Studio B

Getting ready for holiday rush

I say that tongue in cheek a bit since there is usually a slight bump in online sales during the holiday season and usually earlier rather than later. But for those who enjoy giving the gift of art, I did enhance my online presence with a new shop on ArtFire (can't hurt the Google search). I also uploaded most of my framed and matted inventory to the Etsy Shop, links of both on the left.

And I had been meaning to reorganize what I call Studio B, a cat/dog hair free and quiet place where I can mat, frame and ship without sending my customers dust and animal dander (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Here is a panorama!

Left to right: matted works atop the "tape department"
boxes and packing materials, the massive flat files dubbed Green Monster,
mail sorters with small works, framing supplies and envelopes and finally
the other small sorter and my work bench
(cleverly disguised as photo booth at the moment)

Wheels wheels

I learned in my art festival days that if it isn't on wheels, you have to carry it. So I have acquired sort of a wheel-mania. These last 3 weeks I spent some time placing the shelves you see and the flat files on wheels. After some browsing on the idea-rich www, I found a wood shop owner with my same wheel-disease. He placed everything in his shop on 3/4" plywood and wheels. Brilliant!

Shelves were easy, my buds at Home Depot
cut me the 3/4" ply to size and I just
placed the plywood on two furniture dollies

Flat files on four massive 650 lb capacity wheels and
a double layer of 3/4" plywood

The flat files were the hardest, dubbed the Green Monster because they used to be green (I changed that awful quality with a case of neutral tan spray cans). All my prints had to come off, stacked neatly on my work table, then the drawers came off, all 15 of them, then the thing just comes apart in three sections, a foot and a top. Everything is metal and heavy. Few hours, and presto!

Now if I get a guest or decide to rearrange, I just roll everything around to suit my needs. Ah the hidden life of a working artist...

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

Festival bugs and wandering artists

One for the Calendar!

Words raining from heaven itself to the ear of the festival artist: 

Congratulations!

 You have been accepted to participate in the 70th annual Bellevue Arts Museum ARTSfair! We are honored to have you participate in this important community event! The jury was extremely competitive this year due to the overwhelming amount of national submissions from leading artists. In 2016, 840 talented artists applied to the BAM ARTSfair and only 315 artisans were accepted.

Word of congrats, a little flattery and...a precedent to a half-day of filling out paperwork, studying festival maps, making reservations (yes, this early) and a bunch of other work. They say that opportunity often comes in coveralls and in the festival world, this is certainly the case.
The Bellevue Arts Museum ARTSfair takes place July 29-31, which seems so far away at the moment but there is much to do before then.

Work Begins Right Now

For interested artists, an acceptance to a major festival often comes with a dozen or so "little" tasks to do. First and foremost, paying the booth fee (I think this is the reason for the flattery in the acceptance letter) which varies from $200s to $2000 depending on festival, desired location, special requests for my booth, parking (not always included) and a long and surprisingly varied etcetera.
This is a new festival for me so I have no idea where to place myself although the map helps. A little studying of the layout, imagining foot traffic patterns of viewers, making up theories about where the load in may be easier...oh how fun!
After a while of imagining stupid things, I randomly picked a booth or three and paid the 1K for a 10x15' space. Whoooosh, mailed right back along with the registration forms and other disclosures, sign the bottom line, I swear I read every word of the Artist's Guide and a trip to the post office.

Seriously, some considerations for me are space behind my booth and sometimes a corner, although not for an extra $200. 10 x 15 feet inline suits me just fine. I like to be "in the fray" not too close to an exit, not at the end of a row against the wall where people will turn before finishing the row. Long load in/out treks don't bother me too much as long as nobody rushes me or tries to "help."

Booth picked and reserved, now I Google the place in question and make reservations for a walking distance not-so-ritzy not-a-dump hotel. This festival will take me 1700 miles from home and days are long so I will accordingly require a good quiet place to rest. I like walking distance to the festival so I don't have to worry about my big ol' truck and parking every day. I pack a bike if needed. Luxury doesn't impress me but comfort, value and quiet does so that's how I choose.

That's it for now, the quest for the perfect hotel continues, I have a little time although I like to have things settled and out of my head well ahead of time. Head clutter really bothers me so I empty my brain on a daily basis by getting things done.

That's it for now...more as the date nears. Meanwhile, if you are anywhere near Tucson Arizona on April 1-3, drop by my booth and bring coffee or chocolate will ya?

