Ethnicity Through the Eyes of the Artist

 

"Practicing Accordion"
9" x 12" 
Linocut with chine colle 

This depicts my 11 year old practicing their instrument while the puppies howl. I made it to submit to the exhibition "Ethnicity Through the Eyes of the Artist" at Abington Art Center, juried by Erika Land, Nina Guzman, and Cheryl Harper. I was already going to submit recent versions of "Stirring" and "Chopping" (below), but I could include 3 works in my submission, so I decided to make this print in the same medium and style. This print wasn't accepted into the show, but I'm so glad I made it. 

Happily, "Stirring" and "Chopping" will be included in the exhibition, which opens June 9th (reception from 6-8PM) and runs through July 24. 

Year of the Rabbit 2023

 

My Year of the Rabbit print for a card exchange with Baren Forum. The one I mailed out was printed in black ink on fawn-colored Stonehenge with white paper chine colle for the rabbit. But this version I made for myself, with chine colle for all the sections. We haven't had much of a winter in PA this season, so I wanted a brown hare, not a white one. 

This is my 6th year participating in  New Year's Exchanges with the Baren Forum for Woodblock Printmaking. Here are my prints from previous years' trades: 

Year of the Tiger, 2022
Year of the Ox, 2021 
Year of the Rat, 2020
Year of the Pig, 2019 
Year of the Dog. 2018 

Groundhog Day 2023

 

Yes, the world is on fire and we're all perpetually burned out. So catch that second (or third, fourth, tenth...) wind, and get going! Do good art (or other good stuff)! Help others! Find joy! WHATEVER IT TAKES. 

This is my 9th annual Groundhog Day card. Here are links to all the previous cards: 

Groundhog Day 2014 
Groundhog Day 2015 (I skipped 2016)
Groundhog Day 2017
Groundhog Day 2018 
Groundhog Day 2019
Groundhog Day 2020 
Groundhog Day 2021
Groundhog Day 2022 

"Tiger Mandala" (Year of the Tiger 2022)

 

My Year of the Tiger print for a card exchange with Baren Forum. This is a hand-colored linocut printed on white Stonehenge. 

I've done a few hand-colored mandalas in the same style as this before. It's simply the same image rotated and repeated 4 times. The difference with this one is that this whole image is a single carved block. 

Originally I was going to do something simpler. I wanted to do a tiger chasing it's own tail. But the more I fiddled around with ideas, the more I just wanted to make another elaborate mandala. It's much more time consuming, especially when I color them, but so worth the final product. 

This is my 5th year participating in  New Year's Exchanges with the Baren Forum for Woodblock Printmaking. Here are my prints from previous years' trades: 

Year of the Ox, 2021 
Year of the Rat, 2020
Year of the Pig, 2019 
Year of the Dog. 2018 

"Carrots"

 

"Carrots" 
2 versions of a Linocut with chine colle, 6”x 6” (block). 

Ah, the colorful vegetable that's in season all year round. Most of the carrots I get in my CSA end up in the juicer. Although sometimes I make cooked "honey carrots" for the kids.

This is the fourth print created for my 2022 art calendar illustrating select items from my CSA. 

The process for these is that I arrange, photograph, sketch first, then carve into a linoblock and print, adding chine collé of for color. I will eventually be doing a hand-colored version. 

This is supposed to be in connection with the Red Earth Farm CSA project I did in 2018. 

"Apples"

 

"Apples" 
2 versions of a Linocut with chine colle, 6”x 6” (block). 

We've been enjoying a lot of apples this autumn, and I just love how this print turned out! 

This is the fourth print created for my 2022 art calendar illustrating select items from my CSA. 

The process for these is that I arrange, photograph, sketch first, then carve into a linoblock and print, adding chine collé of for color. I will eventually be doing a hand-colored version. 

This is supposed to be in connection with the Red Earth Farm CSA project I did in 2018. 

"Watermelon"

 

"Watermelon" 
2 versions of a Linocut with chine colle, 6”x 6” (block). 

This is the fifth print created for my 2022 art calendar illustrating select items from my CSA. Our family enjoys watermelon all summer, and this was a drawing from the last watermelon of this summer season that I bought. 

The process for these is that I arrange, photograph, sketch first, then carve into a linoblock and print, adding chine collé of for color. I will eventually be doing a hand-colored version. 

This is supposed to be in connection with the Red Earth Farm CSA project I did in 2018. 

"Mini Sweet Peppers"

 

"Mini Sweet Peppers" 
3 versions of a Linocut with chine colle, 6”x 6” (block). 

