Bunny Inspiration

I've been getting inspired by others who keep posting masters at work. The latest have been printing videos which I always come away admiring the artists work and their wonderful presses. Although I use a barren to connect ink to paper it seems to do an ok job for my small production.

I've been thinking of our newest member of the family, a little fellow who is just 4 months old. Little cute animals and cutesy sayings keep coming to mind. The latest is Bunny Love a linoleum cut print I'm showing you today.

The original is printed with a colonial blue color but for some reason the scanner program didn't pick up the color. I'm still please with the little bunny.

Happy Earth Day

I want to wish everyone a happy Earth Day today. It seems fitting as I sit and wait for much needed rain to wet the dry ground this morning to reflect on how fragile our environment is. After having almost no snow this past winter in the Northeast seacoast area our forests and gardens alike are near drought conditions. A fire ban has been placed in our town and although at 5 this morning we had less than 10 minutes of a light sprinkle we're in need of much, much more.

Because of our early Spring nature has decided to wake up. Where there would be no blooming from the garden plants until May there is color full to the sun. The Linton roses have been blooming for three weeks now, tulips, ground phlox and others have joined the ranks of flowering plants. I was shocked to see large buds on the climbing clematis yesterday. This plant rarely blooms before July. At this rate the poor plants will have burned themselves out before August.

Before the predicted rain I had decided to go out into the yard to take a few photographs of the apple tree and pin cherry blossoms. I wanted to take advantage of the gray day to have the flowers colors pop. To my surprise the air is wet with dew and a heavy mist lay on the wild things. It is quite refreshing after weeks and weeks of bright sun.

Here are the best of the Earth Day pictures.

Pink Tulips

Every spring I get crazy and crave tulips. Perhaps because I see them in the market in March when the weather is still chilly and snow is still on the ground. By March I am ready for spring and even if it means spending money on flowers which only last 5 to 6 days for inside my home, I'll have to have them to sooth my soul.

There is only one problem when purchasing tulips from the market in March. They of course are grown in hot houses and then displayed in the stores in buckets leaning to one side. When I get them home and place in a vase they droop as if weeping they know their days are numbered. After 12 hours they perk up and their heads seem to rise up in the air dragging their stems with them. The effect is an unruly bunch of tulips seemingly swaying in the air.

Photographing them is a challenge.

Something Old

Whilst going through a box of old photographs ( you know, the kind that were developed using chemicals) I came across photos I had taken with my old Olympus OM10 maybe eight years ago. They brought back fond memories of my experimental days with 1000 speed film.

I love my old film cameras, there was something about the act of opening the film canister and smelling that fresh smell of chems, of meticulously loading the camera and hearing the weighted "click click" of depressing the shutter button to advance the film on the empty spool that gave me satisfaction. Closing the back cover with a heavy "chunk" "click" was the sound of progress. It took a little effort to remember to advance your film to the next frame but that was back in the day when remembering simple acts were common place. It also took some brains to operate the camera correctly so as not to have pictures developed looking dark, light or just a mess.

These new point a shoot digital cameras are sufficient for those who don't want to have to worry about anything but I find them boring. It's true. They're boring as Wonder bread is to bread... that boring. Yes, I own a couple. And I've played with them till they've been stretched thin. I've even tossed them in the air "tossing" letting the camera take it's own view of the world but in the end they're images are not the same. And the next step is to alter them on a software program because they're not exciting enough.

I feel a personal boycott coming on. lol Any way, I leave you with this photo. This photo started it all for me. It was the beginning of Lasgalen Arts.

Fog In January

It was unseasonably warm today. Our winter in New England has been anything but normal. Where we normally have snow enough to shovel the temperature is above 40F. The dripping of last nights rain was easy to sleep with. And this morning the dripping was from the snow on the roof melting.

I was up early getting the children up and ready for school and although it was quite dark, I could see a haze from the neighbors porch light through the trees the air was thick with water.

As the morning progressed the promise of sun light burned through the air. At first, the fog was illuminated from the top. Ever so slowly the sparkling water droplets shown closer to the ground. The tree trunks were aglow with fresh watery light and in the distance the blue sky already lay bare of the fog cover. Misty white, tree trunk silvery brown and blue sky above made a wonderful spectacle. The unfolding of a new day.

Revisiting the cover

Proceeding at a snails pace I've managed to work on this book project. I'm of course an amateur artist and getting my feet wet while tackling this crazy idea is fun but scary. Although I painted the cover of the newly covered book one aspect of the painting I had over looked came looming to reality. I painted... let it dry and then opened the book to find it was upside down. I chalk it up to the whole transformation process of the book itself.

