Monotype: Book Lover

Book Lover 4.5 x 6.5 Monotype with Colored Pencil Sold

I'm almost all unpacked, and put away after the Thousand Oaks Artwalk last weekend. It was *hot* , but folks braved the high temperatures and came out to the show.   I ate a lot of watermelon, got a sunburn, sold art, had lovely visits from friends and family,  and I won a second place ribbon in the category of watercolors! Whoot-whoot! :)

Here's a moment I'm pondering: The show is a fund raiser for the Conejo Valley Museum, and I donated art to their raffle.  A young woman saw the woodcut I donated and came to my booth on Sunday to introduce herself. She explained that she was so moved by the image (At the Shore), she felt she just had to have it, so she bought several raffle tickets with high hopes of winning. I had another framed print of the woodcut edition in my booth, and I showed it to her. As she stood there, explaining why she loved it so much, she became visibly emotional. How is it that a little block of wood, carved & printed with a wooden spoon & ink - could make a person I've never met before feel such a swell of the heart?  It's already amazing that I'm privileged to make art every day, but then a five minute exchange with a complete stranger stuns me to overwhelming gratitude for this artful life I'm living.

When we gift or sell the work we make, it has the potential to expand a simple exchange into something joined & deeply reciprocal with other people.  This is one of the benefits of selling your work directly, versus through a gallery or an agent, etc.  The Do-It Yourself Artist works hard, but one of the many rewards is the opportunity for face to face engagement & communion with Art-Lovers.  When a person you've never met before takes time to express how moved they are by something wrought with your own hands, it's deeply encouraging, and weighty enough to be carried back into the studio and pinned to the Keep at It wall.  What is your take-away when someone is very moved by a piece of your work? Please share your experiences in the comments.

My booth at Thousand Oaks Artwalk, sporting a yellow ribbon in the upper right corner. :)

A visit from my friend R.E. and one of his two beautiful dogs

Watercolor demo/work in process at Thousand Oaks Artwalk

Art Quote
What a queer thing touch is, the stroke of a brush. In the open air, exposed to wind, to sun, to the curiosity of people, you work as you can, you fill your canvas. Then however, you catch the real & the essential - that is the most difficult. But after a time you take up this study again & arrange your brush strokes in the direction of the objects - certainly it is more harmonious & pleasant to look at & you add whatever you have of serenity & cheerfulness. 
~Vincent Van Gogh

Watercolor: Season of Interest (& the Thousand Oaks Artwalk this weekend!)

Season of Interest 12 x 12 Watercolor on paper  

I have a garden book on Roses organized by "type, size, color and season of interest". That last bit caught my attention... which season would I be interested in having roses? All of them, please. And what if I pledged to a whole Season of Interest?  This summer, I will be interested in everything. Sort of like committing to lose ten pounds, but more fun. This season, I'll nurture & grow my curiosity, I'll exercise my attentiveness muscles, ask questions, take notice, talk less and observe more. :)

Eyewitness Garden Handbook

This weekend, I'll be exhibiting at the Thousand Oaks Artwalk from 10-5:00pm Saturday & Sunday, June 1 & 2nd. Stop by booth #55 and say hello at 225 W. Hillcrest Drive (at Wilbur Road), Thousand Oaks, CA 91360.

Celebrating a ribbon for Graphics with a patron at Thousand Oaks Artwalk

Art Quote
In Boston during the early twentieth century, artists such as Edmund Tarbell, Frank Benson and William Paxton practiced a form of painting that became known as the Boston School. These artists were participants in a revival of interest in the work of Dutch painter Jan Vermeer, thanks largely to the scholarship of Boston painter and instructor Philip Hale. Vermeer's preoccupation with the female figure in an attitude of reverie, with light filtered across her form became a central theme of the Boston School. When Joseph DeCamp moved to Boston from Cleveland, he became one of the school's primary proponents. ~James M. Keny

Woodcut Triptych: The Three of Us

The Three of Us 6x9 Woodcut (triptych) with watercolor

This woodcut is available in my Etsy Shop.

