A Partridge and a Pear Tree

Come Check out the show at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts "A Partridge and a Pear Tree". The show runs from November 2nd - December 24th, 2007.

The Opening Gala is Friday, November 2, 7-9 PM.

I have two relief prints and a large pen & Ink drawing in the main gallery.


This Print is called 'Sally Bird'. It is oiled-based black ink spooned onto very fine rice paper. I printed this before I got my proof press.

My friends Heather Piazza and Graham Bird - artists associated with Four Oceans Press & Gallery - also have pieces in this show.

Our First Four Oceans Press Hand-pulled Print exchange is well underway. Ten of 25 artist have sent their prints in and they are archived on the site. If you are interested in the next exchange the details can be found here. The theme for the second exchange is "Winter" and sign up starts November 1st, 2007.

Fall

This is a drawing on Linoleum for my next print. It is part of the Four Oceans Press Fall 2007 Hand-Pulled Print Exchange. I will put more shots of the print here as it progresses.

About this time last year I decided it was time to start my own press. I had some clear goals and some big ideas and I knew I would learn a lot in the process. This summer my friend Heather and I decided to do our first big project as a hand-pulled print exchange. We had both participated in print exchanges through BarenForum and a few other organizations. We thought we were ready so we put out the call for artist and whole bunch of people signed up. Currently we have 21 of 25 spaces filled. We are still looking for four more artists (See the details here).

We actually have four exchanges scheduled over the next year and a few projects to go along with the exchange. The first project is a 2009 Calendar which should be completed next fall. We also are working on details for a show here in the San Francisco Bay Area of all four print exchanges – 100 artists, 100 prints.

We want to promote our own work, of course, but we also feel that this is a good way to promote our friends who are artists – so each artist who participates in the exchange will have a permanent spot on the Four Oceans Press Archive with a link back to their website….

I won an Award!

Opening night at the Frank Bette Center was really good! There were about 100 people there and I got a lot of really good comments about my art - especially the 'Month'. I received the sponsors award for this piece. It was quite a surprise! Here is a close up of it and I will get a better picture when the show comes down at the end of the month.

This is a picture of one of the gallery patrons studying the 'Month'.





This is a shot of the huge crowd. It was wall to wall people with a lot of other people in the other rooms. You can see the 'Month" hanging in the corner of this room. It is really big! To the left of the 'Month' two of my prints are hanging. You can see a straight shot of them below...


The one on top is called 'Once there was a way...', on the bottom is 'When I call you name...' The collage in the middle is not mine, but it is very nice.

Art Opening - tonight!

Frank Bette Center for the Arts,
1601 Paru Street, Alameda, CA 94501

510-523-6957

Opening: Friday September 7, 7-9 PM

First Friday Opening Gala of "Reading Between the Lines"

If you can't make the opening check out the show any time - September 7-29.

I have four pieces in this show. I have one large drawing and three prints. The large drawing called 'Month' is about 24" x 40". It is a pen and ink drawing with an image of a laundry machine I invented and some text describing a month in the life. I will post an image as soon as I can get one. I can't believe I did not photograph it before I had it framed. It is first in a series of 12 and I am very excited that it got into the show.

One of the prints is a variation of "The Three Graces" print with a block of blue text added that reads "When I call your name..." The second print is called "Once there was a way..." It is a landscape print of a valley road with mountians in the background and a giant fork in the road - figuratively and literally. The third print is from my Lavatory series. It is a 4" x 6" print of a roll of toilet paper.

I hope to see you there!

Blumen

This is my most recent Linoleum print.

Blumen is the German word for flowers. This is an image of three large flowers. This linoleum block print has four colors and is printed by hand. First the Yellow was printed, then part of the image was cut away and the dark yellow was printed. More linoleum was cut away so that the Orange could be printed and finally the Red.

There are 8 color variations of the image. The whole series can be seen on the 2007 print archive page on my website.

I am excited about doing more multi-colored prints...

It has been a very busy summer. Yesterday was my first day back to work in two months. School starts on the 27th and none of the teachers are ready... I will be glad to have a regular schedule, but that means I will have less time for goofing off - and I will misss it.

