It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, but I wanted to share some new works in progress. Here are a couple of woodblocks I plan on printing this weekend. My life has been extremely busy over the past year, but I hope to begin a more steady blog presence again. I’ve also changed the look of the site and would appreciate any feedback. Let me know what you think.
It’s nice to be posting again.
Have a great day!
Drew
Copyright © 2013 by Drew Kail
This is one of the woodcuts I worked on outside a couple of weeks ago. It is carved out of some scrap wood I found in my shed. There were actually two scraps of the same type of wood, a square and this one. This one is far from having right angles, which is why I was so interested in using it. Basically… It’s got a lean to it from the left to the right side and the top has a slight wave which I think is gorgeous. So far I have printed ten of this image. I’m not sure yet what the finished edition will be. It’s also still untitled at this point. The other piece of wood, the square piece, I have been using for some color mixed process prints, which I’ll post pictures of when I get further along.
Have A great day.
Copyright©2012 by Drew Kail
Just an update on some things I’ve been up to since I returned from Pittsburgh. 
I participated in the Crafty Underdog event held at the Bob White Theater on June 3rd. A Fantastic history to the theater including a gentleman named Dale Haskin who purchased it in the 1990’s to house his Wurlitzer organ pieces. The Bob White is in the process of being renovated to be a functional space again, and I was excited to be a part of this first weekend reopening. Thanks Crafty Underdog. There are two more days of events in the Bob White Theater this June 23rd and 24th. I will not be participating, because that is my 6th wedding anniversary weekend. But do check them out if you are in Portland. You can find out more info on their website:
I wanted to show my setup for the event, because it really is a simple thing that anyone can do when needing to display their work. I used a 3 panel cardboard display board, which I got at SCRAP, painted it with gesso to make it white and hung samples of my work with thumb tacks. The only real “construction” was screwing an empty cardboard box to the back of the board as a support so the display didn’t topple over. Not really exciting so I didn’t take a picture. Alyssa set up my table and I think it looked great. She’s good at that kind of stuff.
An old wine box that I acquired from a previous job held all of the inventory and propped up a few collages. I cut out and hand typed 100 business cards for this event. I love how much people enjoy sifting through the stacks to get just the right one. It’s free art. What’s better than that?
Alyssa purchased this brand new battery operated camping lantern that worked wonderfully during the event as a little beckon of light… A little light house directing people to my space.
The last thing I want to show is my banner. I cut the letters for Drew Kail out of black and white woodcuts. The drewkail.wordpress.com is cut out of reused black mat board. Everything was then glued to a piece of bristol board. Pretty easy and I’ve used it for a few shows now, so it’s held up extremely well.
Events like Crafty Underdog are great to get exposure for your work, and I wanted to show that you can make a really nice display for almost no money. I plan on building a wooden version of the cardboard display board with a hinge, but that’s another day.
Other than hanging out at craft shows I’ve been working on some new woodcuts. I was carving on our back deck last weekend when the weather was beautiful and Alyssa took some pictures.
I carved two separate blocks that day. This one is a piece of found MDF Board. Originally the image was carved into reused linoleum, however, the lino had some sort of ink resist on it which made printing a quality image out of the question. To remedy the situation, I printed the lino on the found MDF, which I will then print on the paper.
Here’s a better shot of the image.
I love working outside, because you can just sweep all of the wood shavings into the backyard. I began printing the second block I cut that day and should have pictures up soon.
Have a great day!
Copyright©2012 by Drew Kail
A Good Distance From Here to There
A couple of days ago I was interested in updating some images on my Inkteraction profile. For those who are unfamiliar, Inkteraction is a social network, similar to Facebook, for printmakers. Anyway, I was browsing through which prints I had already uploaded in my photo albums when I discovered one which was not on this blog. Interesting. Somehow I had forgotten to include it with the rest of the woodcuts completed in 2011, but had uploaded it to Inkteraction out of context.
Posting an image of this print today is actually extremely fitting on a personal note. The title “A Good Distance From Here to There”, describes my most recent experience perfectly. This morning my wife Alyssa and I woke up in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, clear across the country from where I we currently live in Portland, Oregon. It is always a very long trip with no direct flights between the two cities. Portland to Houston to Pittsburgh = A very long day.
Anyways, we are here for the wedding of my friends Justin and Megean. I’ve known Justin since the 9th grade, which sadly is over twenty years ago. They are getting married on Saturday and I couldn’t be happier to be involved. Justin are Meagan are perfect for each other.
There is also a Pierogi bar at the reception. A PIEROGI BAR…. AT THE RECEPTION! It’s great to be home. I love this town. But it sure is a good distance from here to there.
Forgive the mistakes in this post if there are any (There probably are)….I’m very jet lagged this morning.
Have a great day.
Copyright©2012 by Drew Kail
I just want to make a quick post/ heartfelt thank you to Mike Smith, the writer/curator of Destructive Testing. Today he granted me the honor of being his featured artist of the day, and showcased a lot of my work. He even inspired me to un-box some old linocuts of industrial scenes, which I had only printed proofs of, and do full editions. I’m excited to take them for a spin again and see what happens.
Other than showcasing a featured artist of the day on his blog Mike also makes amazing sculptural and functional work with reused, reclaimed and recycled materials. Often these pieces are ingeniously electrically engineered as lamps in a wonderful marriage of science and the fantastical.
Vintage Food Grater Wall Lamp
You can find more of Mikes work and more featured artists on his blog:
http://destructivetesting.wordpress.com/
Thanks again for including me as today’s Artist of The Day Mike.
Last night I attended a networking event hosted by I Heart Art Portland. I think it went very well. I met a lot of interesting people and made some connections in the art community. For the event I decided that new business cards were needed. I racked my brains for ideas, concepts and styles and nothing seemed to work , until….
