Full & Faithful.

It's time to retire an item that has been very dear to me for the last year - my art journal. I have carried it with me at all times, now it is full and I get to move on to the next one. I found this journal years ago at the Fremont Sunday Market, it was made in Shanghai in the 1940's or 1950's - funny, it made it back to Shanghai last June! It was my savior there, and in many other times and places. Oh, it has been so good! I've never enjoyed an art journal more, something just clicked with this one. When I look through this journal I see a very whole expression of my self - probably because it's a dynamic mess of writing, collage, drawing, painting, polaroid transfer, and other experimental techniques. Dynamic mess - that sounds like me. :)

Time to move on, and all that comes with it. Onward!

death is a meal.

Yay! I finished a print and it is now the first to be for sale in my shop - forelock.etsy.com! Cool.

Printing this was real fun, and real good practice too. It started with a little type doodle in my art journal, later I found that certain images kept swimming around with those words in my head - so a print it became! I love working over a sketch then transferring it to a block for carving. And oh, how I love to carve! I find it so satisfying - it tests my patience, control, and attention to detail while also being completely self indulgent (knives! cutting!). Win - win!

The next step has been what I struggle with most so far, on and off the press. I've had this really filthy misconception about printing. I assumed that all my hard work would be done in the sketching/carving/typesetting/etc phases, so that when I was finally ready to print I'd just be able to bang 'em right out 1! 2! 3! I could not have been wronger. There is as much work in printing each image as there is in each of the previous steps. Every single image needs particular attention paid.

So here I am bubble burst + lesson learned, and all the better for it. I didn't use the press for these prints, instead I pulled each by hand so that I might pay very close attention. I used the water-soluble oil inks again (love!) cut with a little crisco. I know many people in high places are probably frowning upon this, but it just works so well! The ink + crisco has great body and stays perfectly open while I'm printing. For burnishing I used a Japanese baren and bone folder combo - the baren first for a broad even impression, next the bone folder to sharpen up the details. Next time I will have some photos of a print being pulled, or maybe even a video - that would be fun!

I am really happy with these prints, the finished product as well as the process. I can't wait to do more! To get a little back story on the text, and see more images of the print check out the listing on Etsy. I'm off to call mi madre. Happy Mother's Day all!

Bike & Beach

This afternoon I rode my bike out to Golden Gardens. It was a super beautiful day. Here is what I saw:

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more proofs...

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Another work in progress. One day soon there will be completely finished products. I promise. :D

something to soak in...

I usually try to mind my own beeswax when blogging, but this is too beautiful not to post. A short film by Jackie Davis with music by my very most favorite band Purple Rhinestone Eagle.


Who's Calling Water from jackie davis on Vimeo.

process

 

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A little practice, and the start of some prints for the shop!

Some thoughts.

I just posted this response on a friend's blog -- Messes of Ben. It's a pretty good statement of one of the fundamental beliefs that inform and inspire my art, so I thought I'd repost it here.

Our species evolved the ability to make the most of any environment we set foot in, thus making us capable of living in almost any environment on Earth. (When I say make the most, read: utilize any and all resources for our own survival.) We can do this not because of physical ability, but because of our mental capacity - this is a quantum leap in the natural world, no other animals use their brains to the extent and effect that we do. Now, we are in a position where we have taken our particular evolutionary adaptation to the extreme. We don't simply utilize all resources in our environment for our survival - we exploit every single resource, including other humans, to amass wealth, status and power. Concepts that hold sway over us more than any other animal because of our advanced mental capacities - because of our minds.

I personally believe that as a species we are approaching another quantum leap, another advance in our evolution. If we don't, we will destroy ourselves, other species and the vitality of Earth for some time (certainly not forever, how arrogant of humanity to think we have that power!). The status quo of human behavior is headed down this road towards annihilation, but I don't think we'll get there - simply because I believe that Nature/The Universe/God/what-have-you doesn't intend it.

I think the creativity of Nature/God/The Universe will surprise us just the way good ideas do - they come in a flash! (You know what I'm talking about!) This is how evolution works in all species, there is a period of exponential growth then suddenly a quantum leap and transformation happens. I believe we're pushing ourselves as a species to a point of such friction this transformation will have to occur -- and it will have to occur in our MINDS and, here's the kicker, our SPIRITS.

Physical evolution to mental evolution to spiritual evolution. We will have to, as a species, transcend those concepts that hold such sway over the mind - wealth, status and power just to name a few - and what can transcend the body and the mind but spirit? We won't throw away our bodies and minds when we evolve spiritually, just as we didn't throw away our bodies when we evolved mentally - we will just add another dimension to our capabilities. We know humans are already spiritual, but just as there was a leap in our mental capacities to make us the humans we are now, there will be a leap in our spiritual capacities to make us the humanity we will become.

Thanks for listening!

C:

Oh!! And!! I had my first sale on Etsy last night! Thanks, Angela!  WHOO!! more exclamation marks--> !!!!!!!