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Message 1
From: Rebecca Meloy
Date: Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:01:51 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44883] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V58 #5855 (Jan 1, 2012)
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Artists,

I have enjoyed the dialogue this weekend. I am a longtime artist of 32 years -- oil, watercolor, soft pastel, Lino relief, quilts, gardener/designer, and fine art gallery owner/ mentor-instructor. Presently, I am a union heavy industrial bridge carpenter struggling to make a living.

Just a couple years ago I took a workshop with Richard Steiner at the Sev Shoon studio in Ballard Washington and had a blast pulling my first Moku Hanga small series of a nude relaxing in the sun.

I have always honored the universal language expressed through the hand. I believe it is critical to train and nurture its knowledge in our rapidly declining societies. Through it comes peace, patience, beauty, respect, love, care .........


Have a great coming 2012.

Rebeccameloy.com
Bellingham, Washington


==============
Rebecca Meloy
(360) 201-9038
rebecca@rebeccameloy.com

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Message 2
From: Marilynn Smith
Date: Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:18:21 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44884] innovations, Mike Lyon
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I have been fortunate to belong to this list for a long time. Many of
us have met at either one of our summits or in other ways. Kansas City
was certainly a wonderful and generously given experience. Mike Lyon
was a wonderful host and a very generous man. With that introduction I
will comment about this man. This man is a very creative person, his
creativity spans many areas. His remarkable machines are a work from a
creative mind. They aid him in the creating of his work. Mike has done
paintings, wood carvings, created innovative machines and even plays
in a orchestra. If my mind is working well I believe he once shared
some charming furniture he had designed and built. He also seems to be
good with a camera. He expands his mind and pushes forward in new
ways. To say that, if, he used a mechanical device that his work is
not art seems very flawed in my mind. How can such a creative man do
anything BUT create true art? Perhaps, he is pushing the buttons for
future generations, perhaps not. Perhaps this is an alternative way to
achieve the end result. I too would hate to see the traditional means
of creating wood blocks vanish, it is a heritage we should treasure.
Is not that what Baren forum was designed to do, to promote wood
block? Also, over the years our open minded discussions and attitudes
have made this an interesting and special place to be.

Lets carry on our traditions and keep pushing forward into 2012.

Marilynn

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Message 3
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:57:32 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44885] Re: Sketchbooks
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Gosh Jennifer, I agree there is little time to sketch...I am always beating myself up that I do so little, in fact my new years resolution is to make art every day if only for 5 minutes
Education is our thankless task as original printmakers...we might not win but we won't give up
my best
Barbara

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Message 4
From: "Ellen Shipley"
Date: Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:35:18 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44886] Re: Sketchbooks
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What a great discussion.

I'm more of a seat-of-the-pants printmaker. I make sketchy plans, then I let the spirit of the wood take me in new directions. That is the way I prefer to work. I often leave areas unplanned because I like the carving the best and that's where the creativity can happen.

I like to challenge myself to work with multiple blocks occasionally, but really I find it harrowing to worry about exact matching of blocks. I love the effect but I feel constrained by the need to "just carve what's there." If something better occurs to me while I'm carving, I have to ignore it, and then I feel it isn't my best work.

So to each our own I guess. I admire those who can plan and execute perfectly, but that's not where I'm happiest.

Happy New Year all!

Ellen

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Message 5
From: Ruth Feldman
Date: Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:57:27 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44887] Re: Sketchbooks
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Hi all
I also do a basic sketch which changes as I carve. I do a lot of reduction prints so I often will change something as I go along.
Ruth

Sent from my iPhone

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Message 6
From: Viza Arlington
Date: Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:53:01 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44888] Re: Sketchbooks
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I sketch things out. i don't expect my woodcut to look like my drawing
though. my etchings are much more like my drawings due to the medium
but they still have a look of their own of course. for me
woodcuts/linocuts show the least amount of my "hand" the wood and
tools used to carve it hide my true nature and force me simplify my
image especially the line. lately i have grown weary of this, maybe
even resentful, so i plan to concentrate on drawing and etchings this
year.

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Message 7
From: Pinto Lawrence
Date: Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:51:49 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44889] Intellectual Honesty and a Technical Question
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Dear Baren Forum People,

The discussions related to various techniques have told me that the
baren forum people are classy people. Believe it or not in some fields
of science there are a lot of rules devoted to what you have to reveal
about how illustrations were prepared, and they boil down to the
suggestions that were made in this forum: be honest and up front. This
and the very articulate thoughts about what it means to use
traditional techniques and what people's art means to them have been a
delight to read.

