"Blue Corn" Linocut

"In the heart of every human is the kernel of remembering."     

— Darcey Blue

Ever since I saw a clay sculpture of a "Corn Mother" in New Mexico, I have been obsessed with corn art.  The figurine depicted an ear of corn with a woman's head on top and her body was composed of corn kernels, some of which were "corn children".  Since that trip I have kept my eye out for corn art, and it is so fun to come across all sorts of things.  I recently discovered corn jewelry and purchased a beautiful blue corn pendant (a yellow one arrived first, but that is another story).  I also discovered I live quite close to giant concrete sculptures of corn cobs in Columbus, Ohio and am looking forward to visiting them once the pandemic is over.  As I was writing this I just came across my own post from seven years ago about a corn embroidery I made for a Thanksgiving card. I must have had corn in my head even back then!  And finally I would be remiss if I didn't include a link to the most amazing art of all, glass gem corn, made by nature herself!  When I saw this corn I couldn't believe the colors that are possible.

Somehow, the idea of corn art has soaked deeply into my psyche. So when I had to come up with an idea for the Think Square show, "corn" popped into my head! (Yes, pun intended.)  As usual, I began this print by making a pencil sketch.

SKETCH

I normally try to make my pencil sketches as perfect as possible.  But this time I ended up scanning it into the computer and made a very quick and dirty tracing of it in Illustrator.  I did this because after seeing the sketch, I knew I wanted to either print it in black and white and add watercolor, or make it four colors.  And if I was going to go to all the trouble of printing four colors, I wanted to get the colors right.  Below you can see my pencil sketch and how I played with the colors in Illustrator. 

TRANSFER AND CARVE PLATE

I ended up liking certain elements of the Illustrator sketch and went back into my original pencil drawing to "fix" certain things.  Below you can see the final pencil sketch transferred to the plate and the beginning of the carving.  (Click here to see how to transfer a pencil sketch to the plate).  

I love photographing the plate when it has no ink.  I like to see all the carving lines in the low areas. These lines often have to be cleared later if I decide I don't like the "chatter" in the print...especially on larger prints.

"I believe in the forest, and in the meadow, and in the night in which the corn grows."

— Henry David Thoreau

CUT PLATE APART 

When I decided to make this print four colors I had the fantasy that I could print at least two of the colors at the same time.  This might have been possible except I changed my mind about the border color after I had already cut the plate apart.  I originally thought I was going to make the border yellow and left the border attached to the top tassels.  When I changed my mind I had to cut the border off into a separate piece.  The border was then so thin it was like a limp rubber band that wanted to fall over.  To fix that problem I decided to tape chop sticks around the edge as you can see below. 

The clips at the bottom of the print are Ternes-Burton registration clips.  If you want perfect registration then buy these clips!!! They worked incredibly well to get my corn kernels lined up.

RED 

After I placed the chopsticks around the edge, I took out the pieces of the plate that would print in other colors... leaving only the "sun", the border, and three red corn kernels.  When I did that the border was simply too weak, even with my brilliant chopsticks. 

At that point I decided I would need to leave all the "innards" in to give support to the border (and to make sure the border would be in the right place).  This meant I would have to use a paper mask.  And it meant I would have to meticulously cut fifteen masks with perfectly placed holes for the red kernels. 

I wasn't sure it would work and it required quite a bit of faith to spend all that time cutting masks that I wasn't sure would work.  Below you can see one of the masks.  You can see sometimes I had to add little bits of paper along the edges where I didn't have enough coverage.    

This was my first time using a mask and lo and behold, it worked perfectly!  

In the following photo you can see the red masks that I pulled up after printing each print.  In a way it seemed a little wasteful of red ink, but it was a small print.  And I was so happy it actually worked!

This is how the plate looked after printing the first color.

GREEN 

After printing the red I waited a week to let the ink dry before printing the second color.  I use oil-based Charbonnel ink and it can take a while to dry.  

I thought maybe I could also ink the blue corn kernels up at the same time and place them into the "V" of the husk, but it seemed too fiddly and risky.  The blue piece was just too tiny and didn't have a place to push down on it to place it properly.  So I ended up printing the green by itself.

Below you can see the green plate after printing.

BLUE

After waiting a week for the green to dry it was time to print blue.  I was nervous and excited to see if my red corn kernels would fit perfectly into my blue corn kernels.  

I was so relieved after I pulled the first print to see the kernels were indeed in the right place!  Thank you Ternes-Burton clips!

Below you can see the blue plate after printing.  Here you can see how the red kernels were cut out and how important the registration clips were.

YELLOW

After waiting another week for the blue to dry it was time to print the final color, yellow.

I knew that printing the yellow would be the hardest color because the corn tassels were so tiny.  I used double-sided tape to stick them in the exact right place.

