Beasts of New York Suite

Beasts of New York is a unique and captivating book, written by Jon Evans.  The Porcupine's Quill is publishing an illustrated edition of the book (2011) with reproductions of wood engravings by Jim Westergard. Rollin Milroy at Heavenly Monkey has put the original wood engravings into ten folios.  Eight are available for sale. This suite of all 11 engravings includes a title page and descriptive colophon set and printed by Rollin.  Each suite contains an original pen-and-ink signed drawing of one of the "beast" from the book. The engravings were printed on Zerkall, the text printed on Arches Wove, and the drawings done on Arches watercolour paper. Each of the engravings (which are reproduced by photolithography in Evans' book) were printed in editions of 25. These ten complete suites are assembled uniformly from numbers 16 - 25 (with the last two being reserved for the artist's personal use). The sheets are wrapped in a  printed chemise of Reg Lissel's handmade paper, and contained in a slipcase with printed spine label. The Beasts of New York suite is priced at $800.00 and is available from Jim Westergard.  
These are images of the Beasts of New York suite and the slip case it is presented in:

 The photos below are supplied, courtesy of Rollin Milroy

The colophon page in the composing area of Heavenly Monkey.

This suite (24/25) includes the pen and ink drawing shown at the top left.

WINTER TRAVEL PLANS

Yesterday, as the snow kept falling and getting deeper and my arthritic joints ached more and the sting of previously-frostbitten toes kept the shoveling sessions short, I started thinking how nice it would be to get out of this cold climate for a little while.  Two years ago, in February, I flew with Carol to San Francisco for about a week, to attend the CODEX book fair at University of California Berkeley and since the CODEX and the San Francisco Antiquarian book fair are scheduled within the same week this year we started looking into the possibility of doing the trip again.  There was an Air Canada seat sale available which was to end last night so we had to act fast.  It's always been one of our favourite places to visit.  Carol is from the Bay Area and we met there and had many memorable dates in "The City".  In fact I proposed to Carol in my 1949 Chev one evening, parked on the Marina, looking out on San Francisco Bay.  We both thought this was a great plan.  We checked on a few hotels and finally picked one we had not stayed in before, then sat back and did the calculations.  We calculated the seat sale (which hid the massive amount of taxes and fees and the baggage charges).  We added that to the cost of the hotel for four nights (we wanted seven, but knew that would be out of our budget).  We added the hotel cost in Calgary the night before (our flight was to leave early in the morning).  We added our hotel in Calgary upon our return (our return flight would arrive too late to drive home to Red Deer).  Then we added the parking fee for our car in Calgary while we were gone and the food and transportation costs in San Francisco and Berkeley and the then we totaled it.

The total was a figure that was over what we could afford without putting it on plastic.  We winced and groaned and told each other how disappointed we were that we couldn't do it and then we tried to convince each other that it was for the best.  But we both knew we still had doubts about the decision to cancel the plans and deep inside we both probably felt the debt would be worth it.  Think about how nice it was two years ago in the Bay Area, with only a little mild rain once or twice and seeing live trees and green grass, while our driveway was filling up with snow back in Red Deer!

It was best to get our minds off this regret so we settled in front of the TV and turned on the news.  One of the first items we saw was a story about an eighty year old British Columbia woman who was filing a complaint with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority about her treatment at the Calgary airport when she was returning to her home in BC.  The security person must have thought she looked like she may be a possible terrorist who was packing some explosives, because the security person started feeling her breasts and embarrassed the poor lady by dislodging her breast prosthesis.  She had had a mastectomy in the past and was extremely emotionally sensitive about it and broke into tears there.  Of course that meant nothing to the security personnel who were only "doing their job".  That job seems to be to fool all of us into thinking, if security "cops a feel" before passengers get on the plane, it will make us safer.  

Right then and there we decided we made the right decision to cancel our travel plans and we decided we would save our travel for better weather when we can drive. 

WOOD ENGRAVING PROCESS

My friend Bill Starke, suggested I should display some photos to illustrate the engraving process and I thought that was a good idea.  So, as I was about to start engraving a new block in the series See What I'm Saying, I took photographs of the block as I worked.  This print went through a number of title changes.  I started with the phrase, Change Your Mind, then Change Her Mind, then, Bill suggested Headlock, which I thought was good, but did not reflecting my motive (he wasn't aware of my motive behind the image).  The title I've finally given the print is My Mind is Made Up.  The first photo shows the ink drawing on the block and the block was stained, so I'd be able to see, more easily, where I  engraved.  The blocks I use are end-grain hardwood, similar to butcher blocks, only with a very smooth and flat surface.  In this case it's a maple block.  I stained the block by brushing oil paint lightly over the surface with a dry brush.

