Top Three Posts

Blogger counts each time a post has been viewed and of my 80 posts, the Eco Bundling - OMG post has received the most by far - 102 views and climbing. This post has been viewed almost every day since I posted it! My post Papermaking Adventures: Water Retting is second with 87 views and Experimental Printmaking I (carving into Masonite) is third with 81 views. In general, most other posts get anywhere from 6 to 35 views. I suppose these three topics have very little written about them although India Flint and her eco-bundling technique is getting more popular every day. She has spent much time traveling and conducting workshops and posts on her blog regularly. The popularity of the technique has folks searching for more, I suppose.

To those who have searched for information on these topics, please leave a comment and let me know if you found what I wrote to be helpful and share something about your own experiments and experiences. Thanks!

An Attitude of Gratitude Journal - Self

Continuing along with the month long Attitude of Gratitude Journal challenge, here is Day 8:

Today's theme is Self. What a huge topic!! I could do a whole journal on what I think of my self - well that is what most of my written journals discuss, isn't it?

The technique challenge was to draw a self portrait or use a photo of yourself on the page and to cut out words from magazines that describe you in positive terms. This part was fun, as it was serendipitous! I went through a garden design and two home decorating magazines and these are the words I found that I thought described me positively. I like the variation of the size and style of fonts.  The self portrait is a painting I created for a Painting I class at Southern CT State University in Fall 2010.

I realize that I have not written about this painting, so am taking the opportunity to do so here. I chose to model my self portrait after the style of the Nabis, a group of French post-Impressionist painters from the turn of the nineteenth century, a topic I was studying at the time in an Art History course. I also chose to incorporate symbolism in the portrait. The print on the wall behind me is my creation, "The Tree of Life". I posted on my blog about creating this print. The first of  3 posts can be found here. The print itself is symbolic, representing a starting point in time and representing nature and the natural world which are very important to me. The pattern to the right of the print is from a silk scarf that belonged to my grandmother. I was struggling with family issues concerning her, and felt strongly that I wanted to represent her, and as an extension, my maternal family, in this painting. The Brugsmansia plant is a composite of one I had growing outdoors. My printmaking professor had given me a cutting of it the winter before. I planted it and it grew to six feet tall and finally bloomed in splendor that autumn. This was included in the painting because I was fascinated with the plant, but it also represented the natural world. I placed it in a pot which I am holding in my hands. This is a representation of receiving a gift, but also of offering a gift. I want to share my love of nature with others through my art, offering them a view from my perspective.

Before Photos in New Haven Register Building

Here are the "before" photos of the area where I will be exhibiting in the New Haven Register newspaper production building:
 

I've got the two cement walls and floor space out to the poles.

 Here's the plan:
1. wash the cement block walls, garage door and door to equipment room.
2. test the "damage-free" adhesive backed velcro strips made for hanging picture frames as well as printing labels to make sure they stick to the walls. If so, proceed with hanging framed pieces. If not, Bob will install masonry screws.
3. hang unframed prints with binder clips on cord or wire suspended below the vents on the garage door.
4. set up tables
5. install newspaper vending machine and use it to display my handmade papers
6. decorate poles with vining bittersweet if time allows.

First Day of Autumn - Summer Lament

In the early days of summer it is heard to believe that it will ever end. The days are long. It is easy to get out of bed at 6 a.m. when the sun is shining and the birds are singing. Energy is endless; activity stretches on until the evening hours when the sun finally sets. The warm sun is encouraging, coaxing me to join it outside. Little by little, autumn approaches. The days get a little shorter. The temperatures begin to cool. It is hard now to get up before 7 a.m. and it is time to pack up the outdoor activity well before 7 p.m.

On the one hand I mourn the endless days of summer and all the opportunities to make paper pulp, experiment with natural dyes, tend and harvest the vegetable garden. I feel that I have run out of time and will not be able to turn all that pulp into paper. Having an outdoor studio is wonderful for so many reasons, but when it gets too cool to keep hands in cold water, I know it is time to pack up for the season.

I am very happy with the amount of time I was able to devote to natural dyeing. I still need to try modifiers on most of the dyed fabrics to see if other colors/shades can be achieved. This can be done inside, so can wait a bit. Once this is done and documented, I will be able to see how many colors were created during this time.

While I do mourn the loss of papermaking days, I look with anticipation to the indoor studio projects that have been on hold. Making books with and printing on the handmade papers, continuing and completing and beginning visual journals, using the abundance of materials in my studio to make collages and mixed media works. Formulating workshops and promoting them. So much planned to do and I know that I will just make a dent in the list! Then it will be spring again, time to plant and cook fibers in preparation for another summer of papermaking and natural dyeing.

To everything there is a season and a purpose under heaven. Thank you, dear God, for all the opportunities you provide to learn and grow and expand in knowledge and ability.

