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| Block "locked" side to side and end to end |
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| Shelf support keeps end piece flush to end of block, strip with peg keeps the runners flush to sides of block |
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| Melissa Read-Devine - Sydney AUSTRALIA http://www.readdevine.com "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree", a well known nursery song sung by Australian children. This one is typical, sitting patiently, watching for a tasty snack to slither or crawl his way. Watch out if you are having a BBQ in your garden - these guys are notorious sausage thieves! |
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| Maria Arango Diener - Las Vegas, Nevada USA http://1000woodcuts.com "Cricket and the Two-Tailed Lizard" Cricket was a feral rescue who loved playing in the garden, much to the chagrin of lizards and birds, mostly. We named her after her favorite prey, crickets, which she chased under the hollyhocks. But she also often brought us lizard tails...still twitching after being torn from their rightful (annoyed, surely!) owners. Cricket (1997-2013) is now a very happy inhabitant of the Fantastic Garden and has a best friend, a two-tailed lizard. I imagine the ongoing game goes something like this: Cricket chases lizard, lizard sheds one tail and escapes with the other one intact, everyone happy. Lizard grows tail back. Next game, Cricket chases lizard... |
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| Amanda Gordon-Miller - Baltimore, Maryland USA Poppies for the garden! |
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| Sarah Hope Parmeter - Santa Cruz, California USA |
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| Wendy Shaft - Williamston, Michigan USA http://wendyshaft.blogspot.com A collaborative project, like this, reminds me that I am not alone as a relief printmaker. This is second project with Maria and what a glorious experience to see the final art. |
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| Mary Weimer Green - Avon Lake, Ohio USA |
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| AEleen Frisch - Wallingford, Connecticut USA All gardens should include a small putting green, a rabbit hole, a black hole, a ?????. |
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| Ralph Heather - Ontario CANADA http://www.ralphheather.com The journey a Black Swallowtail butterfly takes through it's life stages is always magical. This Black Swallowtail caterpillar showed up in my backyard on a patch of parsley and was an amazing bright green and black. I'm so thankful that there is a ban on pesticides here so we can enjoy the return of butterflies, hummingbirds and so much more. Ralph is a visual artist focused on original printmaking using the traditional techniques of hand-cut wood blocks or etching. His art is hand-drawn, hand-cut and hand-printed in limited editions. In his work he searches for life’s connections that seemingly go unnoticed, often finding his inspiration locally. |
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| Kathe Welch - Oakland, California USA |
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| Gilda Machado-Zimmerling - Templeton, California USA I decided to add a couple of owls to this garden to watch over all the beautiful creatures. They are known for may things amount them is their wisdom and their quality as protectors. |
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| Tracing of the missing block, I just slip the paper under the block and draw the outline |
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| After cutting out my tracing, I placed on a block of cherry ply and draw the outline. The thickness gauge made certain that the blocks were same width. |
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| After clamping the block to my cutting bench, I saber saw the shape. |
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| Perfect fit! Now design and carve, piece of cake! |
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| Ellen Shipley - Santa Clarita, California USA http://pressing-issues.blogspot.com Every garden has its weeds, hardy less-than-appreciated plants bent on staking out their own little corner of the world. My dandelion lady is having a "Bad Hair Day." Haven't we all? ;-] |
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| Carol Myers - Watervliet, Michigan USA http://carollmyers.com http://www.facebook.com/Carol.L.Myers.Art This fairy sculpture that is in my real and fantasy garden is especially meaningful, as it is the same fairy that my 27 year old daughter Lizzie had tattooed on her back. 6 weeks after she was married in 2012 she became ill with autoimmune liver failure, and after five months of critical illness and hopes of a liver transplant she succumbed to complications. I can still hear her musical laughter and see her delight in butterflies as she becomes a part of this fantastical garden. |
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| Mark Vosmeier - Fort Wayne, Indiana USA It's Harvest Time in the Fantastic Garden! There is a bumper crop in the garden, and Mr. Scarcrow decides to share some corn with two of his former nemeses., With a sound so reminsicent of those old cartoon magpies, "Heckle and Jeckle," the following conversation is overheard: First Crow: "I say, ol' chum, isn't this corn simply scrumptious?" Second crow: "Indubitably, ol' bean, most indubitably!" Both crows and Mr. Scarecrow (altogether): Ahh hahahahahahaha! |
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| Dorothy Schultz - Calgary, Alberta CANADA Bulrushes are a favourite image and I thought their odd shape and fuzziness fit well in our fantastic garden. Loved participating in this project! |
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| Carol Hetherington - Canberra, Australian Capital Territory AUSTRALIA It’s nerve-wracking, isn’t it, when you get that little piece of cherry – you have only one chance to cut a design; there’s no starting over if it doesn’t work. That’s my dilemma each time I’ve received that little block from Maria. I get very enthusiastic and put together a wish list of possible designs. I’m a novice woodcut printmaker so my confidence slowly ebbs as I discard one design after another as being beyond my capabilities. In the end I decided on the white Warratah (the gorgeous red Warratah is the floral emblem of New South Wales). My initial carving looked cleanly cut and I was happy with it but then I read Maria’s comment that we should carve deep as some plates had to be re-carved last time because the carving was too shallow. My block doesn’t look so neat and cleanly cut any more but I hope it prints OK. My inspiration for this subject stems from being a long admirer of (Australian) Cressida Campbell’s beautiful White Warratah (and all her woodcuts). |