I started engraving and moved into more than one area to get a feel for the relationships between areas.  These early areas are usually places in which I am fairly confident of what I want to achieve.  The surface which is removed in the engraving process cannot be replaced so I need to be sure of my decision before removing it.  Ink will be rolled over the surface of the block during the printing process and since the untouched surface of the wood is what will print, I need to be sure of my decisions before removing an area.  Wood engraving is a process of bringing light out of darkness.

By this stage I hadn't printed a proof yet and wasn't sure what I would be doing with the area around the head.  It was time to see what I had.  It was time to print the image.  Quite often I start proofing earlier than this, but this one went differently.

I usually print two or three proofs so I can draw on them with white paint or manipulate the proofs in some way to get some visual feedback as to how my plans for the print will look.  It's safer to mess up a print than mess up the block.  The middle proof in this photo has had the paper around the head cut out with a razor knife and a piece of white paper set behind, so I can see what it would look like with the wood removed from that area.  I decided I wanted some major white areas around the head, but still didn't remove it all.  I kept drawing on proofs between engraving, until I arrived at the final stage.  This is the final print, My Mind is Made Up.

You can see the other prints from this series, as well as other wood engravings and drawings on my website: http://www.telusplanet. net/public/jimwest

Oddballs: the book

I don't look after this blog site very well. I intended to use this as a means of letting people know of my projects and what I was doing in the studio, but I continually forget to go back to it and keep it up to date.

I've been working on a number of projects over the past year. Some of them are my own and some are commissions. The largest project, and my own, which I've been working on for a few years, is called Oddballs. I have printed editions of the forty prints in this series. Another, that I'm still working on is called See What I'm Saying. There have been a couple of commissions to illustrate some books for Porcupine's Quill Press of Erin, Ontario, including Suit of Nettles by James Reaney and Beasts of New York by Jon Evans. Beasts of New York will be released in early 2011.

I've come to an agreement with Rollin Milroy, the proprietor of a quality book press in Vancouver called Heavenly Monkey Press. He will be publishing the Oddballs in a limited edition book of thirty, to be released in the spring of 2011. The text will be printed on handmade paper and the images were printed by me on Zerkall mould made paper which will be tipped into the book. The binding has yet to be selected.

There endeth my update of current projects. I hope everyone has a safe and peaceful Christmas!

Summer? What Summer?

This has been a summer I will never forget. Or, better yet, a summer I will want to forget. I doubt we have had more than five days this whole summer here in Red Deer, Alberta, when it was warm enough to put on shorts and go outside. If it wasn't overcast it was overcast and raining and in both cases it was chilly. In August, when we are normally using fans to keep cool, the furnace would kick on! I don't want to hear any more about "global warming". "Global climate change"? OK. But not "global warming"!

Now, with that bitching out of my system, I can get on with how I spent my summer. Besides escaping south of the border to enjoy the warmth in the good ol' US of A for a few weeks, I've been staying warm in the studio and working on a number of projects. Usually I scan work as I finish it and put the images up on my website, but this summer I've let that slip. I haven't uploaded anything since last February. I'm not computer savvy and I fumble my way through these things at the best of times. When I finally got around to the project it took me nearly all day because I had forgotten many of the complicated (for me) steps.

I added two wood engravings that are part of my series called See What I'm Saying? which I worked on over the Summer.

Last Spring I was offered the opportunity by Porcupine's Quill Press to create a series of wood engravings for a book titled Beasts of New York by Jon Evans and after I read it I couldn't wait to get started. I finished the last one a week or two ago and the Beasts of New York wood engravings are now on the website as well.

Colorado or Bust

The Durango to Silverton steam train arrives in Silverton.

Fritz and Jim at the Silverton Station

NA Graphics building in Silverton

Main Street Silverton, Colorado

Bill Starke at the Hyatte Regency in Denver, with his sculpture on the wall in the background.

