Rag & Bone

The Peril of Too Many Pelicans

2011-07-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a block just cries to be printed in many different ways, and such is the case of my pelicans. They have been on "fabric" and they have been made into a "dress", but they were not content. There was a piece of marbled paper in my flat files and they screamed to be printed on it. Between the Pelicans and the paper wailing "oil spill, oil spill" I had no choice. This cacophony must be stilled. The result:

And, I was happy with this until..... one day as the print was lying on my framing table another print of the same image, but on the filmy Japanese paper that I used to make the dress, fell on top of this one. Oh my! This led an entirely new dimension. So, I lined them up and then very carefully adhered the two together. There is no going back now. Here is the final product:

This set my oil slick more in the background and gave the whole scene another dimension - almost making it look 3D without the glasses. Whoa, Nellie! I could be on to something!

The Black Swan

2011-07-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

Finally - the much grumped about Black Swan print is done, done, done and I'm going to deliver them to Barbara this evening. Getting a decent photo or scan has been a problem, however. Metallic paint just doesn't put its best foot forward in situations like this. You will just have to take my word for it that these look a whole lot better in person. ;-)

I think most everyone nowadays knows what a black swan is, and it is not a swan that comes in black. It is an incident that, although you may have planned for it, it far exceeds the scope of your planning and is devastating. That is how it was described to me. I think that pretty much covers the quake, tsunami, and subsequent problems at the nuclear plant. Some of the flowers are the radioactivity icon, though that may not be apparent to anyone but me.

Two blocks were printed, the red and black. A gold block was cut, but I could not find a gold pigment that would print as bright as I wanted, so the gold leaves and swans were painted. A tiny lino was cut for the stamen and pistils and printed in black and gold.



   Earth quakes. Tsunami.
   Suddenly, black swan: flowers
   radioactive.

(My apologies to all you poets...)

After the Fabric comes the Dress

2011-06-22T20:38:00.000-07:00

Printing the "Fabric of the Gulf" (see the previous post) and working with this delicious Japanese paper, the desire to attempt to sew it up into something was too much temptation to resist. With that in mind I found a cheap pattern and went home ready to print and sew and that I did. While at the fabric store a few days later looking for black satin to fashion a slip and oil spill for this piece, I ran into Ross Dress for Less (conveniently located next door) and ran into the most perfect dress form in a size and shape unknown to any human female. I grabbed that baby and stuffed her into my cart so fast it made my head spin. And, when I got her home she perfectly fit the dress which is a more or less size 4. A Great Debate followed as to whether or not my new model needed a slip. I finally decided it made a much stronger piece with a black background for this transparent paper.

With every piece we do we should learn something which will make the next piece we do even better, right? Well, I learned so much on this one that my next venture should be a real doozy.

And to give you a little closer look:

The bird nest was contributed by a family of hummingbirds. It is filled with three Sculpey eggs looking pretty oily thanks to some acrylic pigments. The title of this dress is Big Problems For Sale. According to the tag, this is brought to you by Bad People and can be yours for a mere $200 biillion. Information on the reverse of the tag says, " Species at risk, people at risk. Waiting for restitution."

A few days later I printed the same block one more time, but that will be the next post.

Japan Relief print

2011-04-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

I'm ready to start the Japan Relief print - I think. Hopefully, all the layers have been thought out and will come together as the brain pictures them. This is the drawing, which is loosely based on a greeting card image by a Yoshi Watanabe who is/was chief of business administration in the econ department at Japan's Josai University and who gave permission for his image to be used by UC Riverside. I've tried to find a way to reach this gentlemen & asked his permission to take off from his work, but to no avail. Well, we'll see - maybe he will materialize and I can ask and, I hope, he will say yes.... If anyone knows how to reach him, would you let me know?

Mr. Watanabe's work had cranes, where I have swans, placed a little differently, too. One of my swans will be black, and all of Mr. W's cranes are gold. Mr. W. had all the same flowers, where some of mine have taken on the shape of the "radioactive" icon. Mr. W's swans and leaves are metallic gold and I hope I can do the same with mine, except for the black one, but we'll see. They may take on a different color depending upon the luck I have with the gold powder...

So, here is the block with the image transferred:

I wanted to show you this image because I've used the "Studio Paper" sold by McClain's. You just print the image onto a sheet of this paper using an ink jet printer. Then invert it and rub it lightly onto your block. The ink sits on top of the paper long enough for you to easily make the transfer. As you can see, every detail transfers beautifully. No toxic chemicals were used transferring this image. And, the best part is that you can use the sheets several times. Just wipe the remaining ink off the paper after your transfer and it is ready to go again. I love it. Now, all I have to do is learn to make my own transfer paper. I have an idea.... we'll see if it works. Maybe tomorrow... but, now it is time to carve.

Caer & Angus

2011-04-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

After several weeks of carving (I'm neither speedy nor tenacious) and a solid week of printing, the work for the Mythology exchange is done and ready to go into the mail and wing its way to IL. Carving the line print on a piece of cherry plywood from McClain's was pure joy. I think I only had one spot where a piece splintered and took off on its own and that was easily repaired with the fake wood stuff. In addition to the line block the others were yellow, blue and red. The final block was for embossing the swan's heads, necks, and wings. I think it was a successful print, but I, of course, had to run into one pot hole along the road to completion. I read David Bull's entry on embossing in the Encyclopedia at www.Barenforum.org and he cautioned to dampen the block to keep the paper from slipping. I guess I overdid the dampen part and the sumi, which had been printed the day before, blurred and ran in places of its own choosing. Finally, I quit the dampening and had no more problems. The paper was still damp enough from printing, I guess, that it didn't move. I confess to cheating - I used the etching press to do the embossing. It wasn't particularly faster, but it was a lot easier on my elbows, which is what David recommends! He is just made of sturdier stuff than I am, and besides, he's younger.
Enough good things can't be said regarding Guerra pigment dispersions. They are just truly fabulously fantastic. Such nice rich colors and so very little ink used - they are amazing.
The story of Caer and Angus was told on the previous entry, so I won't repeat it here. Here they are making beautiful music together. Listen carefully and you may be lulled to sleep for 3 days and nights. (Or maybe just reading this entry will do that.....)

