Starfish in trouble

Insanity seems to be King around here and was apparently waving his scepter and demanding allegiance about last January, when in a fit of fealty I signed up for yet another exchange.  Albeit, this one is a small one - paper size is a petite 5" X 7",  it has a large theme: Let This Be A Sign.  Say, what? Immediately after sign up I realized that the dizziness I was feeling was caused by the million and one questions rotating in my mind, trying to land on something substantial that I could evolve an image from.  But, nothing was happening - it was like when the little whirling circle on the computer just keeps whirling and never stops until you force quit.  This unfortunate state of being lasted for approximately two months.  Then there was a miracle, I kid you not.

On the news one night there was a segment on the status of starfish, some people know them as sea stars, and their perilous fight for survival.  Or fight for something.  They are dying up and down both coasts of the US. and probably other places, too, but those two for sure.  Furthermore. they were exhibiting very unusual behavior such as tearing their own arms off and eating them.  Ewww.  These poor things are in peril big time.  And, then it hit:  OMG that has to be a sign of something, pollution, change in water temperature or salinity due to the polar ice cap melting, no one seems to know what.  But, wait a minute!  Did I say "a sign of something"?  Yes, yes!  It is a SIGN!  And, to add to the festivities, there is a zen tangle drawing in my sketchbook that might be just what I need.  Ahh, but which sketchbook?  I found it without too much sleuthing:

There it is in the lower half of the page!  Next I traced it onto a piece of acetate and exposed it onto a Solarplate™.  Now, a normal person would have just printed it black on white and been perfectly happy with it.  But, we are speaking about moi.  The first thing I thought was, rainbow roll behind the image - yes I could do that - so I did.

Ummmm, she kind of gets lost in the background - maybe a little chine collé.  After trying a pink and a purple I landed on yellow - most of the starfish I've seen on our coast have been a bright yellow, so that was a winner.  I made an acetate stencil to lay down after the black ink and before the rainbow roll.

Never one to quit before it's too late, if one chine collé is good, how about two?  I just happened to have something perfect in the "white decorate papers" drawer.  So, a wonderful paper with streaks of silver undulating through it seemed to me to be the perfect complement.

The only problem was that the silver from the wonder paper would be forced onto the plate after every trip through the press and it would not come off with anything.  I tried baby oil, turps, mineral spirits, water (which is really not a good thing on solar plate). and finally, in a fit of desperation, De-Solv-It.  Which fortunately did not dissolve the plate, but did get rid of the silver residue, and that stuff had to go because it wanted to collect black ink on the next print and that certainly would not do.  After that problem was solved (no pun intended) I could go on to the last step: a blind embossing of the name STARFISH. (You may have to click on the image and enlarge it to see the embossing.) To my demented mind this signified the disappearance of this oceanic life form, if we humans don't do something to help them out.  Without them how and what will the anemones eat?  

The answer to the theme "Let This Be A Sign" was held in one little news segment on the Nightly News Report.  Who would have guessed?  Well, I'm very glad to have that out of the way and now it is on to the next quandary.  What am I going to do for my Year of the Horse card for the exchange on the Barenforum site?  I'll be watching the news for inspiration.  And, I'm thinking it will be a woodblock print - just for a change of pace and because the fingers are actually feeling pretty good these days!  Just will be keeping those fingers crossed that Arthur Itis doesn't rear his ugly head before I'm finished.

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….

OMG - More Flags

Will this flag saga never end?  I think I left off with having the background printed (before I left to traverse the world).  That proved to be more problematic than I had anticipated.  I thought the flat of gold textile ink, which was screened onto the fabric, was in the middle of the fabric and that it would be a simple matter to print the border and the flower where I wanted them.  None of this proved to be true.  First - the flat somehow was not in the exact same place on each flag although I am at a loss to explain that since I put them all down in precisely the same place on the bed and pulled them exactly the same.  Oh well - another of those printmaking mysteries.  This made it nigh impossible to get the border and image in the middle of the flat, but I donned my suit of armor, jumped on my white charger, and spear (or brayer) in hand, forged ahead pretending that I knew exactly what I was doing.  Most of them turned out to be, more or less, in the middle.  At any rate, I am pleased with the result and am now ready to move on to the next project, although at the moment I am not entirely certain what that will be.....

Here are the flags hanging above the studio door, ready for Open Studios Tour last weekend:

 And, below is a closeup of three of them:

I'm certain they are going to waft their thoughts of wisdom, beauty, love, friendship and imagination all about the house and garden and we will live in perfect tranquility forever after.  Well, it's a beautiful thought, don't you think?

