What's on Amie's Reader

Been doing a lot of work on the computer this week, so haven't spent much time for fun on it. Also not a lot of art time going on. I really admire people who work all day and come home to sit down to do 3-4 hours (or even 20 minutes) of whatever art that they do. I am so drained from working that I just need to be a blob most evenings. I wonder what's missing from my constitution/personality that makes me underwhelmed?

Anyway, here are some good reads to share with you all... enjoy!

Art Stuff

I have recently tuned my radar to the artist book. I've never done one. I don't have any ideas to do one. But I'm intrigued, and might eventually venture forth. So Fiji Island Mermaid Press has given us all a little opportunity to try for ourselves: the "ME, An Autobiography" miniature book. Just one sheet turns into eight pages of book.

Sherrie York over at Brush & Baren finished her uber reduction print and celebrated by creating a little artist book using gelatin prints.

Cool, huh? Maybe these'll get me inspired. Maybe not...

Elizabeth Perry at Woolgathering is having some fun plotting linocuts in her moleskine journal (mwah ha ha, another printmaker in the making... we're taking over the world!!). But I love the handling of the piece of ginger on this day's post. Lovely.

Some creative mark making on the reader since my last post:

Justin Miller is having way too much fun with his coffee at Bound Staff Press (congrats on the fast sale! why not with such a great piece).

One of the Watermarks contributors made marks with on site found objects for their sketch session.

Marja-Leena Rathje shared the making of a wonderful animated video, mark making of an imaginary nature.

Jan Allsopp at ...In My Spare Time made a garden hose out of Norfolk Island pine needles. Maybe not mark making per se, but a challenging three-dimensional translation of the concept.

Another illustrator to follow... crackskullbob. If I could illustrate people this way... wow.

Amazingly talented natural history illustrator Debby Cotter Kaspari on Drawing the Motmot shares with us her toolkit for field sketching. Both compact and larger versions. Love the mint tin watercolour tray!

The Magpie Nest captures the onslaught of American Robins as they migrate through on their way to summer nesting grounds.\

Lots of printmaker activity, too!

JenZ picked up her etchings (very classical looking) from the recent etching class she took, and another beautiful landscape reduction woodblock print.

Linocutboy linked to a mind-boggling linoprint artist... you must visit their website for other images.

Further progress on Sonia Romero's work being translated into huge ceramic tiles for an L.A. subway station on She Rides The Lion. Here are some details of the progress of the ceramics.

Katka at The Blue Chisel has finished her print based on the Copenhagen mermaid.

Susan Moore at Art Every Day shares with us a plethora of monotypes from a recent weekend workshop with Bill Park. Very productive and inspiring!

Kate at Nydam Press combined two techniques, relief printing and cyanotype, in a beautiful and nostalgic result.

Marissa Buschow at Woodchips takes charge of a less than perfect print and turns it into something new; don't give up on those prints, maybe they can be reinvigorated!

Check out Annie Bissett's EZ scroll mount on Woodblock Dreams. Very clever, Annie, thanks for sharing!

Finally, have some fun with your art: dumpr.net has created museumr, which you can use to see what your art would look like hanging bold and beautiful at the MoMA, or the Gug! Thanks to Sarah Wimperis at Muddy Foot Prints

Science Stuff

Zoologix shares a marine mystery muncher of coral. Check it out (photo too, yikes!).

You could name a new species. Step up and put your bid in, auction open to March 30. Thanks to The Other 95%.

Plants have feelings? Well... not quite, but they can "react". Check it out on HowPlantsWork.