Progress is slow

2011-03-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

It has been very quiet around here as the carver has been busy plying her trade with her poor little arthritic fingers. (Play for sympathy, in case you missed it.) They (the fingers) seem to move a little slower each time a new block is started. But, today was Proof Day. I don't know how other woodblock people approach this by my feelings are a mixture of pure dread, and curiosity. Therefore, I seem to breathe rather shallowly until that first proof has been pulled. This time there was a great letting out of breath and normal breathing quickly followed. It is not bad! Here is a photo of the block - from which you can probably tell very little. I had intended to show where I had to build the block back up because my line peeled right off with a mere brushing of a shirt sleeve. I don't think that shows very well, so you will have to imagine that part. It was done with wood epoxy pressed into the spot that needed repair and then carved again just like it was the original thing. McClain's sells this product and it can also be found at most home improvement stores. It is like a miracle drug. Fixes even the most egregious errors. (I imagine - since I have never, of course, had any of those egregious errors myself.) :-/

And, here is the proof on dry copy paper

So, now we are ready to march along with the colors. Two blocks have the images transferred so I am ready to start seriously seeing how I can combine colors on the same plate... I guess I'll start with the yellow and see what happens. These things are always an adventure - one step at a time! (Hopefully, those steps are forward... it is so annoying when they go the other direction...)

Mythology 101

2011-03-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

OMG, I signed up for another exchange -- something I think I remember saying I would never do again, but here we go. Anyone in the Baren Forum group who is also in Exchange 48 - in case I have the number wrong it is the one with the mythology theme - and you want everything to be a total surprise, stop everything right here! Read no further.

The myth I have chosen is an old Celtic story about Angus who has gone to visit the Bov the Red, King of the Dannans of Munster, and is wined and dined (in this story I suspect there is a lot of the wined and less of the dined) for three days and nights, during which Angus spills the beans for his visit: he is madly in love with a maiden of whom he has only dreamed. Bov, being a god himself, knows to take Angus to the the lake shore where there are 50 + 1 swans, the 1 being taller than all of the others and he recognizes the maiden he has been smitten by 6 months ago in his dream. He demands to have her name, which is Caer, daughter of Ethal Anubal. They send a message to EA requesting Caer's hand, but he refuses to give her up. BTW Bov has explained to Angus that Caer spends 6 months of the year as a maiden and the other 6 months as a swan. Well, Angus enlists the help of other gods and again requests Caer's hand, and again he is denied. But, her father explains that she is more powerful than he and it is not in his power to give her to him. However, if he will go to the Lake of the Dragon's Mouth, next November 1, he will see her with 150 other swans. So, the next Nov. Angus is on the edge of the lake looking out over this sea of swans and he calls to Caer. She asks, "Who calls me?" (The dialogue in these stories is not real original) Angus declares who he is and he plunges into the lake where he is immediately transformed into a swan, which is a form of acceptance, and they fly off together to the Palace on the lake. After that they fly to the palace on the Boyne, uttering as they go a music so divine that all who hear it are lulled to sleep for three days and nights. Angus is a special deity and friend of beautiful youths and maidens. His full name is Angus Øg, (Angus the young) son of the Dagda and by Boanna (the River Boyne). His palace was at New Grange on the River Boyne.

The image I have come up with will take a bit of time for me to accomplish, but it should keep me busy and off the streets between now and May 1 when the prints are due.

This is a rendering of the design in colored pencil. The two swans are far from anatomically correct, but that's the way we Irish do things: do whatever is needed for the design.) Now, we will see how accurate it is after I have cursed and cried and screamed hysterically through the carving of the blocks. The materials I needed came in from McClains yesterday - I'm hoping to get a bit of carving done before I leave for FL for a week. When I get back it will be nose to the woodblock, shoulder to the wheel, eye on the barrel of the bat, etc. And, as long as no one distracts me with a pretty good social opportunity I can do this!

More Greed and Lies

2011-02-15T17:57:00.000-08:00

Finally, I have managed to take a black and white print on Somerset paper which actually shows the block much better than that wonderful, silky, draping like cloth paper with the white on white Japanese symbols. I really do love that paper - the symbols represent pine, plum and bamboo - or so it says on the label. Did I mention that the block is 20" x 24"? It takes a 22" x 30" sheet to do one print. Also, I found a very elemental system to register that little green "bp" block which was burnished by hand with my trusty bamboo covered baren, so no more wasting paper by guessing where to put that little stinker.

I think this is a strong image, but of course, I have to do some more playing around with it. That will be tomorrow.

The wonderful filmy paper I am so in love with has white on white small Japanese symbols for pine, plum and bamboo, which could serve as symbols of the many species of both flora and fauna of the gulf who are now endangered in one way or another.

I hope you can see the white on white symbols and, of course, you can see them when they are where the black ink happens to print over them. It gives a feeling of layers and I love layers of imagery and commentary.

Next is to find the ideal way to attach a few more panels to the "bolt of fabric" - that will happen after the ink dries enough that I can handle them without smudging.

Fabric of the Gulf: Greed and Lies

2011-02-12T17:41:00.000-08:00

Finally I am back to my other love: the woodblock. I've had this block carved and proofed and ready to go for months, but other deadlines kept pushing it to the back of the line. Then North Bank Gallery decided to do a Seven Deadly Sins show and I was half way there! Where on earth was their less greed and lies than in the Gulf Oil spill of this last year? I figured I probably had all the sins covered with this one print, almost all, anyway.

It is a little hard to tell one thing from another in these photos and, of course, I do not have a flat print - that will have to be another day. Actually, there are two blocks on this piece - the "bp"(not shown) are printed in British Petroleum green.
I pulled about 6 prints onto a very thin and silky paper with a white on white design. While waiting for them to dry I found a piece of melmanine composite board which I cut to the size I needed and screwed a cardboard bolt form, and some wooden reinforcement, to it. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to run the saws, drill press, sander, etc., and the resulting mess there is to clean up.
When the prints were dry enough to work with I proceeded to wrap the bolt form, first with a piece of Sommerset white paper and then around several times with the silky woodblock prints until I had a bolt of the Fabric of the Gulf.

