EVE-N-ODD GALLERY

I wanted to do something fun to commemorate my friend Jennifer Kosharek's opening of EVE-N-ODD GALLERY in St. Petersburg, Florida in the Crislip Arcade.

Stay tuned, we're looking to have this printed up on t-shirts to sell at the Gallery.

PRINTED PIECE



SKETCH ON LINOLEUM



PARTIALLY CUT LINO



FROM THE GALLERY

"FINLANDIA" PORTFOLIO SUBMISSION

Early last summer I was asked by Ron Abram, Associate Professor of Drawing & Printmaking at Denison University, Granville, Ohio if I'd be interested in contributing to a printmakers portfolio addressing the subject matter of Equilibrium using Tom of Finland as the jumping off point. The portfolio will be exhibited as part of the SGC (Southern Graphics Council) International's conference being held on the campus of Washington University at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, March 16-19, 2011.

Needless to say, I was more than thrilled to be given the challenge of creating my response to one of my favorite Artist/Illustrators.

Here is the direction I chose.


Initial Pencil Drawing Directly on Linoleum


Inked Linoleum


Hanging to Dry


Final Print

SEPTEMBER BERUBE-BUG / MAILART FINAL

SEPTEMBER BERUBE-BUG

BERUBE-BUGS APPEAR IN TAMPA TRIBUNE BLOG POST

A special thanks goes out to Jennifer Zoellner for putting together an amazing exhibit of mailart for her mailart call "CHROMATOPHORE". From all accounts it looks like it was an incredible opening night. Check out some pics from the evenings festivities on her MAILART BLOG.



You can also see what blogger Angus Shafer's visit had to say about the opening including a nice little mention of my work on his Art Blog for the Tampa Tribune.

RADISH-HEAD / JULY BERUBE-BUG

I had it in my head that my July bug was going to be some 2-headed creature depicting my state of mind for the past month. At the last minute, while checking out a fellow mail artist MICK BOYLE'S site, I discovered that he was starting a 2-month mailart call with "Radish" as a theme. The rest is history.

As soon as I create a colored version, I'll post that as well.

CUT LINO


INKED LINO


BLACK INK PRINT

MAY BERUBE-BUG / "SWINE FLEW"

Inspired by the newest pandemic, I decided to create my interpretaion of the Swine Flu Bug. This one will go in the mail Tuesday when I get back into town.



For those of you in the U.S. have a great holiday weekend.

MARCH BERUBE-BUG / CHINE-COLLE' TECHNIQUE

For this months addition to the Berube-Bug mailart project I decided to go a slightly different route. Still using printmaking and linocut as the primary method of creating multiple images, I decided to implement a technique call Chine-Colle' to add color to each and every postcard going out. Here is a brief definition from Wikipedia of what the Chine-Colle' technique of printmaking entails.

"Chine-collé is a special technique in printmaking in which the image is transferred to a surface that is bonded to a heavier support in the printing process. One purpose is to allow the printmaker to print on a much more delicate surface, such as Japanese paper or linen, which pulls finer details off the plate. Another purpose is to provide a background color behind the image that is different from the surrounding backing sheet."

"The final image will depend on the design and ink color of the printed image, the color and opacity of the paper to which the image is directly printed (plus any inclusions such as petals or fibers in that paper), and the color of the backing sheet."

- As you'll notice with the sample I'm documenting here, not all layered colors work that well. I have other prints from the edition where the color selection is far more successful but since I documented all of the steps with this particular color combination I figured I'd follow through and show the results, good, bad or otherwise.

*As far as the image for this months Berube-Bug, I'll leave that up to you for interpretation. ;0)

SKETCH ON LINOLEUM


INKED LINO W/COLOR PAPER DOT SELECTION


INKED LINO W/FIRST LAYER OF COLOR PAPER DOTS APPLIED


INKED LINO W/SECOND LAYER OF COLOR PAPER DOTS AND GLUE


FINAL PRINTED IMAGE


A FEW OF THE PRINTS

FEBRUARY BERUBE-BUG / AAAAAAH LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a quick post here with the February Berube-Bug in the printing process stage. Actual print will be uploaded tomorrow when it's done drying and ready to be scanned.

INTIAL SKETCH ON LINO


LINO PARTIALLY CUT


LINO FINAL CUT / SCAN


INKED LINO

NEW YEAR - NEW STAMP LICKER

I figured it was time to retire the old stamplicker/return address stamp. And a special "Thank You" to Brandon for the suggestion as to the concept of the new image.

JANUARY BERUBE-BUG

I just finished printing up the first Berube-Bug for 2009. This one is loosely based on the animal life we saw while in Ft. Lauderdale over the holiday.


INITIAL SKETCH ON LINO


LINO CUT BEFORE PRINTING


INKED LINO


FINAL PRINT

OBAMABUG / BERUBE-BUG FOR NOVEMBER

OBAMABUG - FINAL PRINT/LINOCUT


Needless to say, probably the biggest highlight in the month of November was the elction of Barak Obama for the next President of the United States. In tribute to that occassion, as only I can see it, I've created a butterfly with a resemblance to Mr. President Elect who just happens to have stars and stripes on his wings. As Brandon pointed out, the butterfly, "a symbol of change".

