like to change about it, though I like the basic design. For example, I would like to add more weight to the piano and bench so that their solidity would provide a stronger support for Hanna's intensely focussed liveliness. Unfortunately the ball grain aluminum plate lithography doesn't make that sort of change very easy, so perhaps we can redo it in an etching of roughly the same image size. (The image is about 9 1/2 by 12 1/2 inches, this one is done on Rives BFK)

The other current project nearing completion is this one:



There's still work to do on it, but it is coming along. Hanna suggested I strengthen the figures in the background, and add something to do with water, both of which seem to have helped a lot. One of the irritating things about encaustic from the photographic POV (though wonderful from the real life POV) is how variable they are under different light. It varies a lot from one day's photos to the next. I guess if you really want to see what it looks like, you should buy it. Or drop in sometime.