HIATUS

The word hiatus is defined as a pause or a gap in a sequence, series, or process. Well, my life has contained a hiatus for the past four months, at least in the studio. I finished running the edition of the wood engraving Carpe Diem at the end of July. In mid July Carol had to return to the hospital and she has been there since then. I've gone through a period of ups and downs and concerns that have kept me from focusing on work in the studio. Each time I try, I find my concentration is short-lived. But I did manage to start a series of sketches for another wood engraving in the Aliens of Planet Earth series in September. Eventually, after picking it up and setting it aside over and over again, I selected a sketch that I picked to draw on a new block. The drawing on the block went through numerous changes as well, until I finally began to engrave the block about three weeks ago.

Today (nearly three months after the first sketch) I decided it was time for the first proof of the block, to see what it looked like. It's a good feeling to have finally gotten back into the studio to work. Carol is safe and receiving good care and now I have got a focus that is keeping me from becoming a blobfish (the first member of the Aliens of Planet Earth series).

"So, Anyway" (as John Cleese would say... that's a very good book of his, by the way) I wanted to explain my hiatus and hibernation and to share Treehopper with you.

ON SECOND THOUGHT...

Every now and then, when going through the process of creating something, the final decision is not always final. In Carpe Diem that was the case. When I was satisfied with the latest proof and I made the decision to stop engraving, I ran the edition, let the prints dry, signed them and filed them away. I was tearing up the proofs and as I looked at the last one, on which I based my decision to stop engraving, I realized there was something that was bothering me. I was NOT finished with the print after all.

Here is a cropped scan of the area that bothered me. I had hoped to create a sense of the white area of the paper around the image flowing into the arm and flowing into the composition. But by showing an abrupt change  between the arm above the water and below the water, that wasn't working. 

I hadn't realized how important that issue was to me. So I decided to make the changes in the block and run the edition again. 

Here's a cropped scan of the area after I made the changes in the block and opened up the area so the white had a better chance of flowing into the composition.

This brings up the issue of what happens to the 34 prints in the edition that I now don't like. Thankfully this hasn't happened to me before. There is always a need for paper to run proofs upon and the back side of proofs or, in this case on the back side of an edition is the answer for proofing paper. The paper I use is expensive and I try not to waste it.

Now the issue of "limited edition" comes up. What happens to the edition that I printed first? Well, I have made an X across each print in that edition with a permanent marker and I will use the edition as proofing paper by printing future proofs on the back side of these, then tear them up and send them to recycling.

On my previous post I mentioned that the block had a subtle cancellation, in preparation to sending the block on to the Hamilton Wood Type Museum. Can you see the "cancellation" change up there in the crop of the revised area by comparing the "before" with the "after"? I will now find another area to create a subtle cancellation in the block.

In conclusion, I find that (for me) one of the most difficult moments in the process of creating a print or drawing is making the decision of when to leave it alone and quit.

CARPE DIEM

"Carpe Diem" (seize the day) is the title of my latest wood engraving, and it's part of the "See What I'm Saying?" series. The phrase, when first heard by one (such as myself) who has not studied Latin or the classics, sounds like it has something to do with carp. The image was engraved on a maple block, supplied by the Wood Engravers Network for a project titled "Seize the Carp" to benefit the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers Wisconsin. Two Rivers has a yearly carp festival and participating members of SWE were asked to include a carp in their image. As you can see, the block I was sent is a section of a maple end-grain slab that includes the edge of the slice of the log, so I incorporated that in the image.

The block will be sent to the museum for their collection and use. A minor alteration was created in the block, after this edition was completed; meant as a subtle cancellation of this edition.

WOOD ENGRAVERS NETWORK EXHIBITION

Carol and I returned from a road trip to the U.S. last Saturday afternoon. It took us three days to drive from Greeley Colorado to Red Deer Alberta. (That included an hour wait in line to get back across the Canadian border! Maybe there really ARE Americans wanting to escape the thought of "The Donald" as president.)

The first goal of the road trip was Missoula Montana where the Wood Engravers Network traveling exhibition was scheduled and we wanted to attend the opening and to visit our friends Jim and Julia Todd who live there. Jim is a superb wood engraver. He and I each have a wood engraving in the exhibition. The exhibition was held at one of the galleries at the University of Montana and I was very impressed with the presentation and quality of work chosen for the exhibition. There were wood engravings from members all over North America and Great Britain (maybe Europe too, but I can't remember. I'm awaiting the arrival of my copy of the exhibition catalogue).

Carol, Julia, Jim and I enjoyed music in the park. 

After a few more days enjoying the company of Jim and Julia, we headed south-east to visit some other very dear friends, Bill Starke and Judy Perry in Greeley. Bill is a former student of mine from many decades ago, when I taught at Metropolitan State College in Denver (now a university). Bill is now a very successful sculptor and they hosted us for a few days, during which I had my first experience getting in and out of a kayak with Bill's help (not an easy task for an old codger with arthritic joints).

We received a very unexpected welcome in Greeley.

Jim trying his hand at navigating the rapids.

MORE ABOUT ODDBALLS

A book-review website called bookgrabbr.com has ODDBALLS listed. Here's the link if you've read the book and want to express your opinion:

https://bookgrabbr.com/books/43081-oddballs

ODDBALLS' medal

ODDBALLS was recognized at the Independent Publisher's Book Awards, held at the Willis Tower in Chicago. They awarded the book a bronze medal in the Popular Culture category. Porcupine's Quill Publishers picked up my bronze medal and I just received it yesterday. It's a great honour... and heavy.

