The Blues Brothers: "We're on a mission from God."

The Blues Brothers - 5" x 5" two-color linoleum print

The Hollywood Icons series continues with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as Jake and Elwood Blues. This print is a two-color linoleum block print. First the blue background was printed with only the areas that would be white in the final print cut away. Then a second block was carved, inked in black and carefully printed on top of the blue background.
Inking the background block (note the negative space has been carved away)


A finished print fresh from the press.

Carnac the Magnificent

Carnac the Magnificent - 3" x 3" two-color reduction woodblock print

I thought I'd revisit Johnny Carson since he was recently named the number one television icon. Here for your consideration is Johnny as Carnac the Magnificent.

(Carnac holds the sealed envelope up to his turban)

CARNAC: Sis boom bah.

ED McMAHON: Sis boom bah?

(Carnac rips the envelope open and removes the card)

CARNAC (reading): Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes.

This print is a two-color reduction (or suicide) print. It is so named because in this process multiple colors are printed from a single block (usually there is a separate block for each color). The block is carved, one color is printed, then more of the block is carved away, then another color is printed, and so on. Once you carve away more of the block and begin printing the next color, there is no going back. So you have to be careful in the layout and planning stage.


A few prints with only the first color printed.


Inking the block with the second color after more carving.


The second stage of the block.



A finished print pulled from the block.

Redd Foxx

Redd Foxx - 5" x 6" collograph print with à la poupée

The latest entry in the Hollywood icons series is actor/comedian Redd Foxx of Sanford and Son fame. A little research turned up Foxx was also an artist. To view some of his artwork click here to visit the official Redd Foxx website.
The plate for this print (below) was simply made of mat board and glue. This was a test to see if the detail required for a portrait could be captured in lines of glue. All the lines on the plate are glue applied with a fine applicator tip. When inking the plate, inks are applied with brushes and q-tips for most of the color. Then the "lines" are inked by top-rolling a dark color onto the raised lines of glue. Click on the image of the plate for more detail.

"Elizabeth, I'm coming to join you, honey!"

The plate after printing

Hot off the press

"Heeeeeeeere's Johnny!"

"Heeeeeeeere's Johnny" 5 x 11 monotype print


the plate ready for printing


the moment of truth


freshly pulled print and plate with residual ink

True Grit

True Grit 4 x 4 woodblock print

John Wayne played Rooster Cogburn in the 1969 film True Grit, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. John Wayne epitomized rugged masculinity, was larger than life, and my dad loved him. There's a line in the Statler Brothers song Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott? that sums up my father's (and his generation's) feelings about John Wayne and what he represented in society: "True Grit's the only movie I've really understood in years." My father was also fond of saying "real men don't eat quiche".

Like the Clint Eastwood print, this is also a two-color woodblock print. The blue color field is printed first, then the image, inked in black, is printed on top of it.

inking the block

fresh off the press

Clint Print

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 8 x 12 woodblock print

The Hollywood icons series continues with Clint Eastwood from the 1966 'spaghetti western', The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This is a two color woodblock print using two 8 x 12 woodblocks. The first block was simply inked and printed to create the orange-red 'color field'. Then the image was carved into the second block, inked in brown and printed on top of the color field. Below is the finished print being pulled from the woodblock.

Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship 6 x 9 Monotype

For your consideration, today's print comes from the 1944 Best Picture winner Casablanca.
To try and capture the quality of a black & white film, the monotype is printed with dark gray etching ink on gray Rives BFK printmaking paper.

Here's looking at you, kid.

Steve McQueen is... Bullitt

Bullitt 5 x 9 linoleum block print on chine collé

Continuing the theme of Hollywood icons is macho cool Steve McQueen from the pinnacle of his career in the movie "Bullitt". The foreground print image is carved into and printed from a linoleum block. Since the movie is famous for the car chase/driving sequences, it seemed appropriate to have him driving the green Mustang in the background. Below is the print without the chine collé for comparison.

Darth Vader Monotype/Photo Etching

Darth Vader 4x6 Photo Etching printed on Comic Book Panel
The first print in today's post is continuing the experimentation with printing on top of other images. This is printed onto an image from a vintage 30 year old Star Wars comic book (Click on it for a more detailed view of the underlying image). This print is a photo etching done from a monotype printed on a chine collé comic book panel. Below is the original monotype print.

Darth Vader 4x6 Monotype

Bandit 2.0

Greetings, gentle readers! I was burned out after my art show this summer, so I took an art break. Didn't expect it to be such a long break, but - ah well, good intentions, etc.

Anywho, I've started doing some new prints and experimenting with some new ideas. I'm printing on top of other images using a chine collé technique. Loyal readers may remember this Smokey and the Bandit collograph print from a previous post, but this time I've printed old Burt on top of a soft painterly image of the black Bandit TransAm.

The idea is for the background image to be a secondary image that supports and informs the foreground print image. By combining the two images, the finished print also has a slightly abstracted feel.

Sorry for the prolonged absence. I'll try to get back in the swing of posting semi-regularly. More to come...

