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I'm teaching my first teach-for-myself printmaking workshop this weekend, and I'm really excited. I taught it through Dixon last summer and had such a lovely time having people making art in my space. I've been saying I'd like to do more workshops, and I'm excited to be starting. It will be two afternoons to have people carve and print a small edition of a single block print.
In a stroke of good timing, a letterpress printer from Portland just came through for a studio visit. Tony works with the IPRC there, which is a community space for printing. It was fun to talk about getting to share love of printing and make equipment available. I'm really excited about possibilities now, for my own printing and for classes.
In a stroke of good timing, a letterpress printer from Portland just came through for a studio visit. Tony works with the IPRC there, which is a community space for printing. It was fun to talk about getting to share love of printing and make equipment available. I'm really excited about possibilities now, for my own printing and for classes.
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I had a historical kind of day on Saturday. I walked through both Yorktown and Williamsburg. It was fun to see the old houses and history, but once again, I notice that what I actually sketched are the trees. I have realized recently that one reason I like old places is that they also tend to preserve their old trees. I sketched the tree above on the fringe of the Yorktown battlefield.
Just for variety, I tried the bridge nearby as well, next the farmers market they have. I've been trying to work more in markers again, but this one wasn't particularly successful.
Just for variety, I tried the bridge nearby as well, next the farmers market they have. I've been trying to work more in markers again, but this one wasn't particularly successful.
I also sketched quickly in the Yorktown graveyard. I'm a sucker for old cemeteries, and the side of this raised grave was both beguiling in design and covered with colored lichen.
We moved on to Williamsburg after that, and I enjoyed walking through the village. I was especially drawn to the gardens there. This tree branch echoed the curve of the gateway into the churchyard and completely beguiled me.
I finished with one more garden, somewhat hidden away, with a gorgeouly gnarled tree at its center. It was a lovely shady place to sit, and I couldn't resist sketching as well. Many thanks to my patient tour guide who hung out while I did all this. I was just on a panel at Crosstown Arts about art and travel, and one of my fellow artists said one key piece was to pick patient traveling companions and also make sketching just the thing that you do, so they know it's a part of who you are. Good advice all around. I tend to travel solo usually but am grateful to my periodic traveling companions who do end up being kind and patient while I sketch a bit.
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I am a total sucker for sawgrass. I got to hike in two Virginia parks over the weekend that featured water snaking through sawgrass, ospreys, herons, eagles, crabs, dragonflies, and sunshine. Both parks also had gorgeous forests, but since I get to do forest sketching at home, I focused on the more exotic (to me) scenes.
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I had such fun the other night on a panel discussion at Crosstown Arts on art and travel, two of my favorite things. I flipped through a bunch of old sketchbooks getting ready and realized that I haven't been using markers lately, and I've also been using much less text and narrative in my sketchbooks. Both of those add texture and depth, so I'm going to try to move back in that direction. Here's my first marker sketch in a while.
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I have had SUCH a lovely 24 hours. Joe Newberry, songwriter, banjo player, Prairie home companion regular, and truly fine all around man played a house concert in my living room. He and his wife Susan were driving from Missouri and made Memphis a stop on their way home. I love having house guests, especially ones I can talk music and art with (Susan is a textile artist).
Plus there are occasional people who just feel like kin the minute you meet them. I've been friends with Joe long distance for a while, through mutual banjo friends on facebook, but the minute they drove in, they just belonged.
Joe did an amazing concert. He sang his own songs (including one made from a poem his grandfather wrote, which resonated with me, living in my grandparents' house and being raised by a poetry loving father). He sang a capella ballads, which gave me goose bumps. He sang Red Rocking Chair with gorgeous banjo accompaniment, and I love that song.
He played banjo tunes and led the group in singing. And most of all, he radiated warmth and kindness to everyone throughout the evening. I had just been thinking about the craft involved in weaving a set together instead of just playing a bunch of songs, since I had performed on a small scale last Saturday. Joe has it down. He does enough introduction to really get the audience invested in a song (which especially helps if you play less familiar music), giving a bit of background or information as a hook, but he never talks long enough that you wonder when the song is gong to start already. (Which can be a common failing.) I feel quite comfortable in the role of dance caller talking to a room full of people, but doing a solo set is a whole different thing. Joe was perfect. The whole room was charmed.
Mr. Darcy was charmed too. We were both sad to see them go this morning, but I loved having a slow morning and breakfast out with them before they left. The thing I miss most about calling dances regularly is hanging out with the musicians, who seem to always be quality people. Joe was also kind enough to agree to jam with my local group here after the concert, in spite of being in the middle of a multi day drive. It was joyful to my house to have all of that music and laughter fill it, and I was so delighted to be able to have my friends meet and hear him.
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I finished the three day process to a second proof of the phlox forest today, and I'm largely pleased. There's a little glare on the photo. The black will be black in person. And I have to clean up color in the path a little, but it's about ready to pull some final prints.
