New job! Stocking the store front...

Uncertainty and survival

"May you live in uninteresting times" Chinese proverb

Ah yes indeed, by now you know that my entire spring and summer festival season is cancelled. This translates to no meaningful income for the near future and possibly beyond Labor Day as I got notice that a September show had been cancelled. Guess no miles on the truck this year!

So what to do? I have dog food money but connecting with my audience is sorely missed. As I wrote on my newsletter 1000 Woodcuts Updates (what? you don't get that? more on that in a sec):

Several web projects are coming along as I make my website easier to navigate and bring back the vast information section for printmakers. Teaching myself WordPress and working on organizing content so it can be uploaded once I get everything set up. Exciting brain work! (not really but why not do that in slow times).

Subscribe to 1000 Woodcuts Updates

So, just a suggestion but in the spirit of reconnecting with friends and collectors, I resuscitated my email newsletter: 1000 Woodcuts Updates. I have about 700+ subscribers collected one at a time through art festivals, gallery shows and other online venues. I send it out once a month (ish) or whenever there is something earth shattering that I just have to tell you. So if you want to, just send an email to: updates at 1000woodcuts.com with "subscribe" or "add me" in the subject line or body. Presto! Or click here: Subscribe to 1000 Woodcuts Updates

Stocking

Finally, my online "festival" is looking great! I am in the process of uploading framed works and finished carved blocks to my web shop and that super-boring task is almost done.
I also uploaded some out of print works and larger works as reproductions so people can pick their size and get some fine quality prints of works no longer available. More to come!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/1000woodcuts

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

Another big block gets cut!

Deliveries across the pond

First, I am hearing that our friends in far away places are now receiving their blocks. With the current state of the world, that is really awesome news so I am very happy. More printmakers around the wide world getting busy and thinking about kindness. Truly amazing!

One more block gets cut

Two down, one to go. Keep up with all the daily progress here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/puzzlewoodcutprints/

I finished the first block last week and now done with the second, or should I say: "Fly and Now are ready to print!"

A little repair job

Today I started on the third block and it was one of those days when I just couldn't be careful enough. So! I take this opportunity to show my method for repairing this particular cherry plywood when the knife takes a slide.
Look for wood fillers that can be "sanded and drilled" after they cure.

One of the areas that needed fixin'
Fortunately, God invented wood filler

This plastic "Wood Dough" is great for
repairs, dries hard and quick

Also needed, a flat or bullnose chisel and
sandpaper

First I carefully "shave" the excess filler
from the offended area

After sanding, I use my magic
marker to re-draw the design. This step
also will show if the cut needs re-filling

Ready to re-cut...CAREFUL! Maria...

Ah, there it is, good as new, never even
know an accident happened

Three types of wood filler that will hold up
to the printing job.
Plastic Wood, Wood Dough and my all
time favorite KwikWood.
The first two can be used right out of the
container. The third needs to be mixed and
kneaded before use but dries and bonds the
hardest of all.

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Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Artists begin work on Kindness Puzzle

Up to artists now

Carve away!
This is the time when I get to enjoy a bit of a respite while everyone receives their blocks. I did find the time to "un-roughen" and clean up the big blocks. Propped them up and now I will carve the outlines over the next few weeks.

Artists working

These are some of the photos artists have been sending of their sketches and blocks. I am very excited this will be another awesome collection!

See them all and more: https://www.facebook.com/groups/puzzlewoodcutprints/

Connie Brewer's block in quarantine

Nancy Good's sketches, so far she has 8 sketches!

Martha Knox, OBVIOUSLY happy to get her block :-)

Marlene Vidibor got right too it!

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

Blocks on the way! Acts of Kindness up to artists now

Chopping

Set up on the grass so I don't have to sweep! 

Foam insulation supports the block,
no clamping required!

All covered up, cherry dust is highly
achoo-able

Block 1 down, 4 to go!

And there they are! All 98 of them...
bit of sanding, bit of cleaning up
and off they go to their temporary
creative homes

And Mailing...

One last trip to the USPS bulk drop off
and all done! for now

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

U-turn! And update on Acts of Kindness puzzle

That was quick...

In a nutshell: drove in pouring rain, checked in to hotel, watched Arizona panic, got cancellation notice from the festival, u-turn! drove in pouring rain back home. Wow, just wow.

So moving right along...

Acts of Kindness Update #8: Upgrade! We MUST flow!

Hello everyone! First and foremost, follow all the gory details in our new and improved headquarters:

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

Second and most important, making very good progress on transferring the drawing to the blocks. I should be able to mail out in about a week so.