Three days after I returned from Erin, Ontario I was packed and ready for another trip. The two form rollers on my Vandercook press were looking a bit "long in the tooth", so I decided Carol and I would take a road trip to Silverton, Colorado where NA Graphics is now located. NA Graphics is the company which has taken over the Vandercook press inventory. This trip would give us an opportunity to visit friends and family along the way. We had lived in Denver when I taught at Metropolitan State College for five years. Sculptor, Bill Starke and his wife Judy are still living there. During our stay at Bill Starke's studio, he and his wife Judy took us to the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Denver where we saw his sculpture, The Climbers, installed in the lobby.

Our route to Silverton was west of Pueblo, Colorado and eventually over Monarch Pass, where we drove through a Spring blizzard. Then, before arriving in Silverton, there were miles of tight hair-pin curves to negotiate over other passes. But the occasional jolt of fear that these roads gave us was all worthwhile in the end when we saw the quaint town of Silverton. The next day we met Fritz Klinke, the owner of NA Graphics and we toured the facility. He also took time to show me how to install the bearing blocks for the new rollers. Since Fritz is a narrow gauge steam train enthusiast he was more than happy to take us to the station in time to see the Durango to Silverton steam train come in before we had to leave.

Made of Wood Exhibition

Tim Inkster of Porcupine's Quill Press suggested I enter a competitive exhibition in Erin, Ontario called "Made of Wood". When I looked at examples of entries from prior years and the description of the exhibition, it seemed to me that my use of wood, to create wood engraving prints on paper, would not qualify me to enter. As it turned out, 2010 is the first year wood engraving was included, so I entered and was accepted. There was a weekend event planned in Erin to present examples from the exhibition and to offer demonstrations of the various processes. Wesley Bates and I were scheduled to spend a couple of days at a charming boutique on Erin's Main Street called Renaissance. We were to meet with visitors who wanted to know more about wood engraving. Wesley had brought his antique table top vertical platen press to demonstrate the printing process and I stood around in awe of Wesley's presentation, with very little to offer but moral support. It was a marvelous weekend filled with wonderful people. On my way back to the Toronto airport I stopped in Steinburg to see the McMichael Gallery and to meet Tom Smart. Tom plans to organize an exhibition of wood engravings in 2012 at the McMichael, in which I've been invited to participate.

The Rat Gave Up

It had been nearly two days since I had received an e-mail from Stan, so I figured I should send him a "fish-or-cut-bait" e-mail:
Stan, I thought you wanted that drawing for your new apartment and that you were in a hurry to get it. I haven't had any response after my repeated requests that you send me the address you want it sent to (California or the UK?). I'm afraid I've had another request for the drawing and I can't hold onto it much longer. Do you want it or not? You had first request, buddy, so I'm giving you a chance if you want it, otherwise I gotta go with this other request. Jim

Now another day has passed. He had been so anxious to get the drawing and so insistent that we get on with our transaction, his silence makes it apparent that he has moved on, to spend his time conning some other artist. My most entertaining customer has dropped me! So, I decided to send him a farewell message:
Stan,
I guess you don't really want the drawing as badly as you claimed. So, how about it; let's be honest with each other, Stan. After all, we've had this trusting relationship and we're both responsible people (as you said earlier) so you can tell me the truth now. You didn't want my drawing at all, did you? You were just after the money you could get from my refund cheque which you were going to ask me to send you, because you were going to send an overpayment in a phony money order. Right? Come on, tell me the truth. I know all about the cons you guys are running. They're all over the news over here on this side of the world. And you don't live in California either, do you? You aren't getting transferred to the UK, are you? You're in Nigeria, aren't you? I saw the record of your visits to my website and I've got your IP address.

While I'm waiting for you to tell me the truth, I'll tell you the truth. You did this con so badly I had you figured out with your second e-mail. Here's some other truth: I've shared this con of yours over the internet with others. I've shared the information with lots of others; with artists and the police. I know at least one other artist who received an e-mail from you which was an exact copy of the e-mail you sent me. So give it up and get an honest job, Stan. We're wise to you and your organization and it's not going to work any more. You might think the internet is a convenient vehicle for you to use to steal easy money but it's also a convenient and effective means of communication and a way of warning others about you.

