Art Expo Honorable Mention

Letting Go, reduction block print, won Honorable Mention at the Learning & Product Expo: Art! at the Burbank Hilton this weekend. 8-] Not only did I get a ribbon, but I got $100 gift certificate for Dick Blick! Woo-hoo.

I entered 3 pieces and 2 got in -- Letting Go and Paleo-Umi. The two pieces inspired by Will. Letting Go was from a dream, and Paleo-Umi was a commission to illustrate his game character in ancestor form.

I guess it's true when you invest emotion in a work it comes through. These are two emotional pieces for me.

Now I'll have to tell Will Letting Go is an award-winning print. He has his print hanging by the front door. I think I'll hang ours over the fireplace. 8-]

Favor

Valkyries 4"x6"

Here is an actual print of the block on Somerset grey paper. I like the stone effect, as it's a runestone. The block needs some clean-up. Too many extranious lines for my taste. Kitty liked it.

I can see why Vikings carved such angular runes -- it's so much easier to carve straight lines than curvy ones. I like my spiral "es" but it sure is harder carving it in wood. Perhaps I need to make a chop. The double line "P" I'm starting to use in SCA blocks is much easier represented in wood.

Valkyries

valkyries 4"x6"

Mirrored woodblock faux print, just to see what it'll look like.

Sven & Kolfinna's thank you favor to Their Court.

A Fool and His Bunny...

...Are Soon Parted.

Shameless pun. ;- y This is a twist on the Fool Tarot card. The fool is usually accompanied by a small dog. Here he's traveling with a bunny...but not for much longer.

I used watercolor pencils to punch up a monotype ghost. Next I'll try ordinary watercolors.

Is It Live or Is It Memorex?

A fool and his bunny are soon parted. ;-j



Actually it's neither. They're both ghost prints. The plate was overinked and the first print was very dark. But there was still a lot of ink on the plate so I made several ghosts. Then, on a lark, I decided to see if the over-dark print would print, so I put it on top of the plate and printed several more. I actually ended up with an edition of 10 monotypes from one plate! That's gotta be a record.

What a Picnic Basket!

4"x6" intaglio etching & watercolor

Otherwise known as the Longaberger Basket Building, corporate offices of the premium basket makers. My sister works in the basket building. It's really kewl. 8-] This is an ant's eye view.

Diagonal Dog

I know, the orange is distracting, but which looks better do you think -- flat or on edge?

Loki Lounge Lizard

monotype 4" square

Here's Loki just lolligagging around. His favorite position on the couch. It's also my way of making lemonade out of a particularly sour lemon. The blue was way too sticky and hard to work with so I rerolled with red and traced again. Faint blue lines came up by way of outline, and as I worked I got a kewl grape (except for a few nicely placed patches of red). So all in all a success.
I liked the background when I did it, but I think I'd make it recede into the background next time. It does on the ghosts.

Ghost Whispers

monotype ghost, colored pencil 4"x6"

This is the palest ghost print -- barely an outline -- with colored pencil. Just the pimaries, red, blue and yellow. Softened and blended with a tissue. May do a little more, but I kind of like it. It was fun to do. Took me back -- waaay back -- for an afternoon. ;-> Just color, color, color.

Whispers

viscosity monotype 4"x6"

Whispers, more cave art, with an emphasis on secondary colors. Didn't manage any green, but I've got a nice maroon, purple, orange thing going on.

It's hard to tell intensities with a monotype. Hence the rock weathering comes forward a little more than I intended.

I have ghosts to watercolor, with one on Arches 88 for colored pencil.

Punkin

Monotype 4"x6"
Billy's first Halloween. Mmmm, tasty. I think he was trying to eat the light.
Monotypes are compulsive. I need to watercolor the ghost. It's overall softer with no dark lines. I'm really taken with the technique, tho you can't exactly make an edition.
I want to do this image as a woodcut. I think it would be pretty interestng.

Ewe & Eye

monotype, 4"x6"
Ewe & Eye

There and Back Again 8-]

Worm Wrangler's Reward 4"x6"

The Baren Summit was great. I never worked so hard for so long a stretch at having fun. It was exhausting. But in a good way.

I cut this silk moth in Vancouver. It's one of Michael Cook's pets. He gets a print for letting me use it. 8-] I learned a few tricks for printing with a baren and ran off an edition on kozo paper. I'll want to try it on Somerset when I get back to class next week. And I want to get some Daniel Smith water-soluable relief ink! Such easy clean up.

