Art, Musings, and Creative Endeavors of a Happy Duck
An eyedea, which I don’t have the skill to bring to fruition yet, but putting it here for the future when maybe I will have more ability.
you are a perfect buddha, simply hindered by karmic afflictions. awake to your buddhanature and be free!
I spent Saturday doing a short print run (all my runs are short; hand-printing gets me tired quickly). One was of my first lino block, which I am now retiring – I hope to rework the idea, and get something I’m more satisfied with; and the second is the second stage of a reduction print valentine I’m working on.
The valentine/reduction print is not turning out quite as I had hoped. Part of it is skill – I’m not experienced in reduction printing (this is my first), so I have things to work on regarding the best order to color-application, ink on the block, and print registration (to start with). I think, too, part of the problem is that I’m using speedball oil ink, and I’m just not particularly impressed with it. I’ve got Gamblin black, and the consistency, spread, and results are like night and day. So, it seems, it’s worth spending more money on the color. I wish I was surprised, but I am not. Another issue is the cardstock I’m printing on – probably not the best paper for it.
It is annoying to me that introductory, or entry-level, tools and resources for any hobby are of such low-to-mediocre quality. Many people quit because they can’t afford the good stuff and think they’re shitty artists, when the results they’re getting would be improved immensely by better tools. If I lived closer to anything, I’d be finding a print center or art co-op to join, so I wouldn’t be footing the bill for all the stuff myself.
you are a perfect buddha, simply hindered by karmic afflictions. awake to your buddhanature and be free!
I like to paint small things. Small things feel approachable. I also like to paint “garbage” – make art out of things that are just going to be thrown away.
There’s a practicality to painting small garbage: if you mess up or don’t like the results, you can just bin it, minimal resources expended. And if you DO like the results, it’s easy to find a place to put it. (Sort of; I’ve got tiny canvases, scraps of paper, and random painted things floating around my desk like a halo. But never mind that.)
So here’s an example of a fridge magnet gone wrong. It started life as a magnet that held a calendar from the real estate agent who sold us our house; it’s current incarnation is a mess. But I’m learning from it, I think – need to get better with matte medium, and textures, and the control for very fine lines.
I’m kinda broken about fascism. The tiny town I live in is indifferent, most folks thinking the big cities deserve what’s happening to them; most folks here are just ignorant. So, there’s not a lot of community within walking distance to be in community with over issues like this.
Ironically, if the supply chains all come crashing down tomorrow, I feel more secure with these people than half the leftists I’ve known.
But I couldn’t be at a vigil last night, I didn’t have a place to put that sadness and heartbreak and anger and fear, so I painted instead.
Getting somewhat better at gel plates – I think I need to reevaluate the paper I’m using. My mixed media sketchbook might not be the best option here.
you are a perfect buddha, simply hindered by karmic afflictions. awake to your buddhanature and be free!
After speed-running all the mistakes you can possibly make with gel plates over the course of a day, I melted the gelatin down and started over. Ended up with two smaller plates, and am starting to get a better feel for how it works.
There’s definitely a learning curve, which is not unexpected. Talented artists got that way because they did a lot of bad art before they got good, and that included learning how different tools and mediums work.
I tried a layered thing, where I was trying to make mountains. However, I didn’t let the paper stay on the plate long enough, and it didn’t come up as the image I expected. It came up as a couple of toned blobs.
So I made something out of it.
you are a perfect buddha, simply hindered by karmic afflictions. awake to your buddhanature and be free!
Poking around YouTube, I found an artist making cool stuff. And then, because algorithm, I found other artists using the same mediums he was – the gel plate. Most were using the commercially-available gel plates, but I feel like spending the money for something that I might not enjoy using doesn’t math.
But, as is the way of so many commercially-available art supplies, they’re easily made at home, and so I did!
My plate ended up about 8”x9”. For about $15. Versus the $30-50 for the commercial version. And, if mine is messed up or in need of refresh, I can just melt the thing down and start over.
I’ve got a lot of in-progress pieces today – not much I want to share yet. But I’m getting ALL SORTS of ideas.
I don’t make resolutions, really, but if I did, my resolution this year would be to do a little bit of art every day. Some days will be more than others, but at least a little bit.
So here’s to a 2026 filled with art!
you are a perfect buddha, simply hindered by karmic afflictions. awake to your buddhanature and be free!
First: I’ve not been printmaking long. The local Art Thrift Store (not its real name) had some super cheap lino and a couple of tools, and I’d been wanting to try it out for aaaaages. So, for about $15, I came home with a few reasonably-sized scraps of battleship gray linoleum, two gouges, and a roller. Haunting the Art Thrift Store on multiple occasions expanded my toolkit to include a few pieces of carbon paper and a half-used tube of waterbased speedball block print ink.
I was impressed with everything but the ink; a series of watching youtube videos and web searching to find out how to make it better, and the ultimate response was, “Use oil-based ink for better results.”
So, yesterday, I used oil-based ink (Gamblin Portland Intense Black) for the first time. SO MUCH LEARNING AND SO MUCH TO LEARN.
I hope you had a marvelous holiday this month, whichever one(s) you celebrate. Ours was quiet, but good.
Started on the replacement carving – this one will say “a better world is possible” – and it’s a slow process, both because my wrist can only do so much carving at once; and also, because I’ve been a bit busy.
Today, I tried something new, inspired by a random YouTube video. I can think of all sorts of things to do with these boxes. They were quick to make, and fun to paint – I look forward to improving my painting skills.
you are a perfect buddha, simply hindered by karmic afflictions. awake to your buddhanature and be free!
Found out today that my hand – which went through carpel tunnel release back in August – still isn’t up to lino carving full time. I’m bummed about that. So, a story:
I put a bunch of time and effort into a carving that had text on it. I’m not particularly experienced with printmaking, and the text was small enough that it involved some fine carving-out of the space in the center. I worked for days getting it all carved – was super proud of myself. The lines were looking clean, and I ran a test print to see if I needed any adjusting.
a better worlb is possible.
I got the design transferred to a new block today.
you are a perfect buddha, simply hindered by karmic afflictions. awake to your buddhanature and be free!