If you've been reading this blog for a time, you know I love to use family photos as reference material in the studio. The photo for this woodcut was snapped in my grandparent's back yard on my tenth birthday, just before my brothers and I joined the family for a hike in the Connecticut woods to look for watercress & flowers. We found plenty of both, as well as a couple of old stone grave markers from the 1800's, near intersections of hand built, low stone walls that still criss-cross for acres through those woods today. I remember the ice cold creek water, dappled Fall light coming through the trees, and the way soft moss and lichen resembled paintings on the stones.  I also recall wishing - heartily - that my parents hadn't insisted on putting me in a dress for my birthday - with a pair of my brother's argyle socks, for a hike. As you might guess, my family rocked fashion swag back then. :)

Three wood blocks carved into three siblings

The woodcut in black & white

The Three of Us, woodcut triptych painted with watercolor

Art Quote
As Flannery O’Connor said answering a similar question [why are you drawn to uncomfortable or dark subjects], “It is the nature of my talent.” That does not mean, however, that I do not enjoy the lighter side, because I do—and I find a great vent for that nature of my talent in children’s books. It’s yin and yang. To explore the dark, one must explore the light as well, and vice versa.

 As William Faulkner said, the only thing worthwhile is failure; but failure coming in the striving for perfection. I seriously believe that. So, therefore, all I ever strive for is perfection. But knowing that perfection is elusive at best, and impossible in fact, is the internal “fuel” that keeps me going day in and day out.
Barry Moser, interviewed by Becky Crook for The Other Journal, 2009

Reduction Woodcut: Carnelian

Carnelian 4x4 Reduction woodcut with watercolor & colored pencil

Available in my Etsy Shop
You can buy a lunch bag of 20 shina plywood scraps at McClain's Printmaking Supplies for about $5. They call it a grab bag, and it a party of potential when it arrives in the mail. I used one of those blocks to carve this little reduction woodcut. If you've never carved Shina, I'd recommend it. It's a cultivated & sustained tree in the Linden family (Tilia japonica) - grown on Hokkaido, the northern most island of Japan. It's a favorite among Japanese printmakers because it feels grainless, it's soft to cut, and yet it holds details and sharp edges through multiple prints without swelling or warping. The surface is already pre-sanded and ready to carve when the wood arrives, and McClain's has a variety of larger sizes available.

Petite square print

The block of shina wood I carved her from

Two colors of ink: cad red and dark olive green, ready for some watercolor action

The first pass through the press with cad red ink, before cutting more
of the wood away and printing again in a dark olive ink.

Rough sketch in pencil on the shina wood block

Watercolors & Printmaking at the Sierra Madre Art Fair

After back to back art festivals (San Diego Artwalk & Sierra Madre Art Fair) I've met a posse of new, fun, wonderful peeps. I don't have the words to describe the sort of Kind and Engaging and Lovely flavors of human I experienced in so many folks stopping by my booth at both festivals. 

A collector brought me a bouquet of sweet peas and tea roses from her garden. Another brought her greyhounds both days of the festival so my husband and I could soak up a little retired-racer-love (we lived with/adored greyhounds for 14 years). I saw friends I worked with in the corporate world, before I jumped into art as a livelihood, who are now parents, and I met & swooned for their little ones. I had animated conversations about all varieties of printmaking process, and how to make time for art in busy schedules, and how to get unstuck after years of no art-making, etc. I befriended bloggers and blog followers I've never met before. And I sold a lot of art. It was all very, very nice. 

In three weeks, I'll do one last art festival before the summer begins and I retreat into my studio for more art-making. The Thousand Oaks Artwalk is Saturday & Sunday, June 1 & 2 from 10:00 to 5:00 at 225 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360. If you're in the area that weekend, do come and say hello so we can continue the exchange of arty ideas & camaraderie.

Thanks for stopping by!

Belinda

Art Quote

I've never done a perfect drawing. The cheapest camera installed at the gas station parking lot will collect a more accurate depiction that I can make. I think of Art like I think about baseball. Whether you win or lose - isn't it great to be playing baseball?! Even the best players only get on base one third of the time. The reason we're doing this is that as kids, we started drawing and felt happy. So now, we should still be happy doing it. The focus should be on the love of art-making. Joy is in the full deployment of our faculties.
Anthony Ryder ~ 2010 during a Drawing demo

Silk Aquatint with Colored Pencil: Library Cat

Library Cat 4x4 Aquatint w/ colored pencil

Sold
I framed this little guy to bring to the Sierra Madre Art Fair this weekend. (If you're near Los Angeles, CA, swing by and say hello.)  He's small and cute, and he fits nicely with some of the other petite printmaking art I'll have hanging in my booth. The process shots for this silk aquatint are below, but if you need more details to try making one, you might look at this post, or search this blog for the word aquatint to see more of my experiments with this excellent, non-toxic printmaking method. I have some bigger format ideas to try this summer, and I can't wait to get started. :)  See you in Sierra Madre!