Sketching While the Sun Shines

This is supposed to be the last beautiful day for a while, so I decided we'd do some sketching down at Cowichan Bay this afternoon. There are always sailboats, often fishing boats, and usually these two tug boats, which are used for moving and rafting log booms. I have been wanting to do something with them for years, so I finally plonked myself down, protected from the wind and warmed by the sun, on my little three-toed stool, and sketched away. Here's the pen sketch:

and here's with watercolours:

Mom came too, and did a couple of little landscape sketches:

More Sketching

I'm working on actual paid work this week, so not much brain space or enthusiasm for figuring out a new print project. So I've been taking some time in the evenings to do a little sketching, instead. Murri is a great subject, and a lot easier when he's napping; unfortunately, he wasn't napping much, and a bit squirmy, which of course makes sketching more of a challenge. These sketches were from the last couple of evenings.

This afternoon, I was waiting for supper to come to a boil, and thought "what the heck!", so this is the result:

Sketching

There are so many incredible, inspiring artists who produce work every day. Not me. I'm generally lazy and uninspiring. But I thought I'd share the few sketches I did today of my captive subject matter by the fireplace.





After his long, tiring session as model, Murri curled up in his blanket nest on the couch to recouperate.

What's on Amie's Reader

Art Stuff

Tracey's branching out into the abstract and getting ready for her solo show at Place des Arts in Coquitlam over at A State of Art Portraits.

Heather gets a boost with a suggestion to work in series at Art and Life.

etsasketch is back to school shopping and looking for the perfect pencil case, while Marcy at There is Only Make is getting over her 8th-grade induced sewing-machine inhibitions and creating her first pencil case! Maybe you two should get together...

Spider Ink Studio's Elana has added another post to her Etching Techniques series. I have found it fascinating so far, and this post is no disappointment - yet another use for litho crayons that doesn't involve lithography!

Meanwhile, Katka has taken the leap and set up her Etsy shop - check out Blue Chisel Prints on Etsy.

Jeanette has an incredible series of mixed media works based on gyotaku (fish printing) a rainbow trout on her Illustrated Life. Scroll through to find her other entries starting with a capelin print last week (also featured on Watermarks).

Pica's added some beautiful sketches of a not especially beautiful bird, but how lovely her interpretations on The Magpie Nest. While having the face only a mother could love, I'm especially partial to these graceful scavengers, and have a version from my Bestiary.

Science Stuff

Dr A on The Phytophactor gives us an excellent reason to concern ourselves with global warming: chocolate (not just melting, but changing ecology altering habitat for the plant from which it comes).

Further on global warming on the EEB and Flow, another one of my favourite critters is even more at risk possibly than frogs: check out why salamanders might be global warming canaries in a coal mine.

And how clever is this! Enrichment for octopus! OK, just too darned cute (yes, another favourite critter - my Bestiary is well represented this week!!). Thanks to The Other 95% and Zoologix for the link, but definitely go to the whole series of photos at the New England Aquarium's site.

Another cephalopod feature from The Other 95% - what great footage of a hunting cuttlefish. The colours! And the stealthy behaviour.

The Echinoblog could have pulled this picture directly from the Whale Lab's touch pool at Bamfield to illustrate the fact that this species of urchin (largest on the west coast of North America) can live to a ripe old age of a century or more.

Finally, are you one of the 50% of the population that has the chemical receptor to detect the scent of asparagus pee? And take the time to read all about lichens and mosses on Watching the World Wake Up (go on, he went to a lot of effort and has some very nifty graphics, as per usual. Not only that, you might learn something; I certainly did!!).

Opening Photos

Thanks to my art friends who braved the awful weather to visit our opening, and the couple of whom even supported our efforts with some purchases (woo-hoo!!).




And the printmaking demo setup:


Thanks again to the Valley Vines to Wines co-owner Pat for her patience & help in organizing our show. They offer such a wonderful opportunity for local art groups and starting artists.

Been sick... again

Finally recouperating from awful cold/flu. Again. Hung the Escape Artists group show yesterday afternoon (along with generally running around crazily) and had the opening today. Did a little printmaking demo which seemed well appreciated. Will post photos tomorrow - not coordinated enough to have camera and cable together with laptop... yes, one would think that each of these things would be portable enough to come together relatively easily, but am lazily catching up on my Google Reader (142 entries since my last post yikes! you guys have been busy!!).