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.