I decided to cut up some of my proofs and slightly flawed prints into business cards. This way, not only does the person have my information, but also has a unique piece of my work as a reminder of what I do. I cut them close to double the height of a normal business card and slightly less in length.
For the backs, I bought mailing labels. At first the game plan was to design a template and print 50 labels by computer, however, the template took forever to download and I couldn’t figure out how to use it.
Enter in the typewriter.
I’ve had this typewriter for years and years. I don’t even remember how long, and it still works great, even if I had to tape the lid closed.
I hand typed 50 labels. Sounds tedious, but oddly… I actually really enjoyed it. The smell of the ink and the ticking on the hammers was fantastic. I’m an analogue kind of guy, and sometimes I forget that.
The greatest thing, for me, was that I was listing my email, twitter and blog address by typewriter. So conceptual.
Here’s the link to the I Heart Art Portland website:
Have a great day.
Copyright©2012 by Drew Kail
I’ve been working on a new reduction print for a few weeks now. Sorry no process shots, but I didn’t as yet have my rechargeable batteries for my camera. Now I do. So far I’ve printed five colors: pale yellow, two shades of orange, a light red and a very light red-violet. I decided to print many somewhat transparent colors to build up a hopefully grainy and radiating surface. Helen Frankenthaler and Toshi Yoshida’s abstract works were my inspiration for this venture. It seems to be working, I only hope it continues. I didn’t give a close up shot of the print, because the details have only just begun to become separate from the atmosphere.
I’ve also been planning my next print, which is going to be larger in scale. It’s another reduction, this time on mMDF board. I love using MDF for woodcuts. In fact, most of the woodcuts on my blog are done from MDF. It’s inexpensive, often I can reclaim it, and it’s thick enough to use both sides. MDF stands for medium density fiberboard and you can find it anywhere you buy lumber. It’s basically particle board, and gives a gorgeous flat black print.
Here are some of my prints done from MDF board:
“It’s Easy To Believe”
“Overgrown”
“It Only Takes A Second To Make An Observation”
I have never attempted a color MDF print, let alone a multi-colored reductive MDF print, so I figure it’s way past time.
The print is much larger scale than the last few, but I always presoak the paper to get a lot of the starch out.
I rigged two runners of fishing line to accommodate the extra weight from the soaked paper. It still all sagged into one bunch, but that’s okay. I also cut the registration board this morning and it’s about 5-6 times the size of the previous ones. I’m pretty excited.
Have a great day.
Copyright©2012 by Drew Kail
A few weeks ago I posted how I discovered some forgotten prints I had done. I managed to post one image and then the batteries in my camera died.
Here’s the original post:
https://drewkail.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/a-couple-of-things/
Well, I finally found my rechargeables, fired them up and took pictures of the remaining drypoints.
And Finally, I wanted to show my first attempt at Kitchen Lithograph. Kitchen Litho is a process that relies on the chemical reaction between oil or grease based medium and everyday cola to etch an image on aluminum foil. It’s non toxic, and I think it worked out pretty well.
No title for it yet. I hand colored the red circle, but plan on expirimenting with ways to use multiple pieces of foil. I am really into this process. Much of my work deals with expressionism and gesture in printmaking, and this fits right in. Also, it’s inexpensive, I can utilized reused materials, size is easy to manipulate, and I don’t need a press. I heard about this technique in the summer, but finally decided to give it a try. I’m very happy that I did. Thanks art-emilion for sharing this.
Here is the link to the youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2w0IFm7JOY
And the link to download the free handbook:
http://www.art-emilion.fr/index.php?id_article=125
Have a great day.
Copyright©2012 by Drew Kail
“New to The Neighborhood”
This Friday is First Friday here in Portland and I will be showing my collages at Maven in Montavilla from 6-8. I’m really excited to work with Jacky and to be the first artist to show at her fantastic new store at 7819 SE Stark ST, across from the Flying Pie Pizzeria. Also, I’m really happy to be a part of of my own neighborhood’s First Friday Art Walk. I hope everyone can check out the show and all the awesome stuff at Maven. “New to the Neighborhood” will be in the show.
Also, I’ve been extremely busy of late. Really….Really busy, between my day job and my printmaking. So much that I accidentally let most of my Etsy store expire. I relisted much of the items, but still have work to do. It’s going to take some time, so if anyone has questions about a print or collage, please send my an email. I promise to be more dilligent.
Finally, I wanted to let you guys know about a really interesting wordpress site. Benleib.com. It’s a fascinating blog documenting the travels, adventures and daily routines of life, on wet and dry land, of the author as he undertakes his latest job on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico. His Posts’s are appropriately titled Seaman’s Log with the coinciding date. Each post is adorned with beautiful illustrations and prints. I am extremely excited to say that my work will be featured in one of the very near post’s (I believe it to be Thursday). I’ll let you know when it is posted, but until then please check out the link below to catch up on his journey so far.
I’m also going to add a link to this site on my sidebar under artists.
That’s all for now,
Have a great day.
That’s all for now,
Have a great day!
Copyright©2012 by Drew Kail
Back in the tub. Today I’m printing the key block, or black color which usually means the print is finished. I have a final idea that I may incorporate, but want to see how this works out first.
Since this may be the last color I do, I have carved away almost everything except for outlines and the tower-like structure in the top right.
It’s important to note that I do not print in the near dark. the lighting is so bad in my studio for taking pictures that I shut them off and rely on daylight. Lately, it seems, the days I can get some printing done are the leftover days of the Portland gray winter sky. I can’t wait for spring to come.
I’m happy with it, but still tempted to try to push it further. We’ll see how it looks in a few days.
Have a great day.
Copyright©2012 by Drew Kail
Drew Kail 