It looks like fabric - even the feel of it gives you much more of a sense of fabric than fabric itself. So, why didn't I just print it on fabric and have it over with? Oh, who knows, I kind of like the idea that it is one thing representing another -- especially with the theme of the show being sin and I'm working with greed and lies. And this paper is so thin and silky and though it is probably tougher than wine leather, it has a very fragile appearance - not unlike the gulf ecosystem.
The top of the bolt is, more or less, authentic (big lie), too – however what it says is the truth!

I'm hoping you can click on that and be able to read it - if not it says: Gulf Black Plague, 100% oil pollution, Machine wash cool, certified dispersants, lie, lie, lie. And where the price is: $200 billion.

That about covers it - I will pull a regular, "hang on the wall" print tomorrow!

A Massive Amount of Work

2011-02-01T18:20:00.000-08:00

I've been very quiet for a couple of months - in October and November I was busy getting ready for the Miniature show - who would have guessed that working on a 4" format could be so difficult. After struggling to get myself down to those dimensions I found out the maximum was 5"x7". Oh well, that work is done and off to new homes. But, there was no rest for the weary because Xmas was practically here and I was off to North (freeze your tuche off) Dakota for a wonderful visit with the daughter and son-in-law and the worlds two most gorgeous and intelligent granddaughters. Of course, I caught the obligatory Xmas Airport Cold, but could take no time off to soak in the misery of it. It was back to work immediately because the call for massive work to be ready for the February show wasn't even started, yet. Well, it is finished and hung in the gallery now. My God, what a massive amount of work for one skinny little month. The work is only 5' x 5' and is comprised of 36 nine inch squares. Each "tile" has been printed with a yellow squiggly background, then a misty blue plate, and the circles in gold, and one of six various motif's: compass rose, geometric star, clock face, Celtic knot, Gordian knot, and Fleur de Lis. When those were dry a proverb was printed on each, some machine sewing with a varigated metallic thread (which was a bitch to work with) a little color pencil to highlight. Then they were mounted onto print paper, followed by matboard, coated with a cold wax medium, eyelets and ball chain were attached. I will never do this again - so this is it, kids.
A sample of one of the individual squares:

I'll be posting more of the individual images at http//www.barebonesart.com. It was quite a chore hanging this piece, so I may not get to the website until tomorrow - I feel a rest period coming on....

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz.........

Support Group, again,again

2010-06-28T16:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

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!

Support Group

2010-06-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been putting up with a knee that has decided to join the other side. Way back when I was knee high to a grasshopper I was in an auto accident and my knees were slammed into the dashboard of one of those old cars that had knobs that stuck out. This was way before seat belts and air bags. At the time the doctors told me I would probably have trouble with the knees when I got older. Since that was about a hundred years away, give or take, I didn't give it a moments thought. Well, guess what? That "older" business has caught up with me. Anyway. long story short – it is down to bone on bone and time for joint replacement. But, that can't happen until mid-August. Meanwhile, though, I have a fantastic support group. Everyone needs a good one of these – they are worth their weight in gold.

So, of course, this warranted a print. This is multiple plate intaglio and chine collé. I'm working on another one along this same vein which will be larger and a woodcut, probably. I think it will be my recuperation project for after the surgery. I will get everything ready to go before I go under the knife.

While working on this group of prints, the poetry muse must have passed through the area and the next thing I knew I was up to my neck in Haiku. I, of course, know nothing about poetry, but that has never stopped me from doing anything else, so it didn't stop me from this either. Although, I did consult the Baren.com Poet Laureate, Bette Wappner, and sent me to a website that was very useful. In usual form, though, the deadline was approaching and I didn't have time to really study the subject. (Must do that in the near future. Maybe another recuperation activity.) This is my try at Surinomo - the Japanese prints which included poetry.

Wet Concrete Carving Workshop

2010-06-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

This is so exciting! Barebones Art will be hosting Elder G. Jones, a pioneer in the development of wet concrete carving, for a three day workshop this July 16, 17 and 18th in luxurious, (we hope it will not still be raining) Vancouver, WA. We will work from 10 am to 4 pm (more or less) for three days and when it is all over, besides having the time of our lives, we will have a finished piece for our home or garden, know all there is to know about the medium, plus have the tools to do the job again.

Granted, this has little or nothing - probably nothing - to do with printmaking, except that possibly you could ink and print the vessel you produce should be so inclined. Or maybe you could squish a carved block into the wet concrete, remove the block, and carve around it? How about pressing leaves into the wet concrete and carving around them? I'm sure there will be lots of ideas from others and I can't wait to hear them. Printmakers, especially, can always come up with some way to make their medium work with another.

If you are interested in joining us for the workshop please let me know at barebonesart@comcast.net or you can also go to www.sandpudding.com

I have a lovely flyer I can send to anyone who is interested, but be darned if I can figure out how to get it onto this page. If you'd like to see it, let me know!

More Skin

2010-05-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

We are now ready to get back to the business of printmaking - almost. My last contribution to the skin show is a handmade paper piece. The skins, aka peelings, from onions, carrots and broccoli have been boiled beyond recognition with a little caustic agent and at the end of the process, a buffering agent to make it Ph neutral. Only a few sheets were made and one was carefully draped over my hand to form somewhat of a casting - albeit a speed record in the casting process. The color was not anticipated, but is very pleasant and works well with the title: Skin.