Library Cat framed

Library Cat with a little color added

Pulling the print after a trip through the press

Wiping the plate with Akua tarlatan cloth before going into the press bed

Using scrap mat board to apply ink to the plate

Inking the plate: Akua Intaglio in Graphite, mixed 50/50 with Akua transparent base

Art Quote

Actually, it goes the other way

Wouldn't it be great to be gifted? In fact...

It turns out that choices lead to habits.

Habits become talents.

Talents are labeled gifts.

You're not born this way, you get this way.

~Seth Godin

Woodcut & Watercolor: Two Boys - & Art Festival photos

Two Boys 5.5x5 Woodcut with watercolor

The reference for this woodcut was a photo of my brothers, visiting me from Los Angeles, while I was in college at UMASS. As soon as I got the photo developed, I pinned it to the wall in my little apartment, knowing I wanted to draw it, or paint it, or do something art-related with it. Shortly after, I found a scrap piece of plywood in the parking lot outside the print lab on campus, with a partially carved abstract on one side. I sanded the back of the block, sketched my brothers with a sharpie marker, and printed a small edition of 6 woodcuts. I thought I'd sold them all, since that was a looong time ago, but I recently found this last Artist's Proof in my flat files. It's listed in my Etsy shop.

This weekend, I'll be at the Sierra Madre Art Fair (California) with this woodcut and about 60 other pieces of art from my studio. I'll be in booth #5 with both watercolors and printmaking, so if you're in the area (222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. Sierra Madre CA 91024), please do stop by and say hello. Last weekend, I was at the San Diego Artwalk (see pics below), and I'm hopeful that the beautiful weather and enthused patrons we had down there will be on site here in LA too.

Two Boys, framed in red & black mats, with a pewter relief filet frame

The view from my booth: Little Italy & the Pacific Ocean
at the end of Beech Street

Beautiful blue sky reflections - we had great weather all weekend

Little Italy in San Diego

People (and cute dogs) in my booth

These two cute-niks visit us every day of the show,
and they've stopped by every year for the past five or six seasons.
It's so good to get a little greyhound-love-fix. :)

Display panels and a road case of art - on the drive down to San Diego.

Part of my little tribe; my hubby & son keeping me company at the festival.
Photo Credit: @vickileigh (on instagram)

Art Quote
Visiting Paris in 1927, Ben Shahn (1898-1969) was at the opera, when a small incident occurred which left an indelible impression on him. A Frenchman in the next seat pointed out Henri Matisse sitting several rows further down the aisle. Shahn thought back ten years, to two passages in a book about a Brooklyn boy in Paris which made an overwhelming impression on him at the time - Ernest Poole's The Harbor.

There was a little Hungarian Jew [the first passage went], an ardent follower of Matisse.  "Technique?" he cried. "It's nothing. To grip your soul in your two hands and press it on your canvas - that is art, that is Matisse!"

And the second passage, a conversation between Bill, the hero, who has taken the Hungarian's advise, and his friend Joe, who comments on the resulting pictures:
For God's sake, Bill, get it out of your system, quit getting reverent over the past; you're sitting here at the feet of the masters, fellahs who were alright in their day but are now - every one of 'em - out of date. And you're so internally busy copying their technique... Why can't you go to life for your stuff? Your religion is style, technique and form. For God's sake lose it and use your own eyes, forget you're an artist and be a reporter... Believe me, Bill, the nations of this planet are ready to do things you never dreamed of. I'm not talking of kings and governments, I'm talking of the people themselves. The place you need is the U.S.A. - and the work you need is a job on a paper!