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

NEW shop Amazon Handmade - Making plans for 2016

Shop Handmade!

This year I decided to try out a new venture in Amazon Handmade. The reach of Amazon globally, the handmade label, sounded enticing; anyway you know what "they" say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Here is the shop link, I liked their layout very much:

http://www.amazon.com/handmade/1000woodcuts 

I also just added some framed items to my Etsy shop, have to keep renewing inventory and all those "stale" woodcuts need new homes. Great bargains in the Framed section and be sure to use the coupon on my front page HAPPYSEASON for a generous (I'm nothing if not generous) discount.
Here is my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/1000woodcuts

An online shop isn't as satisfying as being in a happy festival but there is no wind and no set-up bruises at the end. Also there isn't any contact with collectors but sometimes they send me a nice note after I rehome my woodcuts. Two days and I already made sales so that is a good thing!

Hiatus?!

I confess I am really not very good at sitting still. Adrenaline from the last festival still flowing I am planning my next year adventures already. First and foremost, clean my studio to get the creative blood pumping. I might rearrange some things and a little birdie told me I have a new toy coming for my birthday so I can't wait to play!

Good festivals are competitive and the application process begins about a year to six months in advance. I am leaving the first months of the year open for hiking and travel adventures but thereafter I hope to get into a few select good ones. 

I am looking at Arizona, Utah, Washington, Colorado and maybe California for Labor Day. Some local festivals too of course, maybe even an open studio in the works.

I will also be applying for a residency in a National Park or three! Why not, with several other residencies under my belt, I hope I get to go to a beautiful place and make art with visitors of the park.

A Closer Look, Red Rock Canyon residency image 2014

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

Welcome to Studio B

Framing Studio

I jokingly call my framing/shipping space StudioB. I needed a clean, cat-hair free, dust-free area where I could have packing and framing supplies and decided to dedicate the apartment we built for my Papi to those tasks. Here are a couple of shots of the matboard shelves, small print bins and the flat files (formerly called The Green Monster until I decided to paint it a more pleasant tan).

Mat board, plexi, metal frames on lef shelves
Framing and shipping supplies on right shelves

All my tiny woodcut prints organized

Flat files for larger prints and some of my cardboard
container collection

Framing Day!

That's kind of like training day but much much harder and tedious and basically boring until everything is dressed up and ready for a show. A show! I have a show! Whether festival or exhibit, always a joyous occasion to have my art "out there" for people to see.

Today I'm framing hand-made paper so I like to "float" and avoid the surrounding mat. However, to keep the glazing (acrylic for large works) off the yummy paper and print I use a spacer made out of foam board. Trial and error with many types of commercial spacers taught me that the cheapest and nicest looking is a simple foam board strip glued to the edge of the backing board.

Here are some pics:

Mounted print Grand Canyon III on acid-free foam board
this is a 30 x 40 inch mount

The foam board strip separators and Ph neutral white glue

Glued to edges, this is  a print called Precious Waters

Acrylic glazing resting on the foam board strip, away from the print

Add a label and a COA, wire and kapoof! just like that

Just Walk With Me, ready for market or show

That about the skinny of it, my Facebook page has an album with all the framed prints https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts. And! you can always come see the show at the Las Vegas City Hall 7th Floor, April 1st through June 22.

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

Mail Room Trivia

Shipping Department

Once at a fine festival, I had the pleasure of selling a boatload of woodcuts and original woodblocks to a collector from across the country. Since they were traveling by plane I offered to ship the order "free" since they just casually benefited me with around 5K of sales.

Got home, packed, shipped, didn't think much of it. About a week later I get this nice bonus check made out to 1000 Woodcuts - Shipping Department Manager, with a very complimentary note from my collector for the "shipping crew". I had a good laugh about that and promptly complimented my cats, dogs, tape gun and my husband for putting up with me during shipping days (I can get a bit cranky!).

The very boring and repetitive task of shipping 160 tiny blocks!

I just finished the second of three batches of shipping the little darling blocks all over the world. For those of you who may someday ship something to more than two people at once, I highly recommend a shipping program of some sort. I use Endicia from endicia.com because it is the cheapest, no frills, allows me to ship all the variations of the US Postal Service, including international shipping.

