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  1. [Baren 39022] Blogs ("Terry Peart")
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Message 1
From: "Terry Peart"
Date: Wed, 27 May 2009 13:55:16 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39022] Blogs
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So, do I have this right?
If I sign up my blog (blogspot) for Baren's feed, it will only include it on
the Update if it has tags like: print or printmaking?
My blog is mostly about my painting and other stuff, but occassionally I
write about my printmaking.
Thanks,
Terry
West Seattle

Digest Appendix

Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...

Subject: American Adam and Eve
Posted by: Annie B

AppleTree

The portrait of John and Priscilla Alden that I'm currently working on came to me as I was reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's narrative poem The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858). Although it's likely that most of the events Longfellow described were products of his imagination, the poem was wildly popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries and it made the names of John Alden, Priscilla Mullins and Miles Standish household words across the U.S.

The poem presents the relationships between these three as a love triangle and ends with John and Priscilla's wedding, "simple and brief...as that of Ruth and of Boaz." Longfellow goes on to describe the two newlyweds as "fresh with the youth of the world, and recalling Rebecca and Isaac."

Reading these Biblical references, I began to think about the many Bible stories that have been or could be overlaid on the Puritans' story. John and Priscilla, the young lovers in a new land with their one million descendants, are like an American version of Adam and Eve. The Mayflower can be seen as a sort of Noah's Ark, bringing the seeds of an old culture to a new promised land. Like the Israelites, led from Egypt after being released from persecution there, the Puritan Separatists were relying on God to lead them to their own promised land.

Above is the section of carving I've been working on this week - the apple tree under which my American Adam and Eve will appear.
Copyright Woodblock Dreams blog

This item is taken from the blog Woodblock Dreams.
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Subject:
Posted by: Sue


Here is another stage of the cut. I managed to do a little last evening, but the light wasn't too good as I was out of the studio, so I took things slowly. You can see I rub talc into the engraved lines so I can see a little better where I've been and how I'm doing. It's a useful trick, but you have to be scrupulous about brushing it all out before you approach the block with a rollerful of ink!

I've decided to add a little foliage to the patio area; a few pencil marks on the block serve to remind me. I hope to cut some more this evening, maybe I'll remember to take my lamp this time. I think my eyes would thank me for it.

I wish I could ditch the day job and engrave more, but, sadly, a living has to come first. I do actually enjoy many aspects of the day job (educational illustration), it's often fun, sometimes a challenge and importantly, a steady income. I can work in my jim-jams if I like (but I never do!) as my studio is a spare room at home. No rush-hour traffic for me. This is the life I always wanted, so bring on the lottery win....then the day job can be gently released into the wild and I can enjoy my printmaking more often.

This item is taken from the blog Studio Window.
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