Prudence and Patience

I'm slowly getting started on a new series of prints about two little girls and their adventures, called Prudence and Patience, presumably their names. Here's a test print of a plate that will be the border for most (or all) of the prints, which will be mostly wood cuts and engravings. The images will be similar to the Heavens to Betsy series, and will include captions, but I'm ready to really focus on my engraving skills, no matter how daunting.

While these girls are off having adventures, here are some peeks at the homelife of Jessica:

the start of a new moss garden and my new strawberry patch.

Human Book in Barcelona

My book "Secrets"  will be on display at the Human Book exhibit in Barcelona, Spain, during the Sant Jordi Festival on April 23, 2010! I've visited Barcelona once, many years ago, and fell in love with the beautiful city of wide promenades and fountains. I'm so glad to finally be there again, in spirit if not in person. My Spanish is a little rough, but I'm pretty sure all of the details are here:

   III Festival de libro de artista y de las pequeñas ediciones

 HUMAN BOOK 

el libro como necesidad humana de contar, de expresarse y de editar

23 de abril de 2010, Festividad de Sant Jordi

Barcelona, Plaza Sant Just (Barrio Gótico)

Plaza de Los Libros Imaginados

Invitación

Horas 12.00 del 23 de abril: apertura del Festival

Presentación del catalogo-ensayo sobre la muestra, con intervenciones de Alberto López Bargados, Eva Marxen, Aníbal Salazar Anglada, Roser López Monsó, Ignasi Blanch, Nani Tedeschi, y de representantes de instituciones y centros de arte relevantes en todo el mundo. El volumen (coordinado por Elisa Pellacani, 246 pp., ilustrado, encuadernado en hilo, 20.00 Euros) estará disponible durante el Festival y en las principales librerías. 


More information about the festival can be found here.

Water people

Spent a beautiful spring/summer morning yesterday at the lake with my dad. He taught me the basics of fly fishing, then I went for a lazy-paddle kayaking around the lake while he fished some more from the dock. Found some awesome little mossy-ferny spots along the banks, under the overhanging trees. Every time I get back on the water I'm reminded that I'm a descendant of water people. Especially my dad and his mother/my grandmother, but while they preferred to be near water catching fish, I'd rather paddle or sail, or swim. I haven't been sailing since before the big flood in Iowa, and I think it's time to look for a nice lake to sail around again.

Honestly, though, I had dreams about snapping the line just right to get the fly in the right place along the shore. Maybe there will be more fly fishing in my future...

Here's a photo of the sunrise on the bridge taken with my phone.

Robot says it's spring!

A sign of spring at our house: the Robot sprouts.

It also, apparently, moves around the yard.

Information Desk

Finishing up the drawing for the final Heavens to Betsy print. So far, I've been calling it "Information Desk". This drawing will be made into a photopolymer plate, and another integral part of the print will be a pressure print.

The Loot

Spent a sunny day with Scott out at the lake yesterday, and walked around Chimney Rock before it's overrun by tourists. We stopped at one of those mine-your-own-gems set-ups, and I realized that I lived an entire childhood without mining gems even once. Especially surprising since a lot of that childhood was spent in North Carolina, apparently the gemstone mining capital of the world (Google it). I kept every single little rock that got caught in the wire mesh, but here are the highlights.

Comparing these to the little 'gem chart' they gave me, I think I have (starting with the purple stone, and spiraling clockwise):
a nice big amethyst
blue calcite
mixed agate
sodalite (?)
desert jasper
citrine
clear quartz
red jasper
another sodalite
and another desert jasper.

The gems/jewelry shop was *way* more interesting after this mining experience.

Click! Brrrr-ka-chunk!

Started a little spring cleaning in my studio today, and discovered this tucked away neatly in a box! My old Polaroid and two brand new boxes of film. The films are developing with a very strong sepia tone, like I've traveled back to the 1970s to take these shots. And now, I'm off to re-learn how to make Polaroid transfers.

This is why spring cleaning at my house takes for-ever...