Shahn thought of those passages, and at that moment, Matisse stood up facing the audience from way down in front, and, surveying it very deliberately over the top of his spectacles, proceeded to pick his nose. "What a supremely un-self-conscious gesture!" thought the young American.
Portrait of the Artist as an American: Ben Shahn  ~ Seldon Rodman

Woodcut & Watercolor: Artemis (Diana)

Artemis (Diana) 12x11 Woodcut with Watercolor

Available - in my Etsy Shop

I purchased Shane Weller's book (Dover Publications) on German Expressionist Woodcuts in the mid-90's, and it's been an excellent source of inspiration when I feel pulled to make something impactful, unfussy - and most important to me - different from the style & subject of what I normally carve. The book features excellent, full page examples of woodcuts from Kollwitz, Beckmann, Zitzewitz and Kirchner, etc. Those images lead me to research other artists from the early 1900's - all of them gouging prolific creative visions into planks of wood, and printing them to paper with dark passages of ink. With anywhere-access to research via the net, and a solid book collection, we artists have enormous opportunities for experimental interpretation, variations on methodologies, and whole continents of influence. The writer Justine Musk posted a blog entry in March on the journey of being a writer that applies - I believe - to artists as well:

You need to write past the point of self-consciousness. You need to quit trying to write: to be clever, witty, pretty, poetic. (Perhaps your true voice is none of these things.) You need to fall through the words into something else entirely.

(Blogging can be exceptionally good for this.)

We start by imitating the styles of others. That kind of mimicry – conscious or not – is like a trapdoor opening beneath you.

It drops you into yourself.

It’s when you lose yourself that your true voice starts to come out of the dark. It might be raw and naked. Or howling and slightly mad. Your soul is stamped all the way through it.

Finding your voice – what to say, how to say it, how to speak up in the world – is about making your truth manifest. When you’re moving in the grooves of that soulprint, you know it. And so do others.

This is art.

Art happens wherever your soul’s on the line.

(You can read the entire post here.)

The underline in the text above is mine - because I think that line is so true; mimicry is a trap door opening beneath you, dropping you into yourself. How many artists do you know that are in a perpetual search for their own style? Sometimes, a book on someone else's art is just the right spark-plug for your art-making engine to get you moving forward again. Make something.

Artemis, framed

Artemis woodcut getting a little watercolor love

Artemis the print next to the inked block she was printed from

The block of plywood Artemis was carved from

Art Quote
The use of the term Expressionism to describe the artistic movement that flourished in Germany in the early years of the twentieth century seems to date from around 1911, although the movement was active earlier; Die Brucke (the Bridge), an association of artists espousing the Expressionist ideal, was established in 1905 and held annual exhibitions until 1913.

Expressionism was in part a reaction against Impressionisms emphasis of atmospherics and surface appearances, and against academic painting's rigid technique,  stressing instead the emotional state of the artist and subject. To this, the viewer was to add his own emotions, creating an experience rich in drama that conveyed the inner realtiy of the subject matter.

A change occurred in Experssionism with World War I. The horror of the war left an indellible mark, and the chaotic years of the Weimar Republic (1919-33) introduced a sharply satirical tone in the work of many artists. The rise to the power of the Nazis, with their repressive artistic programs, put an end to the Expressionists' period of greatest productivity, although many continued their work until well after World War II.
Shane Weller - German Expressionist Woodcuts

Linocut: Got Any More cookies? and the San Diego Artwalk this weekend!

Got Any More Cookies? Linocut with Watercolor

This linocut with watercolor is available in my Etsy Shop.  Sold
This weekend, I'll be in Little Italy in San Diego at the Mission Federal Artwalk, painting, chatting about art, and soaking up the ocean air. I'll also be dining on Italian food - pasta, bread and some more bread - and street vendor funnel cake with powdered sugar and fresh berries, but shhhhhh. Those little delicacies are not on my fitness plan. :)

If you're local, or in San Diego this weekend, come and say hello. My booth location this year is on the corner of Columbia and Beech - #172.

Have a great weekend, and don't forget to Make Something!

Headed to San Diego: Got Any More Cookies?

Booth #172 on the corner of Beech & Columbia in Little Italy

Art Quote

In 1926, a year after Sargent's death, Adrian Stokes, who had accompanied the artist to the Alps, described what had inspired his late friend to paint particular watercolor:

Sargent's watercolors... usually record, with the utmost directness, something that had excited his admiration, or appealed to his artistic intelligence. That may have been the clearly defined and exquisite edge of some rare object; of the way in which  a dark thing, when opposed to vivid light, is invaded by it, and loses local color; or the change that seems to occur in the color of things along the edge where they meet.  ~The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent, by Carl Little 1998    

Watercolor: Hypnotist (& free shipping on all domestic orders this week!)

