Round 2 (And My 100th Post!)

Thank you so much for all of your comments on my post yesterday! I have definitely learned my lesson when it comes to editing out my stamps... carve, test, wait at least 24 hours, then edit.

Who am I kidding, I'm totally going to make this mistake again. It's just so hard to resist making changes when I can tell something doesn't look right.

Fortunately, I had a lovely Sunday afternoon to make up for my poor artistic decision. I carved two lino blocks - a second attempt at my trapezoidal print and an etching-style face image - and then rushed to stamp out some test prints before the Grammys (T and I just love our award shows).



I opted to make the trapezoidal print a little more fractured so that the figures would stand out. I'm not sure if I was successful in this regard, but at least it doesn't resemble the crazy stick figure print I ended up with yesterday after I went all Freddy Kruger on my first lino block.


My face print was less successful, although it was definitely an interesting experiment. I tried to carve the lines as if I was drawing (no easy feat with a less-than-razor-sharp carving tool), and I purposely left much more positive space on the block than I normally do. The ink was a little too thick on some of the test prints, so the fine lines didn't come through. However, I think I've learned enough from this print to do a better job on the next one.



I'm really happy with the lino prints I carved this weekend, although I'm amused that I didn't scratch any goals off my list. However, this post marks a pretty momentous accomplishment anyways because it's my 100th! Holla! (Sorry, I couldn't help myself).

I hope you've all enjoyed the first 100 posts. The blog has evolved somewhat since May, but I think I've stayed fairly true to my central goal of getting my artistic experiments out into the world and connecting with other crafty individuals. And even thought it's tough to post as regularly as I'd like, I'm still 100% dedicated to keeping this blog going and growing it's readership.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading!

Back on the Horse

I've been brainstorming ideas for a print image to accompany the short story I wrote last weekend. The story was written on the theme of the uncanny and it's been difficult to think of a good image to match it. Today, I sketched a rough idea inspired by one of my favourite paintings, Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2.


I drew the idea on one of my wood-backed lino blocks and carved it out using my new set of cheap (but sharp!) blades.





I really liked the resulting print, but I was disappointed that the figures didn't stand out more. T confirmed that this was so when he responded 'What figures?' and, thus, sealed the fate of my lovely stamp.

I went a little nuts cutting out sections and ended up with this:


Not really what I wanted....

I think I'll try a new image tomorrow and stay closer to the first print, but with slightly more defined figures. Despite the crumby end result, it was really fun to get back into some printmaking.

Brightening Up January

At such a drab time of year, it's important to keep tabs on the fun things in life. Here are a few of the things that brightened up my weekend:

1. Sunny, yellow tulips!


2. Discovering one of your favourite art stores has wood-backed lino blocks back in stock!


3. Finally putting one of your favourite Kid Icarus cards to good use! (Happy Birthday, Robin!)


4. Golden Retriever Puppies! (Specifically, the 3-month-old golden retriever puppy that your sister just bought)


Mid-January might not be the most inspiring time of year, but the cold weather sure helps keep a gal inside and productive. I finished an important goal this weekend - Number 7. Write on the theme of the 'uncanny'. My writing took the form of a five part short story and although it's still in rough draft form, I think it's a pretty interesting/creepy idea. I also did some brainstorming for other projects, but nothing worthy of actually scratching something else off the list.

I hope you all have your own bright things to keep your January cheery! A puppy definitely helps.

Travel Notes

After so many days of regular posts, I'm sad that I've let a week go by without writing something here. The reason is simply that I've been tired.

Most of the time my creative projects are the perfect antidote to a long day at work. Drawing, carving, writing... they all take my mind far away from my projects and make me feel as if I'm accomplishing something productive. However, sometimes my job uses up a bit too much of my creative energy and I wind up propped up on a pillow watching crime procedurals and pondering exactly how lame it would be to go to bed before 9:00 p.m. (Which, I've discovered, only messes up your sleep cycle and makes you feel worse.)

I feel very fortunate that I like my job, but lately I've had trouble finding my second creative wind in the evenings. Not the end of the world, but certainly a barrier to finding interesting things to post about.

