Puzzle#7: And so it begins...

Human.Nature.

Three days after I opened sign up and already a baker's dozen participants (that's 13). Confidently, I proceed to sketching. First, here is the info on the project:

Links

SIGN UP: 

https://1000woodcuts.blogspot.com/p/humannature-sign-up.html

SECURE WEB LINKS FOR PARTICIPATION COSTS 

(or wait after signup for invoice/link):

https://1000woodcuts.com/collections/human-nature-woodcut-puzzle-print?sort_by=created-ascending

INFO:

https://1000woodcuts.blogspot.com/p/humannature.html

and

https://www.facebook.com/groups/puzzlewoodcutprints

Sketching

I announced that the image would be based on one of my prints, eons ago produced in large format as Oculus and later a smaller version named Fragile.

Well as you may know from previous puzzles there are some requirements for the larger images that will host participants "puzzle pieces." 

First the image has to be simple, much simpler. Second, it has to span the breadth of the panels. Third, it has to be divisible into tiny blocks (tiny as in 4-6 inches in diameter).

So the process of simplifying and all that proceeds and I now have a few versions to think about. I first eliminated extra "bodies" and kept the spirit of the print. Later I thicken the lines and then I darkened the background for a different look. Lastly I added some energy earth lines.

The overall size will be 40 inches x 52 inches so I have some resizing to do. But if I divide the resulting image into 4 panels (each 19x26, size of a sheet of paper) I can easily get 15 "puzzle pieces" in each. Total 60, mission accomplished!

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

Conversation With a Canyon, Lure Me In

Oh those canyons

They let you in
One of my first homage to canyons
this one in the Valley of Fire

Hiking alone sometimes results in some strange and wonderful events; as the feet trudge through rocky washes and rugged trails, the mind goes off on a fantastic journey of its own. Around these parts, there are a myriad of slot canyons, many well off the beaten path. I like to find them and then...

What are you looking at?

I'm trying to see how deep you go

Oh, I'm deep alright, why not come in and find out

(silence)

It's really cool in here and the breeze is fresh and smells like wet sandstone

Are you trying to lure me in?

Why not, what are you afraid of?

Not much out here...your eyes are staring at me, is there a way out?

The water carved me and my eyes, the wind rounded me smooth, both of them found a way in and they found a way out

just follow the water

    follow the wind

        then follow the light

Lure Me In

The first in the series (of two, not so ambitious!) is now carved and ready to print. Following the "color field" challenge, I decided to carve a key block first, then divide my color block into the fields of color. Not a new method with me and it was much fun to revisit my old puzzle color woodcuts.

The key block gets transferred to a single color block and that poor thing gets chopped into as many colors as I want to have in my canyon. Scroll saw in hand and a few hours and presto! I mixed inks yesterday according to my sketches more or less. Ready to print.

Key block all carved up

Color map top left, and some notes on newsprint
bottom right

Inks mixed, tested on the tan paper
and into the color coded tubes

That's part of my brain spilled all over
that piece of paper, makes sense
to me!

Tentatively, first pieces get cut

Three hours and six scroll saw blades later...

The scroll blade kerf is so thin
you can't hardly see the divisions.
Once inked, the lines between color
fields disappear under the key block

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

Project Update #2: 100 Acts of Human Kindness

Past halfway point! I'm starting to doodle... Posted by Maria Arango Diener Feb 3, 2020 View on Kickstarter Thank you everyone! We now have over half of participants needed to make the project "a go"! Please keep sharing, especially directly through email, text or direct message, if you have some fellow artists that are on the fence. Remind them of the awesome group deals and how cool the final prints are. Did I just dangle a verb?! Sigh... Calendar of Events for everyone's info: January 26 2020 - PROJECT LAUNCH WOOOOSH! March 3 - Funding period ends February/March 2020 - Blocks designed and cut by me April 1 2020 - (at the latest) Single puzzle pieces mailed out September 30 2020 - PARTICIPANT DEADLINE to return carved puzzle pieces with information filled out October 2020 to January 2021 - I print assembled Kindness puzzle, photograph each image, gather info, send book to publish, send poster to printer...whew! February 2021 - 100 Acts of Kindness woodcut print, books, posters and postcards mailed out Anyhow, aside from that I am so convinced we are going to make it I started to doodle in my head about the final 4-panel work (maybe 5 if we have a rush-hour influx of artists!). This takes some thinking; the great City of the World was 5-panels side by side and it is the easiest to exhibit. On the other hand, the Peace Puzzle and the Fantastic Garden were easier to design because of their shape.  Our Fantastic Garden was truly awesome and the most "puzzly" of our puzzles I'm thinking along the lines of graphic whimsical butterflies let loose by a helping hand or hands, with the characteristic swirls you expect from a true Maria design. So...here we go doodling, I promise to share once I have something that actually looks presentable.  Tell a friend! Thank you all and sharpen your chisels, Maria Update #1 WOW What a start!