This is the second print created for my 2022 art calendar illustrating select items from my CSA. 

The process for these is that I arrange, photographe, sketch first, then carve into a linoblock and print, adding chine collé of for color. I'm also doing to do a hand-colored version after the ink dries on the others I printed. (Not there yet, but soon!)  

This is supposed to be in connection with the Red Earth Farm CSA project I did in 2018.  

"Tomatoes (Slicers)"

 

"Tomatoes (Slicers)" 
Linocut with chine collé on white Stonehenge 
8" x 8" 

I've been working on some illustrations of items from my CSA toward creating a 2022 art calendar. 

Below are some different versions of this same image of some tomatoes I arranged, photographed, sketched and watercolor painted, carved into a linoblock and printed. I'm also doing to do a hand-colored version after the ink dries on the others I printed. 

This is supposed to be in connection with the Red Earth Farm CSA project I did in 2018. This was a time-based conceptual paper making project that lasted the duration of the CSA (22 weeks). In 2019 I added a couple illustrative woodcuts with chine collé of myself engaged in the project. 

At the time I had also considered illustrating many of the actual items (local fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers) I received every week, but never really landed on an approach. But the idea stuck in my brain, and this year combined with my desire to do a 2022 art calendar. Since I never could decide on an approach to how to illustrate these items, I've decided to just photograph and draw and paint and print and I'm even going to make some ceramic trivets with glazed illustrations, in the hopes that 12 cohesive images for a calendar will come out of it in time. Conceptually, that seems to align best with the original project which had to do with the process of domestic chores connected with acquiring and preparing food. During that project, there were time constraints and rules to the projects, and whatever paper came out of the process, that was the finished product. Here it will be the same. I'm going to produce these images in the time frame I have available, and when the deadline arrives, I'll make a decision about whether I have something publishable or not. 

Below are some of the other versions of this image I made so far. 

"Sub Rise"

 

6" x 6" (image), 9" x 9" (paper)
3 layer reduction linocut
Oil-based ink (Gamblin)
Edition of 6

This is a print made to celebrate the latest birth of a child in my extended family. This new baby boy is my cousin's second child, and so I made his print as a companion piece to "Sky Ship" - a print I made for his big brother 5 years ago. Since that print featured sea creatures (flying fish) and a boat  in the sky, I decided to do an underwater scene but with creatures moving toward the light and the surface. In the other print a figure stands at the port of a sailboat, and here a figure looks out from the window of a toy-like submarine. Both images mean to depict a brightly colored world of possibilities and longing for discovery. 

The sea! the sea! the open sea! The blue, the fresh, the ever free! Without a mark, without a bound, It runneth the earth's wide regions round! It plays with the clouds; it mocks the skies; Or like a cradled creature lies. I'm on the sea! I'm on the sea! I am where I would ever be; With the blue above, and the blue below, And silence wheresoe'er I go; If a storm should come and awake the deep, What mater? I shall ride and sleep.                           From "The Sea" by Barry Cornwall

"Submission Fee No. 158"

"Submission Fee No. 158" 4" x 5.5" Linocut with chine colle Edition of 3 Pay what you want by August 21

This print is part of a time-based conceptual art project. Read more about it here.

INFO PARTICULAR FOR THIS PRINT:

Institution:   National Collage Society, Inc.
Venue Location: ONLINE 

Opportunity:  2020 Juried Exhibit 

Eligibility:

Potential Benefits for Artists:
Notes:  
Fee:   $50 for non NCS members, $15 for current NCS Members 

"Submission Fee No. 150"

"Submission Fee No. 150" 3.5" x 5" Linocut, 2 layer reduction Edition of 5 Pay what you want by August 6

This print is part of a time-based conceptual art project. Read more about it here.

INFO PARTICULAR FOR THIS PRINT: 

Institution:   Masonic Library & Museum of Pennsylvania
Venue Location: The Masonic Temple of Philadelphia 

Opportunity:  An open art competition: Embodying Masonic Values

Eligibility:

Potential Benefits for Artists: $200 prize per winner, per category; $500 Grand Master's Prize; $1,000 Best in Show Prize.
Notes:   Jurors: Travis Simpkins, artist; William Scott Noel, painter; Moe A. Brooker, painter
Fee:   $25

"Submission Fee No. 114"

"Submission Fee No. 114" 6" x 6.5" Linocut, 3 layer reduction Edition of 5 Pay what you want by May 7

This print is part of a time-based conceptual art project. Read more about it here.

