Gallery in the Garden

Last Sunday, I participated in the Delta Arts Council's Art in the Garden this year, held at Wellbrook Winery in south Delta. The weather was perfect, the setting was fabulous, there were an amazing number and selection of artists at the event, and we had a pretty good turnout. They placed us under this beautiful copper beech tree, one of my favourites, and it gave us lovely shade all day long. I even managed to sell a couple of pieces! I demonstrated printmaking while there, setting up my new baby press and churning out little prints to hand out to people who were interested. I spent a lot of time explaining printmaking and the various techniques that I use, and specifically showing how relief printmaking works. I had a number of people very interested in learning, a few teachers who will probably contact me to do some in-class demos or workshops with their kids, and a few workshop and demo organizers for various art groups who were likewise interested. All in all, a delightful day, and I hope to be invited back again next year.

Dave spent the week before labouriously constructing these magnificent art display stands, and Mom came over to help out for the weekend, so we set her to painting them a flat, neutral grey. They looked so professional and really worked well for display, as well as standing up very well to the brisk wind that continued to blow throughout the day.

Sold!

Bare Branches II, single block relief print
3"x4", Speedball water-soluble inks on Strathmore Bristol 2006

I put two prints into the recent International Miniature Print Exhibition at the Ottawa School of Art, and both of them sold! The gallery/school has been less than brilliant at communicating anything to any of the participants. I had to find out that I was accepted through a printmaker in the area who went to the exhibition and let me know (and took photos of the exhibit itself). I had to find out that I sold one piece from her email, and another piece from my Aunt's email to me after she and her son had visited the show. I'm happy that I was accepted and thrilled that my work sold, but really, a little communication on the part of the organizers wouldn't kill them. Ah, well!

Where the Lilies Grow, reduction cut relief print
4"x3" (approx.), Speedball water-soluble inks on Strathmore Bristol, 2007

Opening Night, Mark II

Thursday, November 8 marked the opening for the Place des Arts Positively Petite exhibition, which coincided with the solo exhibition opening, Solitude, paintings by my friend, Alice Rabinowitz. As my relief printmaking class at Port Moody Arts Centre got canceled (only one person signed up, sigh), I was able to make the opening.

Alice's show is a collection of paintings and haiku, from florals to life models to en plein air, including watercolours, monotypes and mixed media work. The work was beautifully hung in a spacious room at Place des Arts, and there were many people in attendance admiring Alice's work, including a number of friends that drove all the way out from the west side of Vancouver, White Rock and North Vancouver on a weekday evening!

Alice Rabinowitz with her monotype "Sun Shower" at "Solitude"

At the Positively Petite opening, I met a fellow Wet Canvas! addict, Madelaine Fedorowich. She hangs out usually in the acrylics, oils and miniature forums, so I don't cross paths online with her too often. Anyway, it was very exciting to put a face to a web presence, and to her art - it was nice to meet her there. This was Madelaine's first exhibition, with a delightful selection of tiny, cheerful little birds (and other subjects), so congratulations Madelaine!

Work of Madelaine Fedorowich at "Positively Petite"

Madelaine and myself in front of my works at "Positively Petite"

Also in attendance was another fellow Federation (and Wet Canvas!) artist, James Koll, who had absolutely exquisite watercolours, two of which (both of sunflowers) sold and left the building that night. Great work James!

I actually ran into quite a few people that I knew and didn't expect to see, so it was really a fun evening. If you are in Coquitlam, Alice's Solitude exhibition is on until December 8, and the Positively Petite exhibition until December 21.

Powerhouse

Last year, Dave & I visited the Powerhouse at Stave Falls in Mission. It was the power generating station for the Lower Mainland for much of the 20th century. There are many fascinating displays on hydroelectricity and power generation, and they've got a lot of the old machinery and gauges etc. in this huge generating room. The machinery definitely caught my fancy, so I have many photos from that trip for potential source material.

This print was done using the reduction cut method. I started with a cream-coloured paper (Rising Stonehenge "Cream" 245gsm), and used three colours in Speedball water-based inks: orange, rusty brown, and a dark plum brown. The final dimensions are just shy of 4"x4" (10cmx10cm)The image is a very close up look of part of one of the generators at the Powerhouse.