After three weeks of work I was nervous.  I anxiously pulled the first print using my "Yellow Ochre" and everything worked except one thing...the color was wrong.

At the very beginning of the project I went through my existing ink supply and ordered a new blue for the kernels and was sure that Yellow Ochre would be fine for the tassels.  But when I printed it, the yellow seemed too dark.  I wasn't sure if the color was wrong or if I had gotten so used to the lighter yellow in my Illustrator color mockup and the color was really OK.  I had been proud of myself for matching my Illustrator printout for the previous colors.  I sat there for quite a while fussing with the Yellow Ochre...trying so hard to make it work.  I added white and transparent base to no avail.  After an hour I gave up and decided I needed to order new ink.

I was worried because time was running out for the ink to dry before the show.  I only had one week for the ink to dry and frame the print before the piece was due.  But I ordered Lemon Yellow and crossed my fingers.  That evening it dawned on me maybe I should ask on the Tiger Lily Facebook page if anyone locally had a brighter yellow that they could share.  I was so excited when Maureen responded to my post to say that she had some Primrose Yellow and that I was welcome to use it.  The next day I drove up to her house, got my ink and was back to printing only one day behind schedule!!!  A big thank you to Maureen for saving the day. 

"I remember the cornfields,

And a dream of oneness with all mankind,

That was stretched out across the land,

Like rustling links in a golden chain."

— Theosophy Trust Memorial Library

PLATE AFTER PRINTING

Below you can see the plate reassembled after printing. I like it so much I might frame the plate!

"Vivacious and bursting with life, corn is sunshine in vegetable form."

— Farmbelly

PRINT

After weeks of printing and drying I ended up with 12 prints in the final edition.  

"The largest Cuzco kernel will average fifty times the size of the smallest popcorn grain and the colours and row patterns explode in riots of variation even in the same growing area. The Indians love and respect and see great significance in this variety. When they pick up the ears to husk them, they treat them like surprise packages whose contents no human has ever seen." 

— Theosophy Trust Memorial Library

VIDEO

Once I finished the print I decided to make a video of the entire process.  I spent hours searching for the perfect song on the Free Music Archive.  I knew I wanted a Latin flair to the music and downloaded 10 songs.  The only songs I could find had people singing, but when I put the songs into the video the singing was too distracting.  The next day I was searching for a stock photo to put the print into and discovered that the stock photo websites also offered music.  I listened to one song and knew it was the right one.  This was the first time I ever purchased music for a video so give it a listen and turn up your volume!

FRAMING

I made this print for the Think Square show curated by Andrea Knarr.  All the pieces in the show are 5x5 inches and must be framed in the same 12''x12'' frames.  Below you can see "Blue Corn" framed up for the show.

After framing I had a photo shoot with my Olmec head I bought in Mexico over twenty years ago.  You never know when these things will come in handy! 

THINK SQUARE SHOW

The Think Square show runs Oct. 1 to Oct. 31st and will be at the Cincinnati Learning Collaborative in Walnut Hills.  All work sells for $100 and the pieces can be purchased online or in person.  In-person viewing hours are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am to 3pm.  If you would like to see the show online click here.  Below is a photo of the show as it was being hung.

CORNCLUSION

Every print I make is truly an adventure and this print was no different.  I recently saw this quote by George Bodmer and thought it was appropriate, "Printmaking is fun because it takes a perfectly simple process like drawing and makes it as complicated and error prone as possible."  I think there is truth in his statement and I've come to realize that it is precisely those difficulties that have taught me about patience, confidence, faith, community and the ability to know myself and my boundaries. 

In the very beginning of this piece I wasn't sure I had the patience to do a 4-color print where I had to wait a week for each color to dry.  But I did.  I also wasn't sure I had the ability to perfectly line everything up.  The joy I felt when I pulled that first blue print up and those little red kernels were in their proper spots!  And boy did this print teach me about faith.  When I had the idea to make a mask and cut the first one I had my doubts.  As I sat there cutting fourteen more masks the pull of my doubting thoughts was so strong that I could hardly sit still.  "What if it doesn't work and I just spent all this time meticulously cutting?"  But it did work and somehow I knew, even if it didn't, I would find a way.  And when I wasn't sure if the yellow was acceptable or not, I had to really look into my heart and ask myself, "Is this right?"  No one in the world could answer that question but me.  And I've come to realize that through this process I get to know my boundaries... my likes and dislikes,...and my Self and my community. The journey of this print was not always easy...but as I navigated the twists and turns of red and blue corn kernels I realized I am the prize at the end of this maze. 

"This corn will teach to you, should you peel away the husk, and be willing to open your ears."     

— Anthony Liccione