June 01, 2010
Ta-da! Another show of my prints is now officially up and running. Composed primarily of my Fairy Tales series, this show is at the Santa Cruz County Government Center, on Ocean Street here in beautiful sunny Santa Cruz. The show will remain up through August 19.
This time I am not alone; I share the building’s hallways with four other artists. And I must say, it’s a really interesting mix of really good work. Besides my linoleum block prints, there is metalwork and jewelry by Carol Webb; an excellent series of paintings about voting by Myra Eastman; moody pastels of houses and seacoast by Jan McGeorge; and lively abstract paintings by Dana Lee Weigand.
Here’s my wall of prints:
I also put up my three prints about violence against women by the entrance to the building:
Here’s the official listing!
And a general view of the main hallway:
On a personal note, I am quite fond of the County Government Center, because it’s where Sarah-Hope and I got married two years ago. Everyone we encountered was incredibly helpful, enthusiastic, supportive and generous. So I am quite pleased to have my work there, and hope I can give some pleasure back to the people who helped make our wedding day special.
First Friday
The exhibit at the Government Center is part of First Friday Santa Cruz. So please come join us on Friday, June 4, 5 - 8pm, at 701 Ocean Street. Meet the artists, enjoy the art, and sip some wine. It will be fun!
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Exhibits at the Government Center are sponsored by the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County. Be sure to thank them!
Art shows, art galleries, etc and Printmaking | No Comments »
May 28, 2010
I found some excellent convertible pants on sale at REI a few weeks ago, and being by nature cheap, had them shipped to my local store (free!). The drawback was that my schedule got totally crazy for a while, so the pants languished in the Marina REI’s storeroom for a few weeks before I could pick them up. The bonus was that Marina is right on the coast, between Moss Landing and Monterey, so it was a good opportunity to explore some new shoreline.
I asked the friendly clerk at the checkout which beach access point was best, and she directed me to one of the newer state parks: Fort Ord Dunes State Park. Formerly part of the Fort Ord military base, it underwent extensive Superfund cleanup to remove unexploded ordnance and large quantities of lead before opening to the public.
I took the short trail between the towering dunes to the beach. To give you an idea of their scale, I’ve circled another hiker in red.
First view of the water.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day, with bright sun, refreshing breeze, light waves, and nobody else on the beach. Here is the view to the north, towards Moss Landing.
And south, towards Monterey.
I decided to head south. There wasn’t a map of the park, so I wasn’t sure if there was more than one point where the paved trail inland connected to the beach. If there was, I planned to cut inland on my return. And I wasn’t sure about the tide; it looked like it was going out, but there was enough beach so that even if it was coming in I’d have enough room between the water and the dunes to make my way back. So I set out, care free and footloose.
Hmmm. The sign said they had collected all of the ordnance. Did they miss some? Or is this just a metal float? I did not poke it to find out. There were three of these on the beach.
This was definitely a float.
There were many signs of human usage on the beach: drainpipes, old pilings, old fenceposts, rusted metal scraps.
And more recent usage: grafitti carved into the soft rock, alongside some swallow nests.
There were also a lot of birds. A pair of plovers was convinced I was up to no good, and squeeked and squeeked at me endlessly. Unfortunately I had no English-to-bird dictionary, so while I tried to tell them I had no interest in hurting them or their young, it was to no avail. Immediately after my run-in with the plovers, I came across a turkey vulture eating something nice and dead and stinky on the beach.
Some friends came to join him.
I watched the vulture eat for a while, and tried to take photos of the other vultures circling over my head. Circling. Circling.
Circling lower, and lower, and lower…. hey! Get away from me! I’m not dead yet! I jumped up from my log and left the birds to their meal. It was time to turn around and head back to the car, anyway.
More dunes.
The sadness of the abandoned chair.
After climbing back up from the beach, I took a short walk on a boardwalked trail to a viewpoint. Lovely!
I would definitely recommend this beach to anyone who wants solitude, views, fishing, or birdwatching. Swimming or surfing is not recommended, as there are riptides all along the beach. There are also biking trails all along the inland side of the dunes. And for the hardy and adventurous, one can walk all the way along the beach to Monterey.
