March Madness

Whoa, March has been quite a whirlwind in our house, schedules, extended family shenanigans... even the crazy weather . The windstorms, heavy downpours and occasional snow showers tell me that things are shifting, changing and evolving. With all that going on it has left me feeling a bit fragmented and bedraggled. But, I'm getting a hold of myself!

It's Friday and I had a great day of printing, running and later working on my quilt on the living room floor while listening to the end of a wonderful book (but I'll share that later).

Here are the latest ladies I printed today - wet ink but soon to have color. I've been vacillating about the First 100 Faces of 2012 project - possibly extending it for another month or two.

Much more tomorrow... until then, set out your leprechaun traps tonight, we will be doing that very thing. (salt water taffy is the bait :) Top 0' the evening to ya.

First 100 Faces Thursday

This is a man in progress!

I don't know about the lady in distress directly above. She may need to be seriously re-worked. I'm letting her percolate for now. All of these woodblocks are inky and wet right now. I'm planning on painting all of them and do have some previous ones - now painted- to share this weekend and soon on flickr.

As a sidebar, I have been printing these faces on quilter's cotton squares for some kind of quilt/fiber odyssey. This was actually my mom's idea... she always has good ones. Naturally, some will go to her as she's the REAL sewing lady. (as in she has the mad skills and I am lacking in that department.)

Now that it's March (and 20 days til vernal equinox, my son informs me) it's doubtful there will literally be 100 faces for this project. I'm going to do the best I can... as much as my thumb will allow to be carved. But, as April rolls in, so will a new project!

First 100 Women of 2012... Thursday

Well... here we have our first man in the group. I'm taking inspiration from the quattrocento of the Italian Renaissance. Just couldn't resist Massiacio's profile of this man... hope I can do it justice in the carving.

Rough drawing from a sculpture depicting the lamentation of the dead Christ.... soon to be tweaked, transferred and carved.

There are many more lighthouses at flickr (well there will be, I can't get onto their site right now!) This particular light is out on the Makah Reservation... quite on the very edge of Washington state. It's beautifully wild and untouched out there.

On a craftier note, I'm hand quilting my quilt I've been working on with colored floss threads. Hope to share some this weekend. Anna Maria Horner is coming to Spokane's The Top Stitch quilt shop next month. I SO want to go meet her and maybe take her class. Happy early Friday :)

Thank You, Cathedral Art!

Well, the middle one is not inspired by Giselbertus' sculptures... she's a modern mountain mama. But, it was so much fun taking inspiration from the very distant past, I'm going to do more. I'm hoping to do some new drawings today.

It has been kind of a whirlwind getting ready for Valentine's Day - even though it doesn't seem like one of those busy holidays! The kids and their valentine making... assembling, decorating their special boxes AND attaching candy to the cards. (hoping to share some photos if I can get 'em off my Blackberry) Plus Mama preparations for the 2 school parties, and helping with those. I don't know how the moms of many kids do all the stuff they do!! Last night, we managed to get a table at our favorite pizza parlor - so, we just had a romantic dinner there... with the kids. :)

Now exhaling and looking for time to make art today. Have a good one!

Underdrawings Inspired by Giselbertus

Eve from a sculpture made in 1130. (Autun, France)

Inspired by an Italian sculptor, Benedetto Antelami... (spelling may be incorrect!) around 1200 AD

The angel from The Dream of the Magi by Giselbertus, 1125-45. Autun, France

These drawings for my 100 faces of 2012 woodcut series have already been tweaked and altered a bit. They are in the process of being carved... I now have a huge callus on the inside upper joint of my right thumb...been carving feverishly for several days. Am still able to hold a large glass of water with my right hand, though. (I've overdone it before and have had a very shaky, weak hand as a result. Can't be good, right?)

I'm hoping to print these by Sat or Sun. Think I'll be doing more drawings from this period... I'm SO enamored with it. Oh for the days of art history classes, sitting in a huge lecture hall all afternoon in the dark... looking and slides and being walked through story upon story. My idea of heaven.

Have a great weekend!

Catching up with Faces...

Had a chance to paint some of last week's prints. The last one still needs even more futzing. But, I like her hair... rarely do curly hair, so it was fun to try. The first lady ended up looking a lot like Sarah Jessica Parker! Not at all meant to be her, she's actually a teenager named Jetta. (was a teen in the 1970s). Woodcarving can sometimes be like clay. You never know what you're going to get when opening the kiln and same for pulling a print from the press! I love that about printmaking.

I will actually be on time for 100 faces Thursday tomorrow. New drawings and wood being carved to share... which are based on an 11th century sculptor. See you tomorrow!

Caught in a Riptide

Passionflower... dreaming of summer (already!)

Here is a better sample of the yummy Colonial Red of our house... much easier to see here.

Well, 100 faces Thursday came and went... I had my photos downloaded into the computer, all ready. Somehow, it all got pushed to the back burner. I had a great little lunch 'party' (as the kids call it" on Friday with some girlfriends and all our youngest who can have after-pre school playdates, mid-day. It was pure bliss to chat with the girls and hang out. Need to do more of that! (thank you, R and K!)

Anyway, this last Monday of January has turned into... First 100 faces of Thursday :) There will be more at Flickr later today. But, for now - I must don the yoga clothes and corral the kids into their school togs. Happy Monday!

First 100 Women of 2012... Thursday

More progress on the ladies here! The first 2 woodcuts are test prints that I painted. Today, they were 'cleaned up' during pre-school and will probably print them tomorrow along with 2 other ones. That's 4 new prints for this week. Think the 'maybe I'll post something' format is working for me :) (touch wood).

Also included are a few drawings for more woodcuts. It was a good drawing day - with the records playing, snow falling, corgis playing in the yard and little girl dancing in the living room. Perfect for art making. Check my flickr for even more new work - including some revised, painted ladies from last week! Link up top to the right.

Meanwhile, it's been snowing all day and I haven't shovelled any. There's always night-shovelling, right? Still stunned by the Italian ship sinking/accident - the passenger accounts are just bone-chilling and very sad. Praying for some miracles, families and for the survivors.

First 100 Women of 2012... Thursday

Here are 3 more lovelies to share for woodcut Thursday. All of 'em are test prints - I've gone back and tweaked/cleaned up this and that. Then, the final printing and on to painting it as soon as the ink dries. Check out a few more at my flickr here.

Happy almost long weekend!!

ps Blogger is not letting me post a link right now... but, you can find my flickr badge on the right hand side of the screen :)