Back in the studio

Finished painting the last spread on the entire edition of Calypso, but haven't sanded all the back cover plexi yet. Spent the afternoon at Aaron's, photographing the book. Took about an hour and 45 minutes, probably because I was there asking for this and that! Should get the CD on Wed. It just absolutely poured as I arrived at his place, so the yard will be soaked for another few days.

Got my first drawing assignment from Suzy. One of the books she recommended arrived yesterday and I'm anxious to give it a try and see how it goes!

Another relaxing day

The trouble with taking a bit of time off is that it's deucedly hard to get back to work. And now that I've spent a bit of time in the garden, my mind's on all that I want to do in the garden and not so much on my next painting project, and I do have a project in mind that I need to be thinking about. And I need to finish my edition of Calypso. And anyhow, the ground is still a bit too wet for me to do much yet; I dug around a bit the last 2 days but it's still too muddy for planting, although I can set some rocks and concrete for paths.

Roslyn's group, The Tualatin Twelve, had their annual art show and sale today, so I went and visited with her. (Despite the name, there was no gun play.) Her work was definitely the best of the group. I bought a few of her cards (reproductions of her watercolors).

Spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up and decluttering. I talked to Sa'ad about coming to a potluck with a few of our friends to give a personal perspective about what's going on in Iraq, so I definitely need to clean house for that. I didn't get into the studio to work on the edition of Calypso, as I had planned for today, but I did do the write-up for the gocco class Laura wants me to teach in May, so I accomplished something. I must get a few more books finished tomorrow morning though, I'm off to the photographers at 3:30pm to get them photographed.

More about that Weight Room Magic

Put in another few hours slinging rocks and mud in the yard today, and I'm still not stiff and sore (except for the knees, just a little bit). Then went dancing for a few hours tonight (Tribal Stomp)...I'm so sold on this weight training business!

Did a little reading (that same German Expressionism book, for which I now owe something like $8 in late fees), but no studio time. I'll be back in the studio for a little bit tomorrow. but probably for the next 2 weeks will mainly be getting some yard work done and won't have very much studio time. Then it'll be taxes time again. Probably won't have any serious studio time for the 4 weeks, which is just as well, I'm still working out my next project in my head for the time being.

Appyhay ewnay earyay ofay ethay igpay!

Finished goccoing the Chinese New Year card this morning, mowed the lawn, went to the weight room, raked the lawn, and turned 2 composts (not tiny composts either, each was about 3'x3'x3'), and I'm Not Oy (TM)! It must be more of that Magic of Weight Training. My knees are a bit stiff though, don't know if there's anything I can do about that.

I think pretty much anyone reading this is already on my mailing list to get a new year card. But if you're not, or if you're not sure, and you'd like to get one, email me.

Saw an out of cycle movie tonight, 300. What a horrible movie. I was ready for some silly mindless entertainment, but this was bad beyond my expectations. I almost suggested that we leave part way through. It's even worse than The Curse of the Golden Flower...I think that movie had just a tiny bit of a plot, which is a great deal more than this one did.

A belated Chinese New Year card

Here's the front garden by the entry, after the dead plants have been removed and the sculptures put right side up again. Daffodils and tulips are up, the viburnum (on the left) has been blooming continuously since last October, the hellebore have been blooming for about a month or so.



Spent the afternoon laying out my Chinese New Year card (Year of the Pig) and started printing after dinner. Here's the first layer; I know, not too exciting. I wanted a framework for the top layer of text that will be printed last. This was a mixture of inks left over from printing Calypso (watercolor brown, bronze, plus some Dark brown). I stored all the leftover ink in Altoid tins, and they're keeping really well.



The 2nd layer, on the drying rack. This is the background text. It's a detail from an old manuscript. I love how they look all laid out in rows. I'm easily amused. The same ink as I used for the 1st layer, but I added a bit more dark brown and some leftover gold. These inks are just roughly mixed so there's a bit of variation from print to print, and also within a print the colors are variegated. The metallics are also coming through in areas.



A close-up.



Frontal view of the card with the first 2 layers. It's 11pm already; I think I'll print the next (and last) layer tomorrow.



I've printed the backside already, but that's just a bunch of text; no picture. I did find a typo/spello, I guess I'll have to fix that by hand. It's an edition of 88 (for those into Chinese lucky numbers).