Of course, these beauties are for sale - you can have a set of your own for a pittance!  If you're interested the set is $100 or $25 each for an individual flag.  Each flag is 12.5" x 16", hemmed and strung on polyester cord. Contact me at Barebonesart@ comcast.net

The Next Flag Iteration

A reasonable person would ask if this flag obsession will ever end.  As things stand at the moment my answer would be, possibly - maybe even probably - not soon.  The thing is, I have promised a few more sets and then Vancouver will be doing Open Studios in November and I'm thinking I would like to have some for sale then.  We'll see if that happens since so far only the fabric has been prepared, cut, and the background printed.

Background?  you ask.  Well, I had the bright (?) idea to print a metallic gold background thinking that the woodblock prints would be more readable, maybe.  To confuse matters more (because why keep it simple, Stupid, when you can complicate it beyond all reasonable standards), I thought this might be as good a time as any to try out the Yudu machine I purchased over a year ago.  You see, I had a coupon.  Need I say more?  but, I will.  I had a coupon for 40% off, and the machines were on sale, and with it all added up they practically paid me to take it off their hands.  So, I did.  I think the machine was about $20 and then I probably spent a hundred on supplies for it.  Yeah, I've been known to exaggerate, but I do recall that the supplies were about 3 times as much as the machine.  AND, since it was such a good deal I should have smelled a skunk.  Michael's Art & Crafts, the skunk, no longer carries Yudu or any of the supplies - so now I must find a place to mail order, I guess.  Because, I love this machine.  It is so easy - and the light table, exposure unit, drying rack, registration posts, printing and everything is in one compact unit.  True, you are restricted to about 12 x 16 inch image but that is big enough for me.

As you can see there is even a timer to set for exposures and drying times.  So, supplies are the only problem, but there are several places on line from which to order, so I'll give that a try and report later.

Two yards of 45" broadcloth will make sixteen 11 x 16 inch flags.  I masked the screen to the size I want for the background and printed away.  These things were hanging willy nilly here and there all over the studio and the clothesline in the garage to dry (80 of them) and then I ironed them to set the ink. (That's more than I've ironed in 30 years). The metallic gold is a water based fabric ink which needs to be heat-set for it to be permanent.  I've tried printing regular old black etching ink over it and it seems to work very well, so that is what I plan to use for the woodblock images.

Here the little lovelies are - all ready for the woodblocks when I return from Turkey.  My Alter-ego wants to get busy printing, but my lousy conscience is saying, rather sternly, "If you are going to be ready to depart the day after tomorrow at some ungodly early hour then you had better start laundering and packing and you can print when you get back home."  That Conscience gal is named Constance because she is Constantly forcing me to do the practical thing.  There is a name for women like her and it starts with B and ends with H and has 5 letters.  And, she's a nag.  But, I suppose I should let her win this one...

Flags Are Finally Flying High

The printing of these was actually completed some time ago, but I just got them up and flying last night.  It was a fir climb up those trees (they are actually Western Red Cedar - not fir, but I couldn't resist a little pun.) If I were really part monkey, like my mother had always told me, it would have been much easier.  As it was, the squirrels were not happy with me, but no one else seemed to care one iota.

Here's a close up of them all in a row.

Just getting the extention ladder down the 45° slope and up against each tree without me plummeting to the bottom of the canyon and kersplatting in the creek was enough of a challenge - I didn't tempt fate by trying to adjust each increment in its proper space.  (Did I mention that the children are not happy that I was on a ladder in the first place?  And that hubby's comment as, "Not a good idea."  It probably wasn't, but they're up now!  Besides, nothing I have ever done that had the tiniest degree of risk involved ever elicited anything other than, "Not a good idea".)

When I started this project I had actually had the foolish idea that I might try to sell these.  Now, knowing how bloomin' bloody much work they are I will make them for friends and family, but as for the marketing and manufacture -- not so much into that, anymore!  You never know, though - give me a few days to recover from the ladder and the climbing and my mind could change - - again.

And, now it is time for violin practice.  I read the other day that if I keep practicing at the rate I'm going in 27 years I'll be an expert.  I think that if we're expecting that I had better up the practice time considerably!

Back to the Heart of the Matter

Before the beginning of time, or at least before the block for the Puzzle Print occupied my time, there was the Heart.  You may not recall, but the Heart is part of the Peace Health Hospital's fund raiser for their new vascular and heart health unit at SW WA Medical Center.  25 artists were ask to paint a heart and they will be displayed about the city before they are finally auctioned to the highest bidder in mid-September.

