Happy holidays

Thank you for stopping by my space yesterday at the Womens’ Art Festival. Creating artwork would be a lot less fun, worthwhile, and profitable without people to admire it, ask about it, and purchase it. I and my fellow artists appreciate your curiosity and patronage.

The new venue—the Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center—was favored by artists and guests as having good lighting, better parking, and a pleasant atmosphere compared to the previous location. The hourly music, provided by women musicians, was magical, particularly the women’s choir which creats an atmosphere of being in the presence of angels.

With yesterday’s event being my last for this season, I’m now focused on preparing for Christmas. We started with dog baths today which were preceded by vacuuming and laundry and will surely be followed by baking—and eating—cookies.

I wish you a merry and meaningful holiday season including Hannukah, the winter solstice, Christmas, Kwanza, and even Festivus (“for the rest of us”), created by Kramer, Jerry Seinfeld’s neighbor.

Some festive images for this wintery season.

Women’s Art Festival

One of my favorite events of the year is the Women’s Art Festival. What’s not to embrace about being in the company of 130+ creative women, women musicians, and inventive refreshments? Naomi Siegal does a first-rate job of organizing and publicizing the event. Load up your vehicle with pals and stop by! Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014, 9:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M.

http://www.womensartfestival.com

Seasonal images

Spontaneous printing

For me, one of the many rewards of teaching is learning from the students. In June, while demonstrating nature printing at my local library in south Minneapolis, a woman selected a wild anemone (Anemone canadensis) from the specimens I’d brought along. She applied the rolled-out ink to the leaves and blossom, placed the dampened Sumi-E paper over the print, placed a newspaper guard sheet on top of the printing paper, and pressed mightily. This is the resulting print! Isn’t it splendid?


Student print of wild anemone.

What I particularly appreciated about learning from this nature-printing enthusiast was her spontaneity; her daring. With this type of specimen, I had been using a more painstaking, complicated method to record the plant. I learned from this student that my efforts weren’t necessary.

I recalled this valuable lesson last week as I prepared to print a Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera). Instead of setting up my usual involved method, I flattened the specimen slightly in a phone book while preparing my workspace and the paper. Then, I rolled out Akua water-soluble fluid inks with a soft-rubber brayer, gently rolled the ink onto the specimen, and printed. I’m pleased with the result. What do you think?

A spontaneous print of Christmas cactus.

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