Over the last few days I've managed a three color block almost from start to finish. I still have to do one more proof before I start printing in bulk. I want to make sure that the colors all line up, but I'm quite pleased with the process. Unlike the skinny columns of the Higbee Memorial in my Overton Park print, this one is more forgiving, with larger blocks of color, and the movement of the water makes very small registration wobbles unnoticeable. I'm going to try to get my technique for accuracy down with this one and then backtrack to finish up the first two.

I'm also pleased with how it looks on the brown paper. I had that in mind when I planned it, and it worked out as I had hoped. (Unlike the Overton Park print I'd planned for gray but decided looked better on cream instead.) I like the brown spaces being the darker shadows of the river and giving it that muddy, lazy, southern river feel that's so at home to me, since I live on the banks of the Big Muddy itself.

This river is in Arkansas, and it's one of my places I go for rest and sanctuary. We stay at the fabulous, Midtown-feeling River View Hotel in Calico Rock. I've done a whole series of paintings there, and I love getting my kayak out onto the cold, cold river and watching the white mist rise off its surface. We're hoping to get back over there in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait. Making art about places always transports me back to them mentally, so I'm ready for a couple of nights' getaway.

I've got a whole series of these deco-inspired print blocks of my own special places in my head. Here's the key block to the second one. It's the first proof of it I've pulled, so I've got some adjustments to make, but it's close to final form. I did watercolors on top of it to see where I want the colors to go, and this is what I'm shooting for. Now I'll have to carve two more blocks -- one block will have both blues on it, and the other will be the green.

I'm still working on printing the first one, the Overton Park print. I'm having trouble getting the green block underneath and the black key block on top (which has all the pattern) to line up just right with each other. First I print the green, let it dry, and then print the black on top. I have to have both blocks in just the same spot so the colors aren't off a little bit from where they should be. I'm still learning how to work with this press, and it's a little frustrating so far, but I'm hoping to get better locked in this week. In the meantime, I'll start carving the color blocks for this one and see how they do.

I've been mostly carving a new print block the last couple of days, but I did take time to do a commission this morning. I'm enjoying doing house portraits for folks, and this is a special one -- the people moving away commissioned it, but when I got there, it turned out that it's the same house my former English teacher and current friend and theater buddy is buying in my neighborhood. I'm so excited she's moving closer, and I can't wait to go sit on that porch. It's a great house. But it felt a little funny to paint it for someone else.

Otherwise, I've been working on a new print block of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Below is a snapshot of the block (12x17") at the end of work today. That's about 10 hours worth of carving so far, and I'm more than halfway through, but that total doesn't include the time doing the basic drawing and transferring the drawing to the block. Printmaking is MUCH more involved, which is why it's fun to go out and just do a watercolor sometimes. There will be a second and possibly third block for this print as well, depending on how many colors I want, but this first one is the most involved one to carve, since it has all the surface pattern of the drawing. The others will be much simpler blocks of color. I'll keep you posted as it progresses.

I recently talked to a Rhodes college class studying urban parks, and Overton Park in particular. It was a writing class, and the teacher asked me if the park influenced my writing. My answer was no, not very much. However, the park greatly influences my artwork.

Here's the first proof of my first big block (12x19") that I carved for my new Line-o-scribe press. It's about as big as the press can handle, but it's much larger than I've been doing, and I feel like whole new worlds are opening up before me. I'm working on a series of art deco inspired travel prints of places I love, including both parks in St. Louis that I painted last week.

However, I had to start much closer to home. This tree is my favorite one in Overton Park, and it's my closest sanctuary place. I continue to be drawn to it both physically and artistically. I've painted it a lot this spring. It's lovely to have such a wonderful muse just a few blocks from my house.

I'm working on my first bigger-sized print block for my new press. The block is 12x19" (I've topped out at 10x12" until now), and the finished print will have one color plus a black key block on top (the one in the picture) that will givelinear pattern and definition to the scene. It's taking a while to carve, but I'm excited about this new series.

