Happy Holidays!

Here is my 2011 holiday print.
Etching with hand coloring using watercolor
Rives BFK paper
Image: 3.5X4 inches

Bison 22X30 (Original Ink Bubble Drawing)

I am not sure if i am done with this one. i might add some charcoal yet.
Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Bison
paper size: 22X30 inches
ink bubble drawing on acid free Canson Edition paper
I mixed india ink with water and dish soap and blow bubbles to make this image. very very messy but lots of fun. i had to wear sunglasses so you can imagine my face!

Ojo de Dios (original etching)

Artist: VIza Arlington
Title: Ojo de Dios (Gods Eye)
Etching
hand colored with watercolor
image size 4 X 6 inches
paper size 8X10
edition size 100
signed and numbered original print
Rives BFK paper
$25
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I and I (original etching)

Artist: VIza Arlington
Title: I toI
Etching
image size 4 X 6 inches
paper size 8X10
edition size 100
signed and numbered original print
Rives BFK paper

Lily of the Valley ACEO (original block print)

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Lily of the Valley
paper size: 2.5X3.5 inches
image size: 2.5X3.5 inches
edition: 200
signed and titled on back of print
Hand-colored linoleum block print on cotton rag paper.

Hare an Moon (original mixed media bubble painting)

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Hare and Moon
clay board size: 11X14 inches
pencil, oil based ink and pen and ink bubble drawing on Archival and acid-free, Claybord
I mixed india ink with water and dish soap and blow bubbles to make this image. very very messy but lots of fun. i had to wear sunglasses so you can imagine my face!

Black Sun (original hand-pulled lithograph)

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Black Sun
Hand-Pulled Lithograph printed on Rives BFK Buff colored paper archival
image size:5.5X7.5 inches
edition 5
print will be numbered and signed by artist
I used this very cool technique created by French artist Emilion she calls Kitchen Lithographie
http://www.youtube.com/user/emilivideo

Nude (original handpulled lithograph)

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Nude
Hand-Pulled Lithograph printed on Rives BFK Buff colored paper archival
image size:5.5X7.5 inches
print will be numbered and signed by artist
I used this very cool technique created by French artist Émilie Brouard she calls Kitchen Lithographie
http://www.youtube.com/user/emilivideo

Fox 18X24 Bubble Drawing

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Fox
paper size: 18X24 inches
charcoal, pen and ink bubble drawing on acid free drawing paper
I mixed india ink with water and dish soap and blow bubbles to make this image. very very messy but lots of fun. i had to wear sunglasses so you can imagine my face!

Koi and Lily pads

I decided to use this print for the "Inspired by Japan" relief fundraiser. http://www.barenforum.org/fundraiser_project/index.html
each print took about 45 minutes to an hour to print. i printed them on my little etching press w/blankets. each one took 2 to 4 passes. i used Rives BFK paper a mix of 250 and 280 weight. the 280 weight paper seemed to work best because it had less bleeding into the white line areas for some reason.

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Koi
white line woodblock print on Rives BFK
image size:approx. 8X12 inches
paper size 8X12 inches

This is a white line or Provincetown woodcut print. I paint each area of color on the woodblock with watercolor then print the block by hand onto Rives paper. each print is unique. my prints are a bit different from traditional
Provincetown prints because i paint the whole block letting the watercolor dry then when i am ready to print i reconstitute the watercolor with a fine mist from a squirt bottle then print the whole block rather than printing each color one at a time as in traditional white line prints.

Wolf 18X24(original ink bubble drawing)

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Wolf
paper size: 18X24 inches
charcoal, pen and ink bubble drawing on acid free drawing paper
I mixed india ink with water and dish soap and blow bubbles to make this image.

Flying Start 18X24 (original bubble drawing)

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Flying Start
paper size: 18X24 inches
charcoal, pen and ink bubble drawing on acid free drawing paper
I mixed india ink with water and dish soap and blow bubbles to make this image. very very messy but lots of fun. i had to wear sunglasses so you can imagine my face!

Hart 18X24 (original bubble drawing)

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Hart
paper size: 18X24 inches
ink bubble drawing on cotton rag Rives BFK paper
I mixed india ink with water and dish soap and blow bubbles to make this image.

Amalthea exchange 48

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Amalthea
Amalthea is the goat nymph who raised/nursed Zeus at Mt. Ida in Crete and hid him from his father Cronus the Titan who had a bad habit of eating his children.
woodcut oil based ink on archival Rives BFK paper bleed print (image is printed to edges of paper),
image size: 8X10 inches
Paper size: 8X10
edition: 100

Moon and Sea III

I wanted to do a white line version of this motif. in this version i focused on geometry. i used the golden mean for the overall dimensions and in the placement of the moon. i also made a vesica pisces and used that to construct a template for the waves. there is more but it is probably boring so i will leave it at that. water based media makes me crazy! the things i love about it are totally unique to it and the things i hate about it are as well. i had some stretch and registration issues as usual but the overall look of the print is pleasing to me after my initial horror wore off but i will probably try it in oil based inks as well.

