Lead Me Out and Lemonade

Conversation With a Canyon II: Lead Me Out

"So how do you like it?

Good, all good, it is very peaceful in here

Are you staying? Few wander in, you know

A little while, I brought lunch

I have water, here and there, clean and cold...

...........

What if I spend the night on that cool bed of sand

I will keep you safe, I will let in the moonlight and the moss scented winds

(to be continued)

Lead Me Out, already transferred to the color block and ready to be printed

Lemonade

When life gives you lemons...

Takes a bunch of daily exposure to keep up the online sales and I still miss the festival life and the face to face contact with customers. These days, it would be mask to mask I suppose but some of us in the "high risk" category are advised to stay away from crowds altogether so even if there WERE any festivals to go to, I would have to abstain. I tweet and post on Facebook and Instagram often, many artists do that now and it is good to see more art on those platforms. 2020 be over!!!!!!

SO! Online shops are the only thing. With the help of my friends at Google (!) I am working on improving my main website and actually I am pleased with the results both on visits and sales. One thing that I enjoy is the messaging system, I have Facebook Messenger linked to my site so many times visitors strike up a conversation and it has the "feel" of a visit to my booth.

EBay has some features that I enjoy such as the bargaining that goes along with the Best Offer feature and the back and forth of offers and counter-offers. Almost like being in the booth on a Sunday afternoon, almost!

I have had more time to finish some editions of little prints that never got done. And I am enjoying using up all the handmade paper in my flat files. My happy studio is a great place, I really like working daily on different things and there is always plenty to do. Working, for me, is bliss and I will leave you with that thought.

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Website: https://1000woodcuts.com 
1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Ready for Oakland California! Inaugural Exhibit of the Peace Puzzle

Peace Puzzle Exhibit March 1 - April 30

Planning ahead to March 4th, save the date of the Opening Reception!
CreativeFramingOakland.com

Here is the announcement Peace Puzzle Print (plus!) 

Event On Facebook: Opening Reception for Exhibit 

This will be the first time the Peace Puzzle is shown. I framed all eight print panels and all eight blocks cleaned up and inked up and ready for an audience. Very excited to show this beauty and really looking forward to seeing it hanging up on a wall.

Aside from that, I will be showing a selection of my own work, always exciting! Will help hang all the work with the indefatigable Heather Piazza this coming weekend.
Week after that on March 4th, I will be back in Oakland for the Opening Reception and hope to meet some of the Peace Puzzle participants from California face to face. The adventure continues!

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Peace Puzzle and 1000 Woodcuts to Exhibit at Creative Framing & Gallery in California

Exhibits

Just finished exhibiting the previous four puzzle prints at the West Las Vegas Library Gallery courtesy of Clark County & City of Las Vegas Library District Arts Programs. Wonderful venues and always attract young and old art and book lovers and visitors from all over. Thank you all who came by and filled out the guest book.

And always joyous occasions when upcoming shows are taking form! Planning ahead to March 4th, save the date! 

CreativeFramingOakland.com

Here is the announcement Peace Puzzle Print (plus!) 

Event On Facebook: Opening Reception for Exhibit 

Post Cards for all!

The amazing Heather Piazza went on a work binge on Monday and sent me about 6287 messages ding ding ding ding ding dinnnnnggggg! about this show. By nightfall, she had the post card invitation all done. We are working on all the details but meanwhile, follow the link above and sign up to attend the exhibit opening or just say you are interested if you might make it or like it.

And pass these around! 

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Struck and Uprooted

Going big!

Only one more print to get ready for the upcoming exhibit at the OXS Gallery in Nevada!
These larger prints make me wonder what the heck was I thinking when I decided to go big. Miniatures! next life... But the "big ones" do tend to give me a sense of satisfaction and achievement. They take much energy and work to complete, especially when that other Maria decided to entertain large editions. Really? Anyhow, this particular image, Uprooted along with Struck happen to be two of my most heartfelt.

When art means something...

Struck

Struck, in memory of my father

Last week I finished printing an image called Struck. In 1998 or thereabouts, my father suffered a stroke and subsequently  required help to get along life. After seeing him shrunken in a wheelchair in the corner of his apartment, we took him into our home. His brother, then a contractor, built an addition to our house so that he could remain somewhat independent yet allow me to care for him.

He was lightly struck, as far as strokes go, retaining most of his abilities to walk with a limp and eventually speak normally. His right hand was near useless. Reading that stroke victims after 70 have a dismal survival rate over two years, I decided to take over his care...as much as he would let me.

During the next eleven years I ripped the wheelchair out of his life and exchanged it for a three-wheeled bicycle, later a scooter when the bicycle became impossible to pedal. He was in every sense of the word, independent (read: stubborn). We fought, we yelled, we laughed and in the end I was happy I took on the task of helping him along until the end in 2009.

