What good is my art if it doesn’t, in some small way, enrich the lives of others?
“Quiet Night Thoughts,” is a Tang Dynasty poem by Li Bai about homesickness. A man wakes up in the middle of the night and sees moonlight on the floor before his bed. At first he mistakes it for frost on the ground, like in the area where he comes from. But then he looks up and sees the moon and realizes that it is only moonlight, not frost. Lowering his head, he looks at the ground and thinks about home.
This spring semester (2020) I started work on a three-color lithograph in the same conceptual vein as some of my dendritic pastel paintings and photographs. However, when the Covid-19 virus closed the campus the instructor asked students to submit the work they had done to date for a “pass/fail” grade. I submitted the following.
Dendritic Vessels
(A Design Idea for a Three Color Lithograph)
by
William J. Long
(A.A. Fine Arts – Printmaking
Laney College)
for
Art 117
Special Projects – Printmaking
Laney College
Oakland, California
Charles Chavez
Instructor
May 17, 2020
Dendritic representations, as in dendrites in the brain, is a genre I have worked in for more than fifteen years in various media: pen and ink, pastels, photography, and printmaking (etchings and monotypes). My pieces often resemble a cross between dendrites in the brain, complex blood vessels patterns one might find in the brain or lungs, as well as fractal patterns one sees in nature.
This semester I decided to do a multi-color lithograph. Given my interest in dendritic imagery, the project I settled on is a three color lithograph much in the same style as my pastel drawings, but adapted to the unique aspects of limestone lithography.
Before on-site classes were suspended due to the Global Pandemic, I had also worked out the initial design idea (similar to my pastel work). However, the design idea has evolved beyond what one finds in my pastel work. I’ve been working on creating an image that both expands towards the viewer as well as recedes in space away from the viewer.
Prior to on-site classes being suspended, I had also picked out and grained a 10.5” x 13” light gray limestone block. The intent is to use the same stone for all (three) layers.
The remainder of this document has three sections. The first shows examples of previous work so that one might visualize what I intend to on the stone. The second section explores technical aspects of implementing the idea on limestone. The third section explores ideas of how to create a three- dimensional design.
Pastels on Paper, 18” x 24”, 2010
These patterns are left by the levigator when it is lifted off the stone after graining.
(Tree Branches)
Santa Clara Ave II, 2020
Notes on layering, color choices, which number litho crayons to use, use of touche, etc.
Thoughts about how the “tubes” might be drawn using litho crayons, autographic ink and / or touche.
Initial thoughts about creating a 3-D effect radiating from the center of the orb.
This lithograph will be similar to the pastel drawings. However, instead of simply having diminishing-sized tubes layered in front of and behind the orb (as in the second pastel drawing above), I’m working on ideas for a more 3-D effect.
(Work out X, Y & Z axis for 3-D effect / Don’t center the (orb) image)
The heavy black lines in the sketches above won’t be in the final lithograph. They are just there for me to work out directions in 3-D space.
I like this detail from the 2005 pen and ink drawing above. It might be a possible starting point for the initial design on the stone.
All images copyright (c) by William J. Long 2005 – 2020