BERUBE BUGS ARE GOING TO COLLEGE

Early last summer I was asked by Ron Abram, Associate Professor of Drawing & Printmaking at Denison University, Granville, Ohio if I'd be interested in contributing to a printmakers portfolio addressing the subject matter of Equilibrium using Tom of Finland as the jumping off point. The portfolio will be exhibited as part of the SGC (Southern Graphics Council) International's conference being held on the campus of Washington University at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, March 16-19, 2011.

Needless to say, I was more than thrilled to be given the challenge of creating my response to one of my favorite Artist/Illustrators.

Here is the direction I chose.


Initial Pencil Drawing Directly on Linoleum


Inked Linoleum


Hanging to Dry


Final Print

JUNE BERUBE-BUG "FARRAH" FINAL(LY)

I finally managed to finish the June Berube-Bug "FARRAH", inspired by Farrah Fawcett's poster image of 70's fame. I'm running a little behind and still have to print the backs of the post cards, but they will make it into the mail this week going to anyone who sent me a post card last month. Sorry for the delay.

MAY BERUBE-BUG / "SWINE FLEW"

Inspired by the newest pandemic, I decided to create my interpretaion of the Swine Flu Bug. This one will go in the mail Tuesday when I get back into town.



For those of you in the U.S. have a great holiday weekend.

FIRST BATCH OF APRIL BERUBE-BUG INTO THE MAIL

April's Berube-Bug is going out to the following: TONY DEPEW / North Canton, OHIO USA - FAST EYES / Fairfax Station, VIRGINIA USA - CARLA CRYPTIC / Berkeley CALIFORNIA USA - JENNIFER ZOELLNER / St. Petersburg, FLORIDA USA - RACHEL FREEMAN / Lawrence KANSAS USA - RYOSUKE COHEN / Osaka JAPAN - EMMA KLEE / Baltimore MARYLAND USA - R.F. COTE / Quebec City, QUEBEC CANADA - MARA THOMPSON / Santa Monica, CALIFORNIA USA - CARI RAKAI / Toronto, ONTARIO CANADA - ANGELA BEHRENDT / Hannover GERMANY - MIGUEL JIMENEZ / Sevilla SPAIN - LESLIE HART / Greenville, SOUTH CAROLINA USA - DEWI / Toronto, ONTARIO CANADA

MARCH BERUBE-BUG / GENDER BENDER BUG

For this months addition to the Berube-Bug mailart project I decided to go a slightly different route. Still using printmaking and linocut as the primary method of creating multiple images, I decided to implement a technique call Chine-Colle' to add color to each and every postcard going out. Here is a brief definition from Wikipedia of what the Chine-Colle' technique of printmaking entails.

"Chine-collé is a special technique in printmaking in which the image is transferred to a surface that is bonded to a heavier support in the printing process. One purpose is to allow the printmaker to print on a much more delicate surface, such as Japanese paper or linen, which pulls finer details off the plate. Another purpose is to provide a background color behind the image that is different from the surrounding backing sheet."

"The final image will depend on the design and ink color of the printed image, the color and opacity of the paper to which the image is directly printed (plus any inclusions such as petals or fibers in that paper), and the color of the backing sheet."

- As you'll notice with the sample I'm documenting here, not all layered colors work that well. I have other prints from the edition where the color selection is far more successful but since I documented all of the steps with this particular color combination I figured I'd follow through and show the results, good, bad or otherwise.

*As far as the image for this months Berube-Bug, I'll leave that up to you for interpretation. ;0)

SKETCH ON LINOLEUM


INKED LINO W/COLOR PAPER DOT SELECTION


INKED LINO W/FIRST LAYER OF COLOR PAPER DOTS APPLIED


INKED LINO W/SECOND LAYER OF COLOR PAPER DOTS AND GLUE


FINAL PRINTED IMAGE


A FEW OF THE PRINTS

NEW YEAR - NEW STAMP LICKER

I figured it was time to retire the old stamplicker/return address stamp. And a special "Thank You" to Brandon for the suggestion as to the concept of the new image.

JANUARY 2009 / BERUBE-BUG

I just finished printing up the first Berube-Bug for 2009. This one is loosely based on the animal life we saw while in Ft. Lauderdale over the holiday.


INITIAL SKETCH ON LINO


LINO CUT BEFORE PRINTING


INKED LINO

HOLIDAY CARDS THROUGH THE YEARS 1995-2008

2008 ROBO-SNOWMAN


I started printing up my own Holiday cards in 1995, having been to design school but never taking a printmaking class I decided to teach myself how to print linocuts. I can't quite remember exactly what inspired me to work with linocuts other than the fact that I believed by using this medium I would be forced to work in a less detailed fashion than what I was used to doing with many other mediums including, graphite, pen and ink and acrylics. As you can see with time, I found a way to work around that perceived notion of a"less-detailed" medium.

Not knowing what the proper tools were in order to do an actual linocut, I bought a piece of wood-backed linoleum and when the time came to actually cut the image out, I grabbed what I was used to working with, an xacto-blade and got to work cutting out my first piece. That became the 2-color self-portrait holiday card I created while still living in Boston in 1995.

I continued to work like this until I moved to NYC the following year and just happened to meet Javier Cintron, a brilliant artist in his own right who at the time was working in the printmaking workshop of Bob Blackburn. Through Javier, I discovered that there were proper tools to cut linoleum with and places where they actually had printing presses to print editions out on. I'd sneak in when Javier was monitoring the shop and work on my own projects while observing the rest of the artists. Eventually when I became comfortable enough with the environment, I became a monitor and as part of the job, I was allowed to use the presses during my shifts.

As time passed, I was able to purchase my own medium-sized press and the rest is history. I'm pretty sure at this point I have a few hundred images printed up over the years.

The following prints represent the work I've created as Holiday cards as well as gift tags between 1995 and this week. I look back at the images and I'm amazed at just how personal and revealing they really are. Although the subject matter changes each year, they have all become self-portraits allowing a glimpse into my state of mind at the time of creation.

I hope you enjoy checking the images out and HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!

1995 - SELF PORTRAIT


1996


1997


1997 - GIFT TAGS


1998 - NEW YORK'S INFLUENCE (One Of My Favorites Too)


1998


1999 - (A BUSY PRINTMAKING YEAR)








1999 GIFT TAGS


2000


2001 ( A Very Sad Year Here In The City)


2002


2002 - GIFT TAGS


2003 - SANTA CLAWS


2004


2004 GIFT TAGS


2005 - BETHESDA FOUNTAIN / CENTRAL PARK (Image Part of "1-A-DAY" Series)


2006 - ROBOSANTA (Image Part Of "A FACE A DAY" Series)


2007 - HOLIDAY WHIRLING DERVISH