Woodcuts Inspired by Apple Pie...

Here's an apple pie made for our labor day festivities... mostly, I made it for my mom since she loves my pie! (this is very flattering because she's a very good cook and I have probably made 4 pies in my life :) Anyway, after peeling all those apples I got to thinking about autumn inspired woodcuts. I came up with these 2 doodles that are being carved. Planning on making cards to put in my etsy shop and in a few local galleries.

PS. Needle felted wool purses coming soon to the etsy shop!

Recent Summer Sightings...

Crayon rubbing of one of The Makers

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted... thought I'd give a summer update :) I've begun a new woodblock series called 'The Makers' and here are the very first two! I'm pretty excited about this series as there are so many possibilities to think about... and it could go on for - well - years :) On the crafty side, I've been working on the pink chocolates quilt... hoping to get that done by the end of summer. (all unplugged, naturally) And, to top it all off, a bit of sock knitting in the evenings when my mind is too blown to do much else.

Daddy's been rocking the kids to sleep most every night - especially our baby girl... toes seen here wearing her 'ballerina jammies'. We have some extended family staying with us for the summer... and are having a 'staycation' this week. (actually a nice way to get control of house projects!) That's me laying on the floor with Mr. Darcy perched on my midsection. He's a very affectionate pup. (he'll be 1 yr old on Dec 6) What have y'all been up to these summer months?

Enough With the Cards...

I had so many duds last time I printed these cards on sheet music I did it over and came out with a lot of good ones... these will end up around town and in the etsy shop. OK, I promise this is the last post about Christmas cards for this year!!

A New Light (and Shadow)

The drawing

The woodcut

I was goofing off, drawing and sipping tea (a very familiar scenario in this house!) and noticed some fabulous shadows happening on my paper... so I traced them right on the paper. I'm sure I'm not the first person to ever do this, but It's still a very exciting discovery for me. Can you guess what it is??

Christmas Card Plans

A preliminary crayon rubbing

These are some of the woodblocks I've been carving for Xmas cards. I've never really done holiday cards before -except for collage cards. It's hard not to be too sentimental, predictable etc. Amazing how some things that seem like they'll be simple end up being more complicated than you'd planned. Ultimately, I wanted to make something fresh and different! I'm planning on some bright colors come printing time... fun! These will land in my etsy shop and and a few local shops.

ps - today's the last day of the fiber art sale in my Etsy shop... take a look!

Conrad Felixmuller (OOPS! this belongs on the Artslice blog!)

The Mining Engineer, 1922.

Lovis Corinth (painter, 1858-1925), 1925.

Carl Sternheim (author, 1878-1942), 1925.

(Felix Muller prior to 1918) (1897-1977) Early in his career he moved in Expressionist circles, illustrating Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire and contributing to the periodicals Der Sturm and Die Aktion. Like Max Beckmann, his work was affected by his experiences in the medical corps during World War I. (Shane Weller - Dover Publication)

New Woodcuts...

Cicadas

River

I've been doing some mulling and sketching lately and finally committed a few to my Shina wood... and started carving today. I'm continuing with the water - ocean - beach theme. This time I was thinking more about river stones and what water looks like in a slow moving river - how it twirls, moves, shines, 'separates' etc. As well as what you can see underneath. The cicadas or crickets are sort of a wild card. We've been listening to them a lot around here and my daughter is saying 'cricket' now, which I love! (One of her favorite books is The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle.) I'm thinking about how these may look printed on fabric. Hmmmm.

New Carvings

In the drawing stage...

Here are some of my latest woodblock carvings - the start of a series inspired by the beach/ocean. I'm going to print these in layers... probably using light-colored inks. I may experiment with colored paper too... just in the mood to do something completely different than the usual. I'm running low on wood and need to place an order, which will set me back about a week or less - wish I had ordered earlier, I like to have it on hand when I'm ready to work!

Bleeding Hearts

Here's a page from a book I'm making and may finish after April. It is full of different prints I have done - all printed and colored in unusual and experimental ways.

Relief Crayon Rubbing

Barefoot Friends Woodcut

Here is a preliminary rubbing I achieved with my son's art supplies. I use his 'big paper' (newsprint) and an unwrapped crayon to rub my woodcut and see how it's

looking. (the newsprint works better than the computer paper I've been using). This is a great way to check it at the table before even doing a test print. Since we all have head colds, printing the other day did not happen - but I'm shooting for sometime this week!

Roses and My Underwood

Lovely roses - must be hothouse roses?! So beautiful, I couldn't leave the store without them.

Here is the latest woodcut I am working on, it's the first time I've ever done a print of a previous painting. The painting sold last year and I loved it so much, I thought a print would be a nice re-visiting of it. You may be wondering where are the daily paintings? Since I have 2 shows coming up in April - one especially for my prints - I am focusing on them right now. But, the daily paintings will return soon...

Boy in a Streetcar

Crayon Rubbing of a Woodcut, colored pencil.

This little boy was being held by his Mama, but, I did not include her in the composition. I fell in love with the hat he was wearing, it looked so old world, and sitting in the wood interior of this street car in B.C. Canada... I felt he looked timeless!

To test woodcuts, I often rub the surface (paper placed over the matrix) with the side of a paper-free crayon to show how it's looking before I even do a test print. Sometimes the rubbings come out pretty good and I save them for... ??? who knows, experiments like this one. :) (this is a page in a book I'm making)

Tadpole Hunting and Snow

Here is my woodcut that is progressing along quite nicely. There are so many leaves to focus on and cut with my hanga-tu (spelling!? It's phonetically correct, though.)
As soon as I clear more areas, I'll do a crayon rubbing and post it.



Here is a nice, fluffy tree near the corner of my deck, it normally reaches the railing but, the snow is so heavy it has flattened it out, practically to the ground! We were out shoveling snow for about 2 hours today, I can't believe the amount we've gotten in 24 hours. In a word... snowbound.
Just please let us not lose power, I need the computer, bath water and a way to keep the restless kids fed!!