Uncover the Cure

There's still time to help me raise money towards fighting cancers below the belt! I'm walking in this year's Uncover the Cure, benefiting the BC Cancer Foundation, on July 11, 2009. I need to raise $300 to participate, and I'd appreciate if you could help out; even $5 gets me that much closer to the goal, and helps to support a great cause. I know, there are a lot of them out there to choose from, and I sure appreciate any help you can spare.

Please visit my participant's page to either donate online, or to download a donation form which you can then mail in with your payment.

Who knows, maybe there'll be a little print-tastic treat in the mail for you if you donate :)

Blog 10,000!

Thank you, ladies & gentlemen, for the 10,000th visit this week, to this blog!

I'm just back from a weekend camping trip and have a pantload of non-art work to catch up with, but I am going to the opening of the Open Print Exhibition this Thursday, May 21, from 6-8 pm at the Federation Gallery on Granville Island - I shall post about that after; both Mom & I have work accepted, and this is Mom's first second (sorry!) juried show acceptance:

Stable Mates
reduction block print
Daniel Smith water soluble inks
© Betty A. Cavin

Pays d'Hiver
linocut print
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on grey Rising Stonehenge paper
© Amie Roman

Hope to see you at the opening!

More Murri

He's just such a fun subject to work with.

So, continuing with the theme of turning digital sketches into block prints:

Lounging
MDF block print, Dremel carved
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on grey Rising Stonehenge paper
© Amie Roman

Sitting
MDF block print, Dremel carved
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on grey Rising Stonehenge paper
© Amie Roman

Go with the Flow

I am pretty sure that my Exposed print is of sufficient value to cover the "cost of entry" to the Oceans of Art exhibition at the Nanaimo Art Gallery, opening reception on Thursday June 11, 7-9 pm; however, I also thought that a few smaller pieces may be appreciated, as it can sometimes be difficult to sell large pieces.

I had done a sketch of a piece of kelp (Macrocystis) that I'd photographed on Brady's Beach that I've had sitting in the back of my mind since I did it, with the intention of a reduction cut.

I started off with a yellow ochre layer (didn't photo it), then later did a separate set of prints with a blend (rainbow) roll using yellow ochre, carbazole violet, and phthalo green:

Flow II
MDF block print, Dremel carved
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on green kitakata paper
© Amie Roman

and then for some reason, printed the remaining ink on the block (not reinking the block) over the ochre layer and got this:

Flow I
MDF block print, Dremel carved
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on green kitakata paper
© Amie Roman

After I finished enough prints for editions for those two, I decided to mess around a little and ended up with these two monoprints:

Flow VI
MDF block monoprint, Dremel carved
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on white Rising Stonehenge paper
© Amie Roman

Flow VII
MDF block monoprint, Dremel carved
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on white Rising Stonehenge paper
© Amie Roman

Then I got to the part that I'd really intended all along! I carved another layer for the reduction (only one; I wanted to keep it very simple). I printed over some of the Flow I prints (but kept some set aside for their own small edition):

Flow III
MDF block reduction print, Dremel carved
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on green kitakata paper
© Amie Roman

And then, of course, had to print over some of Flow II, too (also setting aside some of them with only the first blend roll for their own small edition):

Flow IV
MDF block reduction print, Dremel carved
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on green kitakata paper
© Amie Roman

This second, carved layer was also a blend roll, but subtle to see, except for in the edition I did on its own:

Flow VII
MDF block print, Dremel carved
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on white Rising Stonehenge paper
© Amie Roman

There are so many things about this series that I'm absolutely tickled by:

1. The simplicity of the carving is exactly what I had wanted to achieve, and very effectively reflects the gorgeous lines and shapes of the Macrocystis frond that I'd sketched.
2. The success of the rainbow roll in capturing the oil-slick colours of a slightly decaying, washed up piece of kelp on the beach.
3. The subtleties in value contrasts between II and III which again, really captures the ever-changing colour shifts of a washed up piece of kelp on the beach.
4. I got to do a series!! And I played a lot, both with the colour and the printing.

Plus, my baby press is an utter jewel. Love it!

Oh, yeah, and I'd just invested in a set of Foredom ceramic rotary tips for my Dremel tool, and they are absolutely fabulous for carving the MDF in the way I want to.

As you can see, I had a very productive couple of days last week. I won't be donating each of these, but I'll pick a couple to frame up and add to the show.

Now I'm going to be away from the studio for at least another week or so, but hope to get back to it when I return, as I've got lots of ideas that I'd really like to work on.

Award of Merit

Being Shod
reduction relief print - MDF carved with Dremel
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on Rising Stonehenge
© Amie Roman

I have been honoured with an award of merit from the Delta Arts Council's artSpacific exhibition for my piece, "Being Shod". My thanks to the jurors who chose my piece for this award, and my congratulations to the other artists whose work was also recognized at the event. It's the first time I've received a juried award, so I'm very thrilled (although one of my paintings was chosen in a wine label viewer's choice event, and that was also pretty exciting).

If you're able to get to see the show, it is at the Firehall Centre for the Arts (11489 84 Avenue, Delta), until May 29, open 10am to 4:30pm.

Make It Small

Sometimes, the big picture is easy to capture and I sketch along happily. Other times, like last week, I can't seem to wrap my brain around perspective or proportions, and I have to make do with making it small. Dave & I spent a few hours of a hot sunny afternoon at the Cowichan Bay fishermen's warf, me sketching & photographing, Dave just looking around (which he enjoys doing and, bless him, he's got lots of patience for me when the inspiration to make art rarely rears its head).

Fishing Gear - pen sketch
© Amie Roman

Inspired by Dean Russell Thompson's recent exhibition of his "hidden landscapes" of machinery & industrial artifacts, I thought I'd focus in on some of the more interesting paraphernalia liberally strewn about the decks of the various fishing vessels.

Float - conté watermedia crayon on paper
© Amie Roman

I took heaps of photos, though, so I'm hoping to get at least a few prints eventually out of the trip. There were some great shapes & colours that would translate beautifully into block printing.

Birthdays

I have actually been doing a little art, here and there (a little more this week, but we'll get to that in another post); I've just not had a lot of enthusiasm about posting. I spend most of my day on a computer for work, and I have two weekly posts over at Printsy, so by the time my "spare" computer time rolls around, generally I would rather play with GIMP, or catch up with the Reader (yeah, I know, I've not posted anything about that, either, but there have been some good ones, so hopefully I'll be able to pull together something for you on that next week). So, this blog suffers. Bad, Amie, bad.

Well, I had three birthdays (two within days of each other in April, one at the beginning of May) to come up with cards for; fortunately, two of the recipients aren't fussy and were happy with the same card. I took two of the images that I'd played with in GIMP, and turned one

Goofy Murri - digital drawing
© Amie Roman

into a very "quick & dirty" relief print:

Goofy - MDF block print, Dremel carved
Daniel Smith water soluble inks on card stock
© Amie Roman

and the other:

Sitting - digital drawing
© Amie Roman

into a watercolour:

Sun Spot - watercolour
© Amie Roman

All cards were enthusiastically received, and I'm safe for another year (oh, well, until Christmas...)