Drawing on the blocks! Soon they will be cut up into puzzle pieces

From 4 blocks to 5 blocks

Propped up and ready to draw

Upgrade

And, as promised in the update header, an upgrade! I was drawing and somehow didn't get enough "elbow room" for everyone's block. Let me explain, the designs for previous puzzles were easily compressible and so I was able to squeeze everyone in. But this time, the butterflies MUST flow out of the hand that frees them. They must! And I can't crunch them up like they are on a traffic jam on the California I-10 trying to get to the beach. No no no, flooowww....

So! I added a big block for a total of five. This means that 1-panel artists will be upgraded to 2-panels and full print artists will be upgraded to 5-panels. Aside from a few more sheets of paper (89 to be exact) and a couple more days of printing, no obstacles that I can see. Mailing weight about the same.

And our butterflies will flow free and unhindered up and up...

That's all for now, onward! Maria

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

It's a FESTIVAL! oh boy oh boy! Scottsdale Arts Festival March 13-15

At all costs!

Made reservations for this big bad boy Scottsdale Arts Festival March 13-15 way long ago. Since it is prime season in Arizona, I saved huge by prepaying my hotel. And then the COVID19 and the rain came...

Aaahhhhh well, what's a little flu and a little rain (a lot of rain forecasted actually with thunder-boomies and bolts of lightning). But in the art festival world, we're always thinking that THIS festival will be GREAT anyway. Yep.

Look for me under the rain walls in BOOTH 146 - Civic Center Plaza, downtown Scottsdale, Arizona

Been there, done that!

Loaded and revving

So I spent the last few weeks matting and framing and the last few days finding stuff and loading up. Now I'm all packed and rip-roaring to hit the road in the faithful steed. I packed my rain walls (clear vinyl so I can stay dry and still show off my stuff), I packed extra tarps, ponchos and sturdy non-slip shoes. I confess I just got up and grabbed and extra poncho, just in case. Poor truck.

Ah so beautiful in Scottsdale Civic Center Plaza

Art you will see!

Taking the "big ones" and some blocks since serious collectors walk about this particular festival often. 

Baile del Sol

Fragile

Moonshadow

Uprooted

See you there!!!

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

100 Acts of Kindness: We made it, the fun starts now!

Following your creation: 100 Acts of Kindness

New group in Facebook due to popular request! Join and follow, I will post here too, no worries.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/puzzlewoodcutprints/

Drawings to be transferred past project (City of the World print)

After transferring to blocks

Chop chop...all the pieces gone!

Project funded, now what?

Within the next couple of weeks, some administration takes place through Kickstarter. All the pledges are collected and any bumps and glitches hopefully resolved quickly. We have quite a few non-US participants which delights me to no end, and those payments take a little longer. After two weeks, I will have a final count of artists so I can start chopping the big blocks into that many puzzle pieces.

Meanwhile, back in the studio...

The precious cherry plywood blocks are cut and I am refining the drawing, will print on paper and then transfer to the big blocks. By "transfer" I mean redraw with charcoal stick first, then commit with Sharpie. Photos  very soon as I make progress.

Ways to follow all the fun

I like to post the work in progress in various places to accommodate most if not all. So here are the places you will see photos, videos and a bit of my ramblings:
This Blog: https://1000woodcuts.blogspot.com or http://1000woodcuts.com (redirects to the blog)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts
And of course, right here on Kickstarter I will continue to post updates as I have something new and wonderful to tell you. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1000woodcuts/100-acts-of-human-kindness
That's it for now, I'm getting to work! I am very grateful to all participants and supporters for joining me in the puzzle madness.


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

Oh so close! Update #5

Latest news about 100 Acts of Kindness - 4 days left to JOIN US! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1000woodcuts/100-acts-of-human-kindness?ref=7gs7uo

Sketches

First, check out the sketches top of the project main page! Our grand design will be butterflies being released to freedom and flight by a kind hand (or two, yet to decide). Your tiny block may be a butterfly wing, part of the hands, a flower, maybe a swirl in the wind... 3 versions of a possible grand drawing, picture it 6-foot wide by 30 inches tall

I hate marketing...

...but I've been promoting like a mad woman. Direct mail and messaging have been the best producers. So far I've only been kicked out of one Facebook group for excessive posting, LOL! We still have 3 live ads on Facebook and one on Instagram that are getting a ton of clicks into the project and a few are converting. I see a lot of new names and that's a great thing! Lately I have been contacting my best collectors, local galleries and art groups. If just one or two come through, we will be funded very soon!  Still 5 days left and there is usually a spike in procrastinators at the end, so let's keep our fingers crossed at all times. With your other hand, if you have some artist friends on the verge of signing up, give them a gentle reminder to join us quickly. That's it! Hopefully in about a week you will receive a "We're Funded!" email and we will proceed from there. The wood panels are here, by the way! So beautiful, I will begin cutting the panels to size this weekend. Always fearless, Maria

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

Sketches for 100 Acts of Human Kindness

Eternally optimistic

We have 81 artists with 8 days to go in 100 Human Kindness collaboration print!

