Kermit the Frog & Fozzie Bear

Kermit the Frog 29 x 41" collograph print
Fozzie Bear 29 x 41" collograph print

I'm leaving for Birmingham in a few hours for the Hollywood Icons show, so here's one more blog post for the road. Muppets!! I was a huge fan of the Muppet Show as a kid and dabbled in puppetry for most of my youth and throughout college. So when I was trying to come up with icons that I could print large, bold and simple - these two came to mind.

Printed on oversize Arches cover paper, these are the flagship prints of the show - very BIG!

These prints are a type of relief print made by cutting out shapes of vinyl, inking them, then laying them out puzzle-like directly on the press bed, laying the paper on top of the whole mess and running it through the press. There is no plate or block in the traditional sense. I'll do a post in the future where I go into this technique in greater detail.



Kermit hot off the press (for a sense of scale)


Kermit (detail)


Fozzie (detail)


"This print better turn out good, Kermit."


Cut vinyl pieces inked and reassembled on the press bed ready to print


Fozzie fur and vinyl pieces on the press bed after printing.

Kirk & Spock

Kirk & Spock 5 x 7" linocut print with watercolor


Today's Hollywood Icons entry goes out to my good friends Colin & Christopher.


Kirk & Spock two-color linocut print (blue)


Kirk & Spock two-color linocut print (purple)


linoblock during inking


linoblock detail


Live long & prosper.

Indiana Jones

Raiders of the Lost Ark 12 x 18" original linocut print artist's proof


The Hollywood icons show is closing in fast, and I'm happy to say the prints are finished (whew!). Everything went to the frame shop on Monday, and the handful of prints I'm framing myself are finished (Thanks, B!). Now the real fun (not) begins: address lists, frame labels, packing and shipping, etc.

Today's Indy post is rather fortuitous. As I type this the new Indy flick, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is about an hour from premiering here on the west coast (and already open on the east coast).

I didn't really appreciate Raiders until I was an adult. As a child I wanted Han Solo to fight Darth Vader, not Nazis... but I digress.

These images are a little wonky, because at 12 x 18" the prints are too large to scan, so I had to photograph them.

Raiders of the Lost Ark detail


Carving the linoleum block in process

This is about two thirds of the way through the carving process. The white stuff is baby powder. By pushing the powder into the areas that have been cut away, it creates a nice contrast allowing 'the image' to be seen much more easily ( a simple solution and very handy).


inking the block during the printing process


Raiders framed and ready for the show

At 12 x 18" (approx. 20 x 25" framed) this is certainly one of the largest pieces of the show.

Stay tuned. More to come.

Hollywood Icons

As many of you may know, all these Hollywood prints I've been working on these past months are for my upcoming show at Bare Hands Gallery in Birmingham, Alabama. I was the first artist to show at Bare Hands twelve years ago, and am excited to be returning as the artist for the 12th anniversary show. I'm currently finishing up the last few prints, signing and numbering prints, and getting everything off to the frame shop so it can be shipped to Birmingham for the show. I'll continue to post previews of the show here on the blog up until I go to Birmingham.

But this post is really to show off the official invitation for the show, and to thank graphic designer Christopher Davis for the awesome job he did designing this postcard. It's exactly what I wanted: simple, graphic, retro & hollywood. Thanks, Christopher!