Christmas in Kansas

After two days of airport adventure (which were thankfully not as disruptive as they sound), I arrived in Kansas to celebrate Christmas with my in-laws. While I never thought that traveling on Christmas would be a positive experience in any sense of the word, once I finally got off the ground in Burlington, it turned out to be quiet uneventful.

I arrived in Kansas to a white Christmas, the very white Christmas that I was afraid would make it impossible for me to land at all. After braving the traffic of poor sad Kansans without snow tires who were, it would seem, scared to pick through the drifts, we arrived home to a household of hungry in-laws who good-naturedly ribbed me about holding up the Christmas present unwrapping by more than 24 hours.

On this fair occasion, I was blessed with a Snuggie, a telescoping meat fork, and a digital picture frame (preloaded with our wedding pix, which was very thoughtful), as well as a BluRay edition of Big Trouble in Little China, perhaps one of my favorite childhood movies of all time. My brother-in-law, on quite an art kick, apparently, got me a really nice book with lots of pictures called "Graffiti Women." He told us, "I bought this when I saw the print you'd been working on of the mixer. I thought you needed to get out of the kitchen."

"And onto the streets?" I asked.

"Right."

Said with usual Proulx dry humor, I am 97% sure he does not think of me as a 1950's housewife. But this did get me to thinking about the way people interpret ones art, and what it makes them think and believe about the artist themselves. I was looking through the book of Graffiti Women, which has some really amazing art in it, but I have some really mixed feelings about illegal art -- which forces me to think about how I feel about the artists tagging trains and public spaces (especially the ones who work without permission -- although some of them DO obtain it). As I looked at the work in the book, my thoughts went something like this: "That's awesome. I love those colors! I can't read that writing. Oh, look, that one is painted inside a house! That makes me feel better. Oh, that's on a train. Likely not legal. Why would someone do that?" Which then makes me wonder...what do people think about me when they see my work? Not that I do a ton, or am very prolific...but even so.

It's interesting when you're trying to create something. I find it difficult to just whip out a print when I was to -- I have to expend a good deal of mental energy finding a subject (and I use the word loosely) that is interesting enough for me to want to work with. And there's that additional hurdle of seeing the image you want in your head and being simply unable to make it work on paper. The art I create in my head (especially during church when I actually allow my brain to turn off my constant to-do list) is incredibly inspired.. What comes out on paper is this sad sad reflection of what I hoped it could be.

I think, too, about what a body of work says about a person. I use the word person instead of artist, because calling someone an artist seems so pretentious to me...and because I don't think of myself as such. When my brother-in-law was looking through some of the art books he got for Christmas, I borrowed the book on Magritte to flip through it. When I look at a large collection of an person's work, I wonder what it means. How does it fit into the framework of the lives they have developed for themselves? Does their art actually reflect who they are on a day to day basis? Can you guess anything about the way they walk, talk, or interact with others by looking at the visual imagery they create?

Is it important to view art in the context of the artist, or does it exist independently? Can one have meaning without the other?

Like a Layer Cake...but with paint

The last couple weeks of printmaking class, our teacher tried to convince us to work on layering some of the different techniques we had learned. I wasn't feeling particularly inspired at the time we were given this "assignment," but I decided to do some monoprinting and add it to this screenprint I had already worked from:

I had some moments of panic in which I started working on my monoprint upside down. One of the hardest things about printmaking, as far as I'm concerned, is having the spatial intelligence to understand which way your print will print. It varied by technique -- some techniques, like etching and linocut, print backwards from the way you make them. Others, like silkscreening, print forwards. When you try to mix a backwards technique with a forwards...then your brain turns to noodles.

In the end, I ended up with these two prints, one more detailed, and the other more abstract:

 

While these are cropped digitally, there is some mad crookedness in the original that is less than ideal and deserves some consideration, but overall, I think that the effects of these two are nice -- and crookedness can always be cured with a good trim and frame, right?

I also worked on this little piece, which did not turn out perfectly, but is certainly something to continue working on:

While currently the bottom just looks blank, it is in fact chunky and white (snow, if you will) in the paper print. This is an etching I worked on (the tree), with oil paint filling in the outline, and then a monoprint of the snow and bluebird.

I think that layering has it's advantages, but unfortunately, the techniques that is easiest to layer (screenprinting) is also the most time-consuming and expensive to prepare...not particularly feasible for me right now, seeing as I am poor :) But I plan to do some work with etching, linocut, and monoprinting, and am still hatching the greeting card plan, if only I could find a good producer of blank cards...