Printing setup (click to view larger)

First state (low light conditions make it look a bit yellow)

Second state

Final state (this one is a bit white; I think I used a flash!)

As I was working on this edition, I also did a monoprint using the various states. This piece is 9"x19"; please click on it to get a larger view.

Powerhouse Array
(colours aren't really correct - image software editing low-light exposure)

I seem to work best at night, or at least that's when I get in the groove to work. So these were printed between 7 -1130 pm last night (hence the weird light conditions). I have a "monthly challenge" from POG that I need to work on next... maybe that'll be tonight's project!

The Highs and Lows of Reduction

Here's the latest contribution to the portfolio.

"Where the Lilies Grow"
Speedball water based ink (6 colour run) on Strathmore Bristol, cut from vinyl, edition size 6, dimensions 100mmx71mm (roughly, but slightly smaller than, 4"x2 3/4").

1. I wanted to convey a cathedral-like atmosphere; the place where these tiger-lilies were growing was by a road cutting through northern forest. The trees in the background seemed to be uplifted and bringing the lilies up with them. So here's the underlying composition I was using:

Doesn't really quite line up properly here, but the idea was to have a vanishing point off beyond the paper, to give it the image some lift.

2. Something I'm extremely happy with is the "relief quality" feel of this piece. I sometimes struggle with the medium; I don't necessarily make use of that special quality of the relief print where there's tool marks, and the special kind of tool marks inherent in relief printing. Here's a close up of the upper left hand corner where I feel this was particularly successful:

This is also a good example of why I enjoy using reduction - I feel that the layering of the colours is particularly lovely in this passage.

3. Something I constantly struggle with and am not happy about is smudginess in parts where there's a large area that's been cut away and non printing surrounding a tiny area I want to print with the last colour when I'm down to my last state of the plate.

This is an example from one of the prints that did not make it into the edition. What a pain that it happens AT THE VERY LAST COLOUR. Argh. One of the pitfalls to reduction!

The more I read on the printmaking section of the WetCanvas! forum, and the more I work with the vinyl blocks & Speedball inks, the more I figure I need to buy some better materials. So I'm awaiting my litho friend's list of litho goodies he wants before I put in an order to Daniel Smith for some stuff. I've had a look at people's suggestions throughout the forum on inks & papers, so I've got some ideas of what I'd like to try. I'm afraid I'm going to stick with water based for now, mostly from the fumes perspective (oil-based inks make me nauseous), although I might sample the water cleanup oil-based inks at some point. I'm also thinking about Natalia's technique of combining reduction & multiplate once I get some lino blocks. I can't do that with sufficient exactness yet because I cut and size my own vinyl blocks, and I'm not precise enough to get good alignment for multiplate printing. Besides, the material is squidgy, so it can deform, thus two cut as exactly as possible might still not align properly.

Anyway, I'm still learning, and still figuring out things with this medium, and having a lot of fun doing it. Overall, I'm quite pleased with this edition (wish it had been a wee bit larger, but... ehn), and I'm very happy with the way the image worked out; it was definitely what I saw in my mind. And I really like the colours, too, kind of delicate. I think the feeling is just right.

Miniature Challenge

I just discovered Wet Canvas!, an internet artist community with amazing stuff. One of the groups is the Miniature Art section, and in there they have a monthly challenge. I decided what the heck! They post a few different photos, and you have to produce a piece that is no larger than 12 square inches in any media, based on at least one of the photos. So this was my contribution:

New Castle Lighthouse photo by karenjh
Dimensions: 10cmx6cm (roughly 4"x2 3/8")
Medium: Relief block print carved from vinyl/synthetic block, Speedball water-based ink, printed on Strathmore Bristol paper. Haven't finished the edition yet, so I don't yet know the size.

I'm rather pleased with the texture of the clouds & sky, and I was delighted at the texture of the lighthouse itself. While the original is actually of stone, this has the feel of a wooden structure, which is kind of neat.

Monthly challenges are a great way to get the old gears moving. I get stuck in a rut; not so much that I have no ideas (I usually have plenty) but I don't necessarily know where to start or which one to work on. I find that I prefer to figure out a way to do something first before I tackle it, then progress through it. I suspect that comes from my scientific background!