Last week at the Valley of Fire, it's getting HOT!

I've been visiting the Valley of Fire weekly to keep up with my show. This year the lizards seem to be in great health and, early in the morning, come out in the open to sun themselves and enjoy the morning I suppose, just like the rest of us. When I first get there and snap some quick pictures, the thing that strikes me the most is the absolute silence. My feet crunch the sand and the only sound when I stop is the breeze russling through the pods in the various bushes, now beginning to dry and drop to the ground.

This guy was about 18" long and must be in the welcoming committe, right at the visitor's center parking:

This will be the last week my work will be at the Valley of Fire. Below some pictures of my little display area.

More Progress on the Geographical Divides

Please see http://geographicaldivides.blogspot.com/ for all the other prints and artists.

My topo/puzzle idea came to life when I received Lynn's puzzle pieces. We had talked about keeping the individual images simple and I was pleased with her choice of imagery. Lynn will be pleased to know that the rat transplant went without a hitch (perhaps she can further explain that one!).

Just to refresh, we had gone with the theme urban/rural and how somehow we work things out with natural things when we live on the edge of a city (as Lynn does) or smack in the middle but with an acre of desert "elbow-room" as I do. On a bigger scale, of course, every city in Nevada deals with the issue of sprawling into the habitat of the few and hardy creatures with whom we share our beloved desert.


In any case, with Lynn's images in place, I started sketching in PhotoShop again. I wanted to keep the topo colors and somehow bring out the positive concept of sharing among urban/rural, rather than some of the more negative connotations that come to mind. I decided to add some urban elements since Lynn's critters pretty much took care of the rural part, and after some mulling and browsing, settled on semaphores (traffic lights for US folk :-). The "traffic lights" I picked had a hint of primitive symbols and, rendered in the topo colors, blend in quite nicely without losing meaning. Caution and courtesy, please, when urban and rural meet...

The computer is really a luxury when it comes to "sketching" and I don't use it often enough to develop my imagery. When I do, I find it most exciting to change imagery, save stages, tweak elements of design here and there, change color schemes...luxury!

I even changed the "paper" several times to see what the image would look like printed on various choices. Here is the almost-to-be-final image. I need to let it gel for a couple of days and then it should only be about another week or two for carving and printing. My Valley of Fire show concludes next week and I should be able to dedicate myself to this project fully and finish printing by the second week of July.

The sketch, reversed as it will be in print, a little messy in PhotoShop but will clean up and simplify nicely when printed because the woodcut process tends to do that. I think the colors will work well to represent both the topo features and the red/yellow/green of the traffic symbols. The "city grids" will probably also be finer and cleaner in line when cut on wood.
Comments welcomed!

Valley of Fire II - States of the Print

Again I had some fun with this print. Also, an accomplishment: I made mold in Vegas! I didn't think it was possible, but there it was...tiny bits of round fungus right on some of my paper. For the record, the New Hosho paper did not mold at all, the proof paper got the most mold and the Stonehenge Cream somewhere in between. Oh, HOW I made the mold...too long inside the plastic, too hot in the studio, too lazy or dumb to put stack in fridge.

I can't really help mysef when printing I like to try different papers and see the paper "change" the final print. Stonehenge Cream is tough to print on (literally! hard stuff) but some very nice results and registers very well because it is thicker than the New Hosho.

Here are the blocks in sequence:

And the final image on New Hosho:

"Final" is debatable, still thinking on adding another color, perhaps a blotchy olive green in the closer desert to add texture. And maybe on the foreground mallow as well. We'll see...right now I have to get ready for my show, setup in two days, loading tomorrow. Oh, see previous post if you missed the announcement!

Upcoming SHOW! at my Favorite Local Spot

Finally, I finished the second Valley of Fire print, right on time for my...drum roll...
Bi-Annual Valley of Fire Visitor's Center Exhibit
Er--where's the picture? Oh shoot, wouldn't you know it...I need to go format some digital images.

Well, in the meantime, here is the announcement, to be repeated soon:

I'm back at the Valley of Fire!Starting June 1st and through the entire month of June, I will be showing many of my nature woodcuts and some new color works in the Visitor's Center at the Valley of Fire. Better get there before the heat does!

Here is the link to directions to the Valley of Fire State Park: http://www.parks.nv.gov/vf.htm

And for those who miss the show, a shameless plug follows for my
Memorial Day Collector's Appreciation
http://1000woodcuts.com/