The painting of the cover was last night's work so this morning I have worked on the first page within the book. The inspiration came from a dream I had in which I was watching Monet's Starry Night sky swirling around above me. Like time lapsed photography the constellations marched across the sky like they had somewhere else to go.  Here I show you the process.

First the lighter wash that would become the clouds in the night sky with a lighter blue. On top of the light wash is a darker one applied with a brush with splayed bristles (looks like a fan) enabling the light wash to come through. I used sweeping motions to create movement for the stars to be applied next.

And lastly the ground below, black with darkness with only the trees, my house and barn to be seen. There also is small details (my lens isn't good enough to capture them) like smoke from a chimney and slight detail in the trees using Davey's Gray to give it a low contrast.

I do have something different in mind for the next page. But there needs to be a consideration of how thin the pages are and if I'll be able to utilize both sides of the pages. Once this first page (which is thicker than the actually pages with text) is dried completely, I'll have to do an assessment of the situation.

Koi

This is the latest piece entitled Koi. The dimensions of this lino block is 18 x 12.5 cm. I the simplicity of Japanese design and was inspired by a haiku I wrote several days ago to use koi as a subject for this project.

Koi swim lazily
underneath the pond's surface
afraid of shadows.

I'm expecting my Blicks' order any day now. I've purchased the thinner lino blocks backed with burlap for easier cutting. I found with their wood block / gray lino the consistency of the lino was unpredictable. There were soft spots or hard spots within the lino which at times let the knife to slip and cause panic on my part. One fish lost an eye another received a head wound.

All in all I like the results with Koi.

Dark Forest, White Spirit

This piece may or may not be finished. It's one I'm not to happy about the outcome. Let me give you some background information about the story behind the project. Huine Taurë Ninque Sulë is another Hobbit themed piece. The title translates to Dark Forest, White Spirit in the Elven language Quenya. In the story of the Hobbit the 13 dwarves and Bilbo Baggins is forced to travel into Mirkwood Forrest. It is deep and so dark they can barely make out there way along a path.

During their trek through the enchanted forest they are rushed upon by a white hart (or stag). So startled, the company frantically tries to get out of the way and only Thorin is able to shoot an arrow at the hart. They are starved and sadly though the arrow hit its mark, they loose the beast in the dark wood.

This block is suppose to be the dark woods of Mirkwood and the white hart. I wanted the hart to be ghostly but what I hadn't anticipated was the consistency of the white ink would be so watery. Kneading the tube didn't help as the ink rolled on thinly on the block no matter what I did. I have to assume it is because of the nature of the ink color but, I've made several attempts with results not much better than what you see below.

I still would like to work on this piece and try to create the finished outcome I had initially envisioned at the start. More room for improvement is probably a good thing. After all, I'm still new at this medium.

A rose is a rose...

Today's Daily Shot is the roses my husband gave me for Valentine's Day. He's practical as it's a plant. I suppose he thinks it will live on longer than a week bless him.

The Hart

This simple block is the first step in a new project. Remember I had mentioned I wanted to try to layer a scene from the last post. I've come up with something simple to execute. The Hart is one of two layers, possibly three, though I seem to be running out of blocks already. I suppose I need to make another Blicks order soon unless I want to finish this project with potatoes.

Today I am thankful says the stone. Check out the Daily Shot to see what I mean.

Beorn

Well today I had time to work on the latest project Beorn. I'm still working on the same vein of The Hobbit as you can see. For those of you unaware of the character Beorn is a "skin-changer" and by night he is a large bear and day he is a man. He lives on bread and honey hence there is a bee hive made of straw as the story describes.

I think it came out well or better than I had expected. I tried to keep it simple as I mentioned in the last post and during this project I used several different gouges including the straight edge to work on the thinner edges. For me, a beginner all over again, it was an ambitious project. But I'm pretty bull headed and will usually try things over my head. This block is another 3 x 5 size.

On another note, I found the most wonderful book for descriptions and techniques. The title is The Printmaking Handbook Simple techniques and step-by-step projects by Louise Woods. There are many ideas including how to create layering, what you can expect from the different gougers and more complicated methods such as etching and lithography. This book gives me food for thought and I'll have to think up another challenge to tackle.

Revealing the bee hive

Today I was able to spend little time in the art room though I did have some progress with the current project. As you can see from the previous post, taking on a rather ambitious design. I think in the long run simple is better though I couldn't with my drawing abilities come up with this current design any easier. I believe the k.i.s.s. method (Keep It Simple Stupid) probably works best with printmaking.