There, I've been honest. Now, tell me something truthful for a change and stop bullshitting me, Stan.
Jim

Rat Bait

Sunday came and went without another e-mail from Stan. On Monday I made that call to the RCMP then sent Stan this e-mail:

Sorry I didn't get back to you, Stan. I took the rest of the weekend away from the studio. I think I have a solution for us which might satisfy both of us. Actually two solutions.
1- You could pay me through PayPal and I will cover the cost of packing and mail from the $3430.00 US. That is simple and easy. Do you know how to use Pay Pal?
2- The other method could be for you to send me the bank cheque for $3430.00 US and I will take it to the bank. I will not send the drawing until my bank assures me that your bank cheque has cleared.
How does that sound?
Jim

Then, not many hours later (those guys in that Nigerian boiler room must never sleep) I received Stan's response:

Its okay,i will prefer the check,do consider the pieces sold and get back to me with your name and address with your phone # for me to proceed with the payment.
∂Will await your message.

No real surprise there, about Stan's choice of payment. And did you notice how he's reassuring me that he REALLY wants the drawing and he's hitting that request for my address and phone again (which I've told him before are on my website).
I thought I would push it a bit and see how much I could get away with in my response to that:

Stan,
My address and all the information you need is on my website. What I need from you before we go any further is your mailing address. I will pack the drawing in a safe tube and have it addressed and ready for when the cheque clears. I want to prevent the drawing you want from getting sold while I wait. By the way, you were mentioning that you were being transferred to the UK, so you will need me to send it there, won't you?

Stan came back with a short one:
nope my shipper will be coming to your place for the pick up

I like that "nope" touch. Sounds almost like someone else is writing this one for Stan. It sounds too, like they're getting impatient with me so I decided to remind him about the mailing. I notice Stan ignored my question about his being transferred to the UK:

I thought I made that clear, Stan. I am going to absorb the cost of the packing and mailing.

Now, I would never write to a purchaser of my work with that tone but I was trying to see how much sarcasm Stan could read into this and whether he could tell I was stringing him along. Stan didn't seem to pick up on the sarcasm, but he did finally catch the message that my address and phone number are on my website because he sent this:

can you send me your site again i want to confirm something.

I'm thinking that the "something" is my address. Strange, that he wants my drawing so bad but he can't figure out how to get back to my website. Oh, I forgot to mention that the subjects of his e-mails have been changing. The first subject was the title of the work he wanted and the next group of e-mails was titled "Interested", then the last batch have been titled "Payment/Pickup" as if they are being pulled from a file of sequential topics. I answered his request for the site this way:

You first, Stan. I mentioned earlier that I needed your address to prepare the packaging and you haven't cleared up that issue of your move to the UK. First you said you were in California then you said you were out of town and you were being transferred to the UK. This is going to necessitate a difference in the way I pack the drawing.

I've been hoping Stan sends the cheque and I can frame it and put it on my studio wall. I got an e-mail from Ron Lines with the most brilliant suggestion yet:

Why don't you tell Stan to send you the bank draft. When he does, keep it until a Nigerian "Government Official" needs your help to get money out of the country then send Stan's bank draft to them. Sweet revenge.

I figure if Stan hasn't caught on by now, he never will. My last message to Stan was sent yesterday late afternoon and there hasn't been a response to that. Maybe Stan, or his supervisor finally caught on. I may have played with the rat too long. I'll give him time for one more nibble and see what happens.

More about the rat

There have been no more e-mails from Stan the rat, but there have been some developments in the story. I decided to send Stan an e-mail today with a proposal which I suggested might be a solution to our stand-off. I suggested two solutions. One was that Stan pay me on PayPal and the other was that Stan send me a money order and when the bank lets me know that the money order has cleared, then, and only then, I would send him his drawing. I suggested that I would do the packing and mailing and would waive the charges to avoid using his own personal shipper. There has been no response from Stan.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. I was checking the statistics on my website stat counter this morning and noticed a visit to my website which occurred very close to the day and time of Stan's first e-mail. The statistics indicated that there were multiple visits to my website from this computer and that there had been a referral link to my site from a gallery in the US. The computer used to visit my site was located in Nigeria! I've seen and read news items about the many fraud schemes coming out of Nigeria. Of course there is no absolute proof that Stan is in Nigeria (he has a gmail address and claims he's in California and moving to the UK) nor that he is at the computer shown in the statistics on my website.

