Work in progress

Workn'

Got these three roughed in. Trying to decide if I like it the way it is.

Pink

A bit more paint, a few more marks . . . Progress.

Studio

55 watt tube amp

Finally wrapped up the guitar amplifier conversion from a 1940 / 50s record player. It is a 55 watt tube amp. 

Open backed to let the tubes breathe. 

The front flips up if ever this configuration would work better. It also allows access to the electronics.

Eight inch speaker . . . 

Inside . . . Tubes

Volume nob on the inlaid oak floor board.

Counter top

Installed the counter tops on the south side of the kitchen this week.

Carving . . .

Progress

36"x36"  Sorry for the bad cell phone pic. I've been putting anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour in on this 6 days a week since June 1. Time to stop slacking and start carving, summer's almost over . . . 

Pink and red

Again, spent some time in the studio moving some paint around . . . 

Detail . . . Too obvious? Easy? Maybe . . . 

some time in the studio

On Saturday I cut the opening for the undercount sink . . . 

Some counter tops waiting for sanding . . .

A little client work, 10x18, WIP, acrylic . . . I used to live there.

Pink and red

Detail

Head

Started on a new 36"x36" block, which would be the largest to date. It'll be another Caleb and Jacob image. There's a lot of carving to do on this block—this is a detail of Caleb's face, approximately 6"x7".

Pink panel

A little progress . . . 

In the studio, finally'

48x40 . . . PINK

Finally got up to the studio to work on something unrelated to a home improvement project (kitchen & bathroom upgrades / repairs amongst others . . . New butcher block counter tops to the left). Put down some thick flat enamel to start something new. No clue where this is going to go, but that is part of the fun. To be continued . . . 

Detail.

A print from a few weeks back thar I do not remember posting . . . So, two color screen print on vintage map.

Detail

Detail.

Coccinellidae

Some experimenting with graphite, colored pencil and WD40. There is also some permanent marker off to the side.

Godson/Brother

Small print of Jonathan and his son, Andrew. I never know what to do with certain images from my cell phone that I want to paint/draw/make with. The image reference on this one in particular was a bit troublesome because it seemed so "typical"—smiling, etc. But the carving seem to solve for the predictability of the pose, at least for me. Anyway, what may have been the most interesting experiment tonight was printing on the shirt I was using for a rag. 

Guitar

I talked the guy at the Seward Attic down to 22.50 (from $45) on this broken guitar. Brought it home and put in a nine volt battery for the pickup . . . Played it through the amp with these three strings, and got sound.

That evening I glued and clamped the neck. The fretboard was still in good shape and the guitar has a truss rod . . . 

With the neck securely clamped, I started chipping away the finish with a razor blade. 

The next evening after a little more work with the blade and a vigorous sanding of the neck, I put. On some strings and took it for a test drive. I think eventually something will happen with the finish . . . I might paint it or something, but for now it is a solid little beater. I still need to adjust the action a bit, but that is a minor tweak. . . 

Studio Randomness from the past week

Canceled

There were about ten prints from the edition that did not make the cut. Those were relegated to this series . . . The bright orange works well . . 

Headphones, J+C - Test Print

There are a few minor tweaks I want to make. Most noticeably carving into the CAPE COD type a bit so that it is not as bold—only some subtle marks though. Overall this one was a blast to do, I hope to print a run of 3-5 prints and then one or two passes on a few paintings. 

My longer goal is to find a way to preserve the linoleum so that it keeps long enough for me to use for a few years. Wood block would be a more stable approach, but the canvas backed linoleum gives me a malleable enough surface to burnish through onto the wooden panel paintings.

Now I'm going through my cell phone looking for the next image to make a carving out of.