Fish stress

My printing table is littered with capelin carcasses in my quest for the perfect print of this little fish. 

I want to print a school of capelin and of course you know the dangers that is fraught with, don't you?  The precision of inking, the correct weight paper, the right printmaking ink, just the right amount of molding paper around the little body, not getting any additional ink residue outside the print area... and that's juse one.  How many fish in a school???  And what are the chances of getting ALL of them as acceptable prints on the same sheet of paper?

The image here isn't of capelin, but their close cousin, smelt.  I've printed these using white and gold inks and added detail later.  Holding my breath, I wet mounted this Moriko Kozo paper on plain mulberry paper for backing.  I was afraid the dark blue might run when wet, but all was well and the colour held.  This is one of the more expensive sheets of Japanese paper, but worth it in terms of versatility, texture and look. 

Now back to the capelin...

Water study

I don't dabble in abstraction often, but that doesn't mean to say that I don't enjoy that art stream.  I've always been pulled in the direction of representational art.

I've had an idea in my head for ages of a piece that I want to create that is quite abstract but based on reality.  Reflections on water that is moving slightly gives a complex form that at first glance is seen as colours and shapes, but when explained, becomes very clear as to the subject.

Its that mix of the two that I want to create and I have created a 6 x 6 acrylic study of where I want to go generally with this.  I will draw out the final piece this weekend and make a start on it using oils.  I wanted a large square format,but the only square canvas I could find today was 20 x 20", not that large.  The art store in town decided in the spring to close on Saturdays, so unless I make a special trip there during the week, I'm out of luck for instant gratification.  So I'll work on 20 x 20 for  now and if that works out as I plan, I may try another water reflection piece on a larger scale.

How not to hang art

Its interesting how each person's idea of curating art is so different.

I have a number of pieces that I'm framing and have hung some on the walls at home to keep them more out of harm's way than use as decoration.  I had this gyotaku print of starfish framed nicely and was struggling to hang it early one morning. The Other One, who can't bear watching anyone do anything that he believes he could do better, decided he would hang them himself while I was at work.

So when I came home, it was hung.  Just not in a place that even vaguely resembled having connection with other pieces on the wall in either size or position.  The other piece, a similar size and shape was hung on a wall in a corner so inaccessible I'm not even sure how he got it there and it was so high up, you'd need binoculars to see it.

'Hang it' obviously has very different meaning for artists and non artists.  Now I'm not being ungrateful.  Yes, they were hung and yes they were out of harm's way, so technically the task was literally completed.  But in as much as he'd prefer to wield the hammer and hangers, I'd much prefer to prescribe just where they go.

Painting and printing

 
As  usual I have a dozen things going on at once, and sometimes it becomes a little overwhelming.  However, when I sit down and break it into chunks, I usually can wrap my head around it.

I've been finishing some more gyotaku prints to meet my self imposed deadline of December 31st to finish them.  This time its capelin.  I can't get away with painting them larger than life and have to deal with one by one inking their tiny bodies and molding the paper gently over them to get a good impression.  Some you win, some you lose, some the capelin loses.  Capelin are fairly fragile being small but I usually manage to get about 8 or 10 prints from a single fish before it starts to disintegrate.  Yes, I know, more information than you need to know.

While waiting for the capelin prints to dry before I can add more detail, I did some more work on Monty, the bulldog. It still has a ways to go yet and I'm not sure if the proportions are quite right now that I look at it.  He has the look that says he knows where the biscuit tin is and he's not moving til he gets some.