The Ampersand Project

Sometimes I sign up for things for which there is no rational explanation.  This was one of those times.  And then, to make matters a little worse I had a genius idea for the project: an Ampersand Chicken.  I considered her to be absolutely the most gorgeous Ampersand Chick I had ever seen - the only one, as a matter of fact.  The only problem was that no one I showed it to could find the ampersand.  You be the judge:

I thought the tail was a dead giveaway, but alas, no one else I came in contact with agreed.  So, under a coat of paint she went.  The end product is pretty lack luster and not near as comely as my chick, but there was a deadline and this could not go on forever.  The final submission was:

And that is the end of the ampersand project.  If you look closely you will see one red boot - all that is left of the Ampersand Chick.  Bless her soul, she is resting in peace.

It was a rush to get the above project finished and in the mail before the floor refinishers arrived on the scene to correct the mess from the water leak last October - the one I came back from Turkey to discover.  The restoration company brought a carload of boxes and we started loading them, two or three a day, and carting them to the studio.  Eventually, they showed up and moved the dining room furniture out and we started piling boxes on top of it.  Then they moved the living room out to whatever room was still available in the first studio room and what wouldn't fit there went into the garage.  Boxes of books and family memorabilia were everywhere.

Next was our move to the remaining rooms of the studio, where we were to reside for a week.  I thought, "This will be a piece of cake! I have an edition to print and we can go out to dinner every night courtesy of our insurance premiums."  HA! WRONG - O!  As soon as we were firmly ensconced it started to snow and the following week was nothing but snow and ice.  We were, effectively, snowed in.  It doesn't take much in the Northwest.  We didn't want to go out and have one of those crazy drivers who don't slow down for anything slamming into us, so we just stayed put until the roads were clear.   My edition was pulled and then some.  This is for the Soltice exchange that Charles Morgan curates - the theme is Making a Difference. 

The Winds of Change

Image size  8" x 7" 

Multi plate intaglio a la poupee

Edition of 30

Somerset Satin paper Gamblin Etching Inks

$75.00

The image is based, loosely, on the wheat fields of Eastern Oregon  which, in recent years, have been sprouting wind turbines right and left.  We have a choice on our electric bill to opt for renewable resources for a certain percentage of the bill, which we do.  I hope we are making a difference in our own tiny way.

We are now almost totally moved back in to the house and everything put away where it belongs, or close to it, anyway.  The only thing left is removing the cardboard from under chair and table legs and putting the carpets back down.  That is due to happen tomorrow and when it is complete I'm cracking a bottle of champaign and possibly downing it single handed.  (Hopefully not! I am a terrible drunk - going from tipsy to sickly somewhere between two and three glasses.)

Now it is time to tackle the next project and I am determined to KISS (keep it simple, Stupid) as this last one turned out to be a monster to print cleanly.  After trying everything this side of Mars to allow me to wipe a Solarplate™ cleanly, I finally opted for acetate masks.  They worked, but between the delicate inking and getting the masks to stay in place during their trips through the press, the kill rate was very high!  We'll see if the lesson has been learned….

Change of tune

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I change my tune every time I turn around.   And here we go again.  No sooner than the last entry had been posted I had changed my mind about the imagery to use on the heart.  I'm sticking with the girls dancing through the woods releasing birds with reckless abandon, but they will be more on the order of Procession of the Birds:

 And, somewhere along the line, probably on the reverse, will be some expanded version of Keepers of the Flame.

Both are small intaglio prints I did last year using Solarplate™and inking ala poupeé.  Way back at the beginning of time I made little daubers from scraps of an old chamois stuffed with a cotton ball and secured with twine.  They look like simple little dolls in long dresses, which is the translation of poupeé: doll.  They are used to dab the different colors of ink onto the plate before wiping very carefully.  These little dolls have served me well - and, I trust, will continue to do so.  They sleep in an old coolwhip container when not in use.

It will be interesting to see how these women translate into painting.  Well, we should be finding out soon!

Keepers of the Flame

Oh yeah, you have to remember to push the publish button when you've finished the post!  These older brains are something else - one would think I had never blogged before.  Apparently, the procedure was in the short term memory and we can see how good that is...

This image, "Keepers of the Flame" is part of the mythology series from Ancient Celtic Mythology.  In doing my research I found many references to the Pashcal Candle of Christianity, and how the symbol was carried on from pagan religions. In the time of the Druids and before, when religions were matriarchal, the interpretation of the candle's light was an honored symbol of Juno, or the local goddess of the moon, stars and sun.  It was believed that she gave newborns their gift of sight.  Personally, I think the candles were all scented and, hygiene being what it was back then, the more candles you could keep burning the better the smell.  My "Keepers of the Flame" represent all those feminine mystics from long ago who, like Motel 6, kept the candle in the window burning.

Keepers of the Flame

7.5 x 8.5

Solarplate™ intaglio

Akua intaglio ink, a la poupeé

chine collé

The long burning candle was also from ceremonial rekindling and encouraging of the new sun at the Winter Solstice.  If the candle extinguished before the specified time it was a sign of bad luck for the coming year.  Roman, Greek and Christians did away with any possibility of that happening by inducting the custom into organized religion and putting someone in charge of keeping that thing burning. The Romans left it up to the temple of Juno and the Christians to the church. Many of the old pagan festivals involving bonfires, torches, candles and other lights were originally dedicated to the Goddess-as-sun, or to the Goddess as controller of the sun and its cycles.  Well, thank goodness we got over that - I would hate to think women were saddled forever with the responsibility of the sun coming up every day.

Procession of the Birds

My artist statement says that I am trying to reach back and get in touch with my Celtic roots and that has involved some reading about early European mythology.  Some of the myths I have, more or less, tried to illustrate - not by any forethought of mine, I don't consider myself an illustrator, but it seems to have happened none the less.
Birds play a very important part in these mythologies - everything from being "familiars" (helpers to witches), to being the souls of the dear departed, to being just messengers from a parallel universe.  Feathers were symbols in many ancient beliefs: the early Egyptians believed that every seventh incarnation was a bird, Manx sailors never left on voyage without a feather from the sacred wren. It was traditional to slay wrens on New Years Day on the Isle of Man.  Birds and feathers often symbolized air as one of earth's basic elements. So - birds were important.  The image of a group of women traipsing through the woods  to release the birds came from nowhere in particular, maybe I wanted to free those wrens on the Isle of Man.  Since that particular period in our mythology evolution was one of matriarchal religions  women are everywhere, in all different ages, shapes and sizes and they all dance and sing with reckless abandon.

Solarplate™ intaglio inked a la poupeé

Akua intaglio inks, Somerset Satin paper

7.5" x 8.5"

I've become rather attached to these folks and think they will probably surface in a woodcut now that I have no particular deadline and can take my time!