slightly wonky

I feel like I haven’t posted in AGES.  I’ve been working on getting my prints ready for open studios this next weekend.  It’s amazing how much work goes into participating in one of those things.  You think that you just need a table and the art, but it takes more than that.  I think that the next post I do will be AFTER the event.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  If you’re local to MA, here’s a link to the event. I’m still packaging prints, figuring out pricing, deciding how to display, etc. etc.

My portrait class actually met last week!  I was thrilled.  It was going to be cancelled for low enrollment.  Then, when I was at the first class, someone actually left after an hour because they thought that the class was going to be too complicated.  NOOOO!!!!  So, there’s only TWO of us taking the class, now!  I hope that they don’t cancel it.  I love drawing people.  Time just slips away when I’m doing it.  Here’s one of my drawings from that night…done in 45 min/1 hr.:

I’m generally happy with it.  I was using a 6B pencil on charcoal paper.  I actually recognized the model.  She must do this for lots of art classes!

I’ve also done some prints from my woodblock class.  I was working on a piece of really difficult plywood for this block.  It was impossible to cut…the wood splintered so easily…and it made the process a general pain.  No more.  My teacher said that wood like that is generally why people don’t like making woodblocks for printing.  I couldn’t agree more.  I’m only going to use the shina plywood from now on.  Here are the prints from that night:

I liked this one below the best:

It’s really interesting paper…filled with all sorts of bark and other fragments in it.  I loved it.

And another:

Okay, I held one of the prints up to the sun, so that you can see how transparent the paper is:

I also dropped into a drawing/printmaking class taught by Deb Putnoi in Brighton, Ma.  It was very fun!  Lots of messy drawing and printmaking combined.  Here are the assortment of prints from that class:

You’ll have to excuse the shadows, as the prints are all really curled for some reason…

I liked that one above.  Next:

Next:

That one above has a good bit of collage in it too…next:

Next:

Next:

I really liked the limited palette.  It was fun to be more “messy” and casual with the printmaking.  Printmaking can be SO fussy.  It just depends on how you want your prints to be.  Traditionally, they should be pristine…no thumbprints allowed and with perfect plate registration.  So, it’s fun to throw all of that out the window and just be more casual.

Okay…wish me luck with open studios!   I may have a bowl of some kind of candy on the table to entice visitors.  I suppose something that melts and becomes sticky or chocolatey would be bad.  No rice krispy treats or candy bars.  Come by and say “hi!”.