This is the three color reduction block I made while out at Montauk. After I had printed the yellow and green, I was pretty sure that it was a total bust–it was deeply ugly! The black pulled it together: A … Continue reading
inkblotgal
You know those weird, dusty victorian specimen cases? Full of insects and birds cavorting in moldering flora and fauna? You can make your own specimen case with inkblot insects, and blown ink trees and branches. Photo safe, double stick … Continue reading
More inkblot beetles, with antennae and legs. … Continue reading
Inspired by Seguy, I have been making inkblot beetles. I pre-fold the paper, Rives BFK in this case, and then draw with a bead of ink: A carapace, a head and a dot or two. Then I fold and gently … Continue reading
I recently began experimenting with water based inks for woodblock printing, and discovered Akua Color inks, (http://www.waterbasedinks.com/) specifically Akua Intaglio. These inks have fantastic tack, roll up great, don’t dry too fast. The black is very black and rich. Clean … Continue reading
A friend of mine turned me on to Eugene Seguy–illustrator, French, 20’s–remarkable illustrations of insects, which he then transformed into textile designs. Fantastic! … Continue reading
While looking for insect illustrations as reference for a project, I discovered Graphics Fairy (at blogspot.com). It is a great source for Victorian era illustrations, scanned at high resolution from antique papers. Because laws change, and are different from place to … Continue reading
I saw Alfred Molina as Mark Rothko in Red (a play by John Logan) at the Golden on 45th Street. It was very moving, intense. I thought Rothko’s work was a lot about light, luminosity–like Turner. But the play showed … Continue reading
Inkblots are not altogether random. You can coax the ink to go where you’d like it to go–into a butterfly shape, a bird, a diamond, a circle. To make a circular inkblot (a planet, a mandala, a beetle’s back), fold … Continue reading
Consider messing up your art materials as the first mark you make. My mother took a watercolor class (I was a teenager) where the teacher told the students to flick a little paint and water across the page before they … Continue reading