But wait, that's not the end of it! Over the weekend I notified Bill Starke, a sculptor friend of mine who lives in Denver, about my exchange of e-mails with my buddy, Stan. This morning I received an e-mail from Bill and he included a copy of the following e-mail he had received this morning:

Hello,

Good day to you over there, My name is Stan thomas i'm from California and i hope this message finds you well.I was going through your works and my eyes caught...., i will like to have it for my new apartment this month. please let me know if the piece is available, if yes let me have the detailed price and more information about it. i will be waiting to read from you asap.

Stan.

The exact same e-mail I received a couple of days ago. Word-for-word, letter-for-letter, including the string of periods after the phrase "and my eyes caught....," in which, if Stan had the intelligence and wasn't so lazy, should have contained the title of the work of art he was interested in.

I consulted an office of the RCMP crime prevention unit and was told that Stan's con is very common and results in the con sending a phony money order or bank draft worth more than the amount required. The victim of the con is then asked to deposit the money anyway and send their own bank money order for the amount of overage. Of course in the case of Stan the art collector, the victim also loses a piece of art work. Although I doubt that will happen because Stan will probably never give an address for the art work to be shipped to.

So, all you artists out there, look for an e-mail from Stan and it's seller-beware! And Stan, if you're reading this, you gotta do better than that, man. You're so bloody transparent a child would know you were about to steal his candy. I hope nobody takes your phony bait!

I smell a rat

I received an e-mail yesterday from a person named Stan, who had a gmail.com address. Stan had apparently been on my website and had seen a drawing of mine that he said he wanted to buy right away for the wall of his new apartment. Stan had also visited the page on my website which gave purchasing instructions because he followed my suggestion to copy and paste the title of the work in the subject of his e-mail. Since Stan mentioned that he was in California I looked up the current exchange rate between the US and Canadian dollars and I replied to Stan with the price of the drawing in US dollars and I requested that Stan give me his address so I could calculate the cost of shipping, to add that cost to the drawing.

Here is Stan's reply:

Thanks for the message, I am very happy to know that the Pieces is still available for sale. i must tell you i am very much interested in the immediate purchase.I will like to let you know that your payment will be in form of a Certified Check.You dont have to worry about packing, insurance and tax because my shipper will be in the best position to do that as soon as you get the payment.This is because i will be traveling out of the country any moment from now for a business proposal.So get back to me with the information needed to send you the payment I:E :
Full Name
Standard Address
Phone number
Asking price reconfirmation

so that i can proceed in the payment arrangement, consider it sold get back to me asap with needed information.
Thanks

OK, now red flags came up and I started to smell a rat. There was something not quite right here. First of all the structure of this answer sounded more like an automated response from a business, instead of a purchaser completing a purchase. Forget, for a moment, the clumsy spelling, grammar and phrasing. The insistence that I supply my name, address and phone number seemed to add more stench to this transaction since it was obvious Stan had already visited the page of purchase instructions which contained my name, address and phone number. In each message there was this "asap" urgency as well.

I responded that I've never heard of a purchaser sending their own shipper to my studio to collect the work and said I prefer to pack and ship purchases to clients myself. I said if he was still interested in purchasing the drawing I needed his address. Stan's reply was short. He said I didn't need his address because his shipper would be coming to my "place to pick up the pieces" (remember, I'm in Canada and he says he's in California). I replied, again, that I didn't do business that way and I suggested he supply me with the name and phone of his shipper.

Here is Stan's reply:
Hello,
Thanks for the details which Ive noted down and have also forwarded it to my shipper.He's due in the US sometime next week and will definitely be getting in touch with you for the pickup.The truth is, I would have handled this much differently if i would be at home but Im a bit pressed for time myself. Im moving to the UK this month as im being transferred.As it is, I'm sending you an overdraft which will include my shippers fees as well.He has asked for an upfront before coming and since I have no access to a lot of cash, Im trying to kill two birds with a stone.So, once you've received and cashed the check, deduct your funds and PLEASE help me send the remaining funds to him(shipper).I'll forward his contact details to you once you've received the payment.Now I'm concluding you are a responsible person and I can therefore entrust you with this arrangement.Ill let you know Immediately the check is sent out to you so you should be looking out for it.

P.S:I`ll require that a reconfirmation of your address is done for me now. I await your reply.

Now there's more than the smell of a rat. I smell an outhouse in August. His shipper has been out of the US and will be returning next week. Well, Stan, I am out of the US, in case you haven't picked that up yet, so your shipper will need to turn around and get back on the plane! You betcher sweet bippy Stan is "trying to kill two birds with a stone". He's trying to get one of my drawings and giving me an "overdraft" (this is an admission that his check will bounce). I'm still trying to figure out why I should bail Stan out of his cash shortfall by paying "him(shipper)" Stan's bill.

