After a rocky start to the year, my foray into etching continues. This is a summer sun view of Allan Bank Grasmere, one-time home (and for a time legal nightmare) of William Wordsworth. I’m not so much interested in the house as the challenge of the depth and difference of that backdrop of trees, the shadows from the eaves and the rendering of that fell. 45m etch under way #AltText#Cumbria#Wordsworth#etching#intaglio#printmaking
For #InternationalWomensDay my ongoing series of portraits of women in science through history. If you look for them, they’re there. I’m up to 56 now. Here’s to the day when a scientist’s sex is no longer remarkable in any field!
Happy birthday to Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) renown Flemish cartographer.
What made Mercator a great #cartographer, was in fact his abilities as a #mathematician -and like those of us scientists who feel compelled also to create art he was wasn't hindered by his immense ability as an engraver. He produced beautiful world maps (a version of which is depicted in this print), globes, 🧵1/n
March is seashells month for #InsertAnInvert2024, starting with infauna or animals which live inside the sediment, burrowing into it.
Corculum cardissa, the heart cockle, is a species of marine bivalve mollusc in the family Cardiidae found in the Indo-Pacific. If viewed from the side, it looks like a heart. There is a lot of colour variation in shells, but they often have patterns in coral pink like this. 🧵1/
I’m experimenting with kitchen litho on aluminum foil! On Thursday I took a great online workshop & managed to make a very small edition of wolpertinger* prints. It’s tricky but also extraordinary to get detailed prints with household items like aluminum foil, vegetable oil, cola and water.
I tried different papers & printed them by hand with glass baren & wooden spoon. It’s a lot of elbow grease!
For #PrinterSolstice prompt primary colours I combined 3 print media for each of blue, red and yellow. This print is about how fractal patterns appear in nature. I have combined a cyanotype of a fern leaf on Japanese paper, with a red gel print and yellow lino block print of a fractal Sierpiński triangle.
I've got some plans for a new mini print series so I can contribute more to Gallery 69... Also, do you have any idea how awesome the Exclamation Mark is!?
Returning to the art of the printmaker, we should consider this fine 1921 colour woodblock called “Sunlight Through Clouds” by Austrian painter and printmaker Hans Frank.
First pass of most lines is in. I ran single cuts for where thin power lines were, doodled some twists, and sawed at parts of the wood telephone pole. It’s hard to see the detail while I cut without a flashlight, so I wiped in some water soluble black crayon.
This might need a dark or black color plate along with the line work.
An extraordinary American astronaut and science communicator for #BlackHistoryMonth: Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is a physician who became the first Black woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour for NASA, on September 12, 1992. She also has a B.S. in chemical engineering, served in the Peace Corps, is a dancer and choreographer, 🧵1/
#linocut#printmaking#sciArt#astronaut#womenInSTEM#BlackInSTEM#histsci#MastoArt
Next up for #printerSolstice@printersolstice is CMYK so I got out my process cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink and started experimenting with the gel plate. The first is my favourite, made with cut paper stencils and patterned Japanese tissue paper. I also used some carved Lino blocks and plant materials on the other prints.
Never done letterpress, but thinking about getting some type and things on like ebay and running it through the etching press. Is this a bad idea? Anybody with experience got suggestions? Are quoins, furniture, and a chase in my future?
February 18 is World Pangolin Day draw attention to the plight of the world’s most trafficked animals, these magnificent scaly mammals. There 8 species of #pangolin in Africa & Asia, all endangered, threatened by poachers for their meat & scales (used in traditional medicines) & by habitat loss and deforestation. 🧵1/2
Happy birthday to Queen Seondeok of Silla (c. 595 ~ 610 - 647), 27th ruler of one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, from 632-647, who brought about a renaissance in culture and science and built the Cheomseongdae moon and star-gazing observatory.
Known for her intelligence, wisdom & benevolence, stories survive of her curiosity & cleverness even as a child. When her father the King was gifted peony seeds from China, 🧵1/
Printmaking Print