Blog: Studio, Shows, Reading, Random Thoughts
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Walk Right In?
Textures and graphic effects are a way of bringing energy to a print composition. A highly detailed texture will attract the eye and demand attention, a subtle one will invite mental rest and contemplation. A heavier, darker texture or a very transparent one will tend to create depth by playing off what’s behind or underneath it.…
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When They Go High…
I like writing about comics because they partially relate to my professional work in graphic arts. How much do they relate? Most people have been conditioned by the conventional wisdom to ignore comics as a relevant art form, high or low. This is getting harder to do. There is starting to be a significant body of…
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Workshop Update for Summer
I’ve updated my workshop page (click at the top) with Summer workshop information and links. The registration for these opened up this week and most have already had enrollees, so don’t wait too long. The first, Monotypes for Advanced Beginners is intended for those who have been printing in recent years, and want to explore a…
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Group Love
Anthologies are often the proving ground for innovation in comics. Comics were birthed in innovation. The newspapers comic strips’ anarchic humor, along with early cinema, synthesized vaudeville, minstrel and photography to create new visual languages. This lasted until the end of the Jazz Age, and the ascension of radio and Talkies as the dominant pop culture mediums. Nonetheless, invention…
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Counting On The Arts
The most recent biennial Colorado Business Committee for the Arts Economic Activity Study has been released. It uses Scientific and Cultural Facilities District raw numbers in a statistical model developed by Deloitte Consulting using U.S. Department of Commerce multiplier data. In short, “quantifying the economic and social relevance of arts, cultural and scientific organizations in the metro area.”…
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Color in Monotypes
Most printmakers use a somewhat limited color palette. Editions of hand-pulled prints often require a separate plate for each color- which can lead to a fair amount of time and expense. This has lead to a tradition of very strategic and inventive color use in printing, and its growth as an advertising medium since the…
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Coming Out of the Refrigerators
From the 20’s through the 40s, both newspaper comics and comic books featured women creators and tough smart female characters. That changed with the 50’s move toward conformity and censorship in all media, but especially comics, deliberately infantilized during the Wertham witch hunt, though the medium had previously appealed to all ages. Women often appeared…
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Winter-Spring Update on Workshops and Shows
Winter-Spring Doings: I hope all of you had a wonderful autumn, and a great Holiday/Solstice season! I’ve got a lot going on this winter/spring, and I’ll be getting off to an earlier start in 2017. I hope to see you for one of these events. Workshops: The next session of Monotypes For Beginners begins January…
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America Goes Low: Art, Culture, and Political Healing
I’ve got some news about workshops and shows to post, but first, a little commentary on the current political regression: I don’t make a lot of political commentary on this page, as it’s a bit counter- productive to what I’m trying to do here. My art isn’t demonstratively political, I can at least provide a…
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How and Why to Do Black and White in Monotypes
“Say, it’s only a paper moon Sailing over a cardboard sea” -A Paper Moon, Billy Rose/ E.Y.Harburg/Harold Arlen Color is an integral component of all art. We regularly talk of “color” when describing sounds in music, for example. But in talking color in art, we often forget the two colors that are not considered colors…
Comments: Thoughts, questions, book recommendations?