Uprooted

Uprooted, for all those that leave past for future

Detail

Uprooted is a homage to all those who can't, on any given vacation, revisit their childhood home. In 1974 we immigrated to the US from Spain, but previously my family with a not-quite two year-old Maria, was uprooted from Cuba. I don't remember Cuba at all, but I do remember Spain quite well with very good and happy memories of growing up with the initial help of Las Filipenses, the happiest collection of nuns.

A family of five, we left with two suitcases about of the size of today's carry-ons and that still reside in one of my closets. The most salient memory of the trip to the US was that of leaving Barcelona on a train to Madrid, from where we would eventually fly to America. That train left in the dark of night with friends surrounding my parents. I remember someone mentioning that I wasn't crying but the phrase was muffled and distant. Then the train left and I remember entering the darkness of a tunnel.

That tunnel has stayed with me, both as a refuge and as a reminder of past places and of hopeful futures. It isn't at all depressing,  but merely a place where I felt safe and guarded from distant pasts and unknown futures. Uprooted once more, ready to grow roots in a new place yet never forgetting the last.

When I hear people talk about immigrants today, a part of me thinks of that tunnel and I know that they probably have their own safe tunnels where their souls reside temporarily until they can lay root again.

Current and Upcoming Exhibits

Exhibits

Boy, it's been a busy year so far but I am happy to report on current and upcoming exhibit schedule:

Puzzle Prints traveled to the Laughlin Library in Laughlin Nevada, and will show there through July, courtesy the Las Vegas/Clark County Library District.

A Closer Look, the collaborative print made during my residency at Red Rock Canyon, will be shown along with other woodcuts in a 3-artist-show at the Red Rock Canyon Visitor's Center just West of Las Vegas, beginning July 4th. Opening reception is July 9th 5-7 PM!

Two engravings will show in Why, Masterworks?
June 19 – Aug 23, 2014
Reception: June 19  
An educational exhibit in the Fifth Street School, 401 S 4th in downtown Las Vegas.

And the Celebrating Life 2014 Exhibit will continue until mid July in the Charleston Heights Art Center, my piece After the Fire was awarded First Prize in Mixed Media. The Winners' Circle Show will continue in the City Hall Chamber Gallery but I will post dates when it gets closer.

Whew!

Announcing the FIRST! Puzzle Prints Solo

Puzzle Prints in the Gallery

Wonderful venue, large, well lit

The show was up on Thursday and I visited both Friday and Saturday and I am delighted how good the puzzle prints and blocks look all dressed up.
The Fantastic Garden and the Great Cairn had to hang side by side due to weight and space limitations, but still look maaaarrrrrrrrrrveloussss, don't you think?

I am posting ALL the pictures on the 1000 Woodcuts Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts

In Perfect Harmony

Now showing! March 13th to May 5th 2014
City of Las Vegas / Clark County Library District
Sahara Library Art Gallery
9600 West Sahara Ave
Las Vegas, Nevada 89117

Hours M - Th,10am - 8 pm  / F - Su, 10 am - 6 pm

The Great Cairn

City of the World blocks

Two information panels with all YOUR names!

The beginning of it all, Puzzle Print #1

This project is funded, in part, by a grant from the Nevada Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. 

It's a show! It's a show!

Finding Common Ground

Well, the show is almost over, but the reception is this Thursday.
In case you can't read the "fine print" this was a collaboration among Nevada artists.

"Geographical Divides: Finding Common Ground features sixteen artists who were asked to explore the geographical and cultural differences in Nevada, if such differences truly exist. The assembly of printmakers--eight from the North and eight from the South--produced two prints from each collaboration. Visually exploring connections and disconnections between southern Nevada and northern Nevada cultural attitudes, aesthetics and geographical distinctions, these sixteen artists communicated and visually responded to each other's unique economic, environmental, political and social settings, further dissecting this notion of a splitting geography and/or communion of Nevada's polarities."

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

Revenge of the Fire Ants

More Arrivals and Revenge of the Fire Ant

There are a number of dangers in the desert and, although very few actually live in people's back yards, still the desert is not exactly "user friendly" sometimes.

So there I was, innocently taking photos of our beloved puzzle pieces. This year I thought I would vary the backgrounds and chose to place the little darlings in my garden, of course! Problem is, I get distracted trying to find just the perfect background, the perfect light, the perfect focus...OOOOUCH! nothing like fire ants tend to end the bliss in a hurry.

If you have ever been bitten, you know why they call them fire ants. And to top it all off, I seem to have a slight "reaction" to some insect bites so my heel today is about twice as big as it should be. My HEEL! that is some tough skin that little bast--- got through...

