Speedy-Carve Block Print from a Family Photo

This is a post from Belinda Del Pesco’s Art Blog Belinda Del Pesco.

Speedy-Carve Block Print from a Family Photo

Many decades ago, I spent a summer on the coast of Massachusetts, living in a chicken coop converted into a cottage with friends. We spent a lot of time swimming in granite quarries, filling sketchpads with paintings, making still life arrangements with lilacs, and walking on the beach. This speedy-carve block print was inspired by a photo from that summer.

I still use photos taken that year as painting, drawing and printmaking inspiration. Art inspired by a photo taken 45 years ago. Do you ever flip through your family photos, looking for interesting composition, pattern on pattern, high contrast or compelling shapes?

If You’re New to Art – Take Lots of Photos

During a summer in Rockport, Massachusetts, a friend was visiting our little rented cottage for the weekend. I snapped a photo of her sitting in bed, in front of patterned vintage table cloths and assorted photos thumb-tacked to the walls. Forty five years later, I’m making a relief print from that photo.

You’ve got a camera in your phone. Take a lot of photos. Every day. The rooms you inhabit, the people you’re hanging out with, and the places you visit. Adopt it as a habit. Everything is a potential drawing, painting or printmaking project – for the rest of your life. Document your moments as they fly by.

Speedy Carve Blocks and Multi-Color Printing

I planned to carve one side of the Speedy Carve block to use as a key block, with all the details printed in black in. I used the verso – or back of the block to carve the background shapes in color.

The challenge with this plan was two fold: registration with such a rubbery and flexible block is a bit fussy. And the paper I printed the color background on was not the right choice.

Real Life Art Studio Results

Social media would have us believe that every artist produces only flawless work, and the rest of us are bumbling along like a cart missing a wheel on a rocky, sloped path. Curated instagram reels feature every creator’s highlight reel, with no mistakes or hiccups.

I promise you that we all make mistakes. This print should have been an edition of 25 or so, but from two little choices – the block material and the paper – the attempt at an edition failed. I want to be clear that the mistake was not in either the paper or the Speedy Carve – they are both excellent products, and I’ll use them again. I made choices in the nature of this project that lead to the failed edition.

What I learned from this mistake – and that’s what mistakes should be harnessed for – is that Speedy Carve is better for single color prints, and the toothy texture of Arches Cover paper is better used on a press, rather than hand transfer prints where the paper’s texture might prohibit smooth ink transfer.

My husband always spouts the phrase Fail Fast and then Iterate – and I’ll be sure to make those adjustments as I start the next printmaking project.

What are you learning from your own hiccups in your art adventures?

Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you in the next post -

Belinda

P.S. You can enjoy a perfectly successful speedy carve print project from artist/printmaker Esther Elzinga’s studio here.

Art Quote

No human ever became interesting by not failing. The more you fail and recover and improve, the better you are as a person. Ever meet someone who’s always had everything work out for them with zero struggle? They usually have the depth of a puddle. Or they don’t exist. ~ Chris Hardwick

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