Being the chicken that I am I decided to work on the safe area today. Tomorrow I'll be more apprehensive to tackle the other side of the block. But till then here is today's visual.

The dragon and the thrush

I'd been thinking of creating prints with more of a story line. It's all very well carving flowers and such but I wanted my blocks to have stories to them too. My mind has been churning with new ideas as of late and this design I thought of this morning.

A little back story may be necessary for you to understand the design. The Hobbit's baddy in the story is the dragon Smaug (pronounced smog) who dwells inside the Lonely Mountain guarding his hoard of treasure. In a nutshell 13 dwarves and little Bilbo Baggins is attempting to take back the treasure. Bilbo manages to get down into the mountain and with his magic ring to conceal himself he taunts the dragon with conversation. Smaug is no dummy and assumes Bilbo is one of the men from a nearby town found in the middle of a lake called “Laketown”.

Long story short Smaug decides he's had enough and attacks Laketown one evening. The villagers are armed with arrows and a great battle ensues. One man, Bard is their Captain. He is steadfast and brave and encourages the men to stand their ground though their town is literally burning down around them.

During the battle an old thrush lands upon Bard's shoulder and talks to him. Bard is surprised he can understand the bird but listens to his messages.

“Wait! Wait!” it said to him. “The moon is rising. Look for the hollow of the left breast as he flies and turns above you!”

Bard takes his trusted infamous black arrow, the same arrow that belonged to his forefathers and smote Smaug with great flourish and steam. Of course the story is more exciting if you read the words of the author but you will now understand the design of this block.

As you can see I have the dragons' eye on one side of the block. Dividing the piece in half is the black arrow and also represented is the thrush and moon. This design proved a challenge. Not so much because of the design itself but because the block purchased at Dick Blicks proved to be harder to carve than the Speedwell block from the store. At times I was afraid I'd cut to much off of the design and in some cases nearly did.

I'm please with how it came out. I like the primitive look it has taken on. For me it's about the plaining and executing of the project. I love the planning stages and working with the carving tools with their varied nibs. I did like having two knives going, one with a large gouge nib and the other with a narrow nib. I hope you like it too.

Potato fun

I'm still waiting for my package from Dick Blicks. This gave me an opportunity to find other alternatives to print making options. I intentionally saved a small potato from the soup pot two days ago. It was in the Girl Scouts as a pre-teen when I first had my printing experience. I had forgotten how rewarding it feels to use an organic object to create art as I carved the soft flesh of my potato.

The beauty of using a potato is you have two halves to work with so if the first half does not meet your expectations you have another side to use. The vegetable also makes a great cheap alternative to a woodblock.

I chose a simple design using a gourd pot I own as the subject. I wanted to use less negative space which would also highlight the shape of the potato.

I think in retrospect I should have used a fresher and more firm potato. The smaller grooves or small holes I wanted to add to the pot design did not show up on the final prints. My hunch is the smaller cuts would have been clearer if the potato flesh was harder.

The second half I carved out more negative space but liked the shape of the potato therefor left the edges of the vegetable untouched. The flower design was simple enough and no fine cutting was needed to show on the print.

I really liked how this turned out. Earlier I had found postcard sized 165lbs hot pressed paper in the art closet. They are wonderful and at the time when purchased (1990) the Jack Richeson & Co., Inc. had manufactured them. These postcards where the right size for the invitations I was going to create for a house party. So I got to inking and below are the results.

All in all I think it was a good day in the art room. I'm thinking of using a sweet potato next time as they tend to have a more interesting shape to play with as well as having firmer flesh to carve.

Today was a beautiful sunny day and today's Daily Shot reflects the season.

A little color

After trimming some of the unwanted lines from the block this morning I started in earnest to use watercolors to add color to the lotus woodblock print. At first I used a very light wash as the base. I found however my thoughts leaned towards a much bolder outcome. Perhaps it was because the black ink was so stark with the lighter wash I had added that I knew the print could take much louder colorations.

For my first attempt I don't think it came out all that bad. I'm not totally convinced it is completed though I am always hesitant to go to far and over the top. You know the secret of knowing when to stop I suppose when you are more proficient an artist.

The beauty of woodblocks is you can produce more than one of them. While working today I thought I'd try another medium with this particular block tomorrow. Bold pastels may look like a good contrast to the black lines too. The blending colors would be most effective on this piece.