Sigh, no more photos under that Mojave Willow that's for sure!

Here are three more contributions.

David Bull - Tokyo JAPAN
http://woodblock.com
(Maria's note: What is it? I guess we all will have to wait to print it to find out!
I will just tell you that, up close, the carving is absolutely incredible, the entire image done in a single continuous engraved line. Amazing.)

John Center - Chicago Illinois USA

Harry French - Lincolnshire England UNITED KINGDOM
This section of the puzzle print is based upon imaginative and observational studies in the garden of the German Expressionist, Emile Nolde of Seebüll in Schleswig- Holstein, Northern Germany.
Website : http://www.harryfrenchartworks.co.uk

Fantastic Garden Headquarters: http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com

Working on the Doodles

First, the Stretch Goal

Thank you backers and participant-backers alike! Since we met the initial goal so quickly, let's shoot for the moon! New stretch goal set at $5900. What is a stretch goal? Well, a goal above the goal, a new horizon, raising the bar, most importantly a way to give extra rewards to everyone involved for spreading the word. The project is funded regardless of making the stretch goal BUT!

Let's keep sharing the art-venture and every pledge above $40 will get a bonus PRINTED BOOK: Growing the Garden. If you have already paid for an extra book, you will be refunded, of course. And everyone, every man, woman and child (who pledges, that is!) will get a commemorative Greeting Card panel. 

But we have to make our stretch goal first. Let all your friends know, keep spreading the word and thank you for supporting and believing in our Fantastic Garden!

Working on the Doodles

I have officially begun work on the Doodle Rewards. A couple of people emailed me expressing interest in a set of the color doodle woodcuts, okay so one is my Mom (but whatever!). And so I thought while I wait for the big blocks of wood to arrive I would start working on the little darlings. Here is a silly video to illustrate the beginning of a woodcut print:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybERkJcbxko

At the end of the video you can see a printout of the Fantastic Garden sketch on one of my work tables, I printed over 8 standard pieces of paper, about one-quarter scale of the real thing. I usually draw right on the blocks and adjust the design as I go to make sure the puzzle pieces are suitable for tiny woodcut images. I am so ready for my big blocks to get here!

Meanwhile, I'll keep working on the doodles...

Fantastic Garden Headquarters: http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com

Lordie! 600 prints 1200 miles (x2) Happy at Home!!!

I have done a lot of crazy things in my life but this one has to be around the top 10...maybe top 5!!! Drive 1200 miles with 5 blocks and 600 sheets of paper with the plan of getting blocks on print in 3 days. What a fantastic and totally undoable plan!!!
But wait...

Day one seemed very long and I confess after it had passed I wondered how far we could get. We were working about as far as our bodies could withstand and yet still a big chunk of prints to print.
Well, we ate so I thought maybe if we don't eat tomorrow...nah, we didn't go that far.

Day One we probably put in around almost 8 good hours but we were bound and determined to top that on Day Two. We met for breakfast nearby, loaded up with fuel (calories, I mean) and headed off to the Atelier Meridian, in the midst of downtown Portland, Oregon. At the end of the day we had collectively printed around (exactly) 144 prints.

Day One also entailed setting up the presses, getting the "system" tweaked so that three printmakers could work on each press, pressure just right, packing material just so, ink about there, and so on. All fell into place and we went into production mode.

Day Two we had decided (ordered with no exceptions and no whining) to meet for a hearty breakfast early. We began printing around 8:30 AM and I believed we washed our hands for the last time at around 7:00 PM. By the end of the day, we had 266 prints pulled, a true marathon of a day!!! Our grand total was now 410 and in my mind, no way in you-know-where that we would be able to finish the next day. Bodies were sore and bruises appeared but our resolved and good humor never left us.
A well earned full plate of blackened salmon was the highlight of the day. I can still taste it...

Here are some highlights in photos. I'm still editing the video and will post that next:

Team Barbara, Sharri and son Don

Terry Peart with Sharri LaPierre in background, apparently doing absolutely nothing? whaaaaaaat?

Ah yes, looking like a happy city

Full rack and then some, rack held 36 prints twice, we miscounted at least 6 times

Sir Doug Haug inking da block

Lady Terry Peart pulling a print

CODE 111! At print 111, we finally got Terry to say "perfect!" so every perfect print from then on was "coded" 111

Terry and Barbara miscounting, er, counting I mean, the finished prints.
I have no idea what Sharri is doing...

We took a .057 second break to pull some infamous roller art prints. Soon available on an Etsy store near you!

That's it for today! Day Three blow by blow yet to come. Editing the video so you can see 1/600 prints pulled by each team. Still catching my breath.