That is where I've left it. If there's anything more from Stan I'll let you know. Stan may have concluded that I am a responsible person and that he can entrust me with this arrangement of his, but the feeling is not mutual. Folks, if it's too good to be true; chances are, it isn't. And this one has the smell of something that definitely isn't.

Fashion?

Since when has fashion been a concern in the Olympics? Apparently the American snowboard dudes take it very seriously. They are claiming that all snowboarders competing in the freestyle race should dress in the baggy costume worn in skateboard parks and recreation slopes. Now they're criticizing the Canadian snowboard dudes for wearing pants too tight and too aerodynamic! GIVE ME A BREAK! I thought the object was to cross the finish line first and fair, not who looks the most "cool". What's next? Helmets on sideways?

Obsession with fad can apparently distract from the issues at hand as easily in sport as they can (and do) in art.

Power tool recovery

The Foredom people responded promptly to my question about parts replacements. Meanwhile I was curious what my local small appliance repairman, Don, would have to say about the broken wire covering. Yes! We still have someone in our city who will repair things! In about thirty minutes he had shortened the wire by about two and a half inches and had re-attached the same connectors. When I put the hand piece back together and plugged it back in, it worked beautifully! I'm back in business, and at far less cost than buying new parts or a new hand piece. All that was thrown away was two and a half inches of braided copper wire.

Having spent a day back on the block with my hand tools, I have a different perspective on working with the power tool. I realize how I miss the control and slower pace of the hand tools. I believe I will find myself distributing the work between the power tool and the hand tools a little differently from now on.

A case for hand engraving tools

I was made aware today of the value of simpler technologies. I started engraving a new block a few days ago and was returning to work on the block this afternoon. I picked up the hand piece of the Foredom micro motor I rely on for the majority of my wood engravings and was about to turn it on. Then I noticed the covering of wire which comes from the hand piece was cracked and I could see the copper wire. Both stands! If they touched I doubt it would be a good thing. I have no idea how long the break in the wires had been there and I suppose I'm fortunate I spotted the damage before they touched.

I tried to take the hand piece apart to see if there was a means of making a repair but wasn't able to gain access to the point where the wire connects to the hand piece. I went immediately to the Foredom website to see if there was a replacement hand piece listed. The model number of the hand piece I own is not listed now. The machine is apparently obsolete. If I want to continue engraving I must use my hand tools for the remainder of the block. Waiting to solve the problem of the disabled part is not an option. I must continue to work.

This incident got me thinking about how we rely on technology for so much in our lives and when technology breaks down or is unavailable, how panic sets in and things shut down. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get the hand piece fixed or replaced but I do know I need to continue engraving and the hand tools I use for some areas will replace the power tool and will return as my main tools... until I find a solution in my spare time.

Loss of prints submitted to group exhibitions

In 2003 I submitted a wood engraving to Euro Art Centre in Vaxju, Sweden for the Mini Print de Sarajevo exhibition and it was accepted. There was a website which showed photos of the exhibition and the events surrounding the opening. An e-mail arrived in 2004 from a G.Wahlin of the Euro Art Centre which let me know that my print was to be returned to me in May of 2004. I was busy with other projects and forgot the print until October of 2005 when I wrote G. Wahlin. There has never been a reply. I tried numerous ways of contacting G. Wahlin and the Euro Art Centre with no results. I can't seem to even find any sign that this Swedish Euro Art Centre still exists.

A similar experience was had with the Townhouse Gallery in Belfast, Northern Ireland and their International Small Print Exhibition in 2003, only in this case they responded and insisted submissions had been returned. I'm still waiting.

I have long since written these off as losses which go with the business, but I was thinking recently that there may be printmakers out there who know about these institutions and may have had similar experiences. Sending work to offshore international exhibitions always contains an element of risk. These two are the only losses I have experienced in years of submitting to group exhibitions. There was one case where a drawing was returned from an exhibition in Eastern Europe with poor packing (not the secure container I had sent) and was so severely wrinkled it had to be destroyed.

