BLOG EVENTS RETAIL SHOPS PRINTMAKING THE ROYCROFT FRIENDS

PREVIOUS>>

 

2/1/12

Chapter 20   

The Making of Autumn Hills

Last fall I came across a photo that my grandpa had taken from one of my favorite places on earth. He was a very good amateur photographer, and this photo showed a glorious New England autumn day, distant hazy blue hills framed by an archway of lacy gold and red leaves. An Adirondack chair in the foreground faces the view, inviting us to sit, relax, and enjoy the show. I had to make a print out of this, and I wanted it to be big, gorgeous and enveloping. I designed “Autumn Hills” to be a triptych, with the large center panel as large as the Vandercook proof press would accommodate.

I order tons of Rives BFK cream paper, 22” x 30.” I search the world for unmounted linoleum in a size larger than most art supply stores carry. I buy ink and ¾” MDF at the lumber store, asking lumber guy to cut it to the correct sizes, and cut and mount the linoleum onto the wood. Now the linoleum is “type high,” the same height as the antique wood type (letters) that the press was built to accommodate.

I draw my design, backwards, to the blocks using transfer paper, and spend a few days carving out little shapes that I want to be white in the final print. Finally we’re ready to go to the printing studio.

“How big do you want this edition to be?” asks Bob, as he prepares to cut the paper to size. “How bout we start with 150?” I suggested, knowing that will give us a chance of ending up with 100 perfect prints, if I do not screw up too badly.


RhinoCutter

So Bob spends a few hours on the antique paper cutter, cutting about 530 sheets of paper: 150 for each of the three blocks, plus about 75 pieces of scrap paper, for trial prints. I am happy to relinquish the satisfaction of paper-cutting to Bob the sturdy Rhino, as the cutter requires power that a 123-pound Laura Chicken does not possess. Unless she wants to cut 5 sheets at a time and finish in time for Easter.

And then I mix up yellow (adding a little red for depth), and print…
Nine hours later, I have 450 prints (plus trial proofs) in a lovely golden yellow.

YellowAutumnWoods

I set up these prints and gaze at them from 10 feet away, as you would if they were hanging over your fireplace. Many of those little white shapes are hard to see from that distance. Resolve to make shapes a bit larger in subsequent carvings, and get to work carving out all the shapes that need to stay yellow. Plan to print on Friday.

CarvingChicken

Carve, carve, carve. Friday comes and goes. Ok, I’ll print on Sunday. OMG this is tedious, and a mental workout to try to picture how these shapes will look as negative spaces, printed backwards, with the other colors I haven’t printed yet on top. Hurray for the Robert B Parker “Spenser” series of audio books, which keep me going through this marathon. Spenser is one tough dude. Me, too.

Finally ready to print late Monday morning.

OrangeInk

Former commercial printer Bob convinces me to print orange next instead of the light green I had planned. Much fun to mix it: tons of yellow, a smear of red, and a pea-sized dab of blue, to make it a bit more earthy.

On the press

This time it’s only 5 ½ hours. No registration problems, after the initial tweaking with trial prints. No inking problems, after adjusting the packing. The color is perfect. The press is on good behavior. The prints look great. Slightly shaken by this. Knock on wood several times throughout.

YelloOrangeAutHill

Now carving out all shapes that should stay orange, in order to print on Friday. Yes, Friday, no time for delays. I have my sketch to refer to, but with each successive printing, “Autumn Hills” strays a bit more from the initial sketch, taking on its own character. Try to think of this as the miracle of art being born, and knock some wood again.