Final Cat Prints

Still missing an epic title. Another project I should add to my previously posted to-do list is coming up with a title for this piece! I also still want to write a simple story in French to go along with the print. I mean...look at him...he's begging to have his snooty story told.



Edition of 5



Edition of 2

Yay! I'm happy with it and would like to try more multi-plate color work in the future.

Also, thanks to my best buddy Sara King I've discovered the magic of deviantart's portfolio feature. My page is kind of blah right now but I'm going to work on making it into a nice little portfolio: penelopeyocum.daportfolio.com.
I definitely want to make an image to replace to generic "Welcome" thing on the main page.

Oh and...I'm graduating tomorrow! I don't actually feel terribly excited but maybe it'll suddenly hit me tomorrow when I wake up. Or when I'm listening to the commencement speaker. Or when I'm walking up to get my diploma. Hopefully it'll sink in at one of those points.

Summer Goals

The semester (and my career as an undergrad) is quickly coming to an end. I'm hoping to make lots of prints this summer though, and hopefully take some printmaking classes in the fall if I have time.

Some specific projects I want to complete this summer:
-Two-color gocco prints
-Complete stationary sets (right now I have a bunch of cards printed but no envelopes...need to remedy that!)
-Small hand drawn/printed books--possibly small linocuts.
-SCREEN PRINTING! I really want to get a legit exposure unit set-up and calibrated so I can create screens with the photo emulsion technique.

This summer I'll be working as a Residential Advisor at the Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University. I'm looking forward to it, and am hoping to conduct a screen printing workshop for the students. So, before that all begins at the end of June, I'm going to design an image to use in the workshop. Actually creating a screen during a workshop would be a bit too time-consuming I think, so I'm planning on creating the screen ahead of time, then explaining the process during the workshop and letting the students print on their own shirts/bandannas/what ever using the pre-made screen. I'll have my supplies there, so if a few students are really interested in creating their own screens, I can always work with them independently after the workshop.

Part of what I'm looking forward to at CCY is a potential break-through regarding my feelings toward teaching. I've only had experience teaching my peers, so teaching high school students should be an interesting (hopefully enjoyable) challenge. I know I'll be returning to school in the next year or two. But first I need to figure out what I really want to do.

Gestation, Color Separation, and Monotypes

Woooah big update. I finally scanned a few of my BIG prints. Unfortunately, even though I scanned them in sections and pieced them together in Photoshop, they are slightly cropped because there was just no way to fit all the missing edges onto the scanner.

"Gestation" measures 18"x24" and is printed on cream paper in an edition of 5, with 3 additional unique color prints outside the edition (two printed à la poupée, one with stenciled surface rolls).



à la poupée print



a print from the edition

Today I was super productive and printed my entire multi-plate color edition in one day! I didn't think it could happen, but it did. I just couldn't stop. The prints have to dry overnight but I'm going to check them out tomorrow, clean them up, and sign them. Still need to think of a clever title. But here are my final color separations.



Thalo blue plate (printed first)



Magenta poupée and Orange poupée (bright red mixed with process yellow)

And here is a little kitty...I call him "Le Petit Chat Sur Le Grand Fauteuil":



I've also been working on my Monotype project. Here are two of my favorites:





That's all for now. More soon! In the coming weeks I'll be adding many new prints to my Etsy shop.

Color Proofs

Last week I did a few color proofs for my multi-plate color print! For these prints, the first plate carried two colors, and the second plate carried one color. The letters at the top of the first plate were inked à la poupée.



(AHHH bad registration)





I love the vibrancy of the third one, and those are the final colors I'll be using. Today I made another proof using the same colors, this time adding more magenta to other areas of the plate by inking both the letters and the chair à la poupée. I also printed it on cream-colored paper, so I'll compare it to the other proofs tomorrow and see if I like that better. Tomorrow I'm planning to do at least one more color proof to experiment with the magenta poupée a bit more, then I'll print the edition!

Also, here's a monotype I did a few weeks ago. This was sort of my concept for the final project, but it's completely different now. I think I've determined that monotype isn't really my "thing" but I'm still pressing forward and working to make my final project as nice as possible.

le chat noir

On Friday I printed an edition of 18 of the little hypnotic cat. I decided to call him "Le Chat Noir" (The Black Cat). I think his shadow has a mind of its own. I'd like to write a short story/poem to put on the back of each print, but that will have to wait another week or two, after Finals Insanity has ended.

As you can see, I ended up rounding the corners, and I'm happy with how it turned out! I think some of the subtlety in the spitbite wore out (in the sky/horizon), or the blankets/pressure on the press weren't quite right. Regardless, I'm happy with it and it was nice to see that all 18 prints ended up being edition-worthy.



Proper scan coming soon, along with lots of exciting color proofs of my other kitty-print (still in need of a title--suggestions welcome).

Edit 5/4

Here's a scan of "Le Chat Noir"! Lucky 13 :)