Tis The Season

December has been a busy month with several art shows, some custom orders, and the overall Holiday Season! How quickly the time is flying with Christmas just barely over a week away!
The tree is up, the decorations are out, and most of my shopping is done--thanks to the convenience of on-line ordering.

Wiley as usual was supervising.

I have been working on this print for awhile, and finally finished it Friday night. It was a challenging project, and I struggled a bit with some of my color choices, and the sequencing of the layers. The finished prints are hanging up, as the multiple layers of ink will take a while to dry completely. 

  Seagulls 

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I enjoyed a very happy Thanksgiving day with my family yesterday! Turkey and all the fixings with my side of the family, and desserts with my husband's side. Of course everything was delicious, and I ate my way through the day! Below is the apple pie I made to bring for dessert.

I've been very busy getting ready for a few upcoming art shows this month. The first one is in Dover NH at the Woodman Museum.

                         These are the pieces that I have for sale in the Dover show.

Next Saturday, a group of artsy friends are setting up our wares at Corey's house in Manchester. 

I spent the afternoon today, working on a custom order that I wanted to get finished. Of course Wiley found her favorite spot to supervise my progress.

Art Shows and Halloween

The month of October is almost over, and I'm scrambling to get some new work finished for the holiday season ahead. I'm participating in an Art Sale at my friend Corey's house, the first of December. I'd like to have plenty of cards on hand, as well as some larger prints.

It's a fun time!

I've also been trying to do some weekly illustrations for Illustration Friday, but I've missed the deadline for the latest themes. So I'm posting the one here that I finally finished. The theme was cat.

Happy Halloween!

The Big Event

It was an eventful September with the wedding of our oldest daughter taking center stage. All her meticulous planning came together with a fabulous event that took place on Cape Cod. She knew exactly what she wanted, and the weather cooperated with her wishes--thank goodness!

It was a wonderful weekend at a gorgeous location. We had so much fun, and were so pleased for the happy couple!

I took a lot of nature photographs during the weekend. I'm trying to find new ideas for my next printmaking project. There were so many horseshoe crabs washed up on the beach, and tons of seashells.

At the venue, there were many "Gyotaku" fish prints hanging on the walls. They are made using actual fish. Ink is applied to the fish, and then the fish's body is pressed onto paper. This one was displayed in three frames. Very Cool!

The Lonely Sunflower

My best crops this year were not even planted by me. This sunflower came from a seed that must have come from last year's plants. I also had a giant gourd plant that spread out over the compost pile in the back corner of the yard. I threw away my old decorative pumpkins and gourds last fall, and one reseeded itself. I was hoping that it was a pumpkin plant, but no luck.

Big pig wears a wig, dances a jig with a a twig

A silly sketch for Illustration Friday---topic, WIG

Saying good-bye today to summer vacation, which ends tomorrow, as I head back to work for my 34th year of teaching art at the same school. It's been a very hot and humid summer, and next week looks like more of the same. Expecting highs in the 90s and sticky conditions. Looking forward to a little more fall-like weather!

Happy 90th Birthday Dad!

Wishing my Dad a Happy 90th Birthday!

You are the Best!!

League of NH Craftsmen Show---must be August!

For 9 days every August, the League of NH Craftsmen holds their annual fair in Sunapee. We got an early start, and were at the gates for the 10am opening. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and we had a great time wandering through the tents.

On the way home we stopped for a little treat!

The Final Layer!

I printed the final layer of the shell block print today. I carved away a lot of the blue layer, and then printed the final color in a brown hue.

                                                            Close up of the block

Now I have to get ready for the annual "Uncommon Art on the Common" Art Show on August 4th in Goffstown.

Shells Print continued....

I've been working on the "Shells" print this week, and you'll see the progress since I last posted.
The weather was so pleasant, that I was able to do some of the carving out on the porch. Wiley and I enjoy watching the birds (and squirrels) in the yard while I'm working.

In the images above, I've already printed the first color previously, and carved out the areas that will remain that first color (light gray). I'm also carving out the texture of the background. 

In the image below, here is the layer of darker gray after it has been printed over the first layer.

I've had to do a lot of carving to get the block ready for the next color.

Below are a few variations of the print with the blue-gray layer.

The ink color shows up better in this photo.

I could be done at this stage, but I think I may do another layer. I will have to wait and see how the ink dries. All the various layers of ink, affect the final color. The real trick of making a successful reduction print, is the perfect alignment of the printing paper each time you add a layer. The pins and tabs, as well as a sturdy base to hold the block in place are the keys to matching up the image every time.

Starting a New Print--"Shells"

I've been working on an idea for a new reductive block print. I love the ocean, and the native shells that wash up on the beaches. I want to use a limited palette of colors as well, so I worked up a composition that incorporates mussels, small clam shells, and a heart-shaped rock.

This is the drawing that I created on a sheet of tracing paper. I used the tracing paper for the pencil drawing, so that I could easily transfer the image onto the block by flipping it over, and rubbing the back with a spoon. The size of the drawing and the block is 6"x 18".

After transferring the image to the "soft-cut" block, I outlined the shells with a permanent marker. so that the drawing won't rub off during the printing process. The image on the block is reversed from the original drawing, so that it will look like the original after it is printed.

I plan on using the natural colors of the shells---brown, gray, blue, and cream. The paper is Rives Lightweight white (more like an off-white), and the ink is Akua intaglio. The ink works very well for relief printing, and can be cleaned with Dawn detergent and water. I've placed the block in its template, taped down the "pins" for registration, and taped the "tabs" onto each sheet of the printing paper. There will be 12 prints made from the block using this technique.

Stay tuned for further progress.

Summer Vacation

I've been finding some fun things to do now that school is out for the summer. A quick trip to Maine, and a day on the beach with a friend, inspired me to paint on some flat rocks that I collected there.

Here's the beach, and a massive piece of driftwood, bigger than myself.

Mermaids have been one of my themes this year, so I tried to fit my drawings onto the shapes of the rocks.

When I'm done, I'll put a coat of varnish on them.

After a recent rainstorm, I took some pictures of my back yard. The colors of the clearing sky and the misty atmosphere made everything look very lush.

I've been having too much fun to work on a new block print, but hopefully in my next post I'll have something new to show.

Summertime!

The school year is ending, and I'm looking forward to summer break! We've been having such lovely weather the last couple weeks, and I'm ready to get out there and enjoy it!  Wiley seems to like it too.

It's nice to see flowers blooming in the yard, and house wrens in the birdhouse. The parent wrens are swooping in and out of the birdhouse, and you can hear the little nestlings chirping to be fed.

The irises have been adding a pop of color here and there, and the day lilies are starting to open.

My daughter took a picture of the sunset from one of the tall buildings in Manchester, and if you look very closely, the new moon is just coming out. The sky and the horizon make for a stunning contrast of complementary colors (the art teacher in me).

I've been very lax about posting on this blog, so hope to get back into it now that school is almost out. I'll be working on some new block prints, and will share my progress. Bye for now!