Blog Archives

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.

Painted Stripes by Janet TowbinOne of a series of 11 gouache Stripe paintings.

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

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

2 colors printed on key 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 printColor mixing at Santo Press for Rule of Thirds III.

color matching 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.

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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:

Print by Janet Towbin, Circle Swirl,

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

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

Print by Janet Towbin, Circle Swirl III,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

Print by Janet Towbin, Circle Swirl IV,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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Triangulation Series

04/05/2016 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: JT | In: Art, Printmaking

Here are my newest prints–a series of three in what I am calling the Triangulation Series, printed by Brent Bond at Santo Press. The prints are based on drawings I have been working on for the past decade or so. In this series I have concentrated on bringing color to what are usually black and white drawings. These prints take the drawings to a totally different dimension by adding vivid color. The linocuts are laser engraved which is a very exciting printmaking technique that Brent suggested we try using. It has proven to be a great way to get very sharp and clean lines. Eventually the blocks will be printed as reduction linocuts in three colors each. The prints are in an edition of 20 on 14″ x 11″ paper; image size is 10″ x 8″. They are priced at $100.00 individually or the series of 3 for $250.00.

Print by Janet Towbin, Pathway Orange

Pathway Orange

Print by Janet Towbin, WebMesh Blue

WebMesh Blue

Print by Janet Towbin, Triangulation Green

Triangulation Green

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My First Prints of the Year

14/01/2016 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: JT | In: Art, Printmaking

My first prints of the new year were completed today by Brent Bond at Santo Press. These two prints represent the 19th and 20th print editions we have completed in less than a year.

Rubedo is a linocut I shelved for a long while. I just couldn’t get it to print as cleanly as I wanted it to print. And then I found Brent–who can make any matrix print superbly. He worked wonders with this one and I couldn’t be happier.

Quicksilver I is the first of a planned threesome Santo Press is publishing. It’s our first try using a laser to cut the linoleum block. All three will be printed with shimmering metallic ink on black paper. The laser-cut linoleum blocks will then eventually be carved by hand and printed as three-color reduction prints–which will look entirely different.

There are quite a few more prints planned so keep watching this space for more updates. We are cranking them out pretty fast.  

print, art, printmaking,Rubedo; 2016; Linocut; published by Santo Press; edition of 20; 11″ x 11″ image size; Stonehenge Cream paper 17″ x 15″.

Print by Janet Towbin, Quicksilver I,

Quicksilver I; 2016; Laser cut linoleum; published by Santo Press; 10″ x  8″ image size; Stonehenge black paper, 14″ x 11″

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