Sap and Sprouts

I have a lot of little projects growing at the moment, all at different stages of development... some are merely subtle subconscious stirrings, others actually underway but seemingly perpetually-in-progress. Yet -- it all feels right for this time of year. It still looks like winter out there, but underneath the snow and the river ice, all sorts of things are happening.



One of the things brewing is a new website, which will allow this blog to be more "bloggy"... a place for ideas and process, rather than finished products. In that spirit, I am posting a video of my most inspiring spring moment so far, recorded at the mouth of the Fraser River in Vancouver at the end of February.

Perhaps the season I'm looking forward to isn't Spring, but Sing....
(and yup, it's sideways...but it's all about the audio).

My Own Devices

So. It's winter. The nights are long, and suddenly, I've got loads of time for making stuff. I splurged on some vellum a couple of years ago, and I've finally given myself permission to use some. Boy, is it an amazing material.



This little (4" x 3 1/4" x 1") improvised limp vellum binding has silk ribbon ties and is sewn into the vellum with gray silk cord. When I say improvised, I mean I have no idea what I'm doing, just trying to make something that I like based on photos of old books that I liked too. Hopefully, this little book will also function well, and endure.



Now, I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this, but playing with some curly
scraps of vellum, I couldn't resist constructing this little book ring.







I've decided that I'm on sabbatical this year. I haven't decided what that means, precisely, since of course, I will have to keep working. Perhaps this means more room to experiment, permission to say no to certain things, fewer self-imposed or external deadlines. Sigh.



I'm starting my mental holiday off right: with a small show of new, sculptural paintings in my new home town of Kentville, at the Designer Cafe, 373 Main St. If you're in town, I hope you'll stop in for a look. They make a mean coffee too.

Autumn

Texture is a big deal for me these days. I built these pebbles from various kinds of acrylic goo.



It has been a time of experiments -- but of squeezing art-making into the early morning hours, the evenings and the weekends. Part of me can't wait until winter, to spend cosy nights making lichen quilts like the little sample above, or printing with and without ink as below --

I've had access to a printing press again for the last little while, and although my first few attempts have been more about acquainting myself with the quirks of another Vandercook than about really printing anything much, I am proofing with intent, and pleased with some of the results. I am planning to print a large series with this pebble pattern (from a large linoleum block) in various shades of rose and gray.

And... in the spirit of "waste not want not" I made these little notebooks with my first proofs from the pebble block.

Summer

Well, it has been a busy summer(not that it is over, but it is passing quickly). In May, I had several abstract pieces in this year's 'Pierscape', part of the Whitney Pier Festival of the Arts. At the end of May, I moved from Sydney to Kentville, Nova Scotia to be closer to our future farm. This meant that June was very busy with digging and planting a new garden. But, I was also busy making several new textured (and in some cases, tex-tiled) pieces for a show coming up at the Cape Breton University Art Gallery, opening next Friday (Aug. 13th) and running 'til October 3rd.

After a couple of winter months of total exhaustion, and feeling convinced that I would never paint again (I'm so melodramatic...) I decided that I would try working with my obsessions, instead of against them. If all I want to do is paint, sew and emboss lichens and pebbles, then why not? Isn't that my prerogative as an artist? This decision has been incredibly fruitful, yielding all kinds of weird and unexpected work.

This 18" x 36" "painting" of apothecia (lichen 'fruiting cups') includes forms sewn & built from linen fibres, collapsed half-silk cocoons, and some embroidery.

The black piece has sewn cup forms made of carbonized bamboo fibre, which are filled with

glossy black acrylic medium. I love the matte and glossy blacks together. The white piece is also sculptural, with forms that I built up with modelling paste and other media... it was a bit like icing a cake (especially when I was squeezing medium out of a bag). I am really enjoying making forms that cast shadows.

This 12" x 12" lichen composition involved a lot of layering, and some scraping down through media. The oil pastels combined with the acrylics give things a satisfying glow.

