Yes...I know. I'm way behind...waaaaay behind. SO I'm playing ketchup...errr catch up, starting with "Tools" week. But for now...an Oprah Winfrey moment.
My parents divorced when I was young and for his own reasons I didn't see Pops for a few years. Pops was a pressman at our local paper, years later becoming the press room foreman. But at 11 years old, in order to see him...every Saturday I'd hop on my bike and make the trek to downtown and hang with him for the day around the huge presses. The smell of ink, solvents and the noise of the presses as they ran...are some of the most deeply felt and clearest childhood memories I have. Those scents..the sounds..still feels like yesterday.
But what I remember most is the ink. Buckets of it that they'd scoop out and put into the bins below the huge cylinders of the press that fed it. Pops had permanently stained fingers from the ink. And when I work with it and that dark liquid stains my fingers and splatters my cloths...I can't help but grin and remember him and those moments we spent together Years later as I began venturing into art and comics it's always been the ink that is my most expressive tool. I'm constantly trying different brands...alwasy looking for the darkest and blackest. I fully realize it's considered a medium more than a tool in our art world. But for me...it has always been and always will be my tool of expression. It truly does run in my veins
Damn good post, I really want to get out some Dr. Martin's Ink and get to inking! I hear ya about the love of ink, it's such a powerful and seemingly unforgiving media and those that can use it are amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Craig.....Chos and me were talking about an acrylic based ink...I think he said he picks it up at Pat Cataans. I'm planning on picking up some of this. Most of the inks I've used...no matter what it says on the label. Is never black enough. Other than some Speedball ink I picked up in a calligraphy kit.
ReplyDeleteCheck out Windsor Newton Black, stuff is so black it's shiny. Thick though but can water down nice.
DeleteAnd that was Chod....not Chos...grrrrrr
ReplyDeleteLove this well written post Jim, I can almost smell the ink! My dad was in printing too originally.
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