Has anyone got any thoughts on this subject they're willing to share? Does anyone know anything about the Euro Art Centre or the Townhouse Gallery in Belfast? It would be interesting to hear what other horror stories there are out there and perhaps there are even lists of organizations to be avoided which could be published.

SUNRISE

One of the perks of getting to work in the studio early in the morning is the chance to see a magnificent sunrise when it happens. This morning was not only one of those chances to see a magnificent sunrise but to experience something reminiscent of the "Twilight Zone".

I usually start the morning with a look at the e-mails and this was no exception. I was sitting at the computer, reading an e-mail at 7:15 AM when I heard a rapping on the door (or maybe it was on the window, now I'm not exactly sure... the door is metal and the knocker makes a hard sound). I thought it was strange because friends don't usually show up that early without calling first and my wife usually comes right in without knocking. I turned around and walked toward the door and through the window I saw the most magnificent sunrise I think I've ever seen. I had no idea this sunrise was happening because it had been dark and there had only been a slight hint of dawn when I entered the studio. I remember thinking that whomever was knocking wanted me to see this beautiful sight. When I opened the door nobody was there, just the neighbor's cat. I went into the house, which was still dark and quiet, and tip-toed to the bedroom. The bedroom door was still closed, as I had closed it before taking a shower, and my wife appeared to still be sleeping. So I got my camera from a drawer and took a couple of pictures of the sunrise. When I went back into the studio and sat down at the computer to download the pictures, the knocking happened again. I opened the door and again... there was just the cat. I called out, "Hello! Anyone there?" but there was no response. I looked over the fence (the gate had not been unlatched) and walked to both sides of the studio and saw nobody. There wasn't a breath of wind this morning and the cat wasn't able to reach the door knocker, so those were ruled out. I went back to the computer and sat down and in a minute there was another knock. I didn't turn around this time but just said "Come in!". Nobody came in. Later, when my wife was up and we were having breakfast, I tried to see if she had somehow been the one who knocked on the studio. She swears it wasn't her. Whoever it was, real, imagined or supernatural, I'm grateful for the heads-up to see that sunrise.

NOTE: Dear reader, if you were the one who knocked this morning... thank you! And when we meet again, don't say anything about it. I want to pretend there really is a "Twilight Zone".

Narrowness of Mind

While searching for something on the Internet the other day, I stumbled (tripped is more descriptive) across a website of an organization called Art Renewal Center or ARC for short... http://www.artrenewal.org/ I paused to browse and read a little bit and what I saw in this ARC site was the most bizarre attitude about art I have ever come across. I can't believe that an institution, which claims to include education as one of its mission statements, would spout such hateful vitriolic venom about some styles of art. There is an article on one of the pages by a man named Fred Ross who appears to be the originator of this organization. In this article he attacks various movements of art, which have gone in directions other than the realist movements he admires. His attacks are reminiscent of conservative, evangelical fundamentalist religions who believe they are right and everyone else in the world is wrong.

As anyone who knows my work or visits my website can see, I work with subject matter and I frequently use life or photographic references as a source for images. I am an advocate of the basic fundamentals of design and believe drawing from life to be an important asset in education. I am amused and confused by "art-speak" and the language of some contemporary art reviewers. All of which should indicate that I am not critical of ARC's support of realism. What astounds me, however, is the fear evident in the text of this ARC website. It's as if ARC and the authors on the site are afraid that, somehow, abstract art or any form of art which is not realist-based is threatening them and their artistic tastes. There are even three or four sections devoted to a vicious attack on the work of David Hockney, to an extreme which would suggest that ARC is declaring a fatwa and sees Hockney as their Salman Rushdie.

ARC appears to believe there is an organized and coordinated conspiracy on the part of non-realistic visual artists to eliminate any form of visual art prior to 1800. The only visual art acceptable to ARC is that which "represents" something three dimentional and in a very limited style. The painter, René Magritte explained this situation in his painting of a pipe, titled "La Trahison des Images", which, in English means "The Treason of Images". The inscription below the pipe on Magritte's canvas translates to "This is not a pipe". The message to ARC here is that a painting is paint on canvas, not a pipe or a person, or a landscape.

There's plenty of room in the world for all directions of artistic expression to exist and thrive without the need to resort to evangelical attacks against "non-believers". Just as there is room in the world for different religious and political beliefs. It would be a very boring world indeed if everyone thought and acted the same way. It has always seemed to me that when someone has to launch a personal attack against someone else for the way that other person believes, lives or behaves, the attacker is very insecure.