Met so many great people at the Summit. This is such a good idea. Can't wait for the next one!

Singing In The Rain

4"x4" monotype

Billy had just seen Singing In The Rain, so when it began to sprinkle, it was a natural. ;->

Sheep Monotype

4"x4", monotype

Working on tone and texture in my monotypes (thanx to Belinda's mentoring). 8-] As she says, it's just removing ink. Yeah, right. Like drawing is just adding ink. ;-j

Gold Dolphin

And here's a gold one. 8-] Daniel Smith metalic gold. Kazuko brought it in for her Koi. Smooth, easy to work with.

Bubbles

Medieval Dolphin (loosely based). 4"x6" woodcut. Going to be my largesse for Pennsic, printed in blue.

Catching Raindrops

monotype, watercolor 4"x4"

This is my nibblefest entry for this month: Raining Cats & Dogs. NFAC on ebay. I used watercolor crayons. I may use regular watercolor on the ghost just to see the difference. WC crayons can go on pretty thick. I'd like to try glazing next.

Nude Moon & Star

5x6 linocut, b&w, rev faux-print

First linocut. Almost too easy to cut -- have to be careful not to gouge the block. I scanned in the block, flipped it, darkened it to mimic a print. Looks pretty good. Have to try printing it tomorrow and see what I really get.

Thinking in Pastels

Thinking aloud in pastels. Don't know why I didn't think of this before -- just coloring away. 8-] I'm considering flipping the house and moon on the top. Only the nude is carved (in outline) -- rest is speculation at this point.

Loki's Signature Style

Here's a framed monoprint signed by Loki. He got into a bag of frames and matts before I could use them and I was complaining to everyone about it. My nephew had the brilliant idea of using them for pictures of Loki. Terrific! So here's Loki and his handiwork, pre-chewed by the model. How many artists can say that?
;->

Monoprint Ghost with Watercolor

Ok, it's an experiment. Not bad for a first pass. The ghost was very light so it lent itself to watercolor. I only had one yellow -- gamboge -- so there were only so many greens to get from that. I like the way the face detail came out. It looks like our 1972 selves at Blackburn College. 8-]

More Mini-monos

Two more mini-monoprints, a shaggy goat

and Dolly, my woodcut sheep. Both are on my 1.5"x2.25" zinc plate, much smaller than they appear here. It's a fun size. 8-]
I like the squiggly technique on the goat -- fits the subject. I really forced myself to remove ink -- I walked away and came back so I could see it with fresh eyes. Glad I did.
I went with the fur on Dolly, but I could have removed more ink from the body. Also the background texture isn't quite what I wanted. I was going for lighter but I just got muddy.

Loki Monoprint

Just a little monoprint, and I mean little: 1.5"x2.25", the smallest plate I've ever beveled. It's printed on a Japanese paper, smooth on print side, fiber inclusions on other side.

I'm getting better at using the small pointy stomp, the flatt stubbier one, various chopsticks, wrapped and unwrapped, and tapping color back down with a finger (erases the dots). Getting better lights and darks. Need to work more on the shades in the middle.

Laurels vs Pelicans

War of the Lilies XX: Laurels vs Pelicans
woodcut 4.25" sq. on 5"x7" cream paper.
Largesse for the Royals to take to Lilies.

Sun Flower

Sun Flower -- solar flare


Woodblock, 4.5"sq. Turned (variously: quarter, half, three-quarter) and double printed, first in black, second in blue/black. I wanted to see movement and I think I've got it.

Another Watercolor Umi

paleo-umi

Another watercolor version of Umi.

Yellow Hippo

yellow hippo, 4"x6"
Another colored hippocampus. This one is brighter than the limey one.

Lime Hippo

hippocampus, watercolor crayons, 4"x6"

Another watercolored sea horse.

Paleo Umi for Will

Paleo-Umi, woodblock & watercolor crayons, 9"x12"

Hippo birdie two boo! 8-] The background is more turq.

Puffins on Plexi - Stage One

Here's a print of two puffins traced in watercolor crayons on plexi. The image is from Mandelsen's photo art catalog. I'll watercolor it further to see how much it'll take to flesh out. It was easy to do.

Cat & Mouse, Take 2

cat & mouse2
Another print, this one a little dark. Still playing with the watercolor crayons. 8-]

Cat & Mouse

medieval cat & mouse 4.5"x5"
This is a light copy of a drypoint that I watercolored. The cat and mouse are taken from a medieval manuscript. I'm using watercolor crayons. Nice colors, easy to get saturation.