Well, this "large gray thing" was delivered about six weeks ago and has ruled my life since.  First off was a thorough wash down, then a couple of coats of oil based primer to make sure the pigment didn't flake off due to weather conditions.  Then the painting began and once the blue for the sky was there it looked for all the world like a giant blue butt.  That was partially because most of the heart was obscured by the folded-up ping pong table.  Eventually the heart's name became Helga because  half a century ago I saw a TV program about cross country skiing and the host's name was Helga and she had the biggest back-side I had ever seen.  Right then and there I proclaimed that I would never cross country ski because I did not want those results.  Of course, later I learned that her shape was probably genetic and had nothing to do with skiing, but still I never took up the sport.  Why risk it?

But, I digress.  The painting of the heart occurred over the ensuing six weeks, or so, and when it was all done I thought it resembled a balloon.  My son agreed and with his and Preston the Welder's help we managed to concoct a balloon floating off into the air with ribbon streamers following.

This involved cutting the pole, tilting the heart, and then welding it into place, bending 1/4 inch rebar to resemble ribbon streamers and welding those to the pole, building (via more welding) an armature and welding that into place.  Covering the armature with quarter inch hardware cloth, then fiberglas repair stuff (messy and incredibly stinky), then Bondo and a lot of sanding.  After that came the attaching of rubber tubing which had been sliced half way through and attached, via epoxy, along the bottom edge of the creation.  Then all that was left was the painting of the additions and the part that had been destroyed through this last process.  I cannot thank my son, Don and his friend, Preston (Kimsey) the welder,  enough for their part in this endeavor.

The ladies and the birds have been the object of several paintings and prints - which will explain why they may look familiar.  They, all nine of them, are dancing and cavorting in a meadow, with birds, birds, more birds, and a butterfly or two.

The finishing touch was the application of some silver jewelry hearts by my darling daughter-in-law, Kara:

This is one of those things I would have futsed with forever if it had stuck around, but mercifully two adorable young movers came on Friday and wrapped and carted Helga away to be clear coated by a local car dealership.  I am very thankful to this man for his donation to the cause as otherwise I would have been applying two or three coats of UV safe finish coats.  Hallelujah!  Helga is off to wherever Hearts go before they go to their spot in downtown Vancouver, WA.  Helga herself will eventually be in front of the Kiggins Theater on Main Street.

Bye-bye Helga!  Did I mention that Helga is over 6' and weighs around 150 lbs.?  She is a big girl and not easily moved.  At least, I couldn't get her to budge an inch.

And now, because I must mention woodblock work at some point in this post, I am eager to return to block printing.  What d'ya wanna bet that the next ones will have to do with printed balloons - maybe??  I am certain of one thing, those girls will be back for sure.   I feel another attempt at moku hanga coming on....  Just what I need: another challenge.

Fairy Queen

I'm assuming that you are also participating, or at least know of, the next monumental puzzle print - the babe of Miss Maria of the Monumental Mysteries.  You will recall that the last such endeavor was the City of the World, in which my contribution was a playground for children.  I used a photo of my oldest granddaughter, Grace, on the monkey bars in a park in Madison, WI,  for my inspiration.  I think she was about 4 yrs. old then - now she is an old woman of 15.

The theme for this year's Monumental Puzzle Print is a Fantasy Garden.  The puzzle piece I received reminded me immediately of a butterfly.  But, I thought there would be plenty of butterflies and I should do something that would reflect my younger granddaughter, Camille.  When Camille was around 4 yrs. old she was your ultimate faery queen.  Upon arising in the morning one of her first demands was, "Where is my crown?"  As soon as she located it she whipped on her wings, donned the crown and was good for the day unless they had to go out and then the wings would have to come off in order to get the jacket and and car seat accommodated.  It didn't take long for me to decide that every garden needs fairies - especially ones who carry on long conversations with lady bugs while the fire flies light the night.  (Camille loves bugs!  She thinks the baby leeches are just the cutest things, as they crawl up her arm...)

It will be great fun to see all of the other contributions to the Fantasy Garden and I'm looking forward to the next day and night Printing Party!  Meanwhile, I've decided to take violin lessons and see if I can play it after a hiatus of roughly 60 years.  My poor, long suffering, instructor will be here momentarily. 

BTW, I forgot to mention that Ms. Maria forbids us to proof our blocks.  They do unpredictable things having to do with humidity and lack there of when they have been inked and cleaned and then go to Las Vegas where she resides.  In order to proof both of these blocks I wrapped them in foil, put them through the press, inked and printed them very carefully.  Once they go to Maria they are pretty much gone forever - until she arrives with all of the pieces glued onto their matrix and ready to print the  w-h-o-l-e thing. I believe she said there will be 6 sheets of paper to complete the image - maybe it was more. I know there are a lot of us involved in this project. Printmakers have the most fun!!