Walks and hikes | 2 Comments »
April 16, 2010
My fairy tale series continues with The Little Match Girl, the tragic tale by Hans Christian Anderson.
Anderson wrote his fairy tales in the 1830s, during the height of the industrial revolution. It was a time of great contrasts between rich and poor, owners and workers. The Little Match Girl reflects this era, with the poor little girl trying to sell matches to indifferent passers-by on a freezing new year’s eve. Unable to sell her matches, unable to return home from fear of her father’s anger, she huddles in an alley and lights matches to keep warm. Magically, images of a happy holiday appear in the matches’ circle of light, ending with the little girl being carried away in her grandmother’s arms.
In my version, the girl is looking at one of the holiday scenes that appear. She sees holiday revelers: the haves, the robber barons, the investment bankers, the top 1% who control 42% of this country’s financial wealth. They enjoy themselves heartily, oblivious to the plight of the poor.
And the girl? Why can’t she go home? Perhaps her parents, foolishly, believed they could afford a balloon mortgage, and have been forced into the street when their house was foreclosed. Perhaps her parents were laid off, and since health care is tied to employment in this country –still, even with some health care reforms– all their money goes to paying for medicine for a sick family member. She fears her father’s anger; perhaps she and her mother would be better off in a shelter for battered women, but state budget cuts have closed their doors.
Did I say this was a story about the industrial revolution? Unfortunately, it’s a tale for our time, as well.
The Little Match Girl
Linoleum block print with hand coloring
Edition of 22
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There is a lot of interesting contemporary work based on this story. Here are some links for you.
• An interesting interview with David Lang, composer of the Little Match Girl Passion, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for music. He talks about the story and its imlicaitons and his reaction to it. Well worth the visit.
• Pixar’s animated version. Have your tissues handy.
• A play by Jack Neary, The Little Match Girl, in its entirety on Google Books.
Printmaking | 2 Comments »
April 05, 2010
I participated in a mini-marathon of printing as I got ready for my current show at the Simpkins Swim Center, and fell behind in posting my new prints. So here’s another: Rumpelstiltskin.
You are probably familiar with the story: A poor miller goes to see the king on some random business, but, in the worst stage-parent manner, tells the courtiers that his beautiful young daughter can spin straw into gold. Of course he is whisked to the head of the line, for what ruler can resist such a story? The king has the daughter brought to court and installs her in a room packed full of straw, with the instruction that she must spin it all into gold before daybreak, or she will be put to death. The poor young girl is distraught, until a strange little man appears in the straw-filled room and promises to take on the task for a reward. This happens for three nights running, with the upshot being that the king wants to marry the girl –the phrase cash cow comes rather rudely to mind– and the prize demanded by the little man escalates to her first-born.
I’ve chosen to illustrate the poor girl locked into the chamber with bale upon bale of straw — a veritable cathedral of straw. (I did, in fact, refer to photos of the Romanesque abbey church of Saint-Philibert in Tournus, France, when I drew the columns and arches.) She is overwhelmed by the volume of straw, and in despair.
I suspect most of us can relate to the feeling of too much to do, being dwarfed by a gigantic to-do list, without the faintest idea of how to get it all done. At least we don’t have a death threat behind it!
Printmaking | No Comments »
April 03, 2010
I’ve mentioned my new solo show at the Simpkins Swim Center here in Santa Cruz, and it occurred to me that people often don’t know what goes in to putting up an art show. So while I was hanging the show I took some pictures, and will now walk my gentle readers through the process.
Well before you get to the venue, you have to finish the art work, mat it, frame it, and attach the hanging wire. Even before all that, you have to prepare your publicity: press release, hi-res photo, and (possibly) postcards. If you’re lucky, the venue or organization where you’re hanging the work will take care of sending this out to the press. If not, you have to research the local newspapers, radio, tv, and any other possible press. If you print postcards, you have to take care of sending them out to your mailing list. There are also, usually, wall tags: name of work, year, medium, and price. And I always put my name and website on each wall tag; it might seem redundant, but the person looking at your work might not have the time to search out your information. It’s all about making it easy!