The Shipping Crew

Since shipping pictures aren't any fun at all, I though instead I would introduce all of you to my shipping crew. They are very efficient and get the job done. As you can see, the boss dictates that we wear a strict uniform in my studio, jeans, white shirts and blue sweatshirt. Sometimes when we print we wear jeans, white shirts, and blue sweatshirts with aprons added.

This is CoolMaria, she thinks she's the only gal
 in the neighborhood with a tape-gun. Strong as an ox and
will work well past dinner time.

Introducing HappyMaria, very enthusiastic although sometimes
confused by the whole spreadsheet-block-code- thing. We keep
her around because she will do virtually anything with a smile.

And this is the RuthlessMaria, will drive everyone crazy with
her "let's keep working until it is done!". If it were up to her,
no lunch for anyone until all blocks are wrapped up. She's a
good soul though, and gets things done for sure and is very
meticulous about everything.

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

Fantastic Garden Update

Garden!

One of the great rewards of directing a puzzle print collaboration is receiving the puzzle pieces back, nicely carved with wonderful imagery. After properly photographing and recording the newcomers, I get to place them in the puzzle and watch them interact with their neighbors.

In our garden, cats and birds and bugs and weeds and trees interact peacefully, giving each other life and love. Here is a very short slide show video of the garden growing before your eyes:

Puzzle Print Headquarters: http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com

New (Old) Projects Published on Website

Website Update Alert

I have been working hard to update my "deprecated" website and now have new galleries and some projects updated! It is slow going but that just shows how long it has been since I polished up my web skills. Grumbling and growling, I'm learning as I go. Deprecated, I have learned, is a word that web design techies use to make us web-amateurs totally miserable. Deprecated sounds scary but really just means that some codes are no longer in use...which is a total lie fabricated in order to preserve the job security of aforementioned web design techies, because old websites still "look" fine on 98% of browsers. But anyhow, I am slowly seeing the beauty of efficient web design, sort of.

Quest 100

One of the first areas that I upgraded was my Quest for 1000 Woodcuts. In the process I seemed to have lost a few woodcuts, but who's counting? Oh wait, I am!
I found a nifty program that makes me efficiently designed galleries so, for now, that's the format I'm going with. I figured in about 20 years deprecation will catch up with me again. Deprecated...hmph...
Anyhow, my website: http://1000woodcuts.com and a direct link to The Quest Galleries: http://1000woodcuts.com/quest/index.html

Updating all those pages reminded me how much I worked in past years and makes me wonder if I will ever pick up the pace again. Sigh. So much to do, so little time.

Projects: The Cairn

And of course, my other "love" are the projects that keep me driving and driven all at once. Some of the projects that continue to tickle my fancy are the Puzzle Prints. I upgraded the second project: The Great Baren Cairn for no good reason except that the old pages seemed better organized and I felt like tackling them just now.

Direct link to the new home of the Cairn:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

Next puzzle project in the horizon, I have set a secret date to begin already. Meantime, enjoy the new dress on the webpages!

Redesigned website! How earthy is that?!

Redesigned my website and blogs!

Oh boy! Not done yet, much tweaking to do but it has been fun learning the new ways of the web. My website really is leaner and up to date.

Let me know what you think and enjoy!

Websites and such other annoying technothings

If you are into art festivals...

I hinted a while back on my Printmakingstudio Notes blog that I was redoing things a bit on the web side of this artist's life. In the meantime I got a bill for another art related website that I was NOT maintaining and so I killed it. I know, kind of radical but that's the way I do things. Since I had my regret-bone removed a long time ago, I just keep going forward wide eyed through life enjoying every new moment and leaving the past where it belongs, waaaaaaaaaaaaay back there.

So I'm now kind of enjoying this not having to relearn web technology every time the "industry" decides to upgrade the xhtml level or make yet another thing I learned obsolete. Now mobile devices make old website cringe and I'm not revising thousands of pages yet again.
So there, now I'm letting Blogger keep up with all that and I will better concentrate on writing stuff and making art.

So here it is, the new and improved Art Festival Guide!

http://artfestivalguide.blogspot.com

I will be uploading excerpts from the book as I revise and make a new edition. I will also add links and books pertinent to the art festival world, something I firmly believe every artist should try once or ten times if only to appreciate the value of making a dollar solely as an artist.

Should be fun, something else to do in the evenings and one less website to maintain! Win win!

Dragons got lost but...