I have a technical question related to carving that I haven't been
able to find help for in the five books I have, but I'm sure that
those who are not 'newbies' like me will have mastered this. I've
tried carving Kanji and even Roman characters about 4.5 to 5.0 mm high
using either a hanga-to with a 4 mm wide blade (ca. 6 mm on the
diagonal) and a really sharp chip carving knife, in shina plywood. In
both cases my best efforts yield, for example, an "M" with the upward
pointing angles that chip out and the same problems with the 'pointed'
Roman characters. Similar problems with Kanji. The best compromise was
to use a "V" gouge and lightly carve out the Roman letters and then go
in with a broken Xacto knife and dig out some wood by scraping the
broken blade (broken to the 'right' width) backwards inside the cut
made by the "V" gouge. This was painstaking and took ca. 10 min per
letter and gave rough edges. It is absolutely certain that there is a
better way and I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Happy New Year to you all.

Thanks, Larry

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Message 8
From: Louise Cass
Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:01:13 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44890] Re: more re new tools etc
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HAPPY NEW YEAR TO THE BAREN FORUM!

Slightly off topic but interesting (I hope). I think
many/some? of us are painters as well as printmakers and
I've just been 'blown away' by an exhibition of David
Hockney's Iphone and IPad paintings which just closed today
at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) in Toronto - as far as I
can tell they've only been shown in Paris and somewhere in
Denmark so far - he 'paints' using the 'Brushes app I
believe (which many artists have been doing for a number of
years now) but this must be the first large exhibition in
this medium.

The ROM curator and designer installed the Iphones and IPads
arranged in large sections on the museum walls and Hockney
emailed them the paintings - some were blown up on very
large lightboxes which contrasted well with the small
images - 2 huge videos of Hockney working were part of the
exhibit - he 'painted' with a finger as well as using what
looked like some kind of stylus. He stated that he liked the
luminosity achievable with this new tool as well as not
having to fuss with big prep and cleanup involved with oils
on canvas etc.

I thought what a wonderful tool to experiment with and how
useful for one's 'old age' and can't wait to try it but
don't possess an Iphone or Pad yet. Has anyone out there
used it? remember this is not photoshop and they're totally
original!

BTW re Chinese New Year's card exchanges - you lucky people
who did a dragon 12 years ago - A Chinese lady at the
museum told me that 2000 was 'The Year of the GOLDEN Dragon
and 2012 is the lowly Blackwater Dragon- haven't researched
what it looks like yet.

A big thank you to Brad Robinson for his beautiful trio of
tigers which arrived last week also to Sarah Hauser for
2011's 'Hare Boy' and attached fable as well as all the
great tigers and rabbits that arrived over the last
year-it's super to open them whenever they arrive!

best wishes to all
Louise





>

--
www.LCassArt.com

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Message 9
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:35:24 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44891] a Technical Question
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Larry,
You need harder wood for this, maybe maple or cherry, you can inset it into your block...Dave Bull cuts out a piece of softer wood and insets a piece of harder wood when he needs to carve text. You will never be able to do it really well in this soft wood, it chips and spliners when doing really fine things.
http://woodblock.com/surimono/process/process_1.html

Notice the inset of darker wood on this block about the 4th photo down
I agree this list is really amazing
My best
Barbara


I have a technical question related to carving that I haven't been able to find help for in the five books I have, but I'm sure that those who are not 'newbies' like me will have mastered this. I've tried carving Kanji and even Roman characters about 4.5 to 5.0 mm high using either a hanga-to with a 4 mm wide blade (ca. 6 mm on the diagonal) and a really sharp chip carving knife, in shina plywood. In both cases my best efforts yield, for example, an "M" with the upward pointing angles that chip out and the same problems with the 'pointed' Roman characters. Similar problems with Kanji. The best compromise was to use a "V" gouge and lightly carve out the Roman letters and then go in with a broken Xacto knife and dig out some wood by scraping the broken blade (broken to the 'right' width) backwards inside the cut made by the "V" gouge. This was painstaking and took ca. 10 min per letter and gave rough edges. It is absolutely certain that there is a better
way and I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Happy New Year to you all.

Thanks, Larry

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Message 10
From: "Bea Gold"
Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:49:17 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44892] Re: more re new tools etc
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I've enjoyed very much all the discussions that have come up on the Baren recently. I too am a painter. I call myself a painter and woodcut artist. I have been having a very interesting art period during the past few years. I am an old lady artist and have been painting since I was 13 and doing woodcuts since I was 16. I had a mentor/art teacher who said you can not call yourself an artist until you are out of school and always have something you are working on. I am an artist and always have something I am working on. In 2007, for my 80th birthday, I had a retrospective show of paintings and wood cuts done over the years. I was able to get my paintings back from all over the U.S. for the show. It was wonderful. Since then I have taken part in 4 group shows as part of the Silver Lake Art Collective and I wrote a book of 36 stories that took place in the 30s and 40s and 36 paintings illustrating the stories that were shown at the exhibits. My book is close to being published. I do commissioned portraits (paintings) and I have had one commission after another on the easle since the show. There was a studio tour during the last exhibit and my studio was open. I sold 8 woodcuts, all different during the tour. I am experiencing a surge of interest in my work. Anyway I just want to wish all my Bareners a very happy new year. I love getting those wonderful prints no matter how late they are. Maybe even because they are so late. I was lucky enough to be in the first Year of the Dragon and am looking forward to the next. Thank you David Bull for starting and all the Baren managers for keeping it going so well.

