HELP -- COMMENTS
I have tried to add the capability for visitors to add comments on my website. So far, no good. If somebody is in the mood for helping me, please contact me. (I do not know if it is possible.) I am using Adobe's Portfolio service, which is free to me because I use some of their software. I know I can use the <embed> HTML construct, which I am not familiar with.
Update—11 August 2025
Over the months of June and July, and less so continuing into August, I have been involved in a workshop to create some photogravure prints. This is one of the oldest methods to print a photograph, well over 200 years and going. I won’t go into details here, but it’s an arduous, multi-step process, where in the end, you ink a plate and hand pull a print from a printing press. Technically, we say, “polymer photogravure etching” because there are multiple photogravure methods.
The process is resource intensive. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to do this in the future. I currently have, I think, 4 good plates and 6 good prints. More more would be cool cool.
Here are two examples of prints that I’ve created.
"Treez" (Photogravure)
"Rod Serling Speaks" (Photogravure)
In the olden days, one would print the photograph onto glass, then create an etched plate using UV exposure (sunlight). (Or one could print a negative from the glass negative.) With the digital age, we enhance photographs digitally, print onto a transparency, and then do analog work with chemicals and a UV lamp. “Treez” is a film photograph, in which case the process is 1) develop the film, 2) scan the negatives, 3) enhance photo in software, 4) inkjet print. To me, it is displeasing to begin with analog, be forced into digital, and then return to analog. However, I try to adapt to the times and the tools that I have available.
As an instructive show-and-tell, I am also showing the original (digital) photograph for “Rod Serling Speaks.” (The reversed image is due to a misunderstanding. The fact that I’ve printed a negative is completely by choice.) It’s not fair, is it? I should show you a black-and-white conversion of the original, but I want to hint at the possible variations of one image. (I now have maybe 7 variations of this image. The title only works for the photogravure, and even that is an inside joke.)
For my other primary occupation, writing, I have 2 short stories in submission to a few journals each. I deem them both good and hope to find a journal editor who agrees. I also entered a piece into a contest. “The Funeral, The Nun, and the really Big Secret” is a re-worked piece of flash fiction—I hope to receive useful comments from the contest judges.
NEWS-- 2 June 2025
After a several-month lull, I am writing again. Soon (perhaps this week), I will be submitting a new short story to literary journals, "The Aide to the Pope Should Have No Secrets." Let me know if you want to be a beta reader; I prefer that you're able to turn around comments within 1 week. (It shouldn't require line edits, just reading for content, holes, etc.)
The submission process is slow: search for journals, submit to their weird rules, wait for weeks or months, read rejections, repeat. Hopefully bingo sometime. I also am working on a novella that I had stuck in a drawer for awhile. It's good. No hints for now.
A friend of mine has been hosting a small workshop teaching 5 of us the Photogravure process. This is one of the oldest methods to print a photograph. It is a complicated process that, in the end, creates a photograph image using an etched plate and a printing press.
I am exhibiting in three art venues right now. I'm sort of overwhelmed by the number of opportunities that are available to me.
1. The 2nd Fridays series at the Santa Barbara Tennis Club is showing my "Water Glass." It is a sort of abstract photograph, printed on art paper. (In fact, it is a photogravure. See an image of it to the right.)
2. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Barbara had an open call for the community and are hanging my "Electric Kool-Aid Joshua Tree #03" in their summer show, Arte del Pueblo. They did this last year, too, and it was a great community show.
3. Finally the Santa Barbara Visual Artists have a pop-up gallery in Paseo Nuevo. As their guest, they are exhibiting 3 of my works using manipulated X-ray images. One of my pieces is hanging in the window (see to the right).
1. The 2nd Fridays series at the Santa Barbara Tennis Club is showing my "Water Glass." It is a sort of abstract photograph, printed on art paper. (In fact, it is a photogravure. See an image of it to the right.)
2. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Barbara had an open call for the community and are hanging my "Electric Kool-Aid Joshua Tree #03" in their summer show, Arte del Pueblo. They did this last year, too, and it was a great community show.
3. Finally the Santa Barbara Visual Artists have a pop-up gallery in Paseo Nuevo. As their guest, they are exhibiting 3 of my works using manipulated X-ray images. One of my pieces is hanging in the window (see to the right).
Water Glass (2025) -- 8x8" photogravure
