New Homes

This summer has seen the artworks above all go to new homes which is a very happy and validating experience for me.

My plan is now to concentrate on creating larger pieces for another solo show, hopefully, in a year or so. I will continue to exhibit in one gallery, one boutique gallery and a few group shows.

I'm feeling the need for time to reflect, daydream and to learn some more painting methods. Working larger will also be a challenge, mostly because of my relatively small workspace, but, I am very thankful for my 'room of my own' - my little 'studio'.

Good News

This morning I received some really good news. A few months ago, I had entered some images of my printmaking in a contest run by the Hillebrand Winery in southern Ontario for labels for their 'Artist's Series' of wines.

From over 1300 entries the jurors selected a 'short list' of 37 entries and my "Textures of Life #1" was one of them.

I am very excited and nervous as now I will wait on pins and needles until the judges choose the winning 12 entries.

The last few months have been very stressful and upsetting so I am very grateful for some good news!

Happy News!

I know it's been a very long time since my last entry but a summer cold had me down for 3 weeks and I mean totally incapacitated!

First, my good news. I just found out today that one of my prints - the ones shown in my last post, was accepted into the 2009 International Juried Print Exhibition. There were 169 entries from around the world and 80 prints were selected. The jurors selected one print from most artists and two each from the two major prize winners. Needless to say, I am very happy and proud to be a part of this inaugural show at the beautiful new Shenkman Arts Centre here in Ottawa. The show will run from July 9 to August 30.

Now for my not-so-good news. The Art-2009 International Art Show in Toronto last month was a bit of an organizational disaster. The hall was filled with amazing art from a wide range of countries such as Australia, Israel, Ireland, Korea, Canada and many others. Unfortunately for all, the organizer was not very well organized so the setting up and taking down was very tedious and stressful and to top that off, the show didn't have many visitors.

For my part, it was a good learning process. I now know what to look for before committing to out-of-town shows and what to expect. I did have a great time with my artist friends discovering new restaurants, shopping and talking (one of my favourites). I met a lot of new people and discovered more exhibition possibilites in Toronto to check out.

When I came home from that adventure I participated in a wonderful 5-day workshop with Gerald Brommer, a well known artist and art teacher from California. He was a delight and filled our heads with information each day. It's always fun to learn new techniques and I am looking forward to creating some new works incorporating the methods learned in the workshop in the next few weeks.

An Entire Day of Printing

I have just spent all of Saturday running prints from a collagraph, a drypoint on copper and some zinc-plate etchings. It was a lot of fun but very hard on the neck and shoulders! Sunday was then spent cutting double and triple mats for these prints and some other ones. It was one of those days when I measured and re-measured and two mats just wouldn't work out! I am very stubborn (determined) and kept at it and finally, after a ridiculous amount of time, I realized that I had ordered the frame sizes a bit off which was throwing me off my usual method of having an equal amount around each edge. I did get them to work at last!

Next weekend I am participating in an open studio tour as a guest artist and will be assembling a few more frames tomorrow and Tuesday and then I should be all set. All in all there will be 16 framed pieces and quite a few matted and wrapped for an art print stand. The artwork will range in size from 24" x 30" down to 9" x 10".

Here's hoping for a good turnout and a sale or two!

Organic Collagraphs

I finally finished the two 'organic' collagraphs today and matted them up ready to frame. With some advice from a good friend they have been cropped so the images don't seem to be floating around. It's amazing what you don't see when you are looking too closely at an image. Once she made the crop suggestions I instantly remembered a composition rule about having images touch or go off the edges. I just love the internet and e-mail!

Organic Collagraphs

I am calling these plates 'organic' collagraphs as they have been constructed using dried plant material. The first two, the hydrangeas and leaves, are also on organza glued to matcard. I found the organza very difficult to work with. The first time I tried rubbing the ink on with a piece of material and the second time I tried brushing it on. Neither method worked very well. The dried hydrangeas were quite flat until I tried to stick them to the plate with gel medium and matte medium at which time they decided to plump up, making them thick again. They went through the press just fine but the amount of glue needed to make them stay down then seeps out around the edges making for a sloppy looking print.