Here's my first multi-color block for the new press. (MUCH easier with a press, since I don't have to print each color by hand with a wooden spoon). Somehow I can work myself up for one color prints that way but not multiple printings. This new press is going to open up whole new worlds for me. Tonight I'm listening to the Cardinals game and starting on my first bigger block, which will be a two color one. I can't wait to get it going.

I woke up yesterday morning with a new series of prints in my head. That space just between sleep and wakefulness is often fertile ground for me creatively. And I love the excuse to lie in bed another half hour chasing down the details from my brain and calling it work. One of the best parts of my job.

Having the new press is opening up possibilities for color prints and larger sizes. I've been using a calendar this year of old British Railway posters (many of them look like screen and block prints, though they don't give the artistic process, frustratingly). My new idea is to do a series of Art Deco inspired prints of places I love, complete with the names underneath. My own travel posters for Memphis. I've got this one plus Dixon Gardens in my head so far, and then this morning I woke up with a vision of the Mississippi River, looking up at the bridge from the center of the water. I'll need to take my camera out next time I paddle to fully plan that one.

I started with an idea in the abstract, but then I took Merlin over to the park to draw this study yesterday. Once I was on the spot, I added the folly in the background and changed the proportions. I always come back to drawing from life, and my work is invariably stronger when I do. The middle of the river one, though, will have to make do with a photo instead of sketching on site. It's impossible to sit still out there in a tiny boat.

This block will be 12x19", which is larger than I've done, so I went ahead and ordered my linoleum yesterday. (I can only get 12x12" in town.)

Last week I picked up this press from my friend Nancy Darrell in North Carolina. She upgraded and sold me her old Line-o-Scribe. Best $50 I ever spent!

I love my beautiful letterpress, but it has severe size limitations and is much more suited to small notecard-sized images than the 12" or so prints I tend to favor. Ironically, this much smaller and lighter press will do those easily. It's got a 14" bed, so my 14 1/2 x 16" standard paper just fits perfectly, and i can do much longer, taller things, just not wider than 14". I'm planning a couple of larger pieces in my head, now that I'm no longer having to print by rubbing (and rubbing...and rubbing) with a wooden spoon on the back of the paper. It's going to open up whole new worlds.

I tested the press with my largest type-high block, one I'd done for the letterpress when I first got it, before discovering this was too large and too dark for it to handle. It did just beautifully on the line-o-scribe. I can build up around the block (or around my larger wooden type for posters!) with "furniture", differently sized wooden strips that are lower than the block, so they won't get ink on them or print when the press rolls. I didn't have to use quoins for this -- just wedged thin strips into the wood to hold it steady. Since it all stays horizontal, it doesn't have to be as precise as my lock-up for the C&P.

This press also has a paper gripper to hold the paper in place while the roller goes across.

I just did several on newsprint to test out the press.

Finally I reprinted some of the Country Workshops tree print, which I was running low on. SO much easier than using the wooden spoon!

It's leap day, and I'm celebrating with a couple of new projects. Here is the proof of my first real multi-block color print (at least the first one that wasn't a class assignment). I need to refine the edges a bit, lighten the sky, and use a more opaque dark green, but this gives you a good idea of what it will look like eventually.

This process is a leap for me, especially since I'm still printing by hand, rubbing on the back of the paper with a wooden spoon. This block will have to be printed three times for each print (one for each color, with time for drying in between), instead of just the once for my black and white ones. I visited an old family printing business here in Memphis yesterday. They have a lovely, small table top press that they no longer use, and I was hoping to sweet talk them into selling it to me, but sadly they weren't ready to let it go yet. Maybe someday. It would have been very helpful for this print in particular.

My other leap today is starting a new oil painting -- I finally finished my five canvas piece for church, so this is my first new painting in a while. I've got a show with Elizabeth Alley this fall at Askew Ferguson Nixon, and I'll have a mix of oils and watercolors. Today I'm starting the first oil for the show, one of Dixon Gardens. I'm finding myself really drawn to formal gardens lately and only wish we had more in Memphis for me to paint.