  

HANDS UP!

For those of you living, or visiting, in British Columbia, there's a new red ale brewed by Tin Whistle Brewery in Pentiction.  I've given them permission to use my wood engraving portrait of Bill Miner for their new Hands Up! red ale and I recommend it.  It's a tasty brew.

ODDBALLS HONORED

It's me being a braggart again.
Some more good news: I just heard that the Porcupine's Quill paperback edition of Oddballs received a bronze award at the Independent Publishers Book Awards, in the Popular Culture category.

Maybe Independent Publishers Book Awards is the same thing as the Indiefab Award nomination I heard about a while ago. I don't know.

CON-ARTISTS CONNING ARTISTS... AGAIN

The con-artists are back! This time in the name of Daniel Ming.  Daniel's colleagues were Debbie From NewYork, Stan From California and Jon From Norway (all of them had From as their middle names).

This is the e-mail I received from Daniel Ming:

Hello,

          I hope this mail meets you well, Am mailing to place order 

with your company and will like to know if it is possible for you to 

ship orders to South America.If shipment is possible,kindly get back 

to me with your catalog or price list were i can chose the item 

needed to be shipped including Delivery address.

         Also you will be referred to my shipper who handles all my 

shipment, and once I receive the quote for the order and the shipment 

 then I will commence on the payment. Kindly get back to me if this 

is acceptable and let me know the type of card you accept or i can make 

payment with Paypal too but credit card is more preferable to me.

Looking forward to do business with you.

Regards

I find it odd, as in the other con-artists' attempts, that Daniel doesn't make any reference as to what he's shopping for. Here is my response:

Good morning Daniel,
Yes, I can ship orders to South America, or any other continent. The best method for selecting which items you would like to order would be for you to look on my website, which I’m sure you would have seen, to obtain my e-mail address. The price of each item is listed on the website in Canadian funds and payment (as the website indicates) is made in Canadian, US, British or Euros only. When I know which items you want I can tell you what the amount in one of those denominations would be, including the packaging (you said you have your own shipper so you would pay your shipper for the shipping). I’m presuming your shipper would pick up the goods from me. There is something I don’t understand though. If you have a shipper of your own, why would you need to know if I ship orders to South America?

So, first you tell me which items you want and the denomination you will be paying with and I will let you know the total, including packaging. Next, you will make the payment, through PayPal, and I will await notice that your funds are in my account, before releasing the order to your shipper. 

If that works for you, we can do business.
All the best

I'm surprised that Daniel listed PayPal and credit card as his payment options. His other colleagues were going to send a cheque, and of course that cheque would be for an amount above the total. Then I would be asked to cash it and send him the difference (that's the con). 

I'll have to wait and see. Stay tuned.

BRAGGART

The dictionary defines braggart as "A loud arrogant boaster."
At the risk of being called a braggart, I want to share some good news I received a few days ago from Porcupine's Quill, the publisher of the trade edition of my book, ODDBALLS. 

The message said that ODDBALLS is a finalist in the Foreward Magazine IndieFab Book of the Year Awards, in the Popular Culture (Adult Nonfiction) category. It included this link to a page on the website: https://indiefab.forewordreviews.com/books/oddballs/

Now, it's a matter of waiting to see what the judges decide, but in the meantime I feel very honoured and humbled that the book has attracted the kind of attention to have placed it in the list of the finalists.

ADDITIONAL SUBLIMINAL IMAGES

Here are a few more of the prints and drawings of mine that contain subliminal images (some of them going back quite a few years).  Some of the titles hint at the hidden images and some of the hidden images aren't very hidden. Remember, you can click on an image to see larger versions:

 

       Bonnie Ben Lomond   wood engraving

 

          Crocky Rocky  lithograph

 

       Crocky Rocky II   lithograph  

 

    Talking to a Brick Wall    wood engraving

 

Mouthparts of a Spanish Fly   wood engraving 

 

     Pig Headed   wood engraving

          Rhino   wood engraving 

 

        Stonefaced   wood engraving

Hope you had fun looking for them. Let me know if there are any you can't find.

SUBLIMINAL IMAGE

Happy New Year everyone!

I've been fascinated with subliminal images for decades. I enjoy looking for them in photographs contained in printed advertising. I saw a page on line today that discussed a "brain teaser" drawing in which you were to try to find images of Indian leaders, including Ghandi, in a drawing of a tree. That reminded me of drawings I did to illustrate Jason Brink's book Fly on the Wall, published by ECW press in 2008. When the drawings were submitted to the publisher there was never a response from the editor regarding the hidden images and there has never been any response (that I'm aware of) from any reader. That's a good thing, because I didn't want them to be readily noticed. I've decided to "come clean" and to reveal that there are subliminal images in some (not all) of the drawings in Fly on the Wall, as well as other drawings and prints I've done.

So, here is the "brain teaser" (there are ten leaders) that motivated me to admit my subliminal images and you can easily see which of my drawings this "teaser" reminded me of:



A few of the pen and ink drawings for Fly on the Wall that contain subliminal images are below (You can click on individuals to see a larger image). But, before you include an image of a fly among the subliminal images you find, I need to explain that the fly is the subject of each of the stories in the book and I hid that fly in some of the drawings as a teaser to keep people looking. But there were other images hidden as well. Some were related to the particular story.

     

Bar Fly                                   Elephant Man

   

Mother's Day                                '74 Nova

    

Soccer Mom                              The Open Casket