July 28, 2022

Drawn live at North Fourth Arts Center in Albuquerque.

Large file for photogravure

Large file for photogravure

EXHIBITION

• Gary Cohen
• Tom Wiberg
• Cody Kamrowski
• Barbara Endicott
• Ken Romig
• DALL-E 2

Dropping "R's" --

Alburquerque should have two "R's" in it

• My thesis listed online

Ricardo Morales Lopez, a fellow art student ~1990

 in the ex-Academia de San Carlos, Mexico City

 (was in the same studio

 with me and compañero Igor Galvez Buenfil)

July 26, 2022

The Tuesday Night drawing group of Santa Fe drew both in person and on Zoom at the new Argos Gallery/Studio location. They arranged a hybrid real/virtual drawing session because we are still coming out of Covid.

PRINT

I drew with a charcoal pencil

July 25, 2022

 Drawn at Art Buddies in Albuquerque:

PRINT

Kirsten painted a linoleum square.  I think her style will look great as a print:

Kirsten's linoleum before she cut it

This signed piece by Burt Silverman looks like a portrait of Martin Campos.  Martin took us on a trip to see Burt Silverman's exhibition in Taos before he went to Philadelphia about twenty years ago:

Who is this portrait of?

"Less is More"

DRY RIVER

The Rio Grande has no water in it.  On Sunday, July 24th (the day before) I posted a 360° video of the dry riverbed.  Note that there were a few stagnant puddles, but no flowing water in the Rio Grande.  This was taken at the Dolores Huerta bridge, next to the National Hispanic Cultural Center, about a ten minute walk from my house:

I took a 360° video

of the dry Rio Grande

• Rio Grande at risk of running dry through Albuquerque (July 21st, doesn't look too dry)

• Dry Rio Grande River ABQ: Dry for First Time Since 1983. Heat, Drought, Albuquerque New Mexico

• Rio Grande now dry through parts of Albuquerque

• Goes Dry- Rio Grande River (Albuquerque)

• Rio Grande Dries Up

• The Rio Grande River is DRY! | Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In the same spot the Rio Grande was full in January 2021, and I took a picture of this beaver that jumped into the river right in front of me at dusk:

In January 2021 the river was full,

and I took this picture of a beaver

"The noise came from a spot where 13 months earlier I’d seen the biggest beaver I’ve ever seen."

UPDATE (July 27):  The Rio Grande was flowing again on Wednesday, as if nothing had ever dried up:

The Rio Grande was flowing again as usual

by Wednesday

July 23, 2022

Drawn at the Edith Bunker in Albuquerque:

I got a picture of Brian Gonzalez and I to send to Martin Campos in Philly, as he might remember both of us from the drawing sessions twenty years ago:

Brian Gonzalez and I 

in the Edith Bunker Studio 

KEN ROMIG

Ken Romig drew the whole whole studio, bringing "context" to the model.  I scanned his drawing and tried to make a print from it:

The original Ken Romig drawing

I compressed the image into a square,

and massaged it to laser cut

Laser engraving the image at Quelab

into a 6x6 inch linoleum square

The laser engraved 6x6 inch linoleum square

Printed on a Tortilla Press

(July 26, 2022)

I printed the linoleum quickly, and probably could have achieved a uniform, darker background had I printed it a few more times.  However I think that the inconsistent salty background actually enhances these thin-lined drawings, giving more space to the whole scene.

The thin lines are more difficult to print, as they tend to clog up with ink.  I did engrave a second linoleum, making deeper lines.  However I suspect that the thin-but-deeper lines will still probably clog up with ink and "erase" some of the fine lines in the final print.

Perhaps there is a way to thicken the lines with software, or otherwise manipulate the image and/or the printing technique to make a stronger image.  This print is a good start towards creating something wonderful.  Maybe printing with warm brown ink would enhance the final print.

UPDATE (July 28):

I laser engraved the same drawing -- only with the Laserpecker -- which would only engrave 4x4 inches maximum:

Engraving with a hand held laser cutter -- Laserpecker --

which only covers a 4x4 inch area max

After laser engraving,

I cut the linoleum down to 4x4 inches

Then I tried to print with the new metal Abusa adjustable Tortilla Press which I had just picked up (July 27th):

Abusa adjustable Tortilla Press

The 8x8 inch paper

exceeded the round Tortilla Press

Ultimately I could not get a good print from the metal adjustable Abusa Tortilla Press.  The pressure was not consistent, as it was weaker around the outer perimeter (furthest from the crank), and did not print well on those edges:

Poor prints with the Abusa Tortilla Press --

the best print, upper right,

came after I pressed the glass baren over it

My best print (upper right above)

came after I pressed with the Tortilla Press,

and then pressed again with the 

Iron Frog glass baren

I then printed the same 4x4 inch linoleum square with the wooden Tortilla Press than I had been using, and further pressing with the Iron Frog glass baren, and made a decent print that way:

The wooden Tortilla Press

and Iron Frog glass baren,

gave me a decent print

with the Akua carbon black ink

Note:  After I laser engraved the linoleum I cleaned it with LA's Totally Awesome cleaner which worked wonderfully.  The laser cutter melts the linoleum, leaving a sticky film around the cut lines, which is hard to wash off with just water or dish soap.