morning walks at fort worden

Port Townsend is home to Fort Worden State Park along Admiralty Inlet and the straights of Juan de Fuca. For the past three years of ArtFest, I’ve fallen in love with the area. I try to get in two walks out to the lighthouse around sunrise and sunset.

On my way out to the lighthouse I watch for wildlife. Most mornings I encounter eagles, crows, gulls and several cottontail rabbits. Occasionally seals pop their heads above water for air. Small flocks of birds fly low over the water. I kept hoping for good sunrises, but alas it was not to be had. Maybe next year.

Thursday morning I was unable to discover any otter tracks, probably due to a later start. However Friday, Saturday & Sunday mornings were filled with them. Was it one or two otters creating all the tracks?  I don’t know. Just wish I could have caught a glimpse of them.

Seaweed and rocks on the beach.

Before sunrise.

Two weeks prior to ArtFest, I discovered my great grandfather lived in Port Townsend for a while. Maybe another trip will follow of a non-art variety. He certainly chose a beautiful place to live in 1881!

artfest fun

House 4E  Fort Worden was filled with fun during ArtFest.

top left moving clockwise: Megan, Lauren, Liz, Ed, me, Joanne, Jai, Jenny & Shannon

Andrew is in this photo.

Jai has grown quite a bit since last year.

The weather was nice. Lots of clouds with sprinklings of sunshine and rain.

Our fireplace mantles didn’t get quite as filled as previous years. We were missing several house mates.

Prayer flag by Jenny.

Encaustic by Megan.

One of Liz’s pet projects

One of Lauren’s painting/collage/stencil works

and Shannon’s 3 letter word…

What did I produce? Nothing quite as dramatic as the painters… but different. Blind contour drawings on shrinky dink plastic.

My 3 letter word became BEE. Acrylic paint on 5″x5″ canvas.

and a crazy book of critters….

off to Art Fest and Port Townsend WA

The title says it all. Tomorrow my friends Lauren & Joanne will pick me up and head north to Port Townsend Washington for five days. This year’s class line up is:

Carla Sonheim’s “Your Inner Dr. Seuss”. A whimsical book making class with crazy & odd drawings.

Tiphoni’s “The Series”. Playing with color theory, drawing series of something and toss them on that 70’s favorite craft project “shrinky dinks”!

Jill Berry’s “Three Letter Word”. Painting letters on small deep canvases. I think my chosen word is EGG. Still not certain.

I’m looking forward to seeing friends, enjoying morning walks to the light house, searching for eagles and other wildlife, and watching the sunrise over the north cascades. Oh, and then there is the art too!

screen printing project: artfest house 4e

ArtFest is just around the corner and another addition to the group prayer flags is here!  I’ve chosen to do a screen print. Many of my friends and family have not seen this process, so I’ll try to break it down in photo form for all to understand.

Here is the process I go through for screen printing on fabric, 2 screens, start to finish.

Step 1: Cleaning a screen.  In the image you can see red stuff (screen filler), from a previous project. Screen filler does what it says, it helps prevent ink from passing through the screen.  I’ll be removing the filler using hot water, Fells Naptha bar soap, and a scrub brush.

After about 8 washings and 16hrs, the filler was finally removed!

Next step is design layout. I want the  finished image to be 10″ x 12″ . There will be a combination of several images and text for the project. Often I reuse drawings for screen prints as is the case here.  The image is transferred to the clean and dry screen using a pencil and then blue drawing fluid.

The drawing fluid allows a blocking to occur that can be washed out with cool water and no soap. This will make more sense when the screen filler is applied. Drawing fluid is applied using paint brushes. The image below is screen#2.

Once the drawing fluid is completely dry,  screen filler can be applied over the surface ( the rust red stuff) using a trough. My art buddy Carol Chapel loaned me her trough several years back (and I really do appreciate the loan Carol! Maybe I should actually purchase it from you.) It’s very handy for application of  materials, ie:  photo emulsion and screen filler. It allows an even coating to be swiped over the screen surface. Image below is the trough loaded up with screen filler.

