{"id":766,"date":"2007-08-28T23:49:02","date_gmt":"2007-08-29T03:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/2007\/08\/28\/766\/"},"modified":"2007-08-29T00:10:08","modified_gmt":"2007-08-29T04:10:08","slug":"766","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/archives\/766","title":{"rendered":"From black board to spitzsticker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forgive me for yesterday\u2019s wacky post. I\u2019m rounding the final turn of a new wood block\u2014the first I\u2019ve executed outside the workshop environment. The spot I\u2019ve set up in the little galley kitchen on the second floor is ideal. Painters need soft northern light, but the way the afternoon sun from the small window streams by my left shoulder is perfect for engraving wood. I can see each minute detail with total, three-dimensional clarity. Gray<\/a> loaned me a magnifying visor, but I prefer the naked eye, as long as I have the proper light.<\/p>\n

Why does wood engraving appeal to me? There\u2019s something about the precision that satisfies an inner aspect, much in the same way that the spontaneity of collage appeals to another part of me. Perhaps Wesley<\/a> put it best when he wrote, \u201cEngraving is like drawing on a black board. Every line you make is a white mark on a black surface. You are adding light to darkness.\u201d That hits pretty close to home<\/a> for me.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, it\u2019s widely acknowledged that wood engraving is a demanding, unforgiving medium. I\u2019m considered fairly decent for a \u201cbeginner,\u201d but that\u2019s because I can tap a lifetime of graphic investigation as I make each binary decision\u2014black or white? I still have a significant mark-making technique to learn and \u201cmuscle memory\u201d to acquire. I must also develop an even deeper resistance to haste. There are no shortcuts, \u201chappy accidents,\u201d or undo keys in wood engraving. Every mark must be deliberate. The process does not reward chance; it yields only to planning and tenacity. I find a challenge in all that, obviously, but I wish I\u2019d been more strongly captivated by it earlier in my artistic life. After creating the lino block for Joan and Wayne\u2019s wedding invitation, I abandoned printmaking for nearly 30 years. So be it. I\u2019m slowly making up for a bit of lost time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forgive me for yesterday\u2019s wacky post. I\u2019m rounding the final turn of a new wood block\u2014the first I\u2019ve executed outside the workshop environment. The spot I\u2019ve set up in the little galley kitchen on the second floor is ideal. Painters need soft northern light, but the way the afternoon sun from the small window streams […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,53,38,36,16,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/uj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}