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| Linda Beeman - Owosso, Michigan USA http://www.lindajbeeman.com My biggest fear is losing my eyesight. Legally blind without my glasses, I sometimes need help FINDING my glasses if I set them down not in their usual place. Losing them...well, I would have to just sit down and not move. What would happen if I drank the 'shrink potion' like Alice did? My glasses would hardly fit me any more and I'd have to leave them behind. What would I be able to see in that world? Could I find my way? Would I be absorbed into the textures and colors? Scary thoughts. Intriguing thought for an artist. |
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| Barbara Mason - Aloha, Oregon USA http://www.barbara-mason.com This cherry wood was darn hard to carve...my lines are wider than I would like....it was odd carving away the lines and leaving the body of the image...more things to learn. Maybe if I live to be 150 or so I will have it down. |
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| John Furr - Pickering, Ontario CANADA |
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| Lynda Furr - Pickering, Ontario CANADA |
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| Diana Hartley - Phoenix Arizona USA http://www.dianahartley.com Welcome to Arizona where Summer spends the winter and Hell spends the summer.Every garden needs a little sun and we have plenty to spare. |
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| Simona Hernandez - Sacramento, California USA http://www.simonasfinearts.com Happy garden surprises…a lizard discovered by excited children and last year’s squash seeds taking root this year! My garden is your garden. |
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| Allan Greenier - New Haven, Connecticut USA |
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| Bee Shay - Nantucket, Massachusetts USA |
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| Sarah Wojciechowski - North Royalton, Ohio USA For my puzzle piece I decided to portray a lotus blossom. The lotus flower represents fortune, purity, and hard work. It grows in muddy water, and it is this environment that gives forth the flower’s first and most literal meaning: rising and blooming above the murk.The second meaning, which is related to the first is purification. It resembles the purifying of the spirit which is born into murkiness. The third meaning refers to faithfulness. Those who are working to rise above the muddy waters. |
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| Sarah Cvilicek - Reno, Nevada USA When I think of a fantastic garden I think of all of the possibilities and who is living there! A whole world is there and magic happens. So for me I see little houses for fairies and gnomes! It is my hope that a gnome takes up residence in my toadstool house! Happy Magic in this amazing garden! |
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| Richard Stockham - Birmingham Alabama USA A snake in the grass and an apple rotting to the core. How much more fantastic can a garden get? |
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| Barbara LaPlaca - New York USA http://potatoisland.com I am a novice carver though not a novice illustrator, painter or photographer. I managed to impale my left hand about 60 seconds into my first cuts but forged on, my hand safely wrapped so as not to dye the wood red with my carelessness. Somehow, flowers, leaves and other natural looking things sprung from the block. I hope you are pleased with my results. |
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| Michelle R Unger - Edmonds, Washington USA http://bellstjournal.blogspot.com It's a thrill to be a part of this! |
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| Geographical Divides: Finding Common Ground Collaboration Printmaking Exhibit among Nevada Artists Historic Fifth Street School, Mayor's Gallery 401 S Fourth St - Las Vegas Nevada |
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| Gillyin Gatto - Machias Maine USA bobcatpath at myfairpoint dot net My block depicts myself in my "clothing free" garden and some old friends who used to inhabit it along with me. |
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| Diane Cutter - Ceiba, Puerto Rico USA http://www.dianecutter.com Because I live in a tropical environment, bromeliads abound in my garden. None of them have been purposely planted. They are all happy accidents, appearing nestled on a tree limb high up or peeking from under other plants on the ground. They seem to thrive well in their untended airborne state. Their spiky leaves and petals are bright bits of red, pink, orange in a sea of greens and are especially brilliant when lit up by the sun. |
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| Terry Sargent Peart - Seattle, Washington USA http://terrypeart.blogspot.com When I think of a garden I think of peace. Our front yard garden is a very peaceful and relaxing place to be. One of the first things we planted when we moved here was a Buddha statue under our huge Cedrus Deodora tree which dominates the yard. Like anything left outside in the Pacific Northwest, our Buddha is slowly turning green. The statue has become one with the garden, radiating serenity and inviting guests to linger and enjoy. "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." Buddha |
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| Marilynn Smith - Nahcotta, Washington USA | Flowers are one of my favorite things to paint or carve. My image staarted with a begonia from my hanging basket out by the bay and evolved into a flower for the Fantastic Garden. |
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| Paulette Olive - Phoenix, Arizona USA The inspiration for my piece is the flora present in the southwest United States. I found a prickly pear cactus bearing fruit, photographed it and carved it's likeness to represent the plants that grow in this part of the country. |
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| Randie Feil - British Columbia CANADA From the time I was old enough to enjoy observing, reading about, and drawing them, insects have fascinated me. The backyard of my childhood home was home to various species, but it wasn't until I was perhaps eight or so years old that I found a Junebug. I'd never seen one before and so I popped it into a jar and headed off to the local library, where a thoughtful librarian showed me how to use the card catalogue (this was the 1970s) to find a suitable reference book. Libraries (and Junebugs) have been amongst my favourite things ever since. |