Presumably you’ve checked out the venue ahead of time, and know what kind of hanging system they have in place. I always bring my handy tote bag o’ tools to any hanging. In it: measuring tape, level, hammer, extra hanging wire, wire cutters, fishing line, utility knife, razor blades, screwdrivers, glass cleaner, plexiglass cleaner, paper towels, plexi wipes, pens, pencils, and sticky stuff for securing the art to the wall.
Here I’ve brought my prints in to the swim center, and have stacked them against the wall. Cathy, the exhibit coordinator, has put out a ladder for me to use. (I had brought my own stepstool, just in case.)
I unwrap my prints and line them up in their proper order, and spaced out approximately as I want them to hang.
The swim center has one of my favorite kinds of hanging systems. There is a bar affixed to the wall, with hooks that slide along the bar and snap into place. The hooks have cables dangling from them, with an easily adjustable hook for the art. Sweet!
The good thing about hanging a series of related prints is that they are all in the same size frames. When framing them, I make sure to measure the hanging wire to always hit the same spot on the back. Once I decide how high they’ll hang, I can measure all the hooks in one fell swoop.
Making progress!
After the prints are all hung and leveled, I go through and clean off fingerprints. And cat hair; always cat hair.
And voila! All done. The walls’ finish is too rough to hang individual labels; there is a framed sign at one end with my statement, bio, and price list. Total time elapsed for the actual hanging: 2 hours. This was fast and smooth. I’ve hung shows where the process takes 4 or 5 hours.
Here is the Simpkins Swim Center, so you’ll recognize it when you come to see the show:
It’s at 979 17th Avenue, Santa Cruz, and my work will be there through May 30.
Art shows, art galleries, etc | 1 Comment »
March 29, 2010
Today we travel to Greece, courtesy of Aesop, original author of the fable from which my latest fairy tale print, The And and the Grasshopper, is drawn.
I remember watching old Silly Symphonies cartoons on tv, and was especially fond of their version of The Ant and the Grasshopper (or, as they put it, The Grasshopper and the Ants). And even though I knew the moral of the story was that we should be like the ants, industrious, conscientious, and hard-working, ready for winter and any other hardships that may come, my sympathies were always entirely with the grasshopper. And I was pleased that in the end the grasshopper’s contribution was seen as equally valuable. (On re-watching the cartoon now, while I still identify with the grasshopper, I think he is pretty much a tobacco-spitting jerk, and raise an eyebrow at the political implications –from all sides– of his song, The World Owes Me a Living.)
I’ve drawn all my life, and was an art major in college, despite repeated inquiries about what purpose majoring in art would serve. My sisters were also art majors, and I’m sure my parents were pulling out their hair at the thought of three unemployable children. Over the years I’ve gone back and forth between having a “real” job, and suddenly absolutely positively needing to quit the 9-to-5 world to spend time making art. Artists are actually the hardest-working people I know, but our reputation is that of the grasshopper.
In this print, the grasshopper is out in the open air, singing a happy song. The ant is far below in his labyrinthine storehouse, keeping company with his stockpile of goods. And aren’t we all buried under the twists and turns of our busy lives? Owned by our possessions? Often scowling in the dark, wondering how we’ll get free of everything that ties us down? Aren’t we all secretly jealous of the grasshopper?
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The entire series of fairy tale prints (to date) will be on display at the Simpkins Swim Center here in Santa Cruz, from April 1 through May 30. Hours and directions are posted on its website.
The series will also be on display at the Santa Cruz County Government buildings, from June 1 through August 20, including First Friday receptions. Come on down!
Printmaking | 1 Comment »
March 08, 2010
Sometimes I’m working on a plate and reach a point where I just get stuck. It’s usually not that I don’t have ideas of what to do, but rather that I can’t decide which of my many ideas I want to follow.