Lotus comes to life

The lotus came to life today as the last pieces where carved out. It's been some time since I've worked on a block. It all came back easily enough. And I knew I'd have to chip away the unnecessary bits after I gave it a run with ink. There are not many but enough to make me do this before inking the block again.


The design is such I'll have room enough to experiment with washes of watercolor. I've seen this done before and I wonder how one avoids washing the inked lines into the fresh paint. Tomorrow will be a day for investigating how to achieve this. But for now as the snow is piling up upon the steps again (see the Daily Shot for evidence) I'll marvel at my newest block print creation is 30 years.

Today's progress

Well, remember the small sunflower block I created 30 years ago? Today I breathed life into it's crevices with multi layers of ink today. Inspired by Van Gogh's sunflowers on a winter's day this small print really made me smile. I can't tell you how good it feels to actually be creating "art" again. With so little effort it takes but a little patience to be able to leave a piece of you behind.

One lesson I have learned today is there is a difference of how you feel when making art for yourself and not for customers. There's something about pleasing yourself without any expectations to deliver "goods".

So on to the second project. Remember the lotus flower below? I was able to haggle my husband for a workbench. It was already keeping company with the chipmunks in the woodshed when I inquired of him how I can hook up some sort of clamp to the work tables (old dinning room set) I acquired. I am over the moon as it worked better than anything I could have purchased.

You can see here I had a bit of help getting started. My 13 year old daughter Kay wanted to give it a go. Thirteen is a great age for girls. They still have that "try anything" attitude before the "I can't do it" mentality sets in. She is an artist in her own right. Just about any medium she tackles she executes well.

As you can see above I've ended today's work by removing the outer area of the block. The leaf and petals of the flower are intact for now though the next step will be to remove the insides of those parts of the block. But tomorrows another day and it is suppose to snow again starting this evening. Snow tends to motivate my Muse to get cracking. So I say bring it on.

Today's Daily Shot has nothing to do with this project but everything to do with progress. In fact, I think I'll go finish that task.

Remembering what was lost

I suppose some would say it's like remembering how to ride a bicycle. Well it is actually especially when you know how the tools work but have forgotten the ink's abilities. Today I had decided to play with the inks using an older block I still owned.

I had several ideas on experiments to get me in the grove using this block and wanted to freshen my memory on how to use the inks. Of course the first mistake was using to heavy a layer on the block and the inks stood up like peaks on whip cream. However, after playing around a bit and having the inks dry on the board somewhat then I was able to get a great print without filling small accent holes in the block's design. My new motto "tacky is good" which is what the inks were when applied to the block. Because I don't have a press I've been using another roller. This was purchased just recently from the large box store art chain.

I was shocked to find when purchasing these rollers in the print making area they were over $20. Thankfully I had brought a friend with me and she suggested I look in the scrapbooking area. What a find. For $12.95 I purchased a substantial roller that is larger than the old one I use.

So today I used my new inexpensive roller to press down into the cold pressed watercolor paper I had decided to use. I practiced quite a bit as well as thought of other projects or ideas I could do with technique. My goal is to do some research on line to find fun and exciting uses of woodblocks. I want to spend some time exploring different options.

Tomorrow looks like a good day to finish some ideas I had thought of today and hopefully will find quiet time to do so.

The Daily Shot is from today's work. Until then, thanks for checking in.

Starting process

The day before yesterday I ventured out to the local box chain art store to purchase what I need to proceed with creating new block prints. It's been over 30 year since I carved a woodblock into something worth inking. I owned a few inks (miraculously three survived and are usable), two woodblocks already cut, knives and a roller. What I really needed was more woodblocks and inspiration.

The big box store had one sized woodblock approx. 7x5 inches. I like to work with a smaller size but you've got to work with what you have I suppose. And I've started to investigate arts suppliers on-line for further purchasing. It seems to me I ought to find a 7x5 block for under $5. One such supplier, Daniel Smith.com sells 4x6's for $1.60 and smaller still the a 3x4 for .95. I can live with those prices though I need to check on shipping costs as well.

Yesterday during the snow storm I had the luxury of working on the new block. I decided to with a lotus flower design. I had a dream (no not so grand as his dream) of a simple black and white print tinted with watercolors to make the design pop. Hence, that is why I've left the leaf and petals with little detail.

One factor in my planning had a hole in it. How was I going to clamp the block down to carve out the unnecessary bits. When I did this 30 years ago my father's wood working shop was the place to do anything manual such as using knives. Sadly, that shop is gone like my father and I'll need to have my husband rig up something doable.

More to come of course and tomorrow is another day. This day was shot except to do my Daily Shot photo which I've added to the link above.