Peace Puzzle on the web finally! Kindness awaits...

Peace Puzzle

I finally got around to dusting off my website skills (such as they are) and published a page with the Peace Puzzle 2015 images. This was our largest undertaking, 160 artists, 8 22x30 inch panels, massive!

Mounted on my studio table...
not me! the puzzle!!!

 Here is the final image and a link to the website where you can browse all the panels:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/peacepuzzle/images.html

Peace Puzzle 2015

100 Acts of Kindness Awaits all of you!

Newest art-venture! In the spirit of peace and kindness, here is our next collaboration awaiting artists from all over the world to join us. Details:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1000woodcuts/100-acts-of-human-kindness?ref=7gs7uo

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

Upcoming event and a puzzle print

Festival alert!

I will be back in Scottsdale for the great Scottsdale Arts Festival (https://scottsdaleartsfestival.org/) in March. Here is all the info and keep an eye on my Facebook Page where I will publish my booth number and location once I get it. Get your tickets now!

Celebrating 50 years in our community

A three-day celebration of art, music, food, and family fun located at Scottsdale Civic Center Park.

March 13–15, 2020

Open Rain or Shine!

Tickets

$10 single day tickets

$16 two day pass tickets available online only until Saturday, February 1, 2020.

$6 for students (student pricing not available online)

FREE for children 12 and under

FREE for members of Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMOCA)

Location

Scottsdale Civic Center Park

3939 N Drinkwater Blvd,

Scottsdale, AZ 85251

Puzzle Print Alert!

Yeah! Another great art-venture directed by the fearless yours truly. Here is the main/sign-up page, which will be live 1/24/2020 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1000woodcuts/100-acts-of-human-kindness?ref=7gs7uo

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

Mammoth progress steps!

Progress Update on the Peace Puzzle

Let's check the check-list published a few posts ago and see how we are doing, shall we?

-Finish printing (roughly 3 days) - DONE!

-Finish image composite in high resolution and send to printshop to make posters (by weekend) - DONE!

-Finish colophon/book and send to Create Space (Amazon) to proof and print (another week or soish) - DONE! 

-Stamp all prints with our official Peace Puzzle 2015 stamp (half day) - working...

-Collate 160 sets (the other half) working...

Yet to do:

-Wait wait wait for book and posters to arrive back to me (...) ETA for posters October 28, ETA for books November 4

-Mail out 160 neat packages plus the backers (non-artists) packages (roughly 4 days)

-Go hiking in the Sierras like John Muir and come back six months later enlightened, skinny and with a long beard (six months) (looking forward to this one, especially the beard part, I've never grown a beard before)

Peace in Print: 160 Artists Make Peace

Honestly I didn't think I would finish the book by now but there it is, up and running, waiting for CreateSpace to send me my 190 books, some for participants and backers and some for extras. And the posters for book inserts have already been shipped! Still waiting on the large size posters for other backers of the project.

Soon available worldwide through Amazon online, print and e-book, and on Kindle:

ISBN-13: 978-1518740633 

ISBN-10: 1518740634 

Peace in Print book cover soon available in Amazon

Next?

While I wait I can collate the prints and stamp the backs, should be done in a day. Then I may begin taping the tubes and boxes and inserting the prints but I don't want them rolled up in there longer than they need to be. I can also prepare the spreadsheet for importing into my mailing widget so I can quickly crank out the mailing labels when the books get here.

Estimated mailing dates for artists and backers are November 8-10

I have an urge to clean up the garden and trim some branches and breathe some fresh air too! After a whole week of 14 hour days at the computer, I need some serious exercise in the open air, sun and sky.

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

Progress report and more pieces in place

Progress report

About 115 prints are hanging high drying in my studio. My friend and fellow artist Mary Hill is now helping me and things go much faster with two. Tomorrow we hope to finish the first block...and then there are seven more to go! Oh how we love big projects--well, maybe just me, I love big projects. I do.

Sadly there are still 8 blocks outstanding someeeewheeeeeeere out theeeeeere over the rainbow or who knows where. I have received no response from 3 participants so today I cut some substitutes and I will carve something peaceful on them the next few nights. 3 or 4 drops out of 160 artists is really not bad at all, I am very happy with the participation. Onward!

Five more

Æleen Frisch Wallingford, CT USA

Peace, if it comes, will emerge as a surprise from a cocoon of uncertainly and dread.

Mary Weimer Green Avon Lake, Ohio http://emkaygee.wix.com/maryweimergreen

Peace is such a simple concept, but so difficult to achieve. My block suggests the hope of peace, even against bitter reality. 