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Moon and Sea III
white line woodcut print on Rives BFK
image size: 18X30 inches
paper size 18X30 inches

Bamboo Forest

this photo looks a bit fish eyed to me

Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Bamboo Forest
paper size: 37X61 inches
image size: 36X60 inches (3'X5')
edition: Monoprint each print is unique
wood used: cherry plywood one block
paper: Mulberry
oil based printing ink
this was printed by me by hand

Exchange 47 moku hanga woodcut

I decided to abandon my original design and went with this peaceful easy one because i didn't want to stress out like i usually do when i print moku hanga. I loosely copied my image (the outline of the image area a circle and a line at the top of the wave area) onto all five blocks. i carved wavy shapes and hoped they would overlap in an interesting way and did the same with the moon. The lauan is a pain to carve but this design is pretty forgiving and the texture of the lauan hides many flaws in printing.
Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Moon and Sea
paper size: 6X13 inches
image size: 5X12 inches
edition: 100 VE
wood used: Lauan
Five blocks seven or eight passes

Bamboo Forest Finished

I am done! tomorrow i will hang it up and take some proper photos, clean up and put my dinning room back together. i already don't hate it. i did a little work Monday then didn't do anymore until today. the time away was good i used stencils and a roller and things went much faster. i was really locked into the white line painting frame of mind but the image really lends its self to rolling the ink and with a little stenciling things went much faster. when i do this one again i could probably get it done in at least half and maybe even a third of the time. i will print one in black before i put up the block and i will use the black print in the same way that i did the gold and silver falls but i might add some copper leaf as well.

Friday meltdown Monday back to work

I am really starting to hate this print. I had a meltdown friday after working on it for a week straight 8 to 14 hour days. so i took saturday and sunday off and now i am back to it. it is taking forever to print. it is so tedious and the size alone just makes it horrible. hopefully i wont totally screw it up in the next few days i think it will take me to finish. then maybe after it dries which will probably take a while i might start to like it again. i just want it OUT of my dinning room! maybe i will title it marvin k. mooney right now i am calling it bamboohoo. oh and that is quarter in the picture for scale.

3'X5' Bamboo Forest print progress

as you can see in my last pic my paper flipping method is very low tech a long stick. it works okay but it has caused a few crinkles here and there but i have decided not to let it bother me and to try and think of them as part of the "charm". It has taken me six days to get this far. Two days transferring the image and redrawing/making corrections on the block, one long day carving and this will be my third day printing. I expect to be at least halfway through the printing by the end of today.
The paper is a mulberry and i am glad i had it laying around because i probably would have went with a roll of Rives BFK and printing is already hard enough i didn't need the extra thickness. Sometimes i wonder why bother with all this why not just make a painting? I do like they way they look and i don't think i could duplicate it in a painting so i guess that is reason enough.
i also don't have representation so i don't really think i will be selling many if any of these so why go through the bother of multiple blocks to make an edition if they will just be rolled up in my closet. well these are my excuses for using such an inefficient form of printmaking anyway. I am using oil based relief inks with a drop or two of burnt plate oil. i have used a small roller a little but most has been done with stiff hog bristle bushes. i use them more like dobbers then brushes most of the time. i do like the richness of the oil inks and they blend nice but i really need to look into getting some Akua Kolor because clean up sucks. Also i am short so when i get more towards the middle of the block things will even be harder. I think i will be done in three days if all goes well.

Poppies Woodcut/Monoprint 22X30 inches

I have been worrying about how my large (3ftX5ft) bamboo print will stretch during printing so i made this "white line" monoprint using oil based relief ink with a bit of burnt plate 00 oil added sometimes to thin . I like the way it turned out so i will probably go ahead and proceed with the bamboo print using oil based inks instead of watercolors and on dry paper (so i don't have to worry about paper stretch and registration) the other photo shows the original watercolor/pastel painting with the finished print next to it (i like the print better) I always think i am better when filtered through a printmaking process of some sort. the occasional drawing being the only exception.
Artist: Viza Arlington
Title: Poppies
Monoprint/oil based white line woodcut print on Rives BFK Buff colored paper
image size: 18X24 inches
paper size 22X30 inches
this is a one of a kind monoprint I carved out the "white lines" from a block of wood then hand painted the image areas using relief oil based inks slightly thinned with burnt plate oil 00 then transfered to paper using a baren.
I consider each print to be an original oil painting on wood transfered onto paper.