Happy Holiday!

Here are those kids again!  They seem to have moved into my imagination and plan to stay there.
This is one of those times when I really need your input, if you would please.  What do you think of this direction?  Is it silly, simplistic, fun, funny, has possibilities, or junk this stupid idea right now.

The Giant's garden: Christmas Morning is the latest in this series:

The kids all seem to be pretty happy with what they've found - the puppy has yet to open her gift and is a little anxious about the whole affair.  The frog just watches.  And I'm wondering if I should be making these as woodblock prints, or doing them at all.

I'll be eagerly awaiting your ideas and comments and if they are not pats on the back, but more like pats on the head, I promise not to send the Art Exterminators after you --  ;-)

Where did this come from?

Surprise!  I know -- it has been many moons since I've sat down to actually do a blog entry (as opposed to thinking about doing a blog entry).  Last winter I broke my shoulder, actually gumming up the rotator cuff, and causing it to scream some of the most obscene obscenities.  The result has been the better part of a year with no production.  The first quarter of the year I was stumbling around with a blank mind -- absolutely nothing going on up there. The skull functioned purely as a place to stick my face and place a gob of hair on it.

Finally, at some point in the Spring, the urge to sketch and think about getting back to work happened. Maybe it was Maria's Peace Puzzle piece arriving and needing to have something drawn and carved, or maybe it was the longer days and more sunlight.  Maybe I was suffering from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). Whatever it was I started sketching every evening while propped in front of the TV.  Mostly it was Zentangle type things, but then children started entering the scene.  I have no idea where they came from, but more and more of them kept appearing.

 And then, the strangest thing of all happened, they started interfacing with the medallion/mandala drawings and the next thing I knew there were children playing in the Giant's Garden.

One of the galleries where I show my work has a Salon group which meets once a month and anyone having any questions, or just wanting to socialize, can bring a work needing a critique.  So, one Sunday I took my sketchbook and asked the group what they thought of my kids.  Maybe they were just being kind to an older person with her arm in a sling, but they all encouraged me to go on and see what I could do with them.  And this is what came of that.

Many more sketches ensued and finally I got up enough gumption to actually place one of the kids on a Solarplate and make an intaglio print.  And so here we have the result of that action:

It is actually on BFK and considerably lighter and more black and white than this, but you get the idea; fairly boring and not all that much fun. Mostly a gabble of lines and confusion.  So, we add a little color.  Considering the cost of plates and making one for each color, more or less, I opted for hand color.  What I didn't consider when making that decision was that it would have to be done with a brush with three hairs and would take all day.  Other than that everything was perfect.  Here's the result of one day of coloring, more or less:

The Giant's Garden:  Tea Time

6" x 8"

It will be a very small edition - depending on how long I am willing to sit and color!  Many activities have been taking place in the Garden.  The Giant must be a very gentle and generous being, but it has told the kids that they can play as much as they want.  And, they will! And, they are!

The Print From Hell Begins...

All of the deadlines have been met except one:  Barenforum exchange # 55, which I foolishly signed up for on Oct. 1, 2012 when Feb. 1, 2013 sounded years away.  I thought I needed something to occupy my time, and then I turned around and flew to North Dakota for a week, and then it was Thanksgiving, and then flew to ND again for Christmas, and then it was Dec. 31, 2012 and I discovered that the Sketchbook Project was due in two weeks.  Their  "next Jan." was tomorrow and my "next Jan." had been 2014.  Well, got to work quickly and did that and the portrait and now it is back to woodblock.

It all started with a simple drawing which I had planned to do Moku Hanga.  This is the drawing:

The theme is motion in nature - immediately I had thought of my daughter, when she was a toddler, and rode on a little seat on the back of my bike.  I updated it with a helmet, but in those days the only thing I really remember was a little plastic strap that went around her middle.  All during our rides she was absolutely dead quiet and I thought she must be scared to death and certain I was out to kill us both. In contrast, her older brother when he rode back there chatted continually about everything in sight.  I never had long straight blond hair, either - call it artistic license.

OK - so got the block carved and proofed and ready to print and realized that I had no way to register this beauty.  Out came the cheater registration system. Voila!  I lined everything up, got my margins all set and pulled some proofs for registration purposes and went to bed.

The next morning the blocks were all waiting for me and I went to work.

I had blocks for blue, red, brown,  and grey and yellow on one block, and a blended blue to green background block.  Oh oh!  Right away I can't get the background to line up properly.  Finally, after hours of trial and error I gave up and carved a new background and printed it - so far Moku Hanga is working great!

But, NONE OF THE BLOCKS WILL LINE UP AND REGISTRATION IS DRIVING ME NUTZ.

It was obvious that I should throw in the towel and start over, but I was already late, so what to do? What to do?  Fuss and fury, what to do!  I did what any half crazed, previously level headed printmaker would do, I opted for hand coloring and got to work on that, which went rather quickly compared to recutting half a dozen blocks.  The only problem was that it looked really goofy with a mix of even sides and sides that went off to nowhere.  So, cut another block!  A frame block to cover all the sins.  I mixed up some blu/black Akua Intaglio ink, rolled it onto the block and to the press with paper and rubber blanket.  Moku Hanga has been totally abandoned at this point.  My patience is caput.