This is one of two Glace Bay rock paintings included in the CBU show. They've got layers and layers of a honey-tinted medium that give wonderful depth to the image. If only I could capture that in the photo...



And finally, yesterday I was at the Chester Art Fair. Hundreds of people came by to see all kinds of artworks, including my letterpress work, paintings, cards, and handmade journals like these. I think a good time was had by all.

Books and Broadsides

This is my book 'Song of Salmon'; a hand bound, illustrated accordian book, printed at the Penland School of Crafts in a (very) limited edition. It was set in Bembo type, and printed on damp St. Armand paper with a #4 Vandercook proofing press (named Buddy) and a whole lotta love. I am completing the binding at home in Cape Breton. A limited number of copies will be available for sale soon.

Open the embossed cover and peek inside....



Each stanza faces a two-colour reduction linoleum cut.







All I can say is that this kind of photography is not my strength!
Better pictures coming soon.

With the accordian fold extended, you get an idea of how all the images work together to show

the salmon on their journey.

Here are the blocks, carved for the first colour (posed for style!).

Below are five broadsides I made from the poem and images - each stanza

with its corresponding illustration. Printed in editions of 12, copies are

available for sale.

2010

A detail from the first 2 panels of a 6 panel work-in-progress - the first piece from a new collection. Stay tuned for rhythmic treescapes and the contemplative "pauses" of ocean horizons.

Give Art

Tangerine
7.12" x 10.25"
egg tempera and acrylic on Cartiera Magnani paper
$150

Art makes a great gift! Have a look: notecards, reproductions, prints, paintings of all sizes. If a piece disappears from this page, it has probably been sold (but not necessarily - email me).


Seeds
13" x 5"
egg tempera and graphite on paper
$150


Ghost flower bookmarks
wood engraving printed on luscious Fabriano Rosaspina paper
8" x 2.4"
$5 ea.


Date study
10.25" x 7.12"
graphite and egg tempera on Cartiera Magnani paper
$100


Cortinarius
8" x 6"
egg tempera on Fabriano Rosaspina paper
$150


Coltricia
9.5" x 6.5"
egg tempera on Rives paper
$150


Calypso
11" x 15"
egg tempera on paper
$250


Rhododendron branch
13" x 9.5"
ink and wash on Rives paper
$100


Black chanterelle II
3" x 3.5" (mushroom)
11" x 7.25" (paper)
egg tempera on St. Armand paper
$75



Black chanterelle I
3.5" x 3.5" (mushroom)
11" x 7.25" (paper)
egg tempera on St. Armand paper
$75

Sand/sky no.4
10" x 10"
acrylic on natural linen
$275


Alders
10" x 10"
acrylic on canvas
$275



Graceful Helvella
digital print edition of 200
8" x 10"
$25 ea



'Bolete' hand-tinted reduction linocut
edition of 25
4" x 6"
$25 ea.


Three mushroom notecard designs:
Helvella, Phlogiotis, and Cortinarius (L-R)
5" x 7" cards with envelopes
$5 each


solomon's seal
36" x 24"
acrylic on hardboard
$300


these leaves
36" x 24"
acrylic on canvas
$450


Seaweed surface II
24" x 20"
acrylic on canvas
2007
$350

Ochrolechia variations (diptych)
30" x 60" acrylic on canvas
2007, 2008
$1500


Kaff mariam (twilight)
21 1/2" x 18"
acrylic on canvas
2007
$450


Kaff mariam
egg tempera and coffee on paper
2008
$325


Helvella
30" x 30"
mixed media on canvas
2007
$850

Helvella crispa I
12" x 9"
coloured pencil on paper
2005
$175

Frangipani leaves
32" x 25 1/2"
acrylic on canvas
2007
$850 (framed) $750 (unframed)

desert hyacinth with blood or fire
acrylic on linen
22" x 22"
2008
$600

Aloescape III
28 3/4" x 24"
acrylic on canvas
2007
$850(framed) $750 (unframed)

Calypso
24" x 20"
acrylic on canvas
2006
$450