Reflection, Moon and Ocean Linocut & a Tattoo

Last fall, Tina Gleason contacted to ask my permission to get a version of my 'Reflection' linocut tattooed on her arm. She lamented that the linocut itself is no longer available. It's unusual for me, but Reflection was a reduction linocut. That means that I first carved the block to produce the 'background' silver layer and printed it on lovely dark blue Japanese washi with silk fibres. Then I carved further to produce the upper white layer. That means that 'Reflection' is limited edition. I cannot print more since the block for the silver layer exists no more. You may recall that another of my prints once inspired a tattoo, which I take as a great compliment. I was glad to hear she wanted my blessing and very flattered that she felt so strongly that she wanted the image permanently tattooed on her body - her first tattoo! She wrote today to say she finally found the right tattoo artist and had the image tattooed on her forearm by Deirdre Doyle in Cambridge, MA. Above you can see the original linocut, the sketch on her arm and the final tattoo. I love how this sort of transmission of artistic ideas, where the translation to another medium means that something altogether new is created. To me this sort of reinvention, especially for something non-commercial, and in fact personal and intimate, is using the image as inspiration to create a derivative work which I can and do welcome!

Grocery bags, art supplies and imaginary films

I've been running some errands today: post office, groceries, art supplies. I had a dire shortage of ink retarder. My friends know I carry this great, compact, indestructible nylon grocery bag, printed with constellations everywhere I go. So, as I got to the cash register at my local art supply store, I got it out before the clerk could offer me one of their plastic bags.

Art Store Clerk 1 (who looked improbably like the 10th Doctor, including the tweed): Oh, that's a great bag!

minouette: Yes, I like it. It's indestructible too.

ASC1: I was just recently in New Brunswick and the skies were so clear.... like, I can see Orion out my window here, but there, I could see all the other dozens of stars which make up his belt, which aren't officially part of the constellation.

Thinking to myself that I must not tell my one story about Orion's er... belt to a stranger...*

minouette: Ah, yes. I spend a lot of time at sea, and it's a different thing entirely.

ASC1: Oh, really? And the moon... tell me... does it really rise over the horizon at sea and look bigger than anywhere else or is that just a Joe versus the Volcano myth?

Really not expecting to have to answer astronomy questions at the art supply store and thinking furiously that I must not use the word steradian because that would definitely scare most people who did not volunteer to study spherical trig and/or take me 20 minutes to explain.

minouette: Well, there's an optical illusion. The moon always appears larger to us when it's near the horizon though it always takes up the same amount of sky.

ASC1: Oh, yes, that's true. So, why do you spend time at sea? Are you a sailor?

minouette: Um... I'm a marine geophysicist.**

ASC2: Wow. That's a great job title.

ASC1: Isn't it? It sounds like the person you would need on all your adventures.

minouette: Maybe

ASC1: Like, if they made a movie, you would be played by Julianne Moore, and Jeff Goldblum would be your unreliable ex-husband...

ASC2: And Morgan Freeman...

ASC1: And Morgan Freeman.

ASC2: And Morgan Freeman would be the President of the United States.

ASC1: And Benedict Cumberbatch would be... would be the villain, because it seems that Benedict Cumberbatch must now be in all movies.

minouette: So it would seem.

ASC2: So, we'll have to work on that.

ASC1: Yes, we'll have to give that script a treatment, and then you can come and consult on it.

minouette: Um... okay then. I'll be back.

*I always remember going to an astronomy colloquium as a first year undergrad. I must confess, I fell asleep. When I awoke, I distinctly heard the prof say, "...and this is Orion, and this is his belt or other euphemism..." so I turned to my friend and neighbour TW and whispered urgently, "Did he just say what I think he said?" but, while she had remained awake, she had been lulled into drowsiness and had no idea what I was talking about. So, I guess I'll never know... but I assure you, I had never previously considered it Orion's three-star euphemism at his midsection and it made me wonder about astronomers and what they see.

**I never know how people will respond to that, but it seemed less complicated than saying I was a marine geophysicist/printmaker, or vise versa, despite being the the midst of attempting to buy ink.

m for minouette (& mermaid and moon)

In a little over a week (eek!) the Toronto Etsy Street Team will be hosting our handmade market. I thought I might make a 'minouette' banner, so that was as good a reason as any to start a series of monogram letters, beginning with 'M'. I carved a seated mermaid combing her hair by the light of the moon, to embellish my 'M', and I printed it in Payne's gray on a variety of Japanese kozo (or mulberry) papers, each 14.8 cm or 5⅞ inches square. I plan to print it on fabric too, to make my banner.


If you're in Toronto, I hope to see you at the 3rd annual Toronto Etsy Street Team Handmade "Spring" Marketplace! Who says you can't have a spring market mid-summer? Not only will I be selling at this event, but I'm one of the organizers. It's near the centre of the Universe ever-hip Gladstone Hotel, just south of Queen St, between Dufferin and Ossington, and promises to be a fun event, with lot of handmade goodies!

one small step...

RJH sent me an email with that title, containing this snapshot of a housefly on my vintage moon globe*. I think this is a sign that he's at least as crazy as I am. I told him, when he took the photo that it was very Ed Wood.

