Printmaking | Janet Towbin

Facets

12/11/2016 | Comments: 6 | Posted by: JT | In: Art, Printmaking

Last week I signed two new print editions at Santo Press. That makes them the 47th and 48th editions printed by Brent Bond since our collaboration began in August, 2015. I know that is a record for both of us! I wouldn’t have been able to be this prolific without Brent’s expertise and hard work on my behalf. There are at least 5 more editions in “the queue” and I think I will be signing them very soon. Like next week!

The first print, Facets (blush) was printed in an edition of 50 for the 2017 Mesa Contemporary Art Museum’s 8th Calendar. It is a 2-color photopolymer relief with laser-cut woodblock. The 2017 Calendar will be available December 9 through the Mesa Contemporary Art Museum’s website. If you pre-order now, you get off $5.00 of every calendar purchased. It is a great way to collect prints by local artists and to support the museum.

The second print is Facets (B&W), edition of 10. Facets (B&W) is a one-color photopolymer relief print. $80.00

Facets (blush), 2016; photopolymer relief with laser cut woodblock; edition of 50; 7.5″ x 6″ image on 11″ x 9″ paper

Facets (B&W), 2016; edition of 10; photopolymer relief; 7.5″ x 6″ image on 11″ x 9″ paper.

Circle Swirls: Drawing and Linocut

27/08/2016 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: JT | In: Art, drawing, Pattern, Printmaking

My newest relief print is based on the drawing “Circle Swirl” from my Patterns of Obsession series. Printed in an edition of 10 by Brent Bond at Santo Press, it is another laser-cut linocut. It amazes me how precisely the laser-cut can be on the linoleum’s surface. I am pretty thrilled with how it turned out. Soon I will be adding a digital color layer to the print making it into something else entirely. Can’t wait to get that started! It’s going to be so much fun to see how it evolves with color.

First, the drawing:

Circle Swirl; 2016; graphite on Stonehenge paper; 16″ x 16″ image size; 22″ x 22″ paper size. POR

And the print:

Circle Swirl by Janet Towbin Circle Swirl; 2016; Laser-cut linocut; edition of 10; 16″ x 16″ image size; 23″ x 22″ paper size. $400.00

And here is a little teaser for you…my computer rendering (it’s a work in progress–the specific colors may change) of how I intend to add color to the print. Keeping my fingers crossed it will compare to what I can do in Photoshop.

Jul 09 2016

Rule of Thirds

09/07/2016 | Comments: 1 | Posted by: JT | In: Art, drawing, How To's, Printmaking

This week marked the completion of a suite of 6 new prints at Santo Press. The process was quite involved and complicated. I first made a series of 11 gouache paintings using a rainbow of colors in series of 3 bands of stripes. This led me to consider making a print of the bands of stripes. I carved a piece of linoleum with 30 stripes and printed it by hand in my studio in black ink. The flat color looked very nice, but it didn’t have the texture/tonality I wanted to achieve.

I decided to make a rubbing of the linoleum block (with a black crayon) which gave me the texture I wanted. Several rubbings of the linocut were made and then photographed and stacked vertically in Photoshop. They were then manipulated and cleaned as much as possible. My manipulations looked good to me, but when it came time to actually create high res digital files to use as the cutting matrix for both laser-cut and photpolymer plates they were not usable. Brent took over and did a much better job. No mystery there…he has mad computer skills and I am merely a novice.

There are two suites of Rule of Thirds prints; each set has a 1-color print (black and white) and two multicolor prints. Rule of Thirds I, II and III are printed with a key block (laser-cut MDF) printed on top of 3 different colored bands of flat color. Rule of Thirds IV, V, and VI are 3-color photopolymer relief prints. All 6 are printed in an edition of 10, image size 12″ x 18″ on Somerset paper 22″ x 15″.

Below are some photos to give you a sense of how this suite of prints developed from paintings to finished prints.

One of a series of 11 gouache Stripe paintings.

The first hand-pulled linocut I printed in my studio. Unique print, 2016, 12″ x 18″ on Kitikata paper.

One of the many rubbings made from the linocut. Don’t even ask how many of these I made before I was satisfied!

2 (of the eventual 3 colors per print) to proof at Santo Press. The color bands were printed on top of the key to aid in registration and to get a good sense of what the colors looked like with black.

Color mixing at Santo Press for Rule of Thirds III.

More color mixing at Santo Press for Rule of Thirds editions V and VI shown in conjunction with striped gouache paintings.

Rule of Thirds grid of all 6 editions by Janet Towbin

Rule of Thirds I, II, III, IV, V, VI; 2016. Grid of all 6 editions.

Jun 23 2016

Circle Swirls

23/06/2016 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: JT | In: Art, Printmaking

My series of four Circle Swirl prints was completed a couple of weeks ago at Santo Press. Printed by Brent Bond, they turned out exactly how I had envisioned them. The key linoleum plate was cut by laser, while the various color states were formed by cutting the separate blocks by hand.

It’s really hard for me to stop at just 4 editions–I could go on and on with many different color combinations. However, Brent runs a tight ship and has encouraged me to go on to something else. Good advice. The next prints are already in the Santo Press queue–and oddly enough, they are all about STRIPES. That is definitely something else.

Meanwhile, here is the complete suite of Circle Swirls:

Circle Swirl, laser-cut linocut, edition of 10, 8″ x 8″ image size, paper 11.25″ x 11″, $100.00

Circle Swirl II, 2-color laser-cut linocut, edition of 20, 8″ x 8″ image size, paper 11.25″ x 11″, $ 150.00

Circle Swirl III, 3-color handcut and laser-cut linocut, edition of 20, 8″ x 8″ image size, paper 11.25″ x 11″, $ 175.00

Circle Swirl IV, 4-color handcut and laser-cut linocut, edition of 20, 8″ x 8″ image size, paper 11.25″ x 11″, $ 200.00

The suite of 4 Circle Swirls is available at a discounted price of $500.00.

All 6 of the Linocut Swirls series (4 Circle Swirls prints and 2 Twisted Swirls prints) may be purchased for $650.00. That’s quite a deal–less than $110.00 per print!

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