Greatest Hits

The Etsy shop is up and running again, and everything gets free shipping. Just click on the photo of my press at the top of the page! There you'll see such award-winning gems as:

Organized Labor

After last week's flurry of activity with screen printing, the studio was a complete mess -- differing only slightly from the INCOMPLETE mess it usually is. I've had prints building up for years in drawers, and I finally got things organized in their own individual boxes.

Down deep in the drawer was a packet of old work from 2002 thru 2005, the beginning of my printmaking career. Some of them show hints that I had promise, but most...well, let's just say that the best part of sticking with something even when you know you are NOT good enough is that, eventually, you get to look back and see how far you've come.

So now I'm working on my next wood cut in a nice, neat and organized studio,so grateful for the space and ready toake the most of it. In those early days I was crammed into a tiny bedroom that was broiling in the summer, without a press or much light after sunset. Now I have everything I need -- but I think one thing we've learned in the United States in the last 10 years (2008, and certainly the last two) is that if fortunes can be made overnight, it can all disappear just as fast. So, time to make hay.

Erase The Past

Well, it's been a long winter in Western New York. I have a nice basement in which to work, but from December through April it barely gets above 60 degrees, which makes it pretty uncomfortable (though in July, that's exactly the temp I'd like it to be).

And, as the weather breaks and the heat rises, I get the pull to be down in the studio again. It's always a difficult start. Things run a little rough. I have to rearrange everything that got knocked out of the way during the mad rush to find Christmas decorations.

This year I have a little help. Back in January, when I was dreaming of the end of the most recent Ice Age (we've been 10 days snow free!), I signed up for a print exchange through an online printmakers group I've belonged to for the last dozen years. The deadline is today.

The print above is the third color of an as-yet-untitled print, one of the smallest I've done (not counting the Christmas ornaments from last November) (2.5x3" on a 5x7" piece of paper). The theme for the exchange was "Freedom of Expression." I batted around a few ideas, one which was pretty funny, but risque, and I have an odd sense of humor, so I went safe.

Hmmm. In creating a piece to celebrate freedom of expression, I chose to censor myself. That's very interesting.

Well, don't think too much on it, as I will be tackling that one at some point down the road. Still, the print I have is a pretty important departure for me in many ways. One, it's a pretty full concept piece, something I've attempted only a few times before (The print at right, conceived as a powerful anti-war print, remains unfinished; a planned 16-color beast  from around 2005 that I really wish I'd stuck with, though the little girl in the corner gives me the willies!).

The print above -- my very own left hand, by the way, immortalized in ink! -- demonstrates an artist removing the bars of injustice with an eraser. Pretty simple, gets the point across, I suppose. But wait til you see the naughty one!