Skin

2010-05-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

Life just keeps interjecting and taking more time than I am willing to devote. The latest development is bursitis in the left hip. This is probably because I've been walking, sitting, and moving in unnatural ways because my blooming knee hurts like hell. So, that is my excuse for not doing much art work. And then, the deadline for the Skin show at North Bank Gallery decided to be closer than I could imagine and I got to work on a couple of quirky ideas. I figured others would do the tatoos, body painting, hanging by hooks in the back from the gallery ceiling, etc. So, I would do something from the opposite direction. The closest I could come to the opposite direction was nursery rhymes/lullabyes, hence Bye Baby Bunting - Daddy's gone a-hunting, he will bring a rabbit skin to wrap a baby bunting in. And, New Summer Colors - thinking if we could just get babies to come in all colors, not just the traditional ones, maybe we could get over racial prejudices. Probably not. Someone would think up a reason for hating my lime green babies. Or, Heaven Forbid! The mauve ones, now that sounds dangerous. One more piece is in the works, but it is still drying.

detail of the babies Bye Baby

New Summer Colors

Back at it: making art

2010-03-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

It has been ages since I've communicated via blog. Mainly, because I was laid low the months of Oct., Nov., Dec., and January with emergency surgery & all that goes with that. In January I was back in the hospital again because I had done everything wrong - ate all the wrong things and was, in general, a very bad girl. In my defense, the hospital sent me home with no direction. When they said I could eat Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast, I ate what was in the house: brown rice & whole grain toast. No! It was supposed to be white everything. Basically, I could eat anything over-refined and with absolutely no nutritional value. It is hard to generate any energy on such a diet.
Due to this turn of events I missed my Christmas visit to Granddaughterland, aka North Dakota, and by March I was getting desperate for a Granddaughter fix. I've just returned from glorious Grand Forks and Camille and I managed to get in a printmaking session. I helped Grace with a couple of paintings

for a school project, and Camille and I did various craft and art related projects. After a rousing game of Fancy Nancy we drew bedrooms and Nancy. But the printmaking was the most fun. Here is a shot of Camille burnishing her foam plate. I'm not sure she ever really got the concept as the plates seemed to be much more important to her than the prints. I think Grace will be ready to do some actual carving next winter, so maybe I can get her to do a little linoleum print - or we might find time for that this summer, though their time here seems to pass much too quickly to do much of anything that requires staying in one spot.
Next on the agenda is some studio clean up and then Grandma had better get back to work or she won't have much for a July show. Yikes!

New Work

2009-09-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened around here in the last couple of months and sandwiched between the earth shaking events of daily life I've managed to find a little studio time to produce some new work. Because I've been having so much trouble with my hands (ugly old arthritis) I've temporarily given up on woodblocks and been indulging in solarplate™ intaglio. With this medium all you need to do is get the desired image onto a transparent format and you're good to go. I like to draw directly onto aquaeous media acetate. It allows you to remove and add to your heart's content, take as long as needed, and then just expose it onto the plate using UV light, develop the plate in tap water, harden with a little more UV and print. In this case I've printed many layers of colors and textures and stenciled some blocks of color onto both sides of a very thin, transparent mulberry paper, then printed some small plates on the paper's right side. Meanwhile, I've printed the drawings/images onto another piece of fairly transparent (but not as much as the original paper) and very carefully torn around the image while the paper is damp. Mulberry paper is very tough and almost impossible to tear when it is dry. When dry the images are dampened again, sprinkled with adhesive and placed on the background sheet on a plate and run through the press. Then I may print a bit of color over the top of the two sheets which have now become one. When the image is completely resolved it is trimmed and chine collé to a Western printmaking paper - I like Somerset Satin. It is versatile and has a nice hand and is a soft white. The image above is named Persephone after the ancient myth of Demeter's daughter having eaten a seed of the pomegranate while in the underworld (she was forbidden to eat anything if she wanted to come back up topside) and thereafter having to spend 3 months down under (winter) and the other 9 with us (spring, winter and fall). Her mother brokered that deal. So, she is here with her scythe, watering can, rake, and a few samples of what she's grown so far. Since we have gone from "yard" (rather shabby & kind of unkempt) to "garden" (a place to be kept free of weeds, moles, voles, slugs and looking decent) I see that three of my new images deal with gardening and critters. As you can see there is no mercy in my heart for voles. I don't understand why they were invented in the first place and am certain that the world would be a better place if they were not here. The varmints live on the roots of your most expensive plants. They will gladly pass weeds by giving them nary a thought. They can completely wipe out a yard in a heartbeat. One day your plant is looking robust and healthy and the next day it falls over dead & has no roots. My plan is to lead a hunt and not look back until they are all gone. However, my feeling is that one pregnant vole will always be missed and before you know it you will be infested again. They were probably here with the dinosaurs and will still be here with the cockroaches long after we are gone and forgotten. But, while I'm here I will be doing my best to win the fight.

Shirts R Us

2009-08-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

The visit to North Dakota involved fish prints on shirts and tie dye shirts, among other things. I didn't get any photos of the fish printing taking place, but I did manage to get this one of the girls in their fish shirts. Camille was having a little problem with her shorts falling off, so Grace has a belt in her hand, ready to help her little sister out. Camille seldom wears anything that is not a dress, and I think I know why. One look at that body in a leotard and look! No hips. It is very hard to keep pants up when there are no hips (or butt) to hold them up. It is awfully cute in its leotard, though, and a budding gymnast. The girls friend, Spencer, came over to fish print and tie dye. Spencer is 1 yr. older than Grace and I had to ask him to squat down so I could get them both in the photo. They are a true Mutt and Jeff, have been friends since birth, and truly enjoy one another's company. They all did some pretty cool tie dye shirts. Many art projects were undertaken - some printmaking, some painting and drawing, all a lot of fun for Grandma and the girls.

Painting Grace's Room

2009-08-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

Last week, while in Grand Forks visiting the GrandGirls, Grace and I painted her room. She had chosen the paint and her "decor" a year ago, or more, and had the paint all ready to go. Grace is now 11 years old and 61 lbs. of pure tiger. It took us three days, but her room is now very "Grace". She donned her painting suit and booties and we were ready to launch into some very sophisticated painting. As you can see Grace is all business and a mighty force behind the roller. She also did all the brush work around the baseboards and up as far as she could reach in other spots. While we painted we listened to a Lemony Snicket book on tape -- my introduction to these works and I have to say, I think I will read more Lemony Snicket as soon as I finish all the Harry Potter's Grace sent home with me. And, speaking of spots we managed to get quite an array of them around the room. We could not find a ready made stencil for the large ones, so we made our own from poster board and the pizza pan. There were still shelves to be put back up and furniture to be placed when I had to leave, but basically the painting was done for the moment. We even managed to stencil her name on two pillow cases on the bottom bunk. I think she is very pleased with her room. The fleece blanket on the end of her bunk was another project we accomplished in our busy week. In this photo she is also wearing a fish print shirt - yet another project from our busy, busy week. When someone asked her why she wanted the green cirles she replied, " They fit my decor." My Granddaughter, the interior designer. But, she says she wants to be an archeologist.

