"Hay Ride"

This is my print for Baren Forum's Exchange #71. It's a 4 layer reduction woodcut. The paper is 7.5" x 10" and the block/image is 6" x 8". 

The image is from a photograph I took of my younger daughter on a hay ride this past October. I snapped it intending to eventually make a print because I'd been wanting to do a portrait from the back for a while. Long-time readers of this blog know that I've been captivated by similar portraits by other artists: Boteh by Andrew Stone, Hibiscus by Viza Arlington, and Tracy by Alex Katz.

Sketchbook Sunday: Sequencing at Six Senses

This isn't really sketchbook work, but it serves a similar purpose with respect to my studio practice. Tonight I learned sequencing with fellow members/associates of the North West Clay Guild at the Six Senses Collaborative Clay Studio. Sequencing is an approach to painting for everyone that was developed by Ric Campman at the River Gallery School of Art in Vermont. Two of our members had learned this approach at the River Gallery School and shared it with some of us tonight. There's more information about sequencing and information about sequencing workshops at the River Gallery School found here. I myself had a productive evening using my non-dominant hand and tapping more into my intuitive brain. These are the three sets of sequences I created. My mind is humming with how I might modify this approach for working with children in the after school and summer programs I teach.

"Refugee Child" by William H. Johnson

   The New Colossus
    by Emma Lazarus 

 Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 

"Eastern Screech Owl" and "Black-Banded Owl" (color versions)

Yesterday I posted the black and white versions of these printed on kinwashi paper. These color versions that I hand painted with watercolors last night were printed on Stonehenge paper and then mounted, full-bleed, on 6" x 6" birch panels. (They must be formatted that way for a show I'm entering. Although it also looks rather nice.)

I won't have time for a week or two to color any more for my Etsy store, but when I do I'll have them for sale. Those will likely be printed on Stonehenge paper with a thick white border, maybe around 10" x 10" in size. I'll add the link to this blog post when that happens.

In the meantime, if you like owls and enjoy this style of printmaking, you have until February 13th to support the creation of "A Wise Old Owl" handmade book project by pre-ordering it at a discounted rate. Check out the Kickstarter campaign here.

"Eastern Screech Owl" and "Black-Banded Owl" (black and white versions)

Two linocuts
Oil-based ink on Kinwashi paper
6" x 6" (block) 7.5" x 9.5" (paper) each

Yesterday I mentioned sketching, photographing, and going out to listen to real owls last week in preparation for making A Wise Old Owl handmade book.

This weekend I took it a step farther and made these two linoleum cuts of owls. This is the style that I want to use for A Wise Old Owl Click here to check out the Kickstarter campaign that runs through February 13. I'm going to hand-color a couple that I printed on Stonehenge paper today and will post them on my blog tomorrow.

These are for sale on my Etsy store. Eastern Screech Owl found here, and Black-banded Owl found here.

Sketchbook Sunday: Barred Owl on Neon Green

I sketched this taxidermy Barred Owl at the Wagner this week in preparation for some prints of owls I'm working on and the A Wise Old Owl book project (limited edition, order yours here!) I will embark on soon.

The reason it's on neon green paper is because I went there in between classes and I forgot my sketchbook! The only paper up in the museum was a stack of flyers printed on neon green paper, so I just used the back of one.

There were a bunch of adorable little kids from a local grade school doing a scavenger hunt in the museum at the time, and they kept coming up to watch me draw and ask if I was an artist. It was a fun hour.

"Who?" by Anne van Oppen

I am volunteer coordinating Baren Forum's Exchange #71. It's my first time coordinating a print exchange, and the editions from participants have begun rolling in.

In today's package I was delighted to receive an unexpected gift. In addition to her amazing edition of prints, Anne van Oppen included this little purple owl printed on a card. I am very grateful, and she now lives right on my desk.

What a happy coincidence as I have just launched a Kickstarter campaign to create a handmade book featuring an owl.

I cannot wait to receive the rest of the participants' prints. These exchanges with this community of relief printmakers have added so much joy, professional fulfillment, and camaraderie to my life.

Sketchbook Sunday: Spotted Owl for Make 100 Kickstarter Campaign

A wise old owl sat in an oak, 
The more he heard, the less he spoke; 
The less he spoke, the more he heard; 
Why aren't we all like that wise old bird. Kickstarter is encouraging people to create Make 100 campaigns to usher in the new year. So I'm beginning 2017 with a new Kickstarter campaign (click here and please share!) - if I reach my goal I'll be creating an original, hand-made book illustrating the above Mother Goose rhyme A Wise Old Owl.

I've decided to use the Northern Spotted Owl as my main reference for the book. It has such beautiful markings. Today's post features two preparatory sketches.

Contributors can choose either the black and white version ($25) or hand-colored version ($40.) The campaign runs through February 13th.

"Eagle Nest"

White line woodcut
Watercolors on 120 lb. watercolor paper
8" x 11" (paper) 5" x 7" (block) 

The imagery for this woodcut was inspired by my daughter playing in an Eagle nest installation at Drexel's Academy of Natural Science's Outside In, an section of the museum designed for children's play and discovery. I love watching kids play in the eagle next because the mismatched and out of proportion scale of structures, toys, and participants feels dreamlike. I go back and forth between seeing the children dressed in eagle costumes are noble predators themselves, or shifty impostors. A third possibility - perhaps they are in a state of transformation. 

"Big Brown Bear"

White line woodcut
Watercolors on 120 lb. watercolor paper
8" x 11" (paper) 5" x 7" (block)

I took a photo of my husband and daughters on our front porch nearly 5 years ago, and had been meaning to create a white line woodcut from it ever since. Maybe I did it now because the cold winter weather is ramping up and I needed a little memory of summer. Pretty happy with the results.

"Skating" by Eveline Syme

Appendages whirl
As do leaves in a gale, while
Eyes stare straight, heads still

Sketchbook Sunday: A Weary Squirrel

Despite holiday business I managed to get one more quick sketch in before the New Year holiday, and here it is - a taxidermy squirrel from the Wagner.