Pascal

The blog has been quiet because life has been busy! This past weekend, we traveled to Ste. Beatrix, QC to pick up our newest family member! Meet Pascal (formerly Boubou):

The good news is that after the new year, I've decided to go to one day a week at my part-time retail job...which means more time for printmaking! I'm psyched to get back into the studio after the hoopla of the holidays, and I have some ideas hatching in my brain for a new kind of project! :)

Our Lady of Guadalupe Shirt Giveaway

I've mentioned in previous posts that while I by no means do exclusively religious work, I am very inspired by the imagery of my faith (Hey, worked for Michelangelo, right?). Sarah, a friend who blogs over at Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering is giving away one of my Guadalupe t-shirts as part of her novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Check it out and leave a comment if it's something you're interested in -- she'll pull a random winner after the 12th, so there's still a couple days left!

Last Day of Class

Today was the final day of printmaking class! We got a dump of winter weather up here in Vermont last night, so I was feeling ready to hibernate and not at all eager to attend, but I decided to put in an appearance, and hoped that my teacher and classmates would show up.

Luckily, George did appear, and so did one of my classmates. I did a little work silkscreening over a couple monoprints I made last week, with mixed success. A couple of the pieces turned out well, and a couple were big fails. Once they dry and I pick them up, I'll include pictures here. I also printed a couple more Norman Bates prints, as I sold my last one! :)

And now class is over, and the decision remains...will I become a member of Burlington City Arts and shell out the money to use the studio space each month ($50/month) in the hopes of continuing my printmaking work...or will I find myself too busy?

I think that I'm going to continue to use the studio throughout December (I feel like that's legitimate since my class just ended), and then perhaps pay for January use of the space, and see how much use I get out of it. I'll then make decisions accordingly about continuing. The other options exists of renting the space by the day (for $35). In that case, I could work at home on lino-cuts and etchings, and just print a glut of work one a single full day in the studio.

What's a great creative outlet, though! I've really enjoyed the work I've done, and while there is always more to learn, I've found a couple techniques that I love...and a couple techniques I'm not sure about yet. More exploration to come!

Tulip Silhouette: Linocut

I'm a crafty kind of girl. Actually, it's kind of weird for me to be doing "art," in this whole printmaking adventure instead of working on the handicraft side of things. I crochet like mad. I knit. I love to collage. I've made jewelry. I have been known to fold a paper crane or two...hundred.

I'm approaching my one year wedding anniversary, and for the big event, I crafted by butt off. I made my hair comb, I made my veil

I made my shrug I wore at our reception

I made ornaments for favors and I made our centerpieces out of silver sticks

And I made a metric ton of origami tulips

I really loved those flowers, because the lines of the origami were so simple and crisp. I still have the tulips all over our apartment in various vases and places. I thought that using a bud in a vase would make an interesting linocut, so I took this picture and did a little photoshopping.

And then I made a linocut, and printed it in two different colors

I enjoy the red, in that it's perhaps a more traditional flower color, but the black is really quite striking, I think. It lends itself better to the idea of shadow and light, which I love about this piece.

A Quiet Week

Although I have been quiet to the blogging world in the last week, I've been busy.

Last week, my husband and I flew home (to my home) for Thanksgiving, which was really wonderful and relaxing and celebratory. My siblings and their significant others were all home, as well as the whole posse of dog nieces and nephews that I love dearly.

While I haven't been working, per se, I did have my mind on printmaking while at home. I took a happy trip to Dick Blick, which has a fabulous selection online, but no stores here at home in Vermont. Bless their Ohio location. While I really reigned in my desire to purchase several thousand things, I managed to restrain myself and just purchase a couple types of block printing ink and a piece of their linoleum for testing, with the idea that I can always order things that work. They did, however, have 6x6 pieces of lino, a size that our art store here doesn't, and although I did not buy it, I am intrigued at the idea of making square prints. Look out for those in the future...

Also, while hanging with my Dad in the garage one night (long story), I had the bright idea that he could help me make a carving board for my lino work. The previous week, I gouged two of my fingers while working on a linocut (my first printmaking related injuries, and two at once!) and I determined that a board to have at home would be mighty nice. We got to work, and produced one relatively quickly.

When we arrived home Saturday, I immediately started preparing for my upcoming term in school. We operate on trimesters, and even though it's a pain, I'm grateful to have a new batch of kiddos to teach, and a new set of classes to tackle. I was desperately in need of a chance before I left for break!

I have class again on Wednesday, and plan to get back into the studio as soon as possible. It's good to be home, and I'm ready to work on something new...when time allows!