She's Gone to The Birds

2009-07-20T16:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it has finally happened - I have completely (almost) gone to the birds. These are two little bits of whimsy for the garden. A friend was kind enough to donate a carload of doves and crows (decoys) to the studio about a year ago and I have finally made time to get them painted and out to their new roosts. These fellows are not gender specific, however, one did have to sacrifice its tail in order to sit where I wanted it. So, now I suppose it is really having gender issues. The doves are perched on a piece of aluminum "sculpture" that I found at Tuesday Morning, a discount, jobber kind of store where they buy up the stuff that didn't sell at a place gone bankrupt, or damaged freight - that kind of thing. I turned it upside down, sprayed it copper, and perched some black doves on it and looking through it. The crows are healthy, large crows and have copper tubing crests and tails. They are mounted on a snag that stands directly behind the fire pit. Flickers and woodpeckers have been doing a job on this snag for 20 years that I know of, and the snag will not be standing too much longer, but it will probably last as long as the crows do. The wonderful part of our Heckle and Jeckle is that they are very, very quiet. Especially early in the morning - which is more than I can say for Woody Woodpecker and friends.

Susanna and The Voyeurs (2)

2009-06-08T16:38:00.001-07:00

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.

Cinderella Fence Post

2009-06-06T17:27:00.000-07:00

To the left is the fence post before its trip to the beauty shop. Actually it was replaced with a new one of the same family as the carpenter ants had about devoured the old one. Several years ago I purchased the ceramic tiles with our address numbers while on a trip to Italy. The numbers have been hanging around the studio, quietly waiting their turn for attention. Last week I had reached critical mass in the procrastination department and set about the beautification of the fence post which had been leaning in one corner taking up space. I received a new tool for Christmas which has an attachment that made cutting the trough for the tile a very easy matter. The cut had to be about 3/8" deep as these were thick tiles. The tiles were then seated with mastic and grouted with a tan sanded grout (left over from another tile project). Then some scroll and floral motifs were carved and the whole thing stained with a Rosewood/Cherry stain (left over from the kitchen). My darling son was gracious enough to bribe a friend to come out with him and set the new post for me. I'm so pleased with it, I wonder why I didn't do it years ago and now have plans to do one for the other end of the driveway. (It is a semi-circle drive with two entrances.) I haven't told the son of the latest plan, yet. ;-)

Susanna and The Voyeurs

2009-06-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Year of the Ox

2009-05-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

Finally, my herd of oxen are leaving the premises. To tell you the truth I was beginning to think they would never leave. The mess they have left behind will have to be dealt with now.

Many images of bulls, oxen, buffaloes, you name it, have danced in my head since last Fall, but none stayed there long enough to make it onto a block. Ferdinand has always been a sentimental favorite, but in the end this fellow won out. There was a fabulous mosaic bull in Cadiz, but the thought of cutting all those little lines for the mosaic idea was more than I could handle, especially since I have two more urgent projects waiting in the wings.

So, here we have Spiral Ox. That sounds like it could be contagious - some kind of new virus, but he is really a tame and good natured fellow. He is a reduction print, just one block of precious cherry wood has been sacrificed for this print. Originally I had planned for him to be lime green, but try as I might, all I could get was brown once the orange body had been printed. That kind of thing just does not work with reduction methods and transparent ink - surprise! one gets brown every time, which I knew of course, but for some reason thought I could overcome if I printed it often enough. Other than that, things went pretty much as planned.

And now I am off to release the herd at the PO. I hope they are ready for this! Hooves away —

Easter in Cadiz

2009-04-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

It is good to be home again, but we had an absolutely wonderful time in Spain. I wish we could have seen more, but on the other hand, it was a very restful and relaxing time. We met our daughter, Yvette, her husband, Steve and our two grand- daughters, Grace (10) and Camille (4). They have been living in Norway since January (teaching at American College of Norway) and were ready for someplace warm and sunny with a beach. Cadiz is a magical place - we were in the old town and felt like we had gone back in time to the middle ages with a few modern conveniences, like washer & dryer and indoor plumbing. We rented a 2 bedroom apartment La Casa Cadiz a short walk from the beach. Every day we walked to a new destination: the Museum of Cadiz, the Cathedral, a small church with some early Goyas, the Castle Santa Catalina, the fortress San Sebastian, etc. You can only expect kids to endure so much of the cultural heritage when what they really want to do is go to the beach or the playground ;-) There are pictures of our sightseeing at our sight on Shutterfly. Cadiz, as legend has it, was founded by Hercules and supposedly the Pillars of Hercules are here somewhere. Archeology shows that it was first settled by the Phoenicians, followed by the Carthagenians, the Romans, the Moors, and finally the Christians. It is also the port from which Columbus' second and third voyages departed, however, the locals don't make much noise about that. And, it is where the Constitution of Spain was drawn up and ratified. There are also the University of Cadiz, and the Academy of Art here. Cadiz claims to be the oldest continually inhabited city in Western Europe. Being there Easter Week we were treated to a street procession per night with a different float being carried down the street each night. I could never get close enough to see how they managed to propel these huge, heavy things down the street, but they did it purely with manpower, no horses of any kind employed. I have to admit it is nice to be home to my own bathroom where the paper used can be flushed and not deposited in a can next to the toilet. The apartment we were in is a 17th century building and the plumbing must be nearly that old. ;-) Anyway, the paper does not go down the potty - if you forget you fish it out and put it in the can. A few times of that tends to improve the memory exponentially. Fortunately, the garbage is picked up daily. The streets were more like alleys to us - very narrow, but inhabited by cars, motorbikes, dogs and people. Grace was continually watching out for Grandma's keester. So, now that we are home it is time to get started on that Ox New Year's card - the year is marching on at an amazing pace. I am off to get started on it as we speak!