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Message 11
From: Lori
Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:30:28 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44893] Re: more re new tools etc
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I became intrigued with his work over the summer. I have an iPad2 and a bamboo stylus. I use Mostly the sketchbook pro app.

I started mainly because when I was with my boyfriend at the beach I was without any kind of space to work. So I would take pictures, transfer them to the iPad and draw directly on top of them. Or just sit and doodle playing with color ideas and layers.

Nothing like his work but I'm getting more detailed as I go.

I also take pictures of my work if I'm stuck and doodle on it before I mess up my plate or block.gives me a good idea of how another color may look before I go further.

Hope that helps

Sent from my iPad

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Message 12
From: Graham Scholes
Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:18:56 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44894] Fwd: Happy New Year
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I have enjoyed the discussion of late.... it pleases me to see the subject of sketching and drawing is leading the way in conjunction with the emotions of the discipline.

I have a favourite book that is worth the read.... "Free Play" by Stephen Nachmanovitch. Published in 1990. Hope you can find it... I found if very helpful. I could change your life as it did mine.

The link here is a beautifully created video.... I am sure you will be touched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x91rBzNKvlc>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x91rBzNKvlc


Happy New Year

CREATE-Cut-Print
Graham

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Message 13
From: Kristine Alder
Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2012 06:35:48 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44895] EXCHANGE 52 Now Open
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Happy New Year, Everyone!

Sign-up for Exchange 52 is now open!

A theme has been chosen from the three that were submitted, actually combining two of the suggestions (conservation and endangered species) into one theme idea.
The theme will be "Endangered" Calling attention to all that we find endangered here on planet Earth, be it plants, animals, cultures, or ways of life. Other details for this exchange are listed below:

Medium: Woodblock print (hand rubbed or pulled on a press, B&W or colour, any pigments, any paper)
Theme: "ENDANGERED" Calling attention to all that we find endangered here on planet Earth, be it plants, animals, cultures, or ways of life.
Paper: Chuban , about 10 x 7.5 inches (about 24.5 cm x 19 cm)
Paper type: No restriction
Registration period: Four weeks starting January 2, 2012
Deadline for finished prints: May 1, 2012
Be sure to review the rules for exchange participation at: http://www.barenforum.org/exchange/rules.html

Remember, whether you are a novice or an experienced printmaker, you are welcome to join the exchange program. It is a great way to develop your skills and creativity, as well as to learn from others who are part of the exchange. Let's make this a productive and prosperous new year!

Kristine


Kristine Alder
Baren Exchange Manager
St. George, UT
Art Educator/Printmaker/Book Artist
Co-President UAEA
email: alder@pineview.org
imakeprints@hotmail.com

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,
but that it is too low and we reach it." --Michelangelo

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Message 14
From: key sevn
Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:22:00 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44896] Re: more re new tools etc
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Honestly I've never heard about anything more boring than making pictures
on I pad or similar stuff. It could be interesting and fun, but not as an
art. I'm not suprised though, I've never treated Hockney's works too
serious. And that ostentatious product placement. I don't buy it, nevermind
what pictures he makes. I've never believed in pictures too much. But wish
him a good time relaxing of course.
02-01-2012 04:30 uytkownik "Lori" napisa:
>
> I became intrigued with his work over the summer. I have an iPad2 and a
bamboo stylus. I use Mostly the sketchbook pro app.
>
> I started mainly because when I was with my boyfriend at the beach I was
without any kind of space to work. So I would take pictures, transfer them
to the iPad and draw directly on top of them. Or just sit and doodle
playing with color ideas and layers.
>
> Nothing like his work but I'm getting more detailed as I go.
>
> I also take pictures of my work if I'm stuck and doodle on it before I
mess up my plate or block.gives me a good idea of how another color may
look before I go further.
>
> Hope that helps
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>

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Message 16
From: Glenna Heath
Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:56:46 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44898] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V58 #5855 (Jan 1, 2012)
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Thank you all for the current discussion of inspiration and development of
image through the tools we now can choose to use or not use. The image I
like best of my woodcuts so far started with an idea in my mind and a rough
sketch directly on the board, then carved. It was very risky for me
because I am a detailed planner most of the time. However there is a
vitality to this piece lacking in my previous pieces.

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Subject: Bowie Woodcut

This item is taken from the blog raardvarkpress Woodcut.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.

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