A glorious day for yard work

Spent most of the afternoon working in the yard, cleaning up the winter debris and pruning the roses (I know, it's a bit late for that). Filled up my yard debris can in no time at all. It's looking better, but of course we know what an endless supply of work the garden is. I meant to take a picture of the Viburnum Bodnantense which has been blooming continuously since October (that's 4 months now). Will try to remember tomorrow.

All that weight training has paid off. I'm not achy and stiff after my day in the yard. But who knows what tomorrow will bring. Although, I never got my typical 'gocco back' from goccoing daily for almost 2 weeks, several hours a day, either.

Tomorrow -- goccoing the Chinese new year card (yes, I'm late on that front, too).

Catching up on stuff

Spent most of the afternoon catching up on correspondences and cleaning out my email boxes. There's still plenty to do. It was the book arts meet tonight, but only Sue and I were there. Saw her 'marionette' book. What a great idea, and what a hoot! The movie tonight was The Host; very much an edge-of-the-seat movie. And the sound track was great.

Admin day

The shadow book exchange is more or less finished at this point. Boxes of books went out for Ann, Sibyl, and Shane today. Lisa and I decided to wait for Robyn's books, so I still have that to deal with. Since only Lisa and I are waiting for Robyn, it's turned out to be a bit more complicated, with everyone except Robyn putting in 3 books (and getting 3 back), and Robyn putting in 2 books (and getting 2 back). Since she'll be getting one of mine and one of Lisa's, and Lisa and I will each get one of hers, it became more restrictive as to who will get what, and I couldn't manage to get one of the books I wanted. Well, I suppose if I spend enough time trying to figure out how to arrange it, I could've made it work, but I didn't have that much time.

And finally filled out my application for Portland Open Studios, which is now completely online. Still need to upload the images though. Next – deal with the Focus on Books exhibit and the Bainbridge Island exhibit.

Ordered the books that Suzy recommended for Tibetan Buddhist art. I might be entering into an apprenticeship for thangka restoration and conservation! I'm still a little undecided on that. On the one hand, a) it will be a very cool thing to learn about and b) it can become an income source, if I prove to be any good. However, a) it is a distraction from my main interests (Islamic art, miniatures) and b) it looks to be a 6 months - 2 year commitment (depending on how much time/week I can spend on it). If she did Persian miniature restoration, I would've jumped in head, belly, and feet first already. But as it stands, I'm a bit on the fence.

The first 5 boxed up and ready to go

Another day with lots of pictures. This was really from last Thursday, when the critique group met. I picked up the paper 'nest/skull' from our previous meeting. My intention was to make an origami ball and inflate it after I insert it though one of the openings. I wanted the ball to be big enough so that it can freely rattle around in the nest but not fall out. Well, after many attempts, I couldn't remember how to make a ball, so there's a cube in there instead. And the openings were really larger than I figured (partly because the paper nest/skull is pretty flexible), so I had to secure the cube. I also stitched up the largest opening. The cube is made from dyed tyvek; the 'threads' I used to sew up the opening were just thin strips of tyvek as well.



Okay! The first 5 signed and numbered copies of Calypso, in their little containers. Two of these are copies for myself and three are going to the exchange. I not going to worry about printing the titles on the spine for these; they're going out as they are.



The front cover. You can sort of make out that the title is casting a shadow.



The book opened up, the front view. The back cover is deliberately marked up, scuffed up, and the paper worn on the edges; you can't really tell from the photo though.



The back of the book.



I hope to take real pictures of the book later this week.

Tacoma Biennial (or, 41 artists)

This was the big field trip to Tacoma today, to see the biennial and go to the panel talks. Left the house at 8:45am and got home after 7pm. And we didn't really have enough time to see the biennial itself! By the time I picked up the rest of the gang in N. Portland and we arrived at Tacoma, it was time for lunch. The talk was at 1pm, so we only had 20 minutes to see the exhibit itself. There were 3 speakers for the 1st part, talking about regionalism/globalism, then it was a panel discussion with writers and critics of the region. It was interesting at times and pretty sleep inducing at times. 41 artists were in the show (chosen from amost 900 applicants). I really do wish we had more time.

It absolutely poured on the way back, just buckets. My knees are pretty sore from sitting most of the day (I drove both ways) and not getting to move around much.