Foot Bridge With Hand Rail

2009-03-24T13:07:00.002-07:00

My last post had to do with the April exhibition at North Bank Gallery, Maps and Bridges. Since I had a Maps piece I thought I would do a Bridge piece, too. Naturally, as it would to anyone, my first thought was to do a Foot Bridge with Hand Rail. This is a color intaglio print. The green texture is printed on both sides of a very thin mulberry paper and the white foot and hands are chine collé with another mulberry paper. Both of these, after their run through the press, are put through the press one more time to laminate them to a sheet of Somerset Satin and emboss the plate mark. You just gotta love a language that allows you play with it so freely, don't you? Some other ideas, which unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, depending upon your viewpoint, were: Bridge hand, Bridge game, Bridge rubber (now that one I thought had great possibilities), from there on they went steadily down hill... I think I will quit while I'm ahead.

2009-03-24T13:07:00.001-07:00

Mapping a Traveler's Mind

2009-03-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

Next month I'll be participating in a show at North Bank Gallery dealing with Map and Bridge images. I've always been fascinated with the idea of mapping the brain - especially as it would lend itself to being able to change that part of the brain that allows people to disagree with me. (Especially when that person might happen to inhabit the same residence). My interest was first spiked (no pun intended) by the story of Phineas Gage, a railway worker who suffered an accident where a long pointed spike pierced his skull and brain in an accident related to an explosion. His subsequent behavioral changes led to much of today's research and knowledge of which parts of the brain control what actions or processes.

Well, the first attempt was a dismal failure. Not only did my model have a really goofy and demented expression, but she looked as if she had been decapitated, and she also had a serious skin condition. The latter the result of an attempt to use an old canvas which has held many paintings and been gessoed many times and the sanding between layers apparently left a bit to be desired.

After fighting for days I finally gave up and decided she should be a plaster cast, rather than being a no-body. This way, I reasoned, if a blemish occurred it would be in the plaster and no fault of the painter. (I like to give myself a way out of these messes ahead of time, if possible.) Also, I could capitalize on the surface texture instead of fighting it to a stand off. So, with a few modifications, and a little more pigment she became plastered. In her condition I figured a compass might come in handy. I think she is finished, unless one of you can give suggestions to improve her.

By the way, I am really excited about showing Annie Bissett's Three Prophets in this exhibition. I hope any of you in the Portland/Vancouver area will come by in April and see what all the excitement is about! First Friday artwalks are from 5 - 8pm, but you can come any time during the month.

Swinger

2009-03-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

Last Fall when it was sign up time for Baren Forum Exchange 39 I was about as enthusiastic as one can possibly get, but then I ran into a snag. The theme was a self portrait as a tree. I just couldn't get moving on what the heck kind of tree I could possibly be. I could be a fir because I love the rain, I could talk myself into being just about any tree you can think of, but I could not decide. Then I was hit with another kidney infection and spent 5 hours one Sat. in the ER with various liquids being dripped into my veins as they waited for my heart rate to go down. After that it seemed to just take forever to get any energy back again. I had decided to back out of the exchange on Jan. 1, the last day to withdraw and let some other eager woodblock printer to get their chance in this one. Wouldn't you know, that very day the Exchange Coordinator sent an email to everyone saying there was no one waiting in the wings and we were already short two people. Immediately, guilt and obligation moved in and I started cutting and carving and printing furiously. Suddenly, I had settled on an image and it was full speed ahead. The deadline was Feb. 1. I think my prints were 3 days late getting to Connecticut.

The image I finally settled on was of me, as a 5 year old, swinging in the backyard in the apple tree I always wanted, but never actually had. Instead, I swung from the laundry poles, which of course, was forbidden. And, for good reason as I eventually fell and broke my arm. But, I was a swinger and did so at every opportunity. Finally, when I was an adult my Grandmother gave my Dad an apple tree with 4 or 5 varieties of apple on one tree. It was his pride and joy, but I was middle aged before it was large enough to support a swing. Did I mention that my folks had planted a Weeping Willow in the backyard when I was small? If ever there was a tree that did not offer the possibility of a swing it is a Weeping Willow. It finally grew too large and they cut it down, but fat lotta good that did me. So, my image is a fantasy - a complete fabrication, but it would have been true if I had carried a little more clout in the landscaping field at the time.

The print I did for the exchange was a bit more simple. On the second printing I included a stencil and an additional bokashi, and beefed up the color on the red dress. When printing for the exchange I ran out of time to do much experimenting, so it came later. I lost track of how many drops were involved, but I'm guessing about 15, at least. It seemed like a hundred and I began to think I was going to have to live well past 100 to finish. The paper is Echizen Kozo from McClains Printmaking supplies and it is truly a joy and the colors do glow! It is such a pleasure when things do what is promised!

Virgin Annunciate

2009-03-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time between posts, but I have not been idle. Between finishing the print for an exchange and taking a painting class, there has been little time for anything else. The painting class was "Techniques of the Masters" taught by Mike Southern at the Kenton Studios in Portland. The artists covered were the Flemish Masters, Titian and Rubens. We were each to do an egg tempera based copy of a Flemish Master on a small piece of panel prepared with the traditional gesso and a Titian work on canvas. I chose the Virgin Annunciate, an early Titian. It was a real personal challenge to stay focused on copying someone else's work – I kept wanting to take off on my own, especially when it came to the drapery, which has always been a challenge. I think I managed to stay half faithful in end, but a forger I will never be. Now the challenge will be to somehow make this woman mine. She is currently residing in the studio where I can look at her every day until I come up with the solution.

Many years ago I would make a value study drawing in graphite and then water color over it. What a surprise to find out I was doing a Titian technique (of sorts - his were in oil) called grisaille, which is simply a painting done in shades of gray from black to white. The under painting, which was first done in burnt umber, then in grisaille, and then many glazes of transparent oil pigments. I gotta tell you, Titian worked a whole lot faster then I did. It took me a month of classes, and sessions between, to finish this little 16 x 20 inch canvas. But then, I didn't have a cadre of apprentices, either which makes for a handy excuse for being so slow! (I don't have a wife, either.)

As to the final solution, I have some things in mind, and when they are in place you will see an altered image.

But, next I will post the woodcut for the exchange.

