Illustration Friday: Extremes

I suppose this week's topic is very appropriate in light of these two pieces I finished last night. They are extremely different from what I usually do. I had a couple of linoleum block prints sitting around that needed to be spiffed up a bit, and it went downhill from there.

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The picture of Mona uses a discarded library book cover, leather finished mat board, decorative papers, beads, table knives, vintage metallic wallpaper, and the aforementioned linoleum block print.

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The Blingless piece uses a pair of discarded library book covers, leather finished mat board, nuts and bolts, linoleum block print, large wooden letter blocks, and beads.

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I have a commentary on the adhesives used in the pieces on my art supply blog. The blingless one will go up for auction on eBay tonight, and the one of dear Mona will go up for auction on eBay Sunday night as part of the art squared theme week on redoing the old masters. Just follow the eBay link in the sidebar to reach either one as they come available.

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Thanks for visiting, and y'all come back now, y'hear?

Illustration Friday: Song, Part 2

Well, it takes a little more time to come up with some stuff. This is a linoleum block print I did specifically for the Illustration Friday "song" theme. It is a print, with collage and acrylic added. I used my son to pose playing his guitar on the front porch steps for this piece. I am fortunate to have such good-natured children who will model for me on a regular basis. They are a blessing in my life. You can catch the eBay auction on this piece here. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7392998172 The auction doesn't start until 8:45 pm tonight [Wednesday], so before that time you won't be able to click through. Thanks for stopping by, and comments are always appreciated. *

Linoleum revisited

So I'm back here, destroying the purity of the print world much more. This is the linoleum block print I was working on a few days ago, although it is almost unrecognizable as a lino print because of all I've done to it. I collaged and painted into it a whole lot, which I think and hope improved it a bit from the stark B&W I started with. It was fun, so I don't care. It is a street scene in Pittsburgh, in a rather notorious area called the Hill District, an area for which the series Hill Street Blues was named, but that is a different story. I lived in Pittsburgh for 9 years; three years getting an MFA at Carnegie-Mellon, and 6 more years because I was too stupid to realize that it was too cold and grey for me to survive. But at some point, my mind thawed, and I retreated to points south, never to shovel out my car again. All in all, Pittsburgh is a lovely city in its own way, and I'm glad for the years there. Go Steelers!

Printmaking

I love printmaking, although I am sure I would be classified as the lousiest printmaker on the planet. I took a printmaking class once at our local art museum. The teacher was a VERY SERIOUS maker of etchings. She made sure her editions were complete, perfect, and properly numbered and signed. OK, very nice, but where's the spontaneity in that, I wondered? I tried to conform to her rules, but in the end went my own way. I enjoy etchings, drypoints, and especially linoleum. It's fun to print on all kinds of things, smear colors on afterward, and in general use the print as merely a starting point for a piece. I'm sure the print police are shaking their heads and saying "Oooh, that's baaaaad!" I only decided to go off on this tangent because I had carved a street scene yesterday, and was printing it tonight, and plotting what I would do with it tomorrow. Of course, I can't show it to you now because it's wet, but I will show you other linoleum prints I did recently. They are printed on old book pages, collaged, painted, and so forth. I enjoyed doing them. Just don't tell the print police where I blog. *