INFO PARTICULAR FOR THIS PRINT: 

Institution:   Manifest Creative Research Gallery
Venue Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Opportunity:   TWINKLE juried show 

Eligibility:    Anyone
Potential Benefits for Artists:  There’s a grand prize (cash) award at the end of year for one work chosen from many of these group shows
Notes:   Juried by committee
Fee:    $40 for up to 4 entries, $5 each additional entry

Groundhog Day 2020

It's that time of year again - Groundhog Day! The text on this card is from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, when the Red Queen is telling Alice how things work in Wonderland. In evolutionary biology, the Red Queen Hypothesis refers to the idea that organisms must constantly adapt and change in order to keep up with an ever changing environment. I cut the bottom of the card into a curve so that the card can rock back and forth to kinetically demonstrate that the running groundhog is literally going nowhere.

This is my 6th annual Groundhog Day card. If you'd like to see the previous years' designs, here are the links.

Groundhog Day 2014 
Groundhog Day 2015 (I skipped 2016)
Groundhog Day 2017
Groundhog Day 2018 
Groundhog Day 2019

"Submission Fee No. 51"

"Submission Fee No. 51"  
4.5" x 4.5"
Linocut
Edition of 5
Pay what you want by Dec. 8

This print is part of a time-based conceptual art project. Read more about it here.

INFO PARTICULAR FOR THIS PRINT:

Institution: Northville Art House
Opportunity: juried show “Black & White”
Venue Location: Northville, MI 

Eligibility: 2D and 3D work, made in the last 3 years, by artists over 18 years of age
Potential Benefits for Artists: Cash prizes
Fee: $35 for nonmembers, $25 for members, up to 3 works
Deadline: Dec. 8 

Pollinators Gallery

 Here are all the linocuts hand-colored with watercolors I created for the Pollinators 2020 Calendar I've just published. 

Thanks to everyone who purchased the calendar and original artwork through the Indiegogo Campaign! I raised $1310, 109% of the set goal. Without your support this calendar couldn't have been published. 

"Wasp and Tulip Tree Flower"

"Mosquito and Bog Orchid"

"Bluebottle Fly and Skunk Cabbage"

"Hummingbird and Cardinal Flower"

“Gerbil and Hedgehog Lily”

"Nectar Bat and Agave"

"Painted Lady and Aster"

"Human Hand and Vanilla Blossom"

"Bumble Bee and Sunflower"

“Gecko and Metrosideros”

"Monkey Beetle and Ice Plant"

"Honey Bee and Clematis"

"Submission Fee No. 30"

Submission Fee No. 30 Linocut on handmade paper 6.5" x 6.5"

Edition of 3

Price: Pay what you want by Nov. 1, 2019

This print is part of a time-based conceptual art project. Read more about it here.

INFO PARTICULAR FOR THIS PRINT:

Institution: Northwest Arts Center 

Opportunity: Americas 2020: Paperworks
Venue Location: Minot, North Dakota
Eligibility: Works in any medium, on or of paper, traditional or experimental, including photographs, qualify. All works must be original and not measure over 60 inches in any direction
Potential benefits to artists: $1500 in cash awards
Notes: 30% commission
Fee: $30 for 2 images
Deadline: Nov. 1

"Groundhog Day 2019"

It's Groundhog Day again, and that means time for my annual Groundhog Day card. As is evident from the previous designs, I either get a little odd or a bit sentimental. This is the first year I added some color (hand color with Prismacolor markers) to the card, and I did so for what I think are obvious reasons.

Groundhog Day 2014 
Groundhog Day 2015 
(I skipped 2016)
Groundhog Day 2017
Groundhog Day 2018

I love making cards for this holiday because January is a quiet, contemplative month after the hustle and bustle of the holidays is over, and it's still too cold and dark to spend much time outside. I also love the silliness of the holiday. It's one of those low-pressure events that opens itself up for us to make what we want of it. I'm not sure what to expect from Groundhog Day. But I fear that if I and others make nothing of it, it will fade away from our collective cares.

Therefore, a heartfelt Happy Groundhog Day to all! *honk honk* 

"Fireflies" (Paper Lantern)

8" x 8" x 8" paper lantern with linoleum cut printing on Japanese rice paper with an electric candle inside.

Here is the my first paper lantern all finished. The posted about making the linocut print for it here, and I also did a version of it as a hand-colored mandala, posted here.

This piece will be in the Waiting In Hades exhibition at the University City Arts League. The opening is February 8 from 6-8pm.