Lighten up, ARC! The "aliens" have landed, learn to live with them!

People often ask me about that little electric engraving tool shown in this picture. Some want to find a tool that will make engraving easier and a few have asked me if the tool would be kinder to arthritic hands. It's made by Foredom and it's called a micro motor. It spins at extremely high speeds and works the same way a dentist's drill works (it sounds like one too). There are other tools that work, but this one is the best I've found. There is no flex-shaft to struggle with. The hand piece is smaller than other brands, so engraving with it is like drawing with a fat pen or pencil. It's very handy when removing large areas of material. It's expensive and, like any other power tool, it can be dangerous. If the operator is distracted or relaxes, the bit (I use an inverted-cone shape) can bite into the material and pull the tool with it, out of control.
I use the power tool for most of my engraving. When I want total control and I'm working in a small delicate area, I use hand tools. For the most part, I can't finish engraving a block any faster with the power tool than with hand tools and I can't say that the power tool is any easier on my hands, arms or back than using the hand tools.

I have no answer for the question: "Then why use it?".

More Ergonomics of Wood Engraving

I constructed a stand out of plywood (left), with a slightly inclined surface for the block and a lower shelf in back for a lamp. I covered the sharp edges of the stand with foam plumbing pipe insulation (the gray strip at the top edges) and adhered them with acrylic contact cement. To keep the stand from slipping on the Formica work counter I used a piece of rubber nonskid sheet beneath the stand.
This system has been working very well, with no complaints from my back or neck. Then a few months ago I began noticing my right shoulder was aching and as time went on it was getting worse. I couldn't figure out what was causing the pain until I realized it was because my arm was constantly raised as I engraved. The stand is putting my shoulder in an awkward position for hours at a time, day after day, week after week, and causing the pain.
I've learned that I need to change my working position periodically. I've changed back to a conventional chair and am working at the level of the work bench and the pain in the shoulder is gradually disappearing. I plan to change between these two work positions monthly, to eliminate the stress.
"A change is as good as a rest."

Ergonomics of Wood Engraving

I often engrave on a block during an eight, ten or sometimes twelve hour day, with breaks for lunch and dinner. A few years ago I began to experience back and neck pains and figured it had something to do with the way I was sitting at the work bench. I realized my back was straining as I leaned over the block to engrave and I remembered seeing an unusual chair at Simon Brett's studio in Marlborough, England. He told me then that it helped his back and I figured this might eliminate my back ache as well, so I bought one at a local office supply store.
When I sat in the "kneeling" chair with my butt on the upper pad and knees on the lower pad, and my back straight, my work bench was too low. I could see that I had to raise the work surface to keep my back straight. Old phone books and piled up sand bags weren't secure enough.

THE SURFACE OF BLOCKS

Printing an engraved block in a press requires a block that is consistently level and finding an end-grain block which is level and truly flat is not easy. Most blocks I purchase have low spots and sometimes the different segments of the block are at slightly different levels. This is a problem when printing on a press because the ink and the pressure are less in the low areas. I solve this problem by sanding all the blocks I use before doing any engraving on them. I've mounted plate glass to a high work table in my studio, upon which I attach carborundum sand paper in three grits (100 to 400) with rubber cement. For larger blocks I butt two sheets of the same grit together. The sand paper mounted tightly to the flat glass gives a very even surface.


I set the block on the sandpaper and, with modest pressure, I work the block in a small circular motion, moving it over the sand paper, making sure the block stays within the edges of the sandpaper. I try to keep the pressure I use evenly distributed over the back of the block. Periodically I rotate the block so I'm not applying more pressure to one area than another. At intervals I use a small hand vacuum to keep the grit of the sand paper from clogging with sand dust. Wood dust is easily removed this way. But "Resingrave" clogs the sand paper more and this synthetic material is very difficult to remove. I have found nearly all Resingrave blocks to have uneven surfaces. The Resingrave block surface has a smooth "skin" and, when sanded, small pits, which seem to be caused by air bubbles in the synthetic solution, are exposed.


I pick the block up every now and then and I look at the block at eye level, holding the block toward a strong light source. The pattern of sanded and unsanded portions of the block are apparent this way. When the entire surface texture of the block looks the same it means the high surfaces have been sanded down to match the low areas. I move then to the finer grit paper and repeat the process.