The PBS show Tennessee Crossroads came to my house to film me yesterday. They said someone emailed them about me a couple of years ago, and they called out of the blue not long ago. A lovely surprise!

It was fun to sit down and talk about what I do. Mostly I just do things by instinct, more or less, and having to verbalize both my calling and my work methods is always an interesting exercise.

It was also fun just to show what I do. I had up close supervision:

After using the proof press to pull a big print, I also cranked up the 1909 Chandler and Price. It's a natural rock star. I love that it's a treadle instead of motor operated.

Mr. Darcy had fun hanging out with the guys and watching the proceedings. He should make the final cut.

They told me it will likely air around March, but they'll give me a heads up ahead of time, so I'll spread the word.

I've been out of town. Again. I'm finally home to really settle in and finish several prints in progress.

I spent a lot of the afternoon carving the one above, my second Paris print, so I could go ahead and proof it. It's hard to really tell what it looks like until I ink it, but once I ink it, I lose all my drawing lines. Printmaking is an exercise in patience.

I'm largely pleased (despite the extra fuzzy newsprint proof). I'll fix a few things and get a better look soon.

I also did a little more carving and another proof on my Notre Dame print. It's just about ready to print for real.

And I proofed the second Elmwood print, which I had gotten to the refining stage ages ago before all my travels. It will be good to have it fully finished.

I finally got the second harvest print finished carving and scanned in. I seem to work best with a deadline, and this is due for the month of October. First Presbyterian in Holley, NY commissioned a set of three for their fall bulletin covers, and the minister there chose a whole list of hymn lines with the harvest theme for me to choose from.

I'm moving a little slowly around here. I spent more time dancing and playing music this weekend than making art, but it was lovely to have a real break, and I got to learn the Mazurka! Now I'm kicking it into high gear, getting ready for another trip to Cape May starting on Wednesday, and then the Pink Palace Crafts Fair the following weekend.

Here's the first harvest print in case you missed it earlier. I'm still tinkering with what I want to do for November.

One of the churches I work with wants a fall series of prints for their bulletin covers, celebrating the abundance of grace and the season. They're in Holley, NY, and there is lots of agriculture in the region and lots of gardeners. The minister found a bunch of harvest phrases in the hymnal for me to pick from.

I had to go ahead and do September quickly (above), but I've got time to revisit and rethink the other two. I may go for corn instead of pumpkins. Below is just a rough sketch to get my started thinking and make sure I was on the right path before doing the first one. Stay tuned for more.

I came home from Paris with a lot of detailed watercolors, and I'd like to do something a little looser, more saturated, and bigger with some of them. I saw an exhibition this week of oil monotypes, and it made me want to do monotypes again. I seem to do them in spurts every few years or so.

Monotypes are prints that don't have a carved plate, so you only get one (hence the "mono"). Many people work directly on plexiglass and then run that through the press, wipe it clean, and do another one. I've done ones where I roll out ink and then draw into and wipe away highlights from that solid dark. For this series, though, I'd like to do some where I paint (additive instead of subtractive, in the official lingo). That seems to require a different sort of ink, however. I did a few tests with my Daniel Smith water soluble relief ink, which I use for block prints.

It wasn't really transferring well, though. It was both too stiff to paint with, and it dried too quickly. I tried just a couple, but only half the image came through. I did have fun painting on top of what I got with more of the ink.

Today I did some research in both old class notes and (most helpfully) Julia Ayres book Monotype. It's a comprehensive and step by step book that I've used over the years.

I decided to try acrylic paint, since I could get it locally right now while I'm thinking about the project. My first attempt was too watery -- I don't think I blotted the paper sufficiently. I kind of like some of the effect, though, and I may play with painting on top of this one.

The second one came out better, though still pretty ambiguous in the figure. This is from a sketch of Rodin's Eve. Again I'm thinking it would be nice to do a little more definition on top of the monotype. Maybe pencil or charcoal. I'm going to have to do some more experiments.

My last one came out best. I'd still love a little more definition, but I really like the spontaneity and the color saturation. I'm going to get a couple of bigger sheets of plexiglass so I can have a real contrast between the size of the watercolors and the size of the prints for my December show.

I keep information on each print (paper size, edition number, etc.), but I don't often write up a report on a day's work. Today, however, I wanted to remember what I'd tried and what had worked, so I wrote out a page in my printmaking notebook to remind me. I'm really enjoying the brain fizz of trying something new. It's a great feeling.

I'm in a frenzy of printmaking lately. Here's the second proof of the new Elmwood print. I've done a little more refining, but it's almost finished, and I'll proof it again next time I have ink out.

I have finished and pulled prints to sell of my new liturgical print, The Lord is My Shepherd. It's on 8 1/2 by 10" paper and is available for $60.

I've just gotten the new Overton Park image transferred onto two blocks.

I did tiny watercolor sketches to see if I like three colors or two for this print.

I'm leaning towards two colors, so I'm going to do the orange and dark red first. I can always add green later if it needs more help. Below is the first bit of carving I started last night.

I also have a couple of illustration projects I'm working on before I get out of town. Again. It's a stop and start summer for artwork, though I'll be painting out of town, of course.