I'm also sketching out a new small travel print of the Rodin Museum from my sketchbook work I did while I was there. I'm having fun doing the travel prints with the deco lettering again.
And I also had a lovely discovery this week. I tested the first of these small prints on my big Chandler and Price press. When I first got it, I couldn't get art prints right, just note cards, and I just gave up and moved on. It would be lovely to have the quickness of printing of the production press for these smaller and simpler ones, though, and with my increased familiarity by now, I got it to work on my proof. I'm excited about the possibilities and will have to get some paper cut and just go for it soon.
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I pulled a second proof of the Sacre Coeur print today after refining a good bit. I need to do a bit more work on the stairways, and I don't think the small trees alongside them are working visually, so I may just simplify and take them out all together. It's getting close to what I had hoped, though.
I'm also working on a second proof of the phlox block, but since that's three colors and three layers, it's taking three days. Tomorrow I can put the third and final layer on and see how everything is lining up for that one. I'm about ready to start on a new trip print while I'm fiddling with the last stages of these two.
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The weather was almost picture perfect this weekend, after a slightly stormy start. Sunny with low humidity and a great breeze. Mr. Darcy and I took off for the forest with a sketchbook in hand one afternoon. I sketched the "Elvis urns" in the forest, playing with the varied colors they've weathered to. These huge concrete urns sat on the stage at the Shell when Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee performed at the open air band stand back in the day. They have since migrated to the forest to decay picturesquely.
The clouds were gorgeous, and I'm trying to figure out clouds in watercolor, so I took a little time to paint them as well. I loved sitting and enjoying the breeze in the shade at the edge of the Greensward.
The clouds were gorgeous, and I'm trying to figure out clouds in watercolor, so I took a little time to paint them as well. I loved sitting and enjoying the breeze in the shade at the edge of the Greensward.
Last night I went to the Shell to hear Rising Appalachia. It's a beautifully restored place, after being derelict for a while, and they put on about 50 free concerts a year. It's also four blocks from my house, which is lovely.
I also spent some non sketching time in the park. It was the Day of Merrymaking festival on Saturday, put on by the Overton Park Conservancy which manages the park. They had an empty slot in their entertainment, and since I'm on the board they asked if I would fill it. I was a bit nervous, since I don't usually perform on a stage with a sound system. (In fact, there's really not a "usually" at all. I usually play at home for my own pleasure.) But I had a total ball, didn't embarrass myself, and now would kind of love to sing songs in public once in a while. It helped that I had the moral support of Mr. Darcy, since I really never go to the park without him.
Joe Spake and Allison Sheppard took these shots of the two of us. I was grateful to them, since I don't do this very often, and it's fun to have the evidence of it.
Even better, Allison sketched me while I was playing! I've been drawing musicians for years now, and I was completely thrilled to have her sketch me while I was, for once, the one playing in public. It's doubly lovely because Allison was at the class I did recently with a 5th and 6th grade art class and got fired up to sketch again when I showed off the ease of the brush pen. I'm so happy to spread this everyday joy, and I'm so grateful to her for coming out to both support and sketch me.
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I'm finally getting this phlox print to the full proofing stage. I started it before my trip to Paris, and it's taking a while to get it together, especially since I came home with other prints in my brain. Above is the first full, three layer proof. I missed some tree trunks in the green block that I need to carve out for the brown paper to show through. It also falls off a bit over on the left side, but it's moving close to being finished. This is my favorite spot in the forest in springtime, just magical, and I had to try a print of it.
Here's what the two under layers look like. I tried some different colored papers just to see, but I had planned it for brown, and I definitely like the brown best.
Here's what the two under layers look like. I tried some different colored papers just to see, but I had planned it for brown, and I definitely like the brown best.
Also the first proof of a block based on a sketch book sketch of Sacre Coeur. I'm still refining this one as well. It's fun to have prints going again. I love the sketching, but this is way fun too.
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I had another deadline for the Memphis News and wanted to sketch in Overton Square, the newly refurbished entertainment district that had been moribund for decades and is now thriving again. A massive rainstorm had hit in the midafternoon, though, so the patios were still empty in the early evening. This gave me the perfect excuse to catch the first set of Breeze Coyolle (NOLA saxophonist) who plays with my friends Tom Lonardo and Tim Goodwin on drums and bass respectively. I sketched them, enjoyed a lovely hour of music, and then went outside to do my watercolor just before it got too dark. Perfect. (I'll post the watercolor after it's in print.)
Then I went off dancing for the weekend and sketched one of the bands there. The Mean Lids gave an exquisite, totally unplugged concert for us one evening, and I had to reach for my pen.
Then I went off dancing for the weekend and sketched one of the bands there. The Mean Lids gave an exquisite, totally unplugged concert for us one evening, and I had to reach for my pen.
I did the more formal one above and finished with this second, freer form page below that I like better. It seems to take me a page or so to loosen up sometimes.