Below image: After the application of a single swipe of screen filler, more drying time required.

Next step is to wash out the drawing fluid with cold water:

More drying and it’s ready for printing.

Fabric: All the fabric has been pre-washed, dried, ironed, and cut down in size.  I can’t recall what type of material it is, something like shirting. I don’t know my fabrics.

Printing:  Screen#1 will be for the background color.  Newspaper taped to the back of the screen provides additional  ink blocking and helps keep things clean.

Blue tape helps guide fabric placement under the screen. A second way to better place a print is using a sheet of plastic (taped to your back board) as a guide. At this point it is not critical so I just used tape. Screen#2 used the other method for registration.

Place mixed colors on screen and pull with the beefy squeegee.

Pull completed. Ready to remove fabric

Fabric and paper often stick to the screen when it’s lifted. Gently peel off of screen.

Prior to starting to print, make sure to have plenty of flat space for drying. Fortunately the fabric can be draped over chairs and other items. These have dried and are ready for the second screen.

Screen#2: Images with text in black.

A finished image!

All that remains is heat setting the ink and finishing the edges.

If anyone is interested in the finished product (with or without the ArtFest 2010) let me know via email.  I will be running some with other colors for a SPRING 2010.

Thanks for looking at my process.

crabs descending print

Every year on Christmas Eve, our family gathers for a grand crab feed. Living in Oregon, Dungeness crab is not hard to find. Typically my father creates a fabulous card to invite extended family members to the event. Wine flows freely along with copious amounts of crab, wonderful green salad and bread from the Metropol Bakery in Eugene.

In 2008, I created a block print for those family members who attended the festivity. There was a choice, color or no color. Those who requested no color were able to walk away with the image in hand that night. Those unlucky few who asked for color…. they had to endure a full year to receive the completed print. Fortunately I created enough extra to send to other family members in the 2009 holiday package.

So first step was to print the black portion using the carved block. The original block  and paper were run through a  press. Next, I used a screen to apply the color over the surface of the image (this process will show up in the next blog with a different project).

What type of press do I use? It can be known as an etching or intaglio press. This particular press is a Takach. Etching presses are designed to place even pressure over the surface of a plate, pressing the paper down into etched/scratched lines that hold the ink (depending on what print style you are doing). There is a crank handle that moves the press bed (covered in wool blankets) one direction or another. The black knob handles on top help control how high or low the roller rests against the sandwich of materials. Bottom layer of the sandwich is the press bed and moves up as follows: press bed, plate/block, print paper, cover paper, felt, 2 wool blankets and then the roller.  The press  bed surface is 24″x 48″.

stalled project

Something interesting has started growing on my pig gut.

Another artist had asked if there were problems with things growing on or consuming the pig/hog intestine sculptures after drying. Organic materials… you never know! On initial thought, I replied “No”. However I should probably revise that answer. After four or five days of drying, my squares started taking on a white bloom along the wire lines. Normally the wire just rusts and bleeds out onto the material. Previous sculptures have all remained upstairs, during drying, with a room temp around 68-70 degrees F. With this batch, the stench was a bit potent so I moved them downstairs, a cool 55-60 degrees F. This could possibly have slowed the curing/drying process and allowed the white stuff to bloom.

Currently this project is on hold until the mystery behind the bloom is solved. I’ll move the squares upstairs to a warmer environment to see if it settles down. The application of a shellac coating will wait along with the acquisition of wood for the 5 to hang in.

Ah, the joys of new materials!

leaf collecting

Last year during the months of January & February I spent several days collecting Oregon Ash leaves for a coat project.  The finished coat was called “Winter’s Remains” and received first place in textile during the Howland Community Open in Corvallis, OR (to see images, please look back in the archives of March 2009). This year I have lost some interest in pursuing another coat of the same leaves until last Sunday. While we were clearing the blackberry brambles I discovered huge numbers of leaves in “mint” condition. During January I checked the condition of ash leaves in other close locations and found them not to be decayed enough.

