Self-Teachings Notes (CLR Print)

• Pre-cut more paper than needed. You will most likely end up using the extras.



• Make sure when you do "time management" for your projects, you schedule extra time for days when you will be too tired to work; count in time for mistakes that will have you starting the project all over again.



• Mistakes are good. Don't stress out. Mistakes make you a better artist. Try again. Take note on how your project has changed and evolved from your prior mistake.



• Pandora Music is good for background while working.



• Your final product will most likely not be how you first envisioned. The spirit of it is still there. It's a better version of how you thought it would look like.



• Make sure you have the appropriate tools. When working with such a small size, I realized I could not be as detailed as I would have liked, with the etching style that is trademark of me. I needed smaller nibs, bigger canvas space.



• When working such a small size, make lines as simple as possible. Have extra nibs on hand. I broke one in the middle of the night the morning before the project should have been finished.



• Carving into lino blocks for hours is tiring.



• Take a printmaking class: Learn different methods, instead of the DIY style you know.



• Frames and matting are a saving grace for the aesthetics of the prints.



• My bench hook and bone folder rules.



• Allow yourself to leave your working space and go outside, be with friends, have a drink, take a breath of fresh air. Take a walk.



• Step back, take another look. Proceed.

Print Created for Community Legal Resources

Community Legal Resources connects lawyers and communities by fostering pro bono legal representation for unfulfilled legal needs of nonprofit community organizations in Michigan that serve low-income individuals and communities, with an emphasis on community economic development activities.

In honor of CLR's 10th Anniversary they had commissioned me to create prints to be awarded to the law firms and lawyers who volunteered their services to make a better Detroit. Thus, my first time (since I've been back in Michigan) that I will be known as a Detroit local artist.

Documentation of work in progress to the final presentation of my print below:


Pre-cutting 6 1/2" X 9" pieces of paper.



Creating the final sketch.


I had to scan the final sketch and the text for the print to make an inverted copy before drawing the design on the block.




Hours and hours of carving with a hand that has arthritis, only to find out...



...that my first try on this block didn't work out and I made the "g" in the CLR logo backwards.


Starting all over on a new block, more clean.




Ready to print.


Testing the print.


Making "Space 311" into a printing factory.


Hanging to dry.



Signed and numbered.


Framing and adding business cards.



Finished.


Packing up.


Ready to go.


Some of the aftermath.




The 32nd floor of the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit.


My prints being awarded to law firms and lawyers. [Blurry, but documented.]







A lawyer sits back at one of the tables with his award on his lap at the end of the night.