*As opposed to my contemporary moon globe, which I keep in my office at work, 'cause a girl needs two moon globes. In fact, I really must start making some planetary globes.

other printmaking

As promised, here is my first (and only) lithographic print. It is one of four. I forgot to measure it, but it's roughly 6" x 6.5". I just drew free-hand onto the stone. The process is rather involved and based on the antipathy of oil and water. After polishing, I drew on the stone using grease pencils of different hardnesses. These pencils also contain wax, so much like a wax crayon, they can pick up flecks of drawn lines, as well as add new lines. I used this effect purposes, so the lifted flecks could be stars. Our instructor took care of the stone-sensitizing (called 'etching' though this is now known to not be chemically accurate). An acid is applied to the limestone base to 'sensitize' it. There are all sorts of subtleties in the selection of the acidity (or 'etch'), and differ values can and are applied to different regions of the stone. These are selected as a function of media applied, darkness, intensity, line density, and basically experience. Like purposely over-exposing a photographic negative, one can also 'burn' out a region of a drawing for tonal effect. The stone is wet, and because the grease and water are immiscible, when ink is applied, it only covers the greased/drawn areas of the stone. The prints are pulled on a special press, such that weight is applied directly down. It is no mean feat to pull a print. I tried one: it involved another student wetting the stone, followed by me inking the stone, back and forth iteratively, about six times, and then releasing the clutch and lowering the arm (clearly designed for someone taller and stronger than I).

The potential of the method is amazing, but so is the fact that we managed to pull any prints whatsoever within 3 hours.



Yesterday we did etching, something I haven't done in years. This is also something challenging to do within 3 hours, in particular, since we began with industrial quality zinc plates, rather than prepared plates. Though it was good to learn these steps of the process, as they were new to me. So first, we had to polish them and then apply a hard ground (a waxy substance). We had about 45 minutes to draw/scratch into the hard ground. I got a bit caught up in making sure I was scratching hard enough and did not feel I had a flexibility of line. In this amount of time, there was no chance to correct any mistakes. My swans have weird heads. My drawing style is sketchy and this time, my first, imperfect lines had to be preserved. But, knowing the method, I did plan my subject so that I could take advantage of "plate play" (the discretion of the artist in what ink to remove or not from the plate) and built this into my design. Once the hard ground is scratched, the plates are submerged in acid; also, in 3 hours, there was no time for discretion here, and all plates were exposed to acid for the same amount of time (mine could have done with less). We then cleaned off the hard ground and inked the plates. I wanted to have the lines inked (the entire point of intaglio) and also to have a gradient in tone from top to bottom, with highlights of white swans (of course) and various ovals within the water. I think this worked well, though I could have left even more ink on the plate. We only had time for a single print.

MEGA handmade giveaway!

Check out this spectacular giveaway by the lovely rikrak! The incredibly generous gift pack (valued at over $450 US) of handmade items in red and silver, includes my moon ornament. There are many easy ways to play, for a chance to win. You can even enter by simply post a link to your favorite minouette item on her blog. Check her blog for all the details.

X is for Xiphias, and other Reflections

This is the lastest square in my on-going alphabet quilt project. X is for xiphias (or swordfish). When I came up with xiphias as a good x-word, it seemed obvious: two crossed swords make an 'x'. So I have depicted two types of xiphias leaping from the water and crossing swords in my block print. X is also for xylem - hence the wood pattern on the side panel with letterpress x. Also, a very nerdy joke with the x-shaped scissors (ctrl-x means cut).

So, I also printed this block on some Japanese paper with an irregular deckle edge (this is easier to see in person, than it is to photograph, as its sheen is more obvious to the eye than it was to my camera):



Also, I finished my series of reduction prints of the moon reflected on the water:


This is also printed on Japanese paper. The edition is of only seven prints. There is also one proof - the register is off, but it is interesting. This is a reduction print. That means that this series of seven is all there can ever be.

Reflecting on the Moon Pillow

This month, the MSOE are honouring the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. I am playing with the idea of reflection (to think back, refléchir, the reflection of light and reflection after a collosion). I carved a reduction print* lino block of the moon reflected in the sea. The way we usually see the moon, its light refracted through the atmosphere, is rather like trying to do astronomy from the bottom of a swimming pool - we can only really see a distorted image of our night sky from Earth, like observing the moon's reflection on the ocean. Actually going to the moon, allowed humankind a direct observation like no other.

The moon itself was formed, early in the evolution of our solar system, when a Mars-sized object collided with the young Earth. The object shattered and large amounts of the young planet's early mantle splashed up into orbit. Eventually all this material, both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial coalesced under gravity and our home gained a satellite we know as the moon.







*A reduction print involves carving a block, printing one colour, carving some and printing the subsequent colour or colours on top. It is not a technique a use often.

home is where the art is

I actually collect prints of soft sea creatures (encephalopods and jellyfish and such)- really specific, but surprisingly easy. This is my woodblook moku hanga "Little Boat, Big Ocean", a 4-colour screenprint by animalsleep, and my jellyfish lino block print in my hallway. The hallway is a bit dark and narrow, so the photograph does not really do these prints justice; I think they look better in person.

The art in the bedroom is supposed to suggest sleep, including the starry kite constellation screenprint of labpartners, Emma Kidd's origami bear, Di's painting of the animals on the duvet and the birch trees at night etching.



I love the particular brand of magic of etsy printmaker animalsleep and so I bought this screenprint of a boy and giant hawk against the night sky. One can imagine the fairy story to go with the image.
I framed it using some printed Chinese paper as a matt. Not a propos but I have been enjoying using patterned patters in framing and the colours are exactly right.

This night time image is also on the bedroom wall.



This was a bonus with the animalsleep prints so I framed it somewhat idiosyncratically in a vintage oval frame with some Japanese washi papers as matts, and added the night scene with crescent moon to the bedroom wall.



By the table, I have the kozyndan photo of bunnyfish and koi, the found giant Indonesian shadow puppet, a plate, a half horse on a plaque, a tiny water colour, a horse paper doll from the PinPals, a Dutch silhouette, a painting by Di and the Yeehaw Industries psychic owl calendar.