Take, for example, The Little Match Girl. I’ve drawn the block, done a lot of the carving, and have run a test print. Upon seeing it on paper, I realized that there was a large empty-ish area in the center. Is there room for another head? Do I want to add one? Who would it be? There are already three men to two women in the circle, so I thought another woman would be appropriate, and I imagined a young starlet clinging to the man with the cigar. But I don’t really mind the hole in the center, and wasn’t totally certain about what to do. Ta-da! Photoshop to the rescue!
Here is the test print.
And here is my Photoshopped mockup. I cut, pasted, and flipped the head of the woman with the diamond ring, to get the right size head. Then I further cut, pasted, erased and painted to get a different face. Granted, the line weight and feel are different; I didn’t take the time to get it to an exact match with the cut lines, since all I wanted was an idea.
So, now on to finish! I know which way I’m going with this. Stay tuned to find out how this story ends!
Printmaking | No Comments »
March 05, 2010
“I do not care for your clothes, your pearls and jewels, nor for your golden crown, but if you will love me and let me be your companion and play-fellow, and sit by you at your little table, and eat off your little golden plate, and drink out of your little cup, and sleep in your little bed - if you will promise me this I will go down below, and bring you your golden ball up again.” Thus spoke the frog in The Frog Prince, as he negotiated with the princess as to his reward for retrieving her golden ball, which had fallen into the well.
“Oh yes,” said the princess, “I promise you all you wish, if you will but bring me my ball back again.” But she thought, “How the silly frog does talk. All he does is to sit in the water with the other frogs, and croak. He can be no companion to any human being.”
To what lengths would you go to get, or keep, your heart’s desire?
Printmaking | 2 Comments »
February 26, 2010
Here’s the latest in my series of Fairy Tale prints: Rapunzel.
Rapunzel’s long, long hair loops and wraps around the lonely tower of her confinement, like vines strangling a tree. The thorns of the briars that surround the tower are tipped with the blood of the prince, who leapt (or was pushed) from the tower when discovered by the witch. A figure is silhouetted in the tower’s single window; is it the witch, or is it Rapunzel?
Rapunzel
Linoleum block print with hand coloring, 2010
Edition of 22
Printmaking | 1 Comment »
February 15, 2010
I’ve been making prints –linoleum block prints, to be precise– for three years now. I absolutely am in love with the whole process of printmaking: the planning; the puzzling-it-out process of converting images to black and white, or of making a reduction print; the craftsmanship of laying ink on block and pulling an impression. And given that my last printmaking class was over thirty years ago, in college, I’m pretty much self-taught. I’ve learned a lot from online sources, especially the Baren printmaking site and email group, and have also been gratified to find that a lot of what I figured out on my own is standard practice.
But there is so much more to learn! So many printmaking processes! So many nuances of paper, and ink, and press! So this semester I’m taking an etching and intaglio class at Cabrillo College.
I felt like I was going to my first day at school all over again. I bought a notebook, sharpened my pencils, decided what outfit to wear, and studied the bus schedule. Kindergarten at fifty!
Now I’m working on my first homework assignment: six related drawings, any topic, any style or mix of styles, just some theme or idea tying them together. I had hoped to go out hiking and sketching this weekend, but have suffered (along with Sarah-Hope) a return of the flu bug, so have had to stay inside. Still, I chose “trees” as my topic, since I can see a fair number of them from my windows, and have a ton of drawings of them in my sketchbooks and reference photos on my camera’s memory card.
Here are the first two. The idea behind this one is the redwood next door silhouetted against a foggy night sky that’s lit from below by the city lights.
The second one is also of a redwood tree. I took a photo of this on one of my recent walks. I liked how the tree dwarfed its cousin the telephone pole. I’m also looking of late at how human activity bisects the landscape, for instance the grid of lines across the sky caused by telephone wires.
I’ve recognized a lot of my habits in creating these. First of all, I tend to sketch in waterproof magic marker or ink pen; I could not find my good drawing pencils. (I later did, but after doing the pencil drawing. A better, softer pencil would have helped!) Second, I tend not to draw for the sake of drawing, but to take notes for future prints or paintings. It’s fun to just sit down and draw for its own sake.
Now back to the drawing board, literally, to tackle the next four. I think palm trees are calling.
Drawing and Printmaking | 2 Comments »
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