Earth, Water, Wind and Fire: Installed

2008-11-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

Finally, after months of grinding away with various bits and my handy Foredom, the piece is ready for installation in the great outdoors. It has been securely mounted on exterior grade plywood which has been primed and painted within an inch of its life. The final coat is a clear enamel on the copper itself to prevent oxidation. At first I was going to just let it do its natural thing, but then I realized that gradually all that engraving would disappear. That was when I decided to add color with the propane torch, and sure enough! Gradually, all the engraving disappeared and had to be redone.

In a few years the plants will be halfway or more up to the bottom of the installed piece. Right now it looks like it has been installed much too high, but hopefully, in a few years it will look just right. I'm told that the first year plants sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap. Right now we are heavily into sleep, because nothing is doing anything. There is a tiny tip of new growth, but that is it -- just enough for us to know they are still alive.

Earth, Water, Wind and Fire looks for all the world to be exactly where it was meant to be: and it is!

The next project is to carve the fence posts! I don't expect that to take near as long as this piece did. ;-)

Earth, Water, Wind and Fire

2008-11-22T14:16:00.000-08:00

The four elements: earth, water, wind and fire seemed appropriate for a garden piece. Of course, each of these had to be represented visually. Water Detail of fern representing earth. The fern

was chosen because it is one of our oldest botanic specimens and it is a wonder to me how it can propagate so effectively with such a primitive and demanding reproductive process. It seemed to demand some kind of recognition. Air/wind - my favorite to draw or paint, and

least favorite to experience. Another representation of earth simply because

I love plants with berries and wanted to do berries. In the upper right hand corner is an

image representing the sun and fire. However, after

I decided to take the propane torch to the copper to

add color, the torch became the representative for fire.

This is the finished piece in the studio, mounted on primed and painted exterior plywood, ready for installation outdoors. (To be continued...)

Working on Copper

2008-11-04T12:15:00.001-08:00

This looks more like a Halloween costume than someone doing serious work, but under all of that gear sits a mild mannered printmaker working her little heart out. Several years ago I burned out a Dremel tool working on zinc and replaced it with a Foredom which is much more to my liking. So far, I have not managed to burn it out. This is a 2' square piece of copper intended to be installed in the yard when completed. To date I have been through 4 little burrs and have completely emptied the bin at our local Home Depot. It is slow going and I'm getting impatient! Especially impatient to get out of all of this gear! Before the piece is mounted and installed I intend to get at least one print from it.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall...

2008-10-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

North Bank Gallery in Vancouver, where I am one of the artists, is having a Politik: Left, Right and Center exhibition this month. Since I am pretty much chair bound, recovering from surgery, I had to do what I could manage from my chair. This didn't exactly conform to that requirement, but modeling the pig did. The idea was after the reference in the political dialogue of putting lipstick on a pig, the old saw that is just another version of you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear, which was my mother's favorite. Somehow the Right managed to twist the comment to infer that Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for Vice President, was a pig in lipstick, which was never the intent or context of the comment in the original. But, since that seems to be what is making the rounds, I decided to play on that. The most surprising part of this story is that the piece sold before the show opened, making me think maybe I should go for folk art and give up the printmaking!

Froggie went a courting...

2008-07-07T19:20:00.001-07:00

A few years ago I carved this little woodblock from parts of wood around other images. I only needed a little spot approximately 2.5 x 3.25 inches for the key and pond blocks, and even smaller for the other colors. Last weekend I printed up a fresh batch of Froggies and made them into gift cards by trimming them and mounting them to various scraps of papers and finally onto cardstock and finishing them off with a few odd beads and embroidery floss. Of course, they were not standard envelope size, so the envelopes are made from scraps of various mulberry papers hiding out in drawers. Nothing, but nothing goes to waste around here and very little gets tossed out. In that respect I suppose this could be considered house cleaning. Yes! I spent the weekend cleaning house! I wonder if anyone will notice.... Maybe one of these days I will put some of these on my poor little neglected Etsy site.... someday....

Aeronautic Maneuvers

2008-05-31T18:24:00.000-07:00

This last week has been yet another new experience. North Bank Gallery in Vancouver will be featuring a show entitled Airborne: Lighter Than Air, during the month of June. My contribution will be something I'm calling Aeronautic Maneuvers. It is not printmaking in the traditional sense, although the manikins are prints in some sense, if you stretch the term far enough, I suppose. My idea was based on aeronautic = having to do with wind and air currents and the manipulation of them, and maneuvers = dance positions. The work is done with steel cable, copper tubing and wire, & wooden manikins (thank you IKEA). It has been a lot of fun to do, much more like playing than work, and will be a challenge to transport and hang, I'm sure. Next week it will be time to pack and get ready for the Alaskan cruise we've been planning for some time and have done nothing to get ready for, yet. Since we leave Saturday morning to drive to the "other Vancouver" I guess it is time to give this trip some serious thought! There will be plenty of time for printmaking when we return. Maybe some of these figures from Aeronautic Maneuvers will find their way into some new images – along with glaciers and icebergs!

Another New Experience

2008-05-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

Education continues, and this time it is in the realm of ketubahs, a word I had never heard before this assignment came into my life. My niece is marrying a wonderful man of Russian/Jewish heritage this weekend and they asked me to design and execute their ketubah, which (according to Wikipedia is) a Jewish prenuptial agreement. It is considered an integral part of a traditional Jewish marriage. It states that the husband commits to provide food, clothing and marital relations to his wife, and that he will pay a specified sum of money if he divorces her. If he dies, leaving her a widow, the ketubah amount is the first charge on his estate. Not knowing really where to begin, I began on the web where I found approximately one cajillion examples. The kids sent me samples of their likes, and they were not even similar. The groom's choice was very ornate and geometric, and the bride's choice was organic and natural. So, I tried to combine the two. My approach was to go to the Victorian Language of Flowers site and choose: Bird of Paradise - magnificence, Asteracae - love, Wild Rose - perfect happiness, Star of David - Judaism, entwined ribbons - individual qualities joined harmoniously, and an abstract heart - the universal emblem of love. The rest of it is shape, line, space, color and value, the old stand-by principles, heavily influenced by Alphonse Maria Mucha, one of my favorite Art Nouveau printmaker/illustrators. The kids have not seen this, yet - I just hope it will not be something they hate, since it is supposed to be a "work of art", signed at the rehearsal dinner, that will be framed and hang in their home.... Yikes! I hate commissions. By the time the client sees the work I am tied in knots fretting furiously that they are going to gasp and turn pea green when they see it... Oh dear, Oh my...

