Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Done? Not Done?..... Done!

© 2013 Hannah Phelps
 Wave in Green and Blue
7.5" x 10.5", multi-block relief print


I thought this print wasn't finished and it needed another layer or twelve.

But now I think it is finished. I put it away for a few months to think about it. Recently, I dug it out again and I feel good about it. So it is done. 

Check.

It is a woodblock printed on an etching press with oil ink, like Dawn Wave, Maine Wave and Private Wave, but it is not a jigsaw and it is not a reduction.

This print was created with four (or maybe five) blocks that were cut to the same size. Each color was printed with a different block. 

This wasn't a "better" way to do it - just different. Right now, I think I prefer the reduction jigsaw thing, but I might do this again sometime.

If you love this, you can have one!

Either with pay pal (redirects to Daily Paintworks).

Or


Click to go to the etsy store.


Thursday, April 25, 2013

Prints Online

Prints drying on the new clothesline

I have started a new print even though I am painting all the time and have 3 (or more) other prints that really need finishing. 
I just couldn't help myself. I made a charcoal drawing from a plein air painting and I got too excited to quit there.

The first layer is done, as you can see. I will probably work on it more tomorrow. I am trying something new that I really hope works. Fingers crossed.

The block looks like this with the whites carved out:

You can also see the marks that will guide me when I make more cuts. Soon.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Sales at the Continuing Education Graduation Exhibit!


© 2009 Hannah Phelps
 Low Tide
white-line woodcut print, 4.5" x 6.5"

I just found out today that a one of these prints sold in the exhibit at the New Hampshire Institute of Art's Amherst Street Gallery in Manchester. 

There are a bunch of other prints hanging with it, along with the block from which it sprouted. Plus, there are paintings and photographs by the other graduates. You have another week if you want to see this great show. Details in the sidebar!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Dawn Wave

© 2013 Hannah Phelps


Here, at long last, is the latest finished jigsaw reduction relief. It took longer to finish than I planned - by a few months!

The good news is that it is done now and one of these is hanging in the Amherst St Gallery at the New Hampshire Institute of Art. I am graduating from my certificate program in a few weeks and this is the celebratory exhibit. There are details in the sidebar.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Brushworks in the Studio

plein air sketch and studio work in progress


I am very excited to be painting again after a few months off due to a shoulder injury. I have to take it slowly, so I am just doing little things. 
There is really no better way to get back in the groove than to just pick up a brush everyday for a short amount of time.

Instead of working from photographs, I am taking older plein air paintings and using them as inspiration. The photo above shows an example - the old painting, on the left, is a small sketch from Monhegan Island and the new studio painting is on the right.

I am not done with it yet. While I am painting daily, I am not forcing myself to finish anything if I get too tired. I can go back later and figure out what it needs.
I have started a new blog for these paintings - Hannah Phelps Brushworks. You should see the finished version of this painting there very soon.

Monday, April 1, 2013

White-line and Jigsaw in a New Way

© Hannah Phelps
Wave on a Bright Day
jigsaw relief,  9" x 12"

This print is a jigsaw AND a white-line. I completed it a few weeks ago from drawings in my sketchbook. 

I don't know how many pieces I ended up with after I cut up the block - you can try to count them if you want to. But there isn't a prize for the right answer or anything. This time.

Something exciting happened while I was making this print. Aside from getting this cool image, I had a little revelation.

My mother is a crazily avid knitter (I swear this is relevant), but she doesn't like to do small projects with lots of little ends to tie in at the finish. I got her the book Knit Your Own Royal Wedding a few years ago as a Mother's Day gift and she certainly laughed as she looked through it, but I knew she wouldn't actually knit any of the projects. "These characters are full of little fussy bits," she told me. 

I used to think I was the same way - not interested in "little fussy bits". But now I am not so sure.

This block seems like a messy, logistical nightmare to print - there are a lot of pieces and some of them are small enough to worry that they might end up lost down the drain during clean up - but I really loved every minute I was making it. Even snuggling the tiny pieces together when they were covered with ink and one tiny slip of a finger meant pulling it apart and re-inking.

This was created in one layer, just like a traditional white-line woodcut. So I didn't have to worry about registering the paper on the block properly over and over again. 

So I am trying this again, while I try to finish up the big one I told you about two months ago. And a little one. And starting to paint again a little too. 

Basically, all is going well.