I was in the studio last week, printing a new piece, the Tower Theater. Despite taking the source photo eighteen months ago, I only started drawing and carving a week before printing. I’ve been feeling a little out of practice, so I wanted to do something in the way of practice: something that would give me some practice carving, getting the feel for my tools back, without letting myself get too caught up in what the outcome was going to be. And all in all, I’m pretty pleased with the result: there are things I see that I’d do differently, but as I read in Art & Fear, every piece has the seed of the next piece in it.
Back in the studio this weekend, experimenting with graphite ink from Gamblin. 
Fast Pass, copyright 2013 Nathan Yergler
Last week when I was printing my line study, I had a couple extra hours in the studio. I’d previously drawn the plates for a Fast Pass double-plate print, so I quickly carved it as a fun distraction. The Fast Pass was the SFMTA monthly pass card when I moved to San Francisco in 2007. It’s since been supplanted by Clipper, but most of my friends have some emotional attachment to the Fast Pass. You had to get a new one every month, and the colors changed each time, often appearing almost seasonable. I have a collection of the Fast Passes that passed through my hands, and it seems like I’m not alone.
As a draft print that took about 90 minutes to carve, I’m happy with the result. I’m particularly happy with how the MUNI logos came out. This is one of the first prints I’ve done with text on it, so I think the next thing I’d like to work on is cleaning up the text carving a bit.
| author: | Nathan Yergler |
|---|---|
| category: | printmaking |
| tags: | linocut, multiplate, text, postive-negative |
| comments: |
Untitled (coffee cup line study), copyright 2013 Nathan Yergler
4” x 5” linocut print
I wanted to practice using lines to describe, rather than outline, shapes and surfaces, so I took a picture of a coffee cup on a sunny day and decided to try and make a print from it. I worked small and (relatively) simple to avoid investing too much time in what is (effectively) a practice piece.
It was pretty instructive to carve this in an afternon, and then print it on Wednesday. Because it was small project, I was able to remember what I expected when I was carving, and compare that to what came out. There were a few things that came out as expected, and a few that didn’t. That was sort of the point.
| author: | Nathan Yergler |
|---|---|
| category: | printmaking |
| tags: | linocut, study, practice |
| comments: |
“Candlestick Point”, copyright 2013 Nathan Yergler
A dear friend sent me a photograph she took from Candlestick Point shortly after I made a print of a canal in Amsterdam. She noted that I’d been working with images of water, and thought of me when she looked out over the bay. I’ve been thinking about the image for a while, and started working on the actual print a couple months ago. I was finally ready to print on Wednesday.
“Candlestick Point” plate, midway through carving
In this case I made a drawing from the photograph, transferred it the lino plate, and then starting thinking about how to actually carve things away. I was about 90% of the way done when I scanned the plate, as an experiement. I think it’s pretty interesting to look at, too. The rocks, in particular, are something new for me. It’s taken me a while to ease into using parallel lines like that to indicate shading and shape. It’s a technique I’ve seen others use very effectively, and I’m excited to develop it for my own work.
| author: | Nathan Yergler |
|---|---|
| category: | printmaking |
| tags: | linocut |
| comments: |
“Welcome Home”, copyright 2013 Nathan Yergler
5” x 7” two plate linocut print, printed on Rives BFK
Richard and I just moved from South Beach back to the area I lived in when I first moved to San Francisco, and we first started dating. We’ve been in the new place for a couple weeks now, and it already feels like we’re more in the city than we were before: closer to friends, closer to things to do in the evenings, and more in a neighborhood. I was in the studio on a Wednesday evening, just days before we moved, and I wanted to commemorate our new home. This is what came out. It’s not a literal drawing of the front gate and building, but it sort of takes the elements and rearranges them a bit. It’s one of the first things I’ve done where I just drew directly on the plate before carving, instead of doing a drawing first. Of course, I forgot to reverse it, so I still wound up tracing what I’d drawn, cleaning off the plates, and then re-drawing it. Sigh.
| author: | Nathan Yergler |
|---|---|
| category: | printmaking |
| tags: | linocut, multiplate |
| comments: |
“Untitled (Bay Bridge)”, copyright 2013, Nathan Yergler
8” x 10” four plate linocut print, printed on Rives BFK
Shortly after I finished “Golden Gate” last year I decided I needed to do a companion piece depicting the other bridge in San Francisco. I pulled the first prints of the new piece on Wednesday, and I think it’s pretty interesting how it turned out. Just like on “Golden Gate”, I tried to stretch technically. One of the plates — the sky and water — is cut in two so I could ink the gradient the way I wanted to. When carving the water I limited myself to a rounded edge carving tool to try and make it more “shimmering”. And the cables on the bridge are represented using carved lines against the sky. All three experiments feel pretty successful to me.
When I was printing “Days Getting Shorter“, I experienced how much fun printing multiplate prints can be when the registration is loose. The loose registration on those plates meant that I could focus on inking, colors, and other things, and the registration just sort of happened. The registration on this piece is much tighter, and of the five I printed I only got one where it’s really right on. But even the ones where’s it’s a little off don’t feel like failures to me: I think because there’s so much going on, it’s easy to enjoy other parts of the image. And working on tight registration is something I can practice in upcoming work.
| author: | Nathan Yergler |
|---|---|
| category: | printmaking |
| tags: | linocut, multiplate |
| comments: |
“Golden Gate”, copyright 2013, Nathan Yergler
8” x 10” linocut print with watercolor, printed on Rives BFK
In the process of working on Golden Gate last year, I printed the black plate on its own a few times. I’ve been experimenting with watercolors recently, and this is my latest attempt at mixing watercolors with my printmaking. I like how different it feels from the four plate print version. In Art & Fear, the authors talk about how every piece necessarily contains within it the seeds of what comes next: something you want to experiment with, try to do differently, take a little further. Part of what’s been so satisfying about experimenting with watercolors is that that seed is obvious, and at the same time I’m able to enjoy where I am today. That balance, appreciating what I’m doing today while at the same time feeling energized about where I’m going, is difficult and often fleeting. So I’m trying to enjoy it while it’s here.
| author: | Nathan Yergler |
|---|---|
| category: | printmaking |
| tags: | linocut, watercolor |
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