The gingko leaves were better but the stems needed a lot of glue to stay flat and the ink didn't stay on the glue resulting in the white edges which looks too messy for me. The corrugated cardboard also had the same effect.

Out of the four attempts I think I will re-work the two gingko ones with oil pastel and see what happens. The other two will get ripped up for collage material.

All being said, I won't try that method again but will attempt making a cast of the fresh flowers and leaves next time in modelling paste or plaster of paris and applying that to the plate, which will also be masonite instead of matcard as it is much sturdier.

Not a wasted effort - nothing ventured, nothing gained!

New Work

After a few weeks of putting my gardens to bed for the upcoming winter months and cutting mats and assembling frames I have started 4 new 13" square collagraph plates. I dried some leaves and flowers from the summer and am experimenting with fixing the dried materials to a matboard base along with corrugated cardboard bits, string, organza and texture using PVA glue. I have run into a few problems - my gingko leaves have some air bubbles underneath which I can't do anything about now but next time I will use PVA glue to fix them instead of heavy gel medium and cover them with wax paper and run it through my press to flatten them out. The other problem area is the hydrangea flowers which, even though dried, are too thick. I am waiting for a large amount of matte medium that I applied to dry and then I will cover them with wax paper and weight them down and then run them through the press to flatten some more.

While waiting for all this to dry I am now going to start 3 more plates in a 6" x 14" size using abstract shapes.

It is windy and raining outside today and somehow that is sparking my creativity! I will post again when all these plates are done and ready to ink up.

Monotype & Collage

I spent some time yesterday working on some monotype prints from a few weeks ago, adding colour and some collage elements. I'm not sure if I like the result so I am posting photos of 3 of them in hopes of getting some feedback.

My next project is trying to collage dried plant material onto a collagraph plate. Again, I'm not sure how this will turn out either. I dried some flowers and leaves this summer from the garden to try this with and now the test comes. I'm hoping that gel medium will stick them down and seal them and then I think if I weight the plate down for a day or so it should flatten enough. I will post again when I have something to show.

Another Day and a 'Definitely Maybe'

Well, the day was not entirely wasted. I managed to do a lot of organizing and paperwork, take care of phone calls and follow-ups, order frames, organize pick-ups and deliveries of old and new work to various locations, get some new plates cut and ready to start and touch up a print that was not quite 'there' - not quite sure if it is ready yet. Tomorrow looks clear to get some work done with no major interruptions. Now to comb the burrs out of the dog (for the third time today) and find something for dinner.

New Prints

I am posting the photographs of the two first prints from new collagraph #1. I am experimenting with adding an extender with linseed oil to my inks and then, after the intaglio wipe, using rubs. I can see there will be a lot more practice needed to get this right! The first one is too much all the same colours but I think I will add some chine colle and see what happens. The second one might be able to be saved with a little oil pastel. I will try some more prints tomorrow with some toned down colours. I am also finding that for larger collagraphs (this one is 10.5" x 14.5") I should be using a thin MDF board as mat card for larger ones won't hold up on the edges for many print runs. I am applying another coat of acrylic varnish to the edges and back of this one when it is completely dry. Tomorrow I will also do some test runs of collagraph #2 as well.

Rainy Day Results

I finally ran three prints from the cardboard etch and collagraph two plate experiment and am posting them today. That will be the first and last cardboard etch for me - too primitive and not enough control with the lines and wiping. I will try the two plate printing again though.

I will be back to abstract images and have begun preparing 4 plates, two 10" x 14" and two 12.5" x 20". Next week will be a major plate-making and printing week as I will have the weekdays to myself!

Two-Plate Printing

I actually went into my art room today and did a test run of two plates! I don't like the result, but that's ok. I am posting two photos, one of the first cardboard etch while still in the press and the second the finished print with the collagraph added to the etch. Firstly, I don't like the cardboard etch as it doesn't wipe clean the same way as a metal etch but if that doesn't matter then it could be used. I was intending for the branches to be in the background so maybe I need to try this again with the collagraph printed first and the etched branches second. It might just be my rusty brain not thinking in the right (printmaking) order!

I will post again tomorrow - I need to keep this roll going!