Today I added two new rewards for people who want to help but can't participate and I already started sketching some potential designs which will be 6 foot wide by 30 inches tall. Yes! the entire print is one of them!

It's a race to the finish from here, hopefully my exhausting promoting will get the project filled with happy participants and we go onward and upward. BE A PART OF IT! 

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

One hand or two?

That is the question I posed on my Facebook Page and I'm getting some interesting comments! 

Check it out: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 

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

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!

Carving adventures in bas relief

What to do with all those woodblocks

Printmakers are the luckiest bunch in art. Tradition dictates we are the ones who reach the audiences with our multiple editions and relatively affordable artworks. Although some see the "limited edition" as an obstacle, I have learned through the years that any one image has a long life even at editions of 100 or less. And they sell better if they are limited in scope as people still see unlimited editions as "production work" or "reproductions" gasp! Right or not, that is the reality among the masses.

In the shallows, framed along side the last print

Yet another advantage of being a printmaker is that we can have a foot into the "one of a kind" world with our carved woodblocks. Long ago I learned that the same masses also love the unique and are willing to pay large sums to be the only one to own a piece of art.

So long ago I started selling my cancelled blocks to satisfy that craving. With over 600 images completed, that's a lot of woodblocks I don't have to store!

How I cancel and beautify woodblocks

Floating World II

Detail of Floating World II

Cancelling the blocks is a problem because invariably some wanna be artist comments: "oh so I can make prints from that if I buy it!?" Ummmm... not really, no...definitely not! I had to find a way that the blocks were unprintable. Tried many approaches, signing and dating in the front of the block, heavy polyurethane coating, stain and poly to fill the lines, leave the last inking to dry on the block to fill in the lines. All were good approaches and made the blocks look awesome, but this year I decided to transform my blocks even more and turn them into bas relief pieces. And oh how I love carving!

Here in pictures are some of my latest creations.

Fragile
This was a tedious undertaking, the block is just
9x9 inches. All I did is recede the background and
"round" the bodies to give them...er...body!
Finished the block with two coats of linseed oil,
second coat lightly tinted with cherry stain to give
the lines more depth

Moonshadow
This block needed 3 "layers" in bas relief speak.
Sky to be receded the most, moon rounded and in a middle
layer, and the lady-shadow to be the front layer.
Carving plank cherry is very involved, especially between
all those "cloud trails." 

Detail of the edge of the moon against
the sky layer. Trickery: the edges of one
layer against another get deeper carving
which gives the illusion of more depth contrast
between layers

After staining, sky got darker with an ebony stain and linseed oil.
Moon got lighter with iridescent pearl pigment mixed with oil, and
my lady received a very light coating of ebony, bronze pigment and
linseed oil. After the oil dried, I lightly buffed the whole block with
a soft cloth and gave it a polyurethane (satin finish) bath to seal
in the pigments.

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

A tiny festival? New works

Festival in the Pines

August 3-4 at The Retreat
(formerly the "new" lodge"
or The Resort, depending how old you are)
2755 Kyle Canyon Road Mt Charleston NV

Oh it's just a little one for Artisans residing in Mt Charleston Nevada or whereabouts. But I'm getting into matting a little, no framed works except 8x10s and just a few. Easy does it...I will be inside the lobby with my matted displays.

New stuff

Kind of getting into remakes of some older works, especially big ones that are near sold out. The online world is completely different from the "real" festival world,  in terms of visits, sales and resulting income. So we adapt to the little prints and some of my best selling works are getting "revisited" in smaller versions. Still original woodcuts as I am making some modifications and carving a completely new block or three, but smaller. The image is roughly the same.

Fun! Here is a tiny "Oculus" remade into "Fragile"

Print Title: Fragile

Paper Dimension: 10 x 10 inches

Image Dimension: 9 x 9 inches

Block: Cherrywood

Pigment or Ink: Gamblin and Daniel Smith

Paper: Daphne handmade

Edition: 100

Comments: "For all those born beneath an angry star

Lest we forget how fragile we are"

Those lyrics are from a Sting song, later I heard it by Jesse Cook. I am a loner and enjoy solitude but time and again I am reminded how very much I depend on and cherish connections with friends and family, however fragile they may be.

The image is a revisit of an early large print with some modifications...and a new tiny block of course.

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