About “High Noon”

 
“More conventional in method if no less intriguing are selections such as....Allan Akman’s rural landscape...realistic although the screen print’s dot pattern is intentionally obvious.” Mark Jenkins, Washington Post art critic, July 8, 2018 The Inspiration “High Noon” is based on a photograph of a farm in Central Valley, CA. The scene was used to create two different screenprints. This one portrays the farm at high noon. Condors, though nearly extinct except for my artist’s license, circle overhead below cumulus clouds. (To find the condors, come see the original print or enlarge this image.) Its companion print, “Twilight”, depicts the evening, during the twilight hours. Basically, these two prints are “sky” studies focusing on sky and clouds with the farm landscape depicted on a low horizon. The Project “High Noon” is a 13 color print. The prints were made on Stonehenge paper. Images are 12” x 17½” on 24” x 18” sheets. Speedball Acrylic Screen Printing Inks were used. Adobe Photoshop was used for developing the screenprinting plates. Eight prints are included in the edition. The project was completed in October 2015. The Print Progression The print progression showing the development of “High Noon” can be seen in a set of four figures. The first image on the left shows the first color creating the high noon sky and clouds, a light blue halftone. The image on the right shows the print after the next six plates: a light blue background, the brown foreground, a red, a grey, and two greens. These plates capture the landscape but without additional detail, comprehending the scene except the barn’s red roof is near impossible. In the next figure, two dark layers have been added. One is black providing detail in the foreground. The other is a dark black green used to give definition to the landscape. As often the case in screenprints, these black layers give final definition to the print itself ---- except I didn’t consider the print finished yet. More color was need to take the farm buildings and trees out of the dark shadows. Plus, the lone condor needed a companion. The final image shows these details and the final print.
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Plate 1 (Light Blue Halftone)

Plates 1- 13 Final Print (Black)

Plates 1- 7

Plates 1- 9 (Blacks)