Anyways, all this dramatic preamble just to state that I am still working away at my goals list in quiet, constructive ways. This weekend I started Number 85. Reread Europe poems.

I've already posted once about my Europe trip and the drawings I did while backpacking. Over the course of those five and a half months I also did a ton of writing. Most of it is descriptive (journal entries, experiences with fellow travelers) and a lot of it is bad (my first 'novel'), but I've always felt that there are probably a few poetic gems lost in the filthy pages of my notebooks. So I've starting working my way through them in search of little lines or passages that might be salvaged for new projects. It's painstaking, hilarious, and, at the very least, an amazing reminder of a few long-forgotten experiences.

I'll be sure to post anything good (or laughably bad) that I find. If I don't fall asleep watching The Mentalist, that is...

Hello, Global Village

Media, by altering the environment, evoke in us unique ratios of sense perceptions. The extension of any one sense alters the way we think and act - the way we perceive the world.

When
these
ratios
change,
men [and, presumably, women] change.

'The Medium is the Massage' - Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore


I read a lot of McLuhan for one of my upper year undergraduate courses and I often look at his books on my self and think I should read through that again... (hence number 51 on my list). Between starting this blog, becoming a member of facebook, and the changes I'm experiencing daily working in the publishing industry, I feel very drawn to McLuhan's aphoristic observations of media. Reading through some of his work tonight reminded of the great, perplexing discussions we used to have in class and would have normally inspired me to write at great length about art, technology, information, etc.

However, I also had a long day at work and got my H1N1 shot (I know, so 2009!), so I'm tired and my arm is aching. Perhaps I'll pick up this media theme in a later post, but for now I'm happy to head off to bed with a brain full of media and another goal scratched off of my list.

Pax Familia - Nan

Tonight I made what I believe will be my final edits to a poem I've had floating around for months. The poem, which is written in five small sections, has gone through many, many changes as I've worked to reduce my 'wordy' tendencies. I tend to gravitate towards sparse, sharp writing, but I often find it difficult to keep my own work clean and simple.

When I was younger, I used to hesitate to revise a poem once I'd written it because I felt that it would lose something from its original spirit. Silly, I know, but I wrote this way for years. Of course, now that I'm an editor I cringe at the very idea of sending a first draft out into the world. Revise, revise, revise. Always revise!

I'm fairly happy with the way the piece has turned out. My lovely literary scholar/best friend has also read it and given her valued seal of approval. However, I'm a little torn about whether I should post it on this blog or not. I know most of my readership in real life, so I'm not that worried about it being reclaimed somewhere on the world wide web. On the other hand, if I send it out to literary journals, I don't really want to have it already posted here.

I suppose for now I'll just have to be content with scratching another project off of my list (95). And perhaps posting a few lines just for fun...

Pax Familia - Nan (excerpt)

2.

We have culled her things
Searching for the ample lures of family history

Ancient sewing tools
Combines and wagons seized by rust
The machinery of true disfigurement

Oh, her horror stories were good

[If anyone is interested in reading the entire poem, just send me a note and I'll forward it via email. Even though I'm hesitant to post it, I would love some razor-sharp feedback.]

Buried Treasure

I was planning to make my own ravioli today (and scratch number 41 off my list) but a dinner invite changed our plans. So instead, I decided to tackle the considerably less sumptuous task of organizing my art supplies (5). I've blogged about the convenience of my art hutch before, but as I've gathered more and more printmaking supplies, convenience has slowly turned into jam-packed horror.


Clearly, my hutch needed a good reorganization.

I started by pulling every last notebook, drawing, lino carving, pencil, paper scrap, pen cap, and snip of twine from the hutch. Then I piled... good work... bad work... recyclable work... others' works... blank paper... blank cards...etc. And for a few hours I put a lock on my pack rat tendencies and threw stuff away. Not the most exciting process, but one that ultimately lead me to discover a few really cool things that I'd long forgotten.

Old sketches....




A repeating pattern that I created ages ago...


A quarter-finished scratch drawing...


Old notebooks filled with crazy ideas...


Then, with the help of a good basket...


and a good folder (thanks, Grace!)


my supplies were organized!


One down, ninety-nine to go.