Not done yet! Some substitutes and final assembly

Next I had to do some tweaking of a few blocks. Two were missing so I cut substitutes and carved some quick images. There were a few "problem" blocks that I foresaw would stumble the printing process so I did some extra carving on backgrounds or edges or whatever needed to be done without disturbing the owner's image.

After carving all the backgrounds, I went over the flat open areas with a flat chisel to eliminate any burrs that may catch ink. They are not anywhere near perfect but will just have to do as I am out of time before my trip to the printing lands.
Two of the background blocks had broken in a couple of places and I re-glued them together with wood-glue.

Finally, when all was tweaked enough, I lightly glued each large block to a background matt-board and then re-assembled the puzzle over the glue so that everyone sits still and behaves properly during printing. I used Lineco white glue spread with a foam roller for speed and evenness of application. Also this glue remains flexible so that if any blocks have to be propped up from underneath to aid in printing, the flexible glue and matt-board will yield.

Here are the next set of process pictures:

Now on to building the paper-placement jig!

My city blocks, honoring all of you!

City Mayor, Maria Arango Diener from Las Vegas, Nevada USA was obligated and delighted to cut four blocks.

Two were substitutes for ones that never arrived, one is a memorial to Claudia Coonen who left us too soon, and lastly the one I had reserved for my own block (either that or I miscounted and was left with an extra block, you decide).

When faced with the task of "forced inspiration" due to a deadline or project, the artist is sometimes frozen by the obligation. Let's face it, fresh images just don't come to us all that often and trying to come up with something in a hurry actually hurts the brain...well, it hurts my brain anyway. I'm not really a copier and when I find myself reaching for photos, I know it isn't a day to create.

But this time I was showered with so many choices. The way I see it, everything we experience perceptually and emotionally remains running around the artist's brain until time rinses images clean and feelings ebb away gently. Some images stubbornly remain and those are the ones that come to be our art.
Then hopefully we are inspired again and the process repeats itself. Artists are ever-sensing beings, everything we perceive is felt raw in a very special way. Hopefully that leads to the transformation of that sensation into a visible image with which we communicate what is inside of ourselves to the viewer.
More simply put: artists attempt to show the way they "see". But if I think about the process too much or talk about the images to an excess, the raw power of art can get lost. That's my view anyway.

Back on earth and more to the task at hand, I grabbed the four blocks that I needed to fill and a Sharpie (my favorite no-errors-allowed sketching tool) and sat outside in my desert garden amid the budding spring. The simple almost silly images just came to me this time, flowed off the tip of the marker with ease and that fortunate day I could have produced another dozen, never mind the constraint of time and the small size of the blocks. Carving for me always completes the image, most of the time I stray a bit (or far from) the drawing and let the chisel speak its voice.

QR Code http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com
QR Codes are very cool and it occurred to me that they actually resemble city grids. Perfect!

Mau Loa (Forever) Claudia For Claudia Coonen, in memoriam

Crescent What's a city without love!?
We need much more love in this world, here's a little love for all of you.

Velando A long drive through the downtown, tall buildings lit and looming, a bridge over the ocean, distant pier, and back through the city...windows twinkling along the way in the tall apartment buildings.

Lights on, lights off, city windows and their dwellers unaware of each other, next to one another, each alone in their world within the big city.
The verb "velar" is Spanish for staying awake at night; in old times by candle-light, from the word "vela" which means candle.

On to the progress reports but first for me, a hearty dive into the studio, much to do!!! I have a long list of items to assemble for the trip, a bit obsessed with not forgetting anything important.

Three more yet (I confess I'm out of catchy titles)

Mary Johnson sends her block from Norristown, Pennsylvania USA

Julianne Kershaw from Woombye, Queensland AUSTRALIA writes:

I love crows - & enjoy photographing them – in trees, or as black silhouettes against the sky..

To me they’re outsiders – fringe dwellers to a certain extent – surviving on road kill & whatever else they can find.

When school’s out the crows come to feast on discarded food scraps – scavenging out of open bins & prying into plastic wrappings & containers to get at anything edible – snatching what they can & flying off with it..

Barbara Carr is from Salisbury, New Hampshire USA writes this:

 When I was first planning a subject for City of the World, I wanted to incorporate a sort of memorial to my younger brother Jack, who died in June.  After working up a bunch of drawings, this went nowhere, so I generalized the idea of “city” in my mind. My all-time favorite city is Rome and I remembered seeing many windows there with laundry hanging out and flowers on the sills. I opted to have a curtain billowing in place of the laundry, which was a little too earthy for what I wanted to show. The result is my vote for optimism and the positive aspect of we humans turning wherever we live into “home.” It turned out, after all, to be a sort of memorial to my brother, who lived in one of my other favorite cities, Cambridge.

Last three on the next post!