Hypnotist 11x4 Watercolor on paper

Sold
In the last post, I included links to the San Diego Artwalk, and the Sierra Madre Art Fair, where I'll be showing my wares, including this little guy, my studio assistant (above) next week. I received emails from folks that live far away, wishing they could stroll the festivals, munch kettle corn, listen to live music and see the art up close.

I can't send the art festival digitally, but I can bring you a pre-art-festival sale! From Thursday, April 18th to Thursday April 25th, I'm offering free shipping on all domestic art sales. (If you're International, email me, and I'll do some research & number crunching.) It'll be like strolling the show - digitally - and taking art home with no mailing costs, because I'll pay for packing & shipping.  It's a little sprinkle of Thank You for all the support, comments, enthusiasm and encouragement you good people shower me with every week. :)

The sale will end next Thursday, so I'll have one day before I leave for San Diego to organize what's going to art festivals, and what's already claimed & moving to new homes the following week.

Type this code at checkout: springtime4me
Free Shipping!

Testing a green background to match his eyes.

So, here's how it'll work. Browse & shop my Etsy Store, and the two tabs at the top of this page, Available Printmaking and Available Watercolors. I've got a lot of work posted, with more to come in the next day or two. I'm adding photos of the work in frames, which should help give a sense of scale. If you're interested in a particular piece, and it's not on Etsy, just send me an email with the art title, and ask for pricing and photos of the frame directly.

If the art *is* already listed on Etsy, the entire shop [including printmaking] is set up for free shipping (domestically) till Thursday April 25th. Just insert this code at check out: SPRINGTIME4ME and the shipping costs will disappear!

The model, giving his Pet-Me-Now look

Medium to small work, getting labeled and sorted.

Larger work sorting and labeling

Art Quote
After 2 yrs of circulation in major exhibits, William McGregor Paxton's painting Sylvia was purchased by an American collector in 1910. (He was 39.) His commissions & exhibitions continued at a vigorous pace & by 1935 he had earned more prizes than any other American artist. In NYC, however, where the genteel subjects of the Boston School were less revered, Paxton's solo shows had mixed reviews. Paxton & his peers were beginning to be eclipsed by the shift to modernist painting. ~E. Lee

Drawing: Jaimie

Jaimie 2.5x2.5 graphite on paper

In two weeks, I'll be showing my work at the San Diego Artwalk, and the weekend after that, I'll be at the Sierra Madre Art Fair. The details for both shows are in a newsletter I sent to my mailing list last week. If you're not on my mailing list, you can see the newsletter here. And, if you'd like, feel free to sign up for the newsletter here. (Your info will never be share, ever, with anyone.)

Prepping for art festivals involves a lot of "paper clips" style of productivity in the studio; matting and framing, making labels, booth wall layout, art selection, promotion, hotels and travel plans, etc. Art-making slows down a little while the administrative stuff fills the day, but it's also a good time to marinate on the next body of work. I have some fun ideas for both watercolors and printmaking projects this summer. And I still have a few pieces to post before I leave for San Diego, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I'll post this little drawing unframed in my Etsy shop.

I've always enjoyed drawing and painting small scale

 Art Quote
At 27, Braldt Bralds accompanied a friend to New York armed with his portfolio and a list of his favorite illustrators whom he resolved to contact to get their feedback. He called a number halfway down the list and thought he's reached the artist but, instead, had reached his agent. He explained his situation and that he was visiting from Holland. The agent replied. "Are you Braldt Bralds?" His heart stopped, and then it raced. It seemed a client of Braldt's in Cologne had sent some of his work to the agent. "They told me that when we meet, I have to be nice to you." said the agent.
As Braldt sat in the waiting room while the agent made some calls, the office door opened and the illustrator at the top of his list walked in.  Richard Hess looked at Braldt's portfolio and asked, "Can you go to Time?" He replied wonderingly, "Of course." Hess made a phone call and Braldt went for a walk.  When he arrived at the address, he suddenly realized  "Time magazine." He was welcomed by the receptionist and ushered immediately into the office of the magazine's former art director, Walter Bernard. After looking at Braldt's portfolio with members of his staff, Bernard announced, "We want to give you a cover!"
Isolated Objects, John O'Hern