Bringing It Back Home

Greetings from Birmingham,
The reception for the my art show was this past Saturday and was a rousing success. I saw lots of old friends, sold a number of pieces and the work was very well received. Thanks to everyone in California and Alabama who helped me pull off my first show in years.

Happy Father's Day! - of Dads and Dogs

To celebrate Father's Day today's post features Dad related art. This first print is Birmingham Back Seat 1961 and depicts my father in his early twenties (far left) and his buddies in the back seat of some gigantic 1950's car. This print is a monotype printed with black etching ink.

This print, Front Yard 1976, is a monotype printed with blue etching ink, watercolor and colored pencil. This is my father (right) in our front yard with our neighbor, Joe Bruno, and his dog, Lula Belle, in 1976. My father died unexpectedly back in 2003, and doing these pieces was a cathartic process. Sometimes it's still hard to believe he's gone. Miss you, Dad.

These two prints are commissions I did for my friend Colin to give to his father for Father's Day. This is Colin and his dog, Winnifred, who recently passed away. It was an honor to do these prints for my friend to honor the life of his dog that he misses very much. (Love you, Fred!) The print below is the 'ghost' print. It is pulled after the inital print and is much lighter because very little ink remains on the plate. The ghost print was then colored with watercolor.

New Post?! Believe It

Greetings, gentle readers
Seems I'm doing lots of apologizing for not keeping current. I have some friends whose blogs I frequent, and when there is no new post I'm dissappointed. I'm sorry if my lack of discipline is making any of you feel similarly.

Well, at least I've been working on art. So much art. As many of you know I have an art show up now in Birmingham, Alabama. It's been a long time, and I'd forgotten how much work it is to put up a show. I'm pretty happy with the work though and thought I'd blog a piece or two.

This print is a monotype of the old Lyric and Alabama Theatres in downtown Birmingham. When I was growing up these theatres were run down, largely forgotten relics from a time when people actually went downtown. When I was in college, the Alabama was in the process of being restored and was a venue for concerts and touring productions. Many people were happy to see this former Showplace of the South alive again.

This print depicts the Alabama and Lyric Theatres in all their neon glory, lighting up the night. It is printed with black etching ink and colored with watercolor and colored pencil.

Rome or Bust II : Collograph

Rome or Bust II - 8x10 Collograph Print with Watercolor
Another Museum Series print, this time it's a collograph. A detailed explanation of the collograph process is listed in the blog post prior (below) this one. The finished print was watercolored after printing. Below is a process pic of the very early design and layout of the collograph plate.

These two process pictures show close-ups of the construction paper layers laid out prior to being glued down. The edges of each layer hold ink when the plate is inked and wiped.



Below is the plate shiny and sticky with wet ink ready to print.


Below is the print being pulled from the plate after going through the press.


Have any questions about this process? Feel free to ask.

Roller Derby Queen: Collograph

Greetings gentle readers,
Sorry to have abandoned you for so long.

It has been requested that I post a collograph with a bit of 'how to' to the blog. These prints, Roller Derby Queen Series, are collographs printed with etching ink on Arches Cover paper. The image size is 4" x 12" on a 7 1/2" x 15" piece of paper. These prints and other collographs are available for sale here.

Collographs are a simple yet surprisingly sophisticated printmaking technique:

1) Select a substrate to use as the 'plate' (cardboard, masonite or my choice - matboard)


2) Create an image by cutting paper, string, etc. and glueing them down in layers with gloss medium and varnish to the substrate.


3) Once the image is laid out and glued down, coat the entire plate (front and back) with more medium/varnish to seal the plate.

4) The plate is then inked and wiped. The entire plate is covered in ink and then carefully wiped with a cheescloth like material to remove ink from the top flat surfaces and rub ink into all the edges, nooks and crannies. Any place the plate holds ink will create the defining lines of the image. The plate can also be 'top rolled' with another color ink before printing (the hot pink print was inked this way).

5) The plate is then placed on the press, covered with a sheet of paper and run through the press. Presto!


After letting the prints dry, they can be colored with watercolor, pastel, colored pencil,etc. to achieve unique finishes. The first image at the top of this post was watercolored after printing. If you have any questions about this technique, feel free to ask.

Nude w/ stockings

Nude w/stockings: 6 x 9 Encaustic Monotype
(Private Collection)

This print is an encaustic monotype printed on black Arches Cover paper with Caran d'Ache oil based crayons. This process is achieved by:
1) Placing a clean metal (zinc) plate on a hot plate and heating it to around 120-130 degrees. 2) Drawing the image on the plate with crayons (caran d'ache oil crayons - you can even use crayolas). The hot plate melts the crayons into pools of pigment. 3) With the image roughly laid out on the plate, removing pigment with Q-tips to define the image. 4) Transfering the image to the paper by placing it over the plate and rolling it firmly with a brayer. Presto!
The nature of a monotype is that it is a "one-off". They are more like paintings than prints in the traditional sense. Only one or two prints can be pulled from a plate before cleaning off the plate (thus losing the image) and starting over. They are not numbered because there is no edition.


I love this process. Its fast, loose and very painterly.