I've been working this week on a second Elmwood Cemetery print. It's one of my favorite places in Memphis, a historic cemetery with gorgeous old trees and sculptures. It was funny to have this already drawn out to work on last week and then arrive at my sister's to have her show me Huntsville's version of Elmwood (and apparently even older, beginning in 1816) where I walked every morning while I was there.

I've been carving the last three days. Here it is after the first day of work.

Last night I finally got to proof it and see what it looks like. Here's the first peek. Today I'm listening to the Cardinals on the radio and doing some clean up. I'll proof it again soon.

This new piece is a companion to one I did last year of Elmwood. I'm still working on the Shakertown print as well, but it's hard to get all the different blocks lined up together and carved just right. It's nice to take a break and do just a one color block, which isn't nearly as exacting. And I like the graphic power of black and white.

I started yesterday to write about my process of making a print. It's going to be a little while before that particular one is ready to show the final process, so I decided to make pictures of the finished one I pulled some more prints of today. Above is the block on the press itself. The press is a Lin-o-scribe press, that used to be used often in department stores to make weekly sale posters. It will take wood or metal type, but I have a piece of wood cut laid down into it to make it high enough for my thinner pieces of linoleum. I can print a block up to about 12x19" on paper that's 14x24" or so.

The paper is clipped into the edge of it and pulled back over the side (on the far side of the top photo). Then I lay the block on the bed of the press, using an L-shaped piece of cardboard to get it in just the right spot.

Today I was printing the key block, the black one with all the pattern, on top of the green and blue that I had already printed. You have to let the paper dry overnight between each color, and there's a different block carved for each color.

Above I'm peeling the paper off the block after rolling the press (it has a rubber roller to apply pressure) over the print. You can see my notes to myself to put the TOP of the block facing the right direction. Yes, I've printed upside down by mistake before, and I hate wasting paper on a stupid error.

Below is the inking set up. I roll out ink on a sheet of glass and roll it onto the block before putting the block on the press to print. I buy ink I use a lot of in cans (black, white, yellow) and other colors in smaller tubes.

Below you can see the progress of color printing. I printed the blue first, then the green, and finally the black key block. The color blocks are much simpler, just solid areas of color, and therefore faster to carve. The pattern block takes by far the most time. This print was finished some time ago, but I don't print the whole edition at once because the hand rolling is time consuming. I tend to print six or eight at a time, as I need them, until I've hit 100 (or however many I've set for that edition -- they're all signed and numbered). So now I have some more to sell.

I've had a couple of questions lately about my process of making prints, and I always like the excuse to explain a little more about what I do. All of my prints start with a drawing or painting done on site from life. I'm currently working on an image of Shakertown in Kentucky, near my old alma mater Centre College. Above is the watercolor on a double page in my sketch pad that's sitting on my work table while I carve.

From the sketch I do a full sized drawing, which I then trace (above). I flip the tracing paper over (you can see "BACK" written on the drawing in large letters to remind me not to skip that step) and transfer it onto a sheet of linoleum with carbon paper.

I like linoleum instead of wood because it takes curves better instead of tearing, the way wood grain does, and I really like carving curves and spirals. It also prints a smooth, velvety, solid surface. I love some artists' woodblocks which really show the grain and use that pattern as an integral part of the finished piece. Edvard Munch was a master of that. My first series was done in wood, but I really prefer not having to fight the way the wood tears as I go around a corner with my gouges. And I like that I can slice linoleum to whatever size I need it just with a box cutter instead of having to get someone with a table saw to do it for me.

I use a series of gouges to carve the linoleum. They're Japanese tools, mostly u-gouges, along with one v-shaped ones for very fine lines. McClain's printmaking supplies sells some lovely sets, and I got the student grade one, which I've been very happy with. My least favorite part is keeping them sharp, but one kind friend of mine in North Carolina gives me occasional lessons and tunes them up for me, and I'm getting better at it. Slowly.

You can also see in the photo above that reading glasses are a necessary tool for me now that I'm over 40. And a rubber grip mat to hold the block steady while I carve is the other must-have equipment.

Here is my progress so far on the "key" block, the one that will be darkest (usually black in my work) and which holds all the surface pattern. This print will have much simpler red and green blocks that are carved separately and just have large solid sections of color. They print first, with the key block on top of everything else. I'll photograph them as I go along. I carve the pattern one first and make sure I like the direction I'm going in before I move on to the color parts. Stay tuned as I keep working on this one. It takes a few weeks for me to get one fully right (usually with other work interspersed).

Above is my sixth Lenten psalm block, taken from Psalm 18. It is the last one I finished this year, although I still hope to do a block from Psalm 22 to honor Good Friday as well. With a recent trip, I just couldn't get it done in time for this year, but it will join the series soon. I already have it drawn out.

And here is Easter. I wanted color for Easter instead of the stark black and white. I mixed an orange and a yellow and tried several different ways of rolling them on top of each other, a technique I saw in progress at the venerable Hatch Show Print in Nashville when I visited there.

Here is the final version, taken from Psalm 149. It feels good to be out of a long and dark Lent and poised to celebrate Easter.