Year of the Rat

2008-04-21T16:49:00.001-07:00

It is a bit past the traditional February date of the Chinese New Year, but due to the rat race in my habitat I just didn't get around to doing my New Year's cards until last week. I guess I needed surgery and a recovery period aka, enforced down time, for me to settle in one place long enough to get them done. All has gone well in all departments.

So many possibilities for a rat card - I couldn't seem to land on one that I was happy with. I had them packing bags (pack rat), racing little cars (rat race), hopping about (kangaroo rat). But, since this is the year of the Summer Olympics I decided to go with Marathon Rat in the end. He is a relief Solar Plate printed on Graphic Chemical Heavyweight paper, using GC's 514c Bone Black etching ink modified with GC Gelled Medium, and hand colored. Each evening after printing the plate was cleaned well with baby oil and the printing area cleaned with rubbing alcohol and window cleaner. Hands are cleaned with that old favorite, Lava Soap. Since Solar Plates are light sensitive polymer coated steel plates, and are developed in plain old ordinary tap water, it all makes for a pretty much non-toxic environment. Fumes from developing the solarplates are largely negated by developing under running tap water. Still, it is a good idea to wear gloves, just in case.

The reverse of the card was put through an ink jet printer with a short explanation of the character traits of those born in the Year of the Rat. Basically, they are charming, charismatic, practical and hardworking. They are endowed with leadership skills and are highly motivated, organized, meticulous and demand control of all situations. It is that "charismatic" trait you have to be really wary of as they will convince you to join them in that Marathon before you know what hit you. However, if you are prone to betting on such things, Rat people make for a sure bet in such situations as they cannot stand to look at the backside of a person in front of them, hence they are sure winners.

Drying Systems

2008-04-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

A few days ago David Harrison wrote about his drying system for prints on his blog, and a handsome system it is, too! You can see it at http://blog.olansa.co.uk/. I told him that I had put up a very economical drying systems for my blotters, which could be used to dry prints, too. I don't use it for prints because I always print on damp paper and the prints need to be between blotters. As a result I have a number of well worn blotters that need to be dry before being put back into storage for the next time. The system I'm using I bought at IKEA for around $20, maybe a little less. It was a cinch to install and works beautifully. Its original purpose is to hang drapery/curtain panels, but it works very nicely for this, too. The installation is 16 feet and it comes with mini clothes pins. The pins have a loop allowing you to clip the article and then attach it to the cable - an advantage when using it for larger items.

Not a Knot

2008-03-06T23:08:00.000-08:00

This year I had vowed to participate in the Cascade Exchange through Oregon State University. Every year I intend to do this, but when the due date arrives I have done nothing. So, this year I made possibly one of the ugliest, most disgusting little prints I've ever done. Ordinarily they would have found their way to the kill pile, but since I vowed to do this I followed through and sent them off, my poor homely little orphans. The way that I print is somewhat akin to a Suicide (reduction) print, where you really don't know what you have until its finished, and since I had waited until the last minute I had no time to start over. But, I had the plates all made so after I had mailed the obligatory exchange disasters off to OSU I tried printing with different colors and added chine collé and it turned out considerably better. The basis for the print was, of course, René Magrittes Ceci n'est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe). He was right, it wasn't. It was a painting of a pipe. In the same vein this is not a knot. It is a print of a knot. And it is a play on words & spellings. English is so much fun to play with! Sometimes I think I should have been an English Major, but then I couldn't have ended a sentence with a preposition, could I?

Birth of Aphrodite

2008-03-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

Print Arts Northwest will be exhibiting prints from Cyprus during the month of March and later in the year we will be sending prints there for exhibition in one of their galleries. But, while their work is here we were asked to do small 9" sq. prints giving an interpretation of Cyprus to be hung with the work from Cyprus. That was the impetus for the birth of Aphrodite. I learned that Cyprus was the birthplace of the mythical Aphrodite, ancient Greek goddess of love, and figured that if Venus arrived via sea shell then Aphrodite may have arrived from the sea also, amidst bubbles. And so she did, with a basket of hearts and carrying the two olive branches from the Cypriot flag (symbols for the two factions of Cyprus: Greek and Turkey), may they continue to live in peace. Her head dress is a map of Cyprus and is embellished with copper leaf as the name Cyprus means "copper" in Greek. So there you have it - the explanation of all the elements in the birth of Aphrodite. She is a Solarplate intaglio using several plates printed numerous times and ending with chine collé of the goddess herself, and the bubbles, printed at the same time as the line plate, of course.

A Tale of Friendship

2007-11-06T22:42:00.001-08:00

A Tale of Friendship is a multiple plate intaglio print, or series of prints chine collé to Western paper. Each image consisted of first printing several plates in various colors on the front and back of a very transparent Japanese paper and then printing the black figures to tell the story. I chose this format after reading an article where yet another artist had mentioned the Daily Comics as his first introduction to drawing and causing me to stroll memory lane a bit. I must have spent a million hours drawing Tillie the Toiler and Brenda Starr. I guess that dates me a bit. This work was at my recent show at North Bank Gallery. On opening night a very nice man who was visiting the Northwest from Hawaii was kind enough to give me a poem he had written:

The Path of Friendship by Bobbie Derricotté I went to find a butterfly one bright and sunny day. And as I walked along the path I met you on the way. You asked, "Who are you looking for?" and I told you, "A friend". We've walked this path for many years, and it will never end.

It tells the story much better than I could have with words and fits the imagery to a tee. I was so happy that he sought me out and shared his art with me. The Mary Poppins business was not intended. I had seen an illustration with many umbrellas and had just completed an image of a woman with a flying machine made of two umbrellas and, let's face it! umbrellas are big business in the NW. I thought it would be wonderful to be able to just put your umbrella up and navigate to the closest Starbucks with a friend.