This stencil mural was spray painted onto the bulkhead of the Ocean Giant’s Engine Room. Photos record the process and final result. The image is approximately 2 1/2′ by 3′. The ship tends to make a circuit between the arctic and Antarctic, and I was aboard during the 2023 trip to McMurdo station in Antarctica. I also used the stencil to make poster-sized prints onto navigational charts that had been used aboard the ship.
Filed under Print Making, Stencil
Tagged as antarctic, antarctica, arctic, chart, compass, globe, heavy lift, map, mcmurdo, mcmurdo station, north pole, ocean giant, pengine, polar bear, Print Making, printmaking, seabulk, seacor, ship, shipping, south pole, Stencil
“St. Christopher” used five plates printed onto navigational charts. These charts were used in navigation of Foss tugboats.
St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers and sailors. He was a giant who offered to carry a child across a rushing river. When, halfway across, he began to struggle under an unbearable weight, the small child, revealed to be Christ, explained that St. Christopher was holding the weight of the world and responsibility for its safe passage as he crossed the river.
Filed under Linoprint, Print Making
Tagged as block print, blockprint, chart, christopher, lino print, linoleum, linoprint, map, print, Print Making, printmaking, reduction print, relief print, saint christopher, st. christopher, wood block, woodblock
“House With Columns” is a cyanotype print of my wife taken on Mare Island, Vallejo, California. It was made on Canson Watercolor paper, Clearprint Drafting Velllum, and Arches Platine Paper, and developed using a lightbox that I made using UV LEDs. I used three paper types in order to learn more about the medium, and used Christina Z. Anderson’s article and book as a guide.
Filed under cyanotype, Print Making
Tagged as alternative photography, blue print, blueprint, california, columns, cyanotype, mare island, photograph, photography, Print Making, printmaking, vallejo
“The Age Of Exploration” is five plates printed onto Speedball Arnhem 1618 Printmaking Paper using a homemade printing press. It is based on an image of Ernest Shackleton’s ship, The Endurance, which was shipwrecked in Antarctic ice floe.
Filed under Linoprint, Print Making
Tagged as antarctic, antarctica, block print, blockprint, endurance, lino, lino print, linoleum, linoprint, Print Making, printmaking, relief print, shackleton, ship, ship wreck, shipwreck, tall ship, wood block, woodblock
“Nicholas Assists The Wayward Mariner, And All Those Aboard” is 8 plates printed onto Speedball Arnhem 1618 Printmaking Paper. It was made using a homemade printing press.
Filed under Linoprint, Print Making
Tagged as block print, blockprint, lino print, linoleum, linoprint, mariner, merchant marine, print, Print Making, printmaking, seaman, ship, shipping, tug boat, tugboat, wood block, woodblock
“Not Yet A Breach, But An Expansion” is two plates printed onto expired navigational charts. These charts had been used to navigate aboard Foss tugboats. The paper is high quality, untextured, and is not highly absorbent. This is the first print made using the printing press that my father and I made using a vice press to generate pressure. The title is a reference to John Donne’s poem, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.”
Filed under Linoprint, Print Making
Tagged as block print, chart, compass, donne, flower, john donne, lino, lino print, linoleum, linoprint, map, print, Print Making, printmaking, rose, scrollwork, wood block, woodblock
“Daguerreotype” is six plates printed onto either Speedball Arnhem 1618 Printmaking Paper or Canson Edition Paper. The Speedball paper ended up being best suited to the print, as I was still printing by hand, without the use of a mechanical press, and relied on an untextured paper in order to transfer the image smoothly.
Filed under Linoprint, Print Making
Tagged as block print, blockprint, daguerreotype, lino print, linoleum, linoprint, print, Print Making, printmaking, steam train, train, woodblock
“Covid 19” is a woodblock print made using a single, laser-carved plate. I designed the image, and then commissioned Mike Stark at Pink Line Press to carve the block for me. The image is printed by hand, without the use of a mechanical press, onto Thai Kozo Paper.
Filed under Linoprint, Print Making
Tagged as cal maritime, covid 19, csum, golden bear, kracken, linoprint, octopus, Print Making, printmaking, relief print, ship, shipping, wood print, woodblock
“The Christening” made use of five plates on Blick Masterprinter Paper. It is hand-printed without the use of a mechanical press.
Filed under Linoprint, Print Making
Tagged as block print, cal maritime, golden bear, linoleum, linoprint, ocean, Print Making, printmaking, relief print, ship, shipping, woodblock
“Flash: Tattoo For Conrad” is a single block printed on navigational training charts. The image is a variation on a design I’ve drawn and toyed with over the years. Here it’s conceived as a piece of flash, or tattoo art that hangs on studio walls to advertise the artist’s skill and inspiration for the customer.
Flash has come to be considered an artform of its own over the years. Here, I’m commemorating one of my favorite authors, Joseph Conrad, and the transformative value of literature.
Filed under Linoprint, Print Making
Tagged as block print, flash, joseph conrad, linlprint, linoleum, literature, Print Making, printmaking, relief print, tattoo, woodblock
Josh Barlas