What would be considered “mint” condition? I collect leaves that have lost most of their structure through the natural weathering/winter process. Typically all that remains are the skeleton forms. Here are a couple of photos of what I search for. Many of the leaves have other plants starting to grow through their remaining structure or have bonded to muddy depressions.

Some leaves have completely lost everything except the vein structure. Some still have sections that are opaque, which is also nice, or dark circles probably caused by mold or fungi on the surface.

George helped in his own way.

The collecting yielded two 5 gallon buckets of leaves and a very sore lower back.

I’ll probably collect yet another bucket because I don’t have the faintest idea what to make.  Ash leaves can be used many months later so I’m not worried they will spoil. The oak leaves collected during November to January will need to be used first.

blackberry bush therapy

Getting a jump on yard clearing can really boost your energy.  Dave started off the projects on Saturday by completing the initial grass cutting in the backyard while I spent the day working the public at the Arts Center. Bright and early Sunday morning, after the temperature had raised above 45, we hit the the blackberries and burned!

This is a view taken from the deck looking down into the back yard. You can see our neighbors fence line along the right side. Dave is standing in the “tamed” section of the yard. The “untamed” area, filled with the most blackberry brambles, is just over the wire fence he is standing beside.

This view is from the “untamed” side looking up towards the house. The burn pile originally had a 6’+ diameter and was about 5′ high. Not much left in the photo. We kept feeding it until 4pm and stayed outside until after 6pm cooking a packet of sweet potatoes in the coals. I had hinted at cooking s’mores using “peeps” but we never made it to the store.  Maybe with the next pile…

Dave walking back down to get more branches. Our plans are to install multiple raised beds (surrounded with tall fencing due to the transient deer population) and get our veggies and catnip growing. The yard needs a major overhaul in design. Hopefully we can start taking positive steps to make it a better place to enjoy. Blackberries just don’t fit into that picture.

We only made it through two 10’x20′  sections of berry brambles. There are still plenty more to go. Small and large yellow racers (garter snakes) were sighted. One “spring peeper”, our enjoyably noisy frog neighbor, was sighted. The back marshy area fills with the sounds of many of these 1.5″ long green guys nightly. The neighbors chickens made loops around their yard in search of tasty bug morsels. George helped out by watching their every move!

Evelyn’s daffodils are starting to go. This was a photo from Saturday morning. Might actually be good enough to use for a charcoal drawing.

My body is certainly feeling all the effects from Sunday’s yard work. Might have to take a break today and finish some art projects.

dreams

It happens every night, even if we can’t remember doing so. They can be so full of extraordinary things than shift in a millisecond.  People you love reappear and life can seem almost normal… until you wake in the dark to the sound of breathing and a dog licking it’s paws. Last night I dreamed that we had moved my mother into a different care facility. Dave and I were taking her swimming in the rehab pool which she seemed to enjoy,  but was complaining the entire time (like normal). For some reason the facility was having problems with swarming honeybees. The little guys were clinging to the ceiling, flying down hallways & getting everywhere. Honeycomb stalactites hung at the ends of hallways, dripping pools of amber onto the grey floor… bizarre!

This probably all stemmed from Kim mentioning something at dinner last night that made me sad. Before last September, Lee & Evelyn had the habit of calling each other when one was at the coast & the other in Eugene. Lee would save up his stories for their evening phone call. He still finds himself doing that,mentally saving the daily events to tell her later. Unfortunately, later is a long ways off. Now he receives an almost daily phone call from me to check in. I started calling after her surgery. It’s my evening routine to check-in, grab some comfort hearing my father and sisters voice, hear what they did that day. We are all missing her.