Open Art Studio Event!

This is a large reverse acrylic painting I have been working on. It is painted on glass and then peeled off and will be mounted to a canvas. This image will actually be cut and made into two separate canvases.


Several artists are featuring their work at the same studio location (some of the artists involved are featuring their collection of female and male nude drawings/paintings/prints at the same studio location). Oil & Acrylic Paintings, Sculpted Glass Pendants, Pen & Ink Drawings, Linoleum & Woodblock Prints, Photography and More...

Pro Arts is pleased to announce East Bay Open Studios during the first two weekends in June: June 2 & 3 and June 9 & 10, 2007.
East Bay Open Studios will feature over 400 artists.

June 2 & 3 and June 9 & 10, 2007
11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Several artists, including:
For more information:
http://www.kathewelch.org
http://www.markknot.com
http://www.heatherpiazza.com

Thank you for your support!

Citrus Tree...

This is a 'quick' oil painting I did this afternoon. It is 9" x 12" on Canvas. It is harder each day to come home from work and work more - on my own art, but summer is so close.

Officially, I have 20 school days left. Then, I will have two glorious months to paint and print...

The Enchanted Tree

The Enchanted Tree is part of a series I am doing for a book project. This print is part of the BarenForum Exchange#32.

Hide

This is an image from the book I am working on called "The Last Monkey." It is about my fear of falling off of the bed. This drawing is from the part where I am trying to hide from the Sharks circling my three level bunk bed.

The story is finished and about 1/3 of the illustrations are done.

Communication

My students want me to show them how to draw certain cartoon characters and I want them to use their imagination and experiment and try to figure things out. This sketch grew out of a drawing I made to show a kid how to make a cartoon monkey and a cow. I thought it would be funny if the two of them had a conversation.

This drawing is based on the Illustration Friday theme of Communication. Cick on the link below to see more.




I am starting to list some of Art on Etsy. Etsy is similar to E-Bay but with out the auction format and all items are handmade.

Gravity

This is a sketch for Illustration Friday (see below). This weeks theme is 'Gravity' so I drew a tree with it's last leaf on the ground...

The Mountian

I have been experimenting with mono-printing. This is one of my first attempts. I actually tried it a few years ago with bad results, but I took another shot last night and I was much happier with what I got. I am going to try a few more with different and extra details and I think I will hand-color this one...

Orange Flower Oil Painting

This is a oil painting called Orange Flowers. It is about 9 inches square. Painted on Masonite.

Orange Flower

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This is a pen & ink drawing from my Flower series. It is colored with Oil Pastels. It is on 5 x 7 archival Artist board. It is available on Ebay.

29 Blocks waiting to be cut...

I picked up some wood in Berkeley last Saturday. I cut it on my table saw this afternoon. Now I have 29 Blocks waiting to be drawn on and cut...

9 are 5 x 7
16 are 4 x 6
4 are 6 x 7 3/4
There are a few odd sized scraps, but I plan to use them, too.

The Great Baren Cairn

This wood cut is part of a bigger project organized by Maria Arango of Las Vegas, Nevada. Maria is one of my role models. The URL for her website called http://1000woodcuts.com clearly spells out her goals - to do 1000 woodcuts - she is nearly a quarter of the way to her goal at 238.


My part of the cairn was drawn and carved yesterday after work. The entire Great Baren Cairn project can be followed at Maria's website. Take a look at her other work. She is amazing.

Yellow Flower

Oil on Canvas
8 x 10


Painted on August 10th
Should be dry by September 10th

The Tree

Oil on Canvas
8 x 10
Painted on August 10th


This might take a few weeks to dry...

What's Your Number?

The Art Bureau is collecting numbers for an Art Bureau calendar. And now they have my number.

From their site:

Art Bureau (.org) is an online art gallery and publishing house for artists. As a supplement to the Art Bureau online gallery, we publish a black-and-white zine fostering a D.I.Y. approach to art, design and community. Each issue features 32 pages of artwork, interviews and articles about artistic collaborations, networking and organizations.