Toddler Flight

It worked moderately well, but this was about as far as I could go with what I had.  Barely visible in this shot is a swirl of interference pigment, added via stencil,  which shimmers when the light hits it properly.  At this point I did throw all the towels in - (the washer) and rushed this lot to the USPS.  And, I want to tell you that I really don't know what they're worried about money-wise.  The fee was outrageous and should keep the USPS solvent for several years.  And, now I need to go write another check to Monica because what I included was pathetic.

One more thing - I want to apologize to all the #55 folk who have been eagerly awaiting this portfolio. This is the first time I've ever been late.  I promise that reformation is on my resolution list.

Support Group, again,again

I'm hoping that the third time is a charm.  This print has been trying (and succeeding very well) to drive me crazy.  I could not  understand what it was that was nagging non-stop.  Finally, a friend said she thought that the central figure was too dark.  I looked closer and the original drawing was not dark, so I must have over-developed the plate.  Back to platemaking and a 30 second developing time and this is so much better.  It reminds me of a story another friend, who just happened to be a poet, told me years and years ago.  She said she had a friend who helped her with her poetry and the problem was always the line above or below the problem line, and never the "problem line" at all.    Right after that I was painting a portrait commission and could not get the nose right.  Finally, I redid the mouth and the nose was fine.  Such was the case with this print.  I thought it was the amount of white space that was wrong, and it was instead the darkness around the hair and face of that center figure.  Thank you to my good friend for turning me around! Another lesson learned again.  I don't know if I have time to learn every lesson over and over and over.  I would really like to get to that woodblock someday.  

I'm assuming everyone recognized these three women as the Three Graces: Aglaea (beauty), Euphrosyne (mirth), Thalia (good cheer).   This image has the central figure, Aglaea, needing her support group.  She is traditionally the grace dealing with beauty and is also the oldest, so I'm wondering if she is worried about losing her beauty because she is aging.  Maybe she is considering a face lift... or maybe not.  I'll leave it to the viewer to make up the story.

;-)

Support Group, again

I wasn't real happy with the first version of Support Group, so I've tried one with more white space.  I'm still not a hundred percent, but maybe this version will grow on me.  Suggestions are welcome - including, redraw the main image.  I'm still planning to work more with this idea in a different format  and a bit larger.  The next one will include carving and probably be mainly woodblock, since it will be part of my "recuperation project # 1".  If not wholly woodcut, then maybe the color blocks with a solarplate for the line.  As you can see, this is still rolling around in the little gray cells.

       It reminds me of the metal garden sculpture I lost last night: it was made of cut outs of leaves and was spherical.  I accidently kicked it, just the tiniest bit, and off it went, down the incline, weaving its way between the Japanese forest grass, and down between more plants - any one of which could have stopped this thing - across the flagstaff path, between two large shrubs and then it was really off and running down the embankment, between cedar and fir trees, over the vinca minor, and through the horsetails and ferns and now it is lost.  I went as far down the hill as I could with a bad knee and in Berkinstock sandals which only go ahead, not back or sideways.  The further I got down the hill and the closer to the creek the more tangled the undergrowth became, so I had no choice but to climb back up.  This is not easy when one keeps sliding out of ones shoes.  Now I'm looking for someone with a metal detector, or will wait until fall, when the lost sphere, in its rusted glory, will  probably become very obvious.  Sigh.

Vancouver's Printmakers: Pressing the Boundaries

This is a show I've been working on for a couple of years - the idea being to showcase half a dozen or so local printmakers.  Part of the idea is to introduce the printmakers and their work to a larger audience and the other part to educate the public about printmakers.  In this show we have about an even split between relief and intaglio with some monotypes thrown in to make a terrific mix.  Vancouver has been having  really good turnout for the First Friday Art Walk - we hope that will hold true even though it is a long holiday weekend. ( Hold your breath! )

There will be fish printing for adults and children going on in front of the gallery and Barbara Mason has agreed to bring the small press and demonstrate intaglio in the gallery.  With all that, lots of terrific prints,  a little wine and some good food it should be a terrific evening.  If you're in the area the date for the opening party is July 2, 5 pm - 9 pm.  Hope you can make it!

Susanna and The Voyeurs (2)

When I posted Susanna the other day I somehow neglected to send the photo which could be enlarged. I hope I've corrected that this time. Susanna has been a big hit and was sold at the First Friday Art Walk. This state was printed 11" x 17" and hand color with watercolor & color pencil. The paper is Digital Media archival with Epson Archival inks. Once again, that wide format printer has paid off, by golly.

Susanna and The Voyeurs

Susanna is a composite image (worked in Photoshop) — the forest, a group of men, and Susanna in her bath. It is based on the biblical story of beautiful young Susanna who has dismissed her servants for the day and gone out to her tub for a nice relaxing bath. Some old men take advantage of the chance to watch her and then manage to get into her bath area, accost her and demand sex. She refuses, so to punish her they accuse her of hanky-panky with her lover. But, during the trial, Daniel surfaces and cross examines the men and they have conflicting accounts. Instead of Susanna being stoned to death, the two accusing liars lose their lives for bearing false witness. The moral of the story, I'm sure, is a lofty one about truth & innocence trimphing over lies & false accusations , however I choose to believe that it is if you are going to bathe outdoors do so with a watch-dog on duty. In the biblical story the accusers are pillars of the community, well respected elders. In my version they are a group of church men who have been on some sort of religious retreat. They are more the lookie-loos, than men who would do any harm. The print is digital with watercolor and color pencil. It was printed on a wide format printer with Epson Archival inks on Digital Media paper from Daniel Smith.