Friday, February 6, 2009

Where, oh where, has our printmaker gone...

Oh where, oh where can she be?

Distracted by contract work, that's where. Finally it's all over. At least until Monday. But the rush job was wrapped up this week and I'm back to having brain cells enough for more than one occupation! Hoorah!

Case in point: I have FINALLY finished the little sketchbook for the Art House Sketchbook #3 Project. I had the idea that I would build one of those nifty little slideshow thingies to show you all the pages, as Jafabrit has done, but for reasons which shall remain safely my own secret, I decided this was perhaps a little less than prudent. You caught a glimpse of the big foldout page, which takes up the middle of the book quite nicely, thank you very much. Here are a few others.


I found the entire project to be surprisingly challenging. Most interesting to me was that I ended up working the book outwards from the center in both directions.. and not in a particularly tidy fashion. As someone who primarily does reduction prints, it's imperative that I work in a steady, more or less linear mode. There's no going back to change something once it's carved! Random page generation seemed... I don't know... so... RANDOM. But, hoo-ee! Once I got going it was quite fun.

I'll be packing up the little beast and sending it off this week (deadline is next weekend!). The first exhibition of the collected sketchbooks will open February 27 at the Art House Gallery, and from there they are off on a grand tour. I would LOVE to see the show, but the closest scheduled venue at this point is Chicago... a bit of a commute. Hopefully they'll do some fun things with it online.

And speaking of exhbitions! Yikes! I've been a little entry-sending and show-organizing monkey lately. If it all comes through, well, I don't even want to think about it. There are a couple of local things coming up in March: I'll be hanging work at Mother's Bistro* in Buena Vista (opening date still TBD) and doing a stab-bound bookmaking workshop in Salida (March 14). Specifics to follow shortly!

* Yes, this is the place where the DM has a regular Wednesday night gig. Your Surrogate Cousin got some great press last week. Too bad they got the DM's first name wrong. (It's Dave, Beverly! ;-)

6 comments:

  1. These are wonderful. I especially like the sentiments in them.

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  2. Thanks, ladies... I think I actually learned some things during this project, which is always a positive!

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  3. I want to see the whole thing! (Yours mostly, but I wouldn't mind leafing through a representative sample of some of the others as well.) I loved the Art House Gallery's description of the show ("like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks").

    Does that third-grade BF know you've gone public about him this way? Could be an issue....

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  4. The meadowlark is wonderful - how I would like to see the whole sketchbook.

    BTW - I love my turtles - look at them every morning while I get ready for school.

    Lindy

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  5. Hi Lindy! It's funny... I can't look at the turtles without thinking of you, so I think we're even.

    Suz, the 3GBF is bored by pseudo-normal life, so I consider it my civic duty to put him in harm's way. ;-)

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Linocut in Progress: The Third Act

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