Just for clarification, I am painfully aware that LAST year was the Year of the Dragon and THIS year is the year of the snake. I actually (really) started this print last year with full intention of complying with a deadline for this very friendly exchange of Chinese Lunar New Year prints.

For more information on that, visit the amazing website http://barenforum.org, owned and operated by an amazing group of stubborn woodcut and woodblock printmakers who have stuck together through the years. This (or should I say, last) print completes the cycle of 12 Chinese Lunar New Year prints that have crossed the world every year since one of our major instigators, Julio Rodriguez, started the whole mess.

In any case, here is my very late Year of the Dragon print, a wood engraving. BTW I have banned myself from further participation in any exchanges until I get my head out of...er, the sand...when it comes to deadlines, anyway.

Dragon Valley by Maria Arango

Print Title: Dragon Valley
Paper Dimension: 7 x 8 inches
Image Dimension: 5 x 6 inches
Block: Boxwood round
Pigment or Ink: Daniel Smith Traditional Black
Paper: Stonehenge Natural
Edition: 100
Comments: Finished a year late, dragons...snakes...same thing with or without legs, no?
Lest anyone thinks I made up these rock formations, I include a picture of the actual unretouched Dragon Valley, my personal name for a nameless view of rock outcroppings.
The actual location is the indomitable and beautiful Valley of Fire State Park, a short drive from Las Vegas Nevada.
this is a standard engraving with free use of traditional engraving tools and a rotary tool with dental bits. Printed with a mini-hydraulic press.

Here is the picture of the "real" dragon valley:


Dragon Valley, Valley of Fire, Nevada photo by Maria Arango

My prints are going out today if I have to sit on my butt and lick stamps all day, by golly. Better late than never?


New blog?! Printmaking Studio reborn

In my spare time I've been tinkering with my unwieldy website and decided to take my method section to a blog. More organized that way, or so I say.

Anyhow, without further ado, here is the Printmaking Studio reborn:
http://printmakingstudionotes.blogspot.com/

Subscribe, enjoy, contribute...

Winds of change...

Long time no post!
Seems sometimes in my life I just shake things up just to see what happens. Not that I have that much time in my hands, I just have to jump around and try new things once in a while...make that often!

This year I'm working on shrinking my unwieldy website and expanding presence in other venues. Announcements to come as they happen and on my website front page, and in here, and...sigh...

Anyhow, for starters I just proudly donated this piece Recto Verso to the Las Vegas/Clark County Library Permanent Art Collection:

Recto-Verso two blocks and bound prints 2012

 

The piece was done for a show last year in conjunction with the book festival in Las Vegas. I got carried away and carved two blocks, mirror image, large print...so much fun to get carried away in art.

 

 

I have various projects going on and will be posting (so she says) regularly, whatever that means.

Carry on...

Two Exhibits

 

Geographical Divides: Finding Common Ground October 24th, 2012 - January 5th, 2013 The Art Institute of Las Vegas Gallery

2350 Corporate Circle, Henderson, NV 89074

702.369.9944 school main number

 

Gallery Hours:

M-Th 8:00AM-8:00PM

Fri-Sat 9AM-5PM, closed Sundays

 

Reception

Thursday November 15th

6:00PM-8:00PM

------------------

 

 

 

Merrily merrily into the season

So here we are, the best sales month of the year for those of you who sell, get your listings out there in the world wide web (www)!!!

Value sets, great trick for the holiday bargain shoppers!

This year I have three shops open and so far the sales in September are up, well in two of them. Listed below with a tiny review of each in case you're thinking of taking the ecommerce plunge. No reason not to, really, good way to empty out those flat file drawers.

A couple of tips or three:

1. Research the online hand-pulled prints world, search for woodcuts, see prices, see how others list, study the store's policies, etc.
2. Branding is important so make sure your shop's name is same/similar across the web.
3. Take decent photos, describe well, have good store policies, give great customer service.
4. Promoting is key, the minute you take your foot off the accelerator, sales stop. Tend to your shops, promote items, have sales, change things around, chat in forums, post in social networks, blog, as much as you can stomach.
5. Be ready for ups, downs and below downs, such is the world of sales. And while you're at it, develop a tolerance for scammers, unscrupulous fellow sellers, and other web trolls.
6. Have fun, nothing in art life is doing if it isn't at least a little fun. Find your fit, it's different for everyone.

