Comments on: Oxygen

By: David

David — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:17:05 +0000

Jay, that’s correct on the price. So a single 4′ x 5′ panel would be $225 ($100 + $125), but if you do 5 panels it comes out to $125 each, since the setup fee gets applied to the whole job.

Number of colors isn’t an issue, because it’s digital. I think their machine here is 7 or 8 colors. It’s very finicky about the surface being flat (no warping). They calibrate the height of the print head per job, and it will catch on the substrate and screw up the print (and the machine) if it’s not flat.

I prime thin sheets of plywood, put down a base color in acrylics, and seal them on the back. They’re thin enough that they can put double-sided tape on the backs to counter any warping. After printing, I have the panels braced elsewhere, and then I bring them back to the studio and start painting.

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:07:03 +0000

David

So that would be a hundred bucks for a 4′ x 5′ plus setup, Any pricing per number of colors? I find tracing off a projected image to be backbreaking work and something that compromises my enthusiasm for an otherwise worthy technique. So digital printing sounds interesting.

By: David

David — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:17:04 +0000

Hi Jay, the place I worked with charges $5 per square foot, plus a $125 setup fee per printing session for panels of the same thickness. I tend to print at least 4 or 5 large panels per session to distribute the cost of the setup. My painting process before and after printing is still pretty labor-intensive.

The ink is water-based, and I paint over (and under) it with acrylics, so there shouldn’t be any problem w/ chemical reactions. It’s probably more stable than oil paint, which as you know just keeps on getting more brittle over time.

By: Tree Smith

Tree Smith — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:52:35 +0000

Birgit, Yes! The West’s either/or mentality versus the East’s both/and. A bit simplistic summation, but to me a very important distinction, especially for the individual and how one views reality.
Is the glass half full or half empty? It’s both! ;-)

And I agree, the blue is very strong in this painting.

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:31:03 +0000

David:

Getting the question onto the right thread, I was asking what you can expect to pay for the digital printing service. Also, I’ll ask a Birgit-like question: what are the potential chemical interactions between the digital ink ( if so it is) and a given painting medium. My guess would be that acrylics would be favored.

By: Birgit Zipser

Birgit Zipser — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:22:04 +0000

Tree,

What came to my mind were complementary opposites: Yang and Yin – oxygen and oxygen free radicals, breathing and cancer. Looking at Wikipedia, I then learned that there is a common misperception (especially in the West) that yin and yang correspond to good and evil. However, Taoist philosophy generally discounts good/bad distinctions as superficial labels, preferring to focus on the idea of balance .

David balances lines and colors, though the blue might overpower the orange a bit.

By: David

David — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 07:47:53 +0000

June, there’s a physicality to screen printing, not just the process, but the surface quality, that doesn’t occur w/ digital printing. There also the ability to do improvisational layering on a large physical surface that screen printing is great at. What I’m interested in is not so much creating completely pre-planned images, but in composing on the fly.

Check our Ryan McGinness’s work:
http://www.ryanmcginness.com/