More Art

Counting, 2012
From the Memory Loss series
ink, found paper, screenprint, collage
5" x 6"

A Big Welcome to Stone Rose Gallery

The huge crowd spilled out into the street last night at the inaugural exhibition for the new Stone Rose Gallery in Long Beach, owned by artist Michiel Daniels. It was the place to be.

Stone Rose Gallery's first show is a stunning one: Large scale paintings by Maggie Lowe Tennesen shimmer under the Gallery's spot lights.

Marilyn, Here's One for You!

My friend, Marilyn, who lives in Nashville, loves yard sales and zeros in on the best finds. She and her daughters recently participated in the annual Longest Yard Sale near Nashville, which she covered in a recent post on her blog, Harpethview.com. The blog is terrific and covers a wide range of good topics, from yard sales to politics to gingerbread houses.

So, Marilyn, I thought you'd enjoy Joe's finds from this morning's swap:

Vintage wood spindles of wire... a box of 30 like these.

A cute kitty mug, great for morning coffee.

Two big cow bells. Now we can keep track of Sophie.

Four gorgeous Mexican cooking bowls.

The Anatomy of a Print

I've been storing a bag of dried bulbs, waiting for inspiration, which came the other day. The following five pictures show the bulbs arranged on white paper. Such beautiful lines, shapes, and compositions.

This grouping suggests a nest, which gave me an idea for a screenprint to add to the Memory Loss series.

Using photoshop, I turned the nest-like image into a high contrast black and white image on transparency so that I could burn a screen.  Above, you see the resulting image printed in a dark brown. 

A variation of the nest image became layer two, seen by itself above.

Here is a third variation.

The edition of screenprints began with  the three layers printed on top of each other, as you see above. A final layer in black was added to give the nest image more clarity. The stencil used for printing the black layer was built from a pencil line drawing. After completing the nest, I handprinted a poinsettia leaf on each print and added watercolor to it. The poinsettia leaf has been used as metaphor for memory loss throughout the series. Finally, I'll add encaustic to the surface. This will yellow the paper a bit, give it a leather-like surface and make it look old. I have to wait a few weeks before completing this step because the waterbased inks I've used throughout the image building process will smear if they are not thoroughly dry.

Stylin'

Hey! My new fuchsia bathing suit arrived today. I'll match the cutie on the beach below! We're da bombs.

Another Saturday Round About

I wish my friend, Pam, and her dog, Kenzie, could have joined me on my neighborhood walk in cool and breezy weather this morning. They've been suffering the midwestern heat spell and their usual walks in the park have been few and far between.

The highlight this morning was an adorable mural painted on an empty storefront window along Atlantic Avenue. I love the exuberance! Here it is, in three parts:

At the end, I noticed these large gorgeous pots in our alley that somebody left for free pick up. Yippee! Right place and right time - they are now ours.

On Being Rude

My printmaking classes for fall semester, like many others at LBCC, filled up in the first three weeks of registration and now include huge wait lists. But because class sizes were increased for the fall, perhaps as a way to help alleviate difficulties due to the budget cuts caused by the California financial crisis, I have too many students enrolled as it is. I don't plan to add anyone to my introductory screenprinting class.

This situation is frustrating for all of us.

In this climate, I am experiencing something new as a teacher. I'm getting rude, threatening e-mails from students who can't get into my class. They seem to think all this is my fault and that I'm targeting them personally.

What are they thinking? That I'll respond to their rudeness by happily giving them a seat in my classroom? Why would anyone think it is fine to send a rude and threatening e-mail to a teacher because the class is full?