EBay, the selling place everyone loves to hate:
http://stores.ebay.com/1000woodcuts
By far my best seller, the worst customers, most stressful, easiest to post items, easiest to maintain, most features, did I mention worst customers? Anyhow, eBay is definitely not for the faint of heart but my art sells consistently, who knew? And they have a great free little listing tool that I use as a database for all my other shops, shhhh...

Engravings are great sellers, priced right!

Etsy, the selling place everyone loves to love:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/1000woodcuts
Really much improved over the years, still 1 to 10 the sales to the 'bay but geez, nice people there, huh? Not exactly efficient listing but easy enough, features improving all the time as is traffic. Sales solid this year.
If you chat, feature, build treasuries, send convos and socialize more you sell more. Love that Etsy jargon! Sigh.







ArtFire, the new kid:
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/1000Woodcuts Just reopened, had zero sales last time but it's an easy import from Etsy items so what the hey! Kind of quirky but they all are really. Good looking studio, more features than last time I was there. Connect to a Facebook Kiosk, good feature. We'll see...

Others I have tried:
RubyLane, much pricier to own a piece of the lane, but higher quality items so if you sell on the high end, go wild there. No sales in a year so I dumped it but maybe I wasn't a good fit. The cheaper sister RubyPlaza did so poorly that it closed.

Bonanza, easy enough, friendly enough, no sales in a year but lots of featuring and all that stuff. Eventually overtaken by cheap repros so I dumped it too.

Anyhow, 'tis the season!

Mirror mirror...

For the first block of the Marauding Metaphors exhibit print, I worked out the metamorphosis of book into web into book in Photoshop. I almost never completely finish the sketching in PS because my hand and carving tools demand their "say" in the final print. Once I was semi-satisfied with the sketch, I transferred to the first block. The sketch, again, looked like this:

The transfer method I used this time involved this waxy paper called "studio paper" available at www.imcclains.com Worked like a charm! I have used wax paper and laser transparencies (on an ink jet printer) before and this Studio Paper gives about the best results.

I simply sized half the sketch to the block size, then split into 8.5" x 11" chunks to properly print on the wax paper. Since it is translucent, it is very easy to line up the pieces to transfer the whole image. No press needed, baren pressure is enough to achieve a crisp, detailed transfer.

So today I transferred my first carved block onto the second. I am using Shina Plywood, which is fairly soft and thought maybe I could get a pretty good transfer with one light pass of the press. But just in case, I first printed a couple of good prints onto tracing paper. If my block-to-block mirror transfer failed, I could always paste the tracing paper on the mirror block and proceed.

Lo and behold, perfect transfer on the block! A few low spots, expected since I didn't want to use high pressure. But it is all visible, details intact, no indents, lined up perfectly and ready for the knife.

This is what the final image will look like:

yummy! but I still need to name it! suggestions?

 

mirror mirror...

booktowebtobook

it's all good

the more you know...

 

(those are all lame)

Marauding Metaphors

That is the title of a show I have been invited to make a piece for. The show runs during a book fair here in Vegas and when you get invited to be in a show, you show up. I had to interrupt my drunken bee print but I will get to it soon enough.

Meantime, here is my contribution, well, half my contribution!

 The plan (I know I know...) is to print this onto another block, then make prints of each of the mirrored blocks. The blocks then become the book "inside covers" and the prints are bound between.
When seen together, the web becomes a whole web and the books meld into the web both going and coming. People will actually be able to turn the pages, always getting a dual mirror image.

This image came to me because lately, images about books and technology that I have seen are all negative. Negative negative negative, sigh.
Well, I love books, and I love the web.

IMHO, technology, the web in particular, have made books more accessible, not less. Isn't the whole point acquiring vast amounts of knowledge until our heads explode? Well, that's my goal in life anyway, one of them!

And don't get me wrong, I LOVE real bound and printed books as four rooms of books in my house can attest. I have bookshelves against the ceiling, floor to ceiling shelves, books in my studio up high, down low...real books. I also collect and cherish old printmaking books, real gems.

But recently I've read about WordPress, wills and trusts, non-profit law, and caring for geriatric dogs all on my Kindle, or my Kindle app on my iPad. Because "those" books I just recycle after a couple of readings anyway. So now they live forever in my e-library.

