Steamroller Printing

Last Sunday, Steve and I went to the Printing Arts Fair in North Andover, Massachusetts. Even though the weather was pretty bad, it was still fun, as most of the action was indoors. The steamroller folks set up a tent outside and made prints in spite of the rain. I'll squeeze as many of the photos as I can here to show you of one of the linocuts that were printed that day.

Another wildlife incident

I may have to turn this into a nature blog. Today, I watched a ruby-throated hummingbird slam into a window and crash to the ground. The little bird, a female, lay still in the grass, with her eyes closed. One of her wings looked bent and twisted and her tailfeathers were splayed out. I picked her up carefully and folded her wing in to her body. I could feel her heart beating, about a zillion times a minute. She blinked her eyes but didn't struggle at all. After a few minutes, she lifted her head up; I opened my hand and she buzzed off, seemingly as good as new. What a gift! 

Thanks to "Miss Mouse" for the photo. 

Face to face

I'm posting this woodcut (done a couple of years ago) as an illustration of an exciting incident I had last night. Just after dark, I stepped outside the back door. I was a couple of feet away from the corner of the house and saw an animal just coming around from the other side. I kind of gasped and the animal huffed and turned around. I ran in the house and turned on the floodlight out front, thinking I'd seen a big dog or something. There was a full-grown black bear, just crossing over the driveway! My knees knocked for awhile. I've seen quite a few bears over the years, but never as close as 2-3 feet. Whew!

Ms Liberty

This woodcut of a nude has nothing to do with the show, "Love, Lust & Desire," that I mentioned in an earlier post. I did it for an exchange, the theme of which was "Nudes." 

The show opening was great fun! The McGowan gallery was jammed with people the entire time. Two of the four paintings I have in the show have sold. They happened to be the ones I posted here. Many other paintings went off to happy buyers, too. Who says we're in a recession? (OK, they were all small, 8.5" x 11" or less, and pretty low-priced, under $300. But still.) 

Illawarra Plum

This is a reduction woodcut that I did for a print exchange. It's oil-based ink on mulberry, 8" x 6" and has colored pencil added for the plums. I'm not completely happy with the green; in retrospect I would have made it lighter. The plant is native to Australia; I used Internet references and made up my version of it. 

Add-on

I lost the other image yesterday and blogger wouldn't let me add it, so here's another try. 

Valentines

OK, I know it's been forever since I've posted. My only excuses are: holidays, laziness and ....um, that's about it. I was asked to submit some small work for a show at the McGowan Gallery (www.mcgowanfineart.com) in Concord called, "Love, Lust & Desire." Attached are two of the paintings I'm sending, "Conversation" and "Lonely Radish."  Bet you were wondering how the radish would fit into a show with that title, huh? Well, it IS a French breakfast radish..... 

Conversation is acrylic on gessobord, 6" x 6" and the radish is acrylic on gessoed paper, 10" x 7".