Oreid, detail.

(Detail) Oreid. 14 inches x 17 inches. Paint, colored pencil, block print, paper.

You'll notice how I'm here instead of in my studio...oh the internet! Truly, you are my kryptonite!

Oreid, detail.

(Detail) Oreid. 14 inches x 17 inches. Paint, colored pencil, block print, paper.

Oreid-detail

(Detail) Oreid. 14 inches x 17 inches. Paint, colored pencil, block print, paper.

Oreid-detail.

(Detail) Oreid. 14 inches x 17 inches. Paint, colored pencil, block print, paper.

Oreid

Oreid. 14 inches x 17 inches. Paint, paper, block print.

Holy moly. I thought I would never finish this one. I got to the half-way point and completely lost my motivation. I guess buckets of travel and house guests aren't the most conducive to getting work done. Still, one tries.

Now on to the elephant story!

And three deliciously empty canvases what are calling my name....

the ebb and flow

In the interest of showing you exactly what has been taking so long and how I put these collages together, I present you with the following (in no particular order)

My sketchbook plays a role in all of my work--even though I am limited for table space. I use the book to lay out ideas, designs, notes, keep track of how many hours I spend working on each piece. The above photo is a print that I did from a block I designed and carved for the current work.This is the block I just finished carving yesterday, and printing today. I don't have images of the prints yet. I know it looks like linoleum, but it's actually that easy-carve stuff. I hate carving linoleum, as I usually wind up slicing my hands to ribbons when I do so. You should know that I use water based inks b/c the solvents for oil based inks eats up the fakey linoleum.
This is the page out of my sketchbook that has the designs for the blocks. I was unsure if I'd be able to finesse all the small spaces on the design on the right but I managed to ninja my way through it.

Here's the other completed block. I like to carve away the medium in a way that mimics the design. I think it gives the work a sense of harmony.

So that's what I've been doing there. Now all I have to do is cut-and-paste the prints into the assigned spaces on the grid, and then I can move on to the next step (more assemblage), and then the final step (paint). And then I can work on the 5 other projects I have lined up...

I went to the fabric store today and came home with a bag of goodies!!!

this-a-here is my work (Oreid) in progress around January 10, the day my brother came to visit.

Then we went to Arlington for 8 days and now I'm back working on it. I am currently charging up the digital camera and once she's all done I'll be able to upload what-all I've been doing...

What have I been doing, you ask? Well, I've been creating block prints to be included in this-a-here work. If you'll recall Dryads is where the whole block-printing first appeared and I'm afraid that I'm getting seriously carried away with it. So much so that I'm contemplating buying a small hand press because I'm not so good with the brayer. Things tend to be a little more smudgy than I like them. So now I'm all geared up to be a printing fool, but I also have to start on sketches for the wicked cool story that Kathleen wrote. I also have to finish the piece I'm working on now and hire a baby wrangler because I can't muster the energy at the end of the day to do all of this even though I'm super excited about it.