Blue Hippo

Hippocampus w/ watercolor 4"x6"

This was a lighter print, so I thought I'd try a little watercolor on it. I used watercolor crayons on the water and then wet it with a brush. Works well I think. I used 4 or more colors of blues and greens.

Next time I'll try watercoloring the whole print.

Mudd Block2 Print

Mudd block2 print, 5"x5.5"

This is a print in progress for Will's Graduation. It's an interesting effect -- first I printed the block in black, then cleaned the block (ran it thru the press on newsprint, as usual) and inked it up with a reddish brown I mixed from black relief ink, yellow and vermilion. When I printed the block on a piece of mulberry paper Jim gave me to play with, a tad bit of the black showed thru the brown.

I did something similar going from a failed gold/brown experiment back to black. I like the dimension this adds to the process. (Same thing happened when printing the Umi block for Will, and most especially the Phoenix block.)

Still have some detail to add to the tankard and the date to add to the ribbon.

Cat & Mouse Drypoint

Cat & Mouse copper drypoint print, 5"x5.5", from a medieval manuscript sketch. Background is a variation from other manuscripts. Lots of plate tone, but at least I'm getting the critters darker. Lots of cross hatching. A ways to go, but getting there. My first drypoint with any life in it.

Hippocampus Block

Hippocampus 4"x6"

My latest demo block, a hippocampus or sea horse. The demo went well, tho the wyvern was still the favorite print. It works best when its well inked, or the sea horse tends to blend into the background. I may carve a little more tomorrow.

Medieval Wyvern

Medieval Wyvern

Here's a print of my demo block. The school demo went very well and I think I printed a good 50 prints. I used the back of a wooden spoon, which covered more evenly, tho a smooth rock did burnish more easily. I have since made prints with a student baren, which covers the best, tho takes more pressure than the rock or the spoon.

Wyvern Block

This is a block I'm working on for a Past Times school demo. It's a wyvern, 5"sq., based on a school decal. I'll be filling in the outsides with decorative patterns from medieval illuminations. I'll ink it up and print it using the burnisher method or the mallet method, I haven't decided which.

The Forrest Grows

More viscosity monoprints. Yellow first, then red -- wipe background -- finally blue. First one is very dynamic (also early in the day). ;-j

Viscosity Monoprints

tree & moon 1


tree & moon 2

Blue straight, red with burnt plate oil, yellow with miracle gel. Yellow repels other two, so I do the moon first, then blue, then red. On second print red was already adulterated with other colors, so it leans toward maroon. Still looks interesting. These are ATC size, currently on 5"x5.5" paper.

The Real Me

Ok. Another try at a portrait monoprint. This time I stippled with a small stomp. I sanded one flatter and wider to do the snakes. Interesting technique. Mindlessly dotty, so to speak. I'm sure I can get it lighter next time. This was fun.

Be My Valentine

This is a monoprint I did in class yesterday. It's from a photo from our college days -- lo those many years ago! This is my first attempt at people. Gotta work out shading. I like how the blouse turned out. Remember peasant blouses and skirts? Remember waistlines?!

I'm giving it to Bill for Valentine's Day. He won't recognize himself with all that hair.... ;-j

Winter Solstice, Chine Colle

Here's a chine colle print of my winter solstice block. Kewl process. The chine colle paper is gauzy with gold and silver flecks, which is really all that can be seen. It has a bit of texture tho. Rather odd -- not sure what it's supposed to be like. Seems a little rough. But I have a lovely embossing from having wet the paper (chine colle was applied dry). This has possibilities! 8-]

Paleo-Ho-Ho!

Paleo-Ho-Ho! 4"x6"ish

Psuedo-print -- block scanned, reversed & gray-scaled. I meant to have this finished for xmas, but I'll have it for next. I've done this theme in drypoint and reworked it, but I haven't been happy with it. I think it lends itself to woodcut better. Has more movement.

I get a kick out of my "hand print" motif done in mittens. ;-j

Winter Solstice -- Psuedo-Print

Winter Solstice psuedo-print -- that is to say, it's the block scanned in, reversed and gray-scaled. It's what a print will look like once I print it.

This is the new block I carved for the ssnw exchange. I decided to use the Freya print for the year-of-the-dog exchange print exclusively.