If you live in the United States, don't forget that you have until tomorrow (Tuesday, April 18) to pay Uncle Sam! I had a lovely evening with Brandon yesterday crying and pulling our hair as we filed our taxes. Happy to say, we survived that yearly nightmare.

I’d like to give a warm welcome to the 8 new subscribers who joined The Inkplate community this past week.

In today’s issue:

🥳 The Inkplate Anniversary!

👨🏽‍🏫 Week 4 of Reduction Linocut - Layers on Layers

🙋🏽‍♀️ Question Time!

Let’s dive in!

The Inkplate Anniversary!

The Inkplate turns one this week! The idea began because I was tired of reading printmaking letters that were simply showing me what the artist made but now how they did it. I am a huge nerd and I love a good read, learning new things and that turned out to be the catalyst for The Inkplate. They do say that the best book you can write is one you would read.

As of Sunday, there were 539 of you reading this newsletter! I never thought the readership would go over 100. Each week I continue to be amazed at the fact more and more of you join the mailing list.

To celebrate, use code: GGRPWMS for 15% off any order on the store!

Visit www.danielvillaart.com today.

Week 4 of Reduction Linocut - Layers on Layers

Without being corny, I cant believe that the Speedball classes are over! I had so much fun teaching these classes, interacting with you, and hanging out with Brandon each Saturday morning. I want to express my gratitude to Speedball for having provided me a platform to share what I know. It truly was an honor.

In case you were not able to watch any of the classes, here are the links to all eight sessions.

Introduction to Linocut 

Week 1: Design

Week 2: Carving

Week 3: Printing

Week 4: Editioning

Reduction Linocut 

Week 1: Thinking in Layers

Week 2: Light to Dark 

Week 3: Transparent Base

Week 4: Layers on Layers 

If you ever find yourself without the links, you can always go to @Speedball_art on Instagram, swipe over to see all the reels, then choose “Daniel Villa” from the series. A menu will pop up with all the lives I have ever done on the Speedball profile.

So, will there be any future classes? Well, maybe! If you could help me out by answering the survey below I can use those answer to tailor future classes 😀

Now, in this last class we went over very similar steps as we did in week three. Except this time the ratio of transparent base to ink is changing gradually. As mentioned before, my goal is to make sure that each progressive layer is thinner than the last.

The effect will not be the same as you often see on oil paintings, but the layering of inks will be more than enough to allow the colors to change as layers are added.

So far with this Glacier Point print I have loved the variation of sky colors, and how subtle the change from layer two to layer three has been. Another big thing to keep in mind while working is keeping an eye on your registration!

I personally have killed two prints already. The alignment of layers was so bad there is nothing I can do to remedy them. Twenty prints survived. My target from the start has been to make an edition of 15!

With temperature rising and the Delta breeze kicking in the evenings, my prints are drying in about 3-4 days. I anticipate three or four more layers for this print, so I might be finished with this print by early May.

I will keep working on this project and plan to go live on my personal platform @Danielvillaart on Saturday’s 9:00 AM PST / 12:00 PM EST until the print is complete. If you would like to continue watching the progression of this print, feel free to join me. 🙂

Ask Daniel

If you have a printmaking or creative question and you would like for me to answer it on the survey, you can let me know here!

Hi Nicola!

This is a great question - one that I could honestly dedicate a whole issue of the newsletter to answer. Because art is subjective, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, take this with a grain of salt.

Previously, I have shared some of the techniques that help me get “unstuck” or out of a creative block. When it comes to generating initial ideas, I have a very similar process, the sketchbook. I often advocate sketching every day (if possible). I am not talking about the #SketchbookTour type of sketches. 98% of my sketches are never seen by anyone other than myself.

These sketches take the pressure of self doubt away from me. I know I will not worry about what “this artist” or “that artist” thinks of me. I focus simply on understanding what I want to share.

When I finally sketched an idea, I make a larger drawing the size of my block. This new drawing will be my north star while carving. When I make this second drawing, I work out the values in the composition.

If I am working from a photograph, I always like to invert the image, change it to black and white and print it at the lowest resolution possible. Low resolution will make the image slightly blurry, which helps group together light and dark areas. I tend to avoid tiny details if I can.

But even when I do all of those things to get “an idea ready,” I always end up making the final decision while I carve. Intuition plays a big role for me.

I hope that helped a bit.

Before You Go,

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