NOVEMBER BERUBE-BUG / OBAMA BUG HAS ARRIVED

I just finished printing up the November Berube-bug, ( and yes, I am quite aware that November is almost done already ), although the actual printed image will not be dry and ready for scanning until tomorrow, possibly late tonight since the heat is cranking in the studio. I figured i would post the cut lino as well as the inked lino so you get a preview of what to expect. And if I don't do this now while i'm thinking abt. it and have a free minute, it's not likely to get done until some time in January. Busy is good, busy is good, busy is good.

CUT LINO (SCAN)


INKED LINO (PIC)

BERUBE-BUG / ENCHANTED FOREST BUG

Not sure where this guy came from, I worked on it while my friend was visiting from Chicago, and if memory serves me correctly his hair used to look a bit like this in college.

This guy is not a bug from an Enchanted Forest, it is the Enchanted Forest as a Bug, tree trunks are now legs, mouth and eyes pop out of the leaves. Watch Out!!!

FLU-RUBE-BUG

I started feeling a little off kilter on Monday but just figured it was a little cold so I dosed up on various vitamins and acetaminophen and worked Tuesday and Wednesday assuming that I'd be fine. Well, by Thursday morning when I got up for work I could barely move and by Friday I had a fever of 100 degrees. The last time I was this sick was probably 10 years ago while traveling in France, so it's been a while and I had forgotten just how annoying it is to be that sick. In my opinion being sick is nothing more than an inconvenience and an utter waste of time. And feeling like I had to be able to do something while I felt like crap, I decided to draw this Berube-Bug while in the throws of this cold/flu thing.

BERUBE-BUGS COVER - FINAL (NO, REALLY)

I printed up the 3-piece Berube-Bugs cover as a single image last night and decided that I liked how the purple ink in the very first printing looked so I used it for the final image as well.

Now I have to figure out how to sew the little carrying pouches together since I also printed the image on to fabric.

BERUBE-BUGS COVER - FINAL 3-COLOR (NIGHTMARE)

So last night after dinner I decided to give it a go and finish up my attempt at the 3-color version of the Berube-Bugs cover in hopes that by some miracle it was all going to work out. Poor disillusioned me. It was exactly the nightmare I had anticipated from the beginning. By the end of the printing, I think I may have ended up with one print that has the registration of all 3 parts close to being acceptable. (I'm being generous) I'll figure out some other way to chop up the final printed mistakes and do something else with them but it really was a washout.

I've posted one of the prints with the screwed up registration so that you understand what I'm talking abt. and I also posted one of the prints that I played around with in photoshop to line things up a bit so that you could get a better idea of what the image would look like if I hadn't screwed it up. Still hate the colors, but here you go.

I'll be printing up the 1-color complete image probably later today when I get back from the other job.

BERUBE-BUGS COVER - COLOR 2 (KIND OF)

The reason why I've hesitated on printing this image as long as I have is because I knew it was going to be difficult, (alright, next to impossible), to get the registration to line up with the segmented pieces of linoleum cut the way that they are. Regardless, not one to give up very easily, I thought I would make a go at it. Let's just say, after deciding that the color I had chosen for the second section wasn't working for me, going through the whole process of mixing it, inking the linoleum, printing a test and printing one actual piece on the good paper, I cleaned the linoleum off, got rid of the offending ink and fell back on my favorite printing color, BLACK.

Ironically, the 3 pieces I printed on to fabric, (i'm making pouches for the stitched editions), ended up printing better than the paper prints.

Being a glutton for punishment, I have decided to print up the last section in a 3rd color, yes an actual color, not black, and save a few of the pieces that don't appear to be complete screw ups. I'll tape the 3 pieces of lino back together the way that they were when I cut them out and print it up as a one color print... And smile knowing that I tried.

BERUBE-BUGS 2007 COVER / COLOR 1

So I finally got my act together and printed the first part, the first color of the Berube-Bugs cover. The technique is a little different this time around as I've chosen to print this image up in 3 colors, printing the 3 different sections of the actual image separately. Getting the registration of the 3 separate sections to line up perfectly is just as tricky as if I were printing the typical reduction style of printmaking with 2 or more colors and 1 piece of linoleum.

I'll be printing the second color later today and posting it tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

NEW BERUBE-BUG - STAMP LICKER

When I decided to start a mailart call last May, I figured it would be fun to incorporate an image onto the back of the return postcards that I send out to each person who sends me a submission. It seemed like the logical solution was to create a creature that looked like it was holding the stamp in place while also leaving enough room for the mail to and return address as well room for a quick note.
This guy is the 4th in the series of "stamp-lickers", I'm thinking that the name "SLIMER" fits really well.

BERUBE-BUGS 2007 SAMPLER

The BERUBE-BUGS 2007 sampler I created is over 6 feet long when unfolded and completely hand-stitched page to page in the order that the prints were originally made. Having said that, I tried like hell to get decent pics of the sections and then spliced them together in order to give you an idea what the sampler looks like in it's entirety. The last part is a bit blurry, my apologies.