Julianne Kershaw
Queensland AUSTRALIA

Bobbie Ann Howell
Las Vegas Nevada USA

Dimitris Grammatikopoulos
Terneuzen NETHERLANDS

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

Five more peaceful images

Cory Gould
Worcester, Vermont

I am an avid sailor. Since my youth, nothing makes me feel as happy and at peace as being in a small sailboat. Wind in the sails, sun, water everywhere, surrounded by waves, all is well. Sail fast, live slow. Delicious.

Sophie Halpin
Central Illinois

Working on the peace puzzle was the first time I have ever done woodcarving or anything similar to that. When I had to think about what represented peace to me, it did not take much thought. Something that I have always found that is peaceful is music. As Kahlil Gibran said, "Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife." Another thing that I have found that brings me peace is nature. With my puzzle peace I tried to incorporate both music and nature by carving music notes and an African Lily, a flower that symbolizes peace.

Gilda E Machado -Zimmerling
Templeton, California Gemz1@icloud.com

My design is representative of one's search for inner peace. It is through loving oneself and our connection to nature that we can each look within to find peace.

Sarah Hauser
New York http://sarahhauser.neoimages.net
http://sarahhauserart.blogspot.com
sarahhauserart@gmail.com

The title of my image is "Mischief at Rest".  It is inspired by Lulu, who is one of my two dear formerly-feral kitties. Her sister Natalia is the philosopher, while Lulu is more the playful jester. A peaceful moment dreaming of her next adventure:)

Rebecca Dessart Wessels
Anchorage Alaska USA

Greetings from Alaska! When I'm out fishing, I feel peace. There's something about being out ni nature listening to the water, watching the eagles, that is soothing to my soul. It's not about what I catch or don't catch; it's about the feeling of peace that keeps me returning to the river.

Thank you Maria for hosting the Peace Puzzle, it's been so much fun. 

May Peace be with you.

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

Birds, books, and a puzzle

Renee Ugrin
Damascus, Oregon USA

Sharri LaPierre
Vancouver, WA USA Barebonesart.com

My idea of the most perfect peace attainable on this green earth is to settle down on the lawn or deck with a really good book and read until my eyes won't track any longer.  Books have the ability to take us anywhere, or to open our minds to new ideas, or to teach us new things, or just to provide us with a few moments of blissful, escapist peace. And, they are portable !!

Don LaPierre Vancouver, Washington

When you start to build a puzzle you begin with a PIECE you know and are sure of its place. When you start to build PEACE you also start with a place you know and build out. The puzzle pieces continue off the piece because there are always more pieces to add. The peace sign continues because once you have piece within your own life you continue to build it with family, community, and the world. Peace

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

Peaceful Sunday

Sundays

Sunday is a gift, every Sunday is a gift. For me it is the only day I can catch my breath on this project and life in general. Right now the postal office people are plotting another bombardment of little packets upon my mailbox and its surroundings, to commence Monday afternoon. But today is Sunday, forever rest-day, day to reflect and to enjoy the precious gift of everything that is good in life.
Under the cool breezes of a new portable A/C I get to open packages, read (quickly) newspapers from all over the world (mostly look at pictures and read comics), savor candies, delight in tiny art pieces from my friends and read (slowly) the thoughtful notes from my soulmate-artist-friends. Blissful.

Lynn Gustafson
Alameda, CA www.Lynn-Gustafson.com

Peace is a sign, is a feeling, is a look and feel. Finding the curving lines of life that bring peace is what this block illustrates.

Thomas Dyer Las Vegas, Nevada USA

Peace? Peace (I could've sworn you said "pease.") Well here it is: pease in a pod, with a piece of my heart thrown in to prove that I am at peace, thinking of the love of my life and the heart we have heartily won together. Peace. With smiling pease.

Loc Cao Jonesboro, Georgia, USA

A beautiful memory by remembering childhood in Vietnam. An age that have no worried, but just acting with the herd, kite flying and playing with friends in the rice field. It was a time of serenity and ease. Today looking back on my children, yes, they are living in a wonderful state, but they contended with the technology that had manipulated their lives and they blanked out the natural beauty and lifestyle outdoor. So my drawings remind me to play with my children outside frequently, avoid downtime with electronics and cherished peace.

Mo Tingey London, UK http://motingey.com Peace Lily

My puzzle piece arrived looking like a large tear. Of sadness, maybe? That peace in this world is unachievable? No, think positive!

Instead the shape was a help as I am used to thinking in rectangular formats. Having been provided fresh boundaries what imagery to use? I looked at various symbols for peace without anything stimulating me. I considered using the word itself in different languages, however there are so many and to single out a few seemed divisive. Still considering text I researched quotes about peace and came across one by Mother Theresa. It was short and succinct: “Peace begins with a smile.” Perfect but it needed decoration. One night as I was drifting off to sleep a Peace Lily came to mind. The ‘flower’ – in reality a specialised leaf bract – was a beautiful echo of the wood block.

With the result I would like to think I have made my own contribution to world peace and understanding, if only in a minuscule way.

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