Back to my image, I wanted it to be a positive marriage between books and the web and the web and books. There is some quirky symbolism there, using a spider web (reminiscent of the dusty and forgotten) as the symbol for technology. But then I'm kind of a quirky person.

Anyhow, here is the plan as laid out in a quick Photoshop sketch, except the middle "book" is a "web."

Now, what shall I name it? Anyone?

 

Tomorrow, I print and carve the other block. It's Shina ply so the carving goes pretty quick. Each block is 16" x 20". I can't wait to print and "bind" my book.

Updated Website Pages

Here is my very latest, Tahoe Sketch, a little tiny print for another Barenforum.org exchange.

For those that like woodcuts and woodblock prints, there is no place like our Baren. Here is the link if you wish to join us http://barenforum.org

But the title of this blog is updated website pages, so here is the link to the latest in the 1000 Woodcuts Project.

http://www.1000woodcuts.com/1000woodcuts/1000.html

Life has slowed down since I started but I remain completely convinced that I will one day print the 1000th woodcut.

Meantime, plans for a website streamlining are finalized and I'm beginning to move some things, transfer some things, eliminate some things...

-The website is just too big so I will be axing some areas

-Galleries will move exclusively to my online shops, where detailed views and print details are easier to upload and prints can be purchased.

-The Printmaking Studio and the Studio Notes will move slowly but surely to this blog, easier to search that way. I'm also upgrading photos as I go along and hope to add some videos.

For now that's about it. Studio notes will begin appearing here and the printmakingstudio.com domain will get redirected here. Back to work...

Two commissions and a massive project

My time these days is taken up sunrise to sunset. I am finished with one commission and getting close to finishing another. These come rarely and only when I'm busy and all at the same time. I had to turn down two others this year because even I know my limit.

Here's a peek at one of the  illustrations for a publisher of Kipling books:

I thought it turned out kind of cool. It's tough for me to make something "look like a woodcut" without actually cutting it but the scope of the commission just didn't allow for that kind of time investment. So I started the way I usually start, with a real subject, in this case a pine cone.

After a photo session with my pine cone, I imported into Photoshop and applied some filters until I was satisfied with a very lightly rendered image. Then I just traced it with a brush as if I was cutting it with my chisels. A bit time consuming, but the result is very woodcut like, perhaps more like a wood engraving and it has my "hand" style deeply embedded in it. Or so I think, anyway, it actually looks like I drew it and carved it.

Spring is here and I'm getting a bad case of spring fever. But more work is to be done.

OFF MY PLATE!!! New Year, New Resolution

Last year I started out the year calling it a simpler year...or was that the year before that?! Hmmmm...see!? I'm already in trouble.
I am declaring this 2012 the OFF-MY-PLATE year. I'm deep into a bad case of project indigestion. I have one print to finish for an exchange and a commission for a block/print set.
And that's it, that IS IT!!!
Oh yeah, the puzzle project yet to be finished and printed...sigh... http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com


My to-do list is ridiculous with projects so old that I had to shut off the reminders in my Outlook so that I wouldn't see the annoying: "eight months overdue" notices.
My website in dire need of revising, my books in need of revising...hey, just those two things could take me the rest of the year.

Goldwell: Red Barn from the East

But no, no no nononono!!! I have little notebooks and pieces of paper hanging all over my very disorganized studio (in need of revision as well) that will keep me busy until I'm old and gray...make that older and grayer.
Blocks like the Goldwell series (above) yell at me every morning to get my act together or they're walking off. My piles of wood are dusty and sad.

So that's it, I'm done with the new and on with the old. Or something like that.
2012, Chinese Lunar New Year of the Black Dragon's Den, which is where I'm going to mercilessly toss anyone that tries to recruit me for any project that isn't my own. And that includes me.

2012, get off OFF MY PLATE!!! year.

You heard it here first.

Baby Grand is done!

Wow I've never worked so hard on such a small print!
I experimented with waterbased inks, transparent bases, layering and just in general had a GRAND time making something so big, so small.

Here are all nine blocks of the Baby Grand printed, each adds a little something until the final result looks almost like a tiny painting:

1. Key block

2. Underpainting of blue

3. Forest green

4. Underpainting of tanish

5. Violet

6. Umber/sienna

7. Deep purple

8. Umber

9. Reduce and reprint key on foreground

Ta-daaaa!

Baby Grand, color woodcut

2.5 x 3.5 inches