Monarda added To Queen Anne's Lace & Wildflowers Print

Water mixable oil paint printed on handmade gampi

This week I drew an image of Monarda that would fit over the Queen Anne's Lace and Wildflowers linoleum print. The first print was created using watersoluble colored pencils for a botanical drawing-type look.  The transfer wasn't quite what I had hoped. It appears like the Monarda is behind the Queen Anne's Lace. I had wanted it to be on top.  Next I used water mixable oil paints and the image was a bit darker, yet not quite the effect I wanted to achieve.  I am thinking that I will try a silkscreen version of this design next.

What are your thoughts?

Transitioning: Good-bye Summer, Hello Autumn

Summer rarely hangs on until the last day here in southern New England. Fall is in the air usually a good week before the official autumnal equinox. The same is true this year. Since last Friday, the temperatures have been in the mid 60's F and cooler at night. The sun has set by 7 p.m. The leaves are beginning to change color and some are even beginning to fall.

Yes, the sunny, warm, seemingly endless days of summer have come to an end. I really enjoyed this summer. I will miss it, but I also look forward to the days of transition ahead. Transitioning from shorts to jeans; from sandals to socks and closed shoes; from wet hair to blow dried; from whites, yellows and bright greens of summer home decor to rusts, browns and dark greens of autumn; from margaritas to apple cider, cinnamon and bourbon; from papermaking to printmaking.


I am once again taking the Monotype/Monoprint class at Creative Arts Workshop. I start this evening. I am going to build on what I started in the summer class and start new projects as well. Today I am working on a simple design of wildflowers that I will cut from linoleum and use primarily as a background. I am planning to do a series of prints featuring wildflowers on the naturally dyed cotton paper I made. If I can figure out how to thicken the ink I made from Viburnum acerifolium berries and Salvia officinalis, I will use these as well. If not, I have other projects in mind for those.

Design on "wonder-cut" linoleum before carving

Experimental Printmaking - Phase III

The last phase involved carving details into the images on the plates, which up until this point had been silhouettes (which I love the look of and will do more in the future). After the final carving, I reassembled the blocks in order and printed it.









Cutting the plates to 6" by 8" with the use of a table saw took off an eighth of an inch from all sides. Butted together, the design was slightly distorted. So for the next print, I spaced them to compensate for this.












For this next print, I randomly placed the plates down on the press bed.











And for the final print, I chose to print it in alternating colors.





I loved this project! My professor was unsure of my project all semester because there were many challenges along the way. In the end he said that he was quite impressed with what I had done!
Lessons I have learned:
1. If I want to print a large carved piece, I should use linoleum instead.
2. Carving tools must be kept sharp. I had so much trouble carving in Phase III because I was using dull tools. We tried to sharpen them, but I think it was too late!
3. Masonite isn't absorbent so at times it was difficult to roll the ink on the plate. I had some problems with the various inks, but I don't believe I figured out exactly what the causes were.

I have ordered some linoleum blocks and several types of linoleum and woodcarving tools, as well as a sharpening stone from Dick Blick. The order should be arriving this week. I look forward to using the blocks from this project incorporated with future designs.

Experimental Printmaking - Phase II

I would have loved to continue printing with this large block, but I had a deadline and two additional phases, so moved on to the next phase. Since the board was 18" by 24", I had it cut into 9 equal 6" by 8" plates.

My intention was to overlap the designs with transparent layers of ink. It took several brands and types of inks to find one that worked well. It was difficult to get transparency with the water-based block printing inks and even the water-based etching inks I was using wasn't creating the transparency I was looking for. I bought a sampler kit of Faust Aqua-Line inks. These are lovely, creamy inks that I was introduced to in a Silk Aquatint class I took at Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, CT. Mixing the colors with the transparent medium finally gave me what I was looking for. I experimented with hand printing, using the press at school and with the small hand press I have at home (which I bought from Jerry's Artarama) and with different types of papers, including some of my handmade paper.
Here are a few samples:

Experimental Printmaking - Phase I

This past semester, continuing with my printmaking studies, I took a class entitled Experimental Printmaking. It was up to me to decide what I wanted to do. The following photos are a summary of the project.

I wanted to make a large woodblock print that I could print from and later cut into smaller sized blocks and print from again. So the design had to be such that each of the blocks could be stand alone, though become somewhat abstract because of this. My design idea was the Tree of Life often depicted in old textiles. I created a design that had elements modeled after Jacobean embroidery and other textile samples that I have.

I wanted the block to be 18" x 24", so the first decision was finding a wood that would be suitable and available in this size. My options were few. I experimented with carving birch plywood and 1/4" Masonite boards. I decided to use the Masonite.

Carving was not difficult in the beginning. I realize now that it is because my tools were sharp.







After spending almost two months carving the design, I was only a little more than half way done. I decided to use a dremil to help speed things up. This turned out to be a learning experience because each type of tool made very different types of marks.


The left side is hand carved and the right side is Dremil carved.

I went back over the Dremiled areas with the hand tools to make a more uniform design.

Now that I was satisfied with the carving, I printed
several two-color prints.

This completed Phase I on this printmaking project.