I am finally giving in and admitting it. All of my classes have officially started and it is back to business as usual. (Not that I’m complaining… I’m very pleased with my classes so far.)

I can’t believe the summer is over. It was truly a wonderful one. Which only makes it that much harder to go back to the usual grind. The major highlights were: Penland, printmaking, fresh delicious tomatoes from the dirt bird garden, a New England birthday weekend, painting, finishing an animation for Artscape, wild blueberries, and daily seafood in Maine: lobster rolls, whole lobsters, clams, mussels, scallops, haddock…

The only thing I say good riddance to: the heat. This was the worst summer of heat ever for Baltimore. Please don’t ever happen again! It is so beautiful today, though, I have already put all that behind me.

And I leave you with a few memories of summer fun.

Penland printmaking studio

MASS MoCA

Maine beach walk

mushroom family at Roque Bluffs State Park

the beach at Great Wass Island Preserve

I had an amazing birthday weekend! I drove up to see Ben in CT, we had my birthday dinner in Providence at Nick’s on Broadway, and we went to MASS MoCA to see Petah Coyne (thought it turned out the best exhibit there was the Material World sculpture show). We also ate a lot of ice cream, went thrift-storing, and did some grilling for the 4th. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Birthday Dinner! Eyeball Soup! Well… it wasn’t really called that, but it should be. It was actually yummy tomato zucchini oregano basil soup at Nick’s. We had lavender black pepper panna cotta and malted milk chocolate custard for dessert. Nom nom.

Mmmm. Ice cream. This was our first ice cream of the weekend. We had Guinness Creme Brulee and Black and Tan ice cream from The Brewer’s Cow (the shop itself was not The Brewer’s Cow, it was just selling it). Delicious! And they had an awesome sign too.

On our drive to MASS MoCA, we saw Three Sisters Sanctuary on the side of the road and decided to stop and check it out. They have gardens, sculpture, random collected junk, and the guy who runs the place restores old stoves that you can see in progress. It’s definitely worth the stop if you’re passing by.

Here’s Ben in an installation at MASS MoCA. We had fun playing with exposures on the camera. It looks like we did a Photoshop filter but we did not. Ooooh! Aaaaah! Ben’s idea; I’ll give him credit.

Turns out Sol LeWitt drawings are really fun to take photos in front of. Who would have known? I’m on an animated gif kick today…

See what I mean? More Sol LeWitt. OK. I’ll stop with all the annoying animated gifs now. And this post altogether.

Well… I made some art and met some wonderful people and ate a lot and worked my butt off and got not much sleep at all. In other words, it was pretty awesome. Above is an etching/aquatint/screenprint lift-ground/chine colle (sounds pretty snazzy doesn’t it) titled Texan Ingestion. I chose the title because part of the image is from a small portion of a Texas map and I think this guy is ingesting something - who knows what. It is the only print I had time to edition (edition of 7), unfortunately. It’s pretty small: 6″ x 8″.

And above is a monoprint/xerox transfer. Please excuse the quality of image I got from my sad dying camera and lazy lighting situation. This one’s bigger: 15″ x 22″ (too big to scan). No title for this one yet. I did make two versions of this one, slightly different. But the other one sold at auction at Penland.

I also learned how to photo-carborundum aquatint. This was all new and exciting to me, not being a printmaker and only having taken relief print classes in the past (which I also love). Now I just have to find a place to print before I forget how to do everything. Anyone know of anything in Baltimore?

My instructor was the amazing Thomas Lucas. If you’re ever in Chicago go see him at Lillstreet Art Center. All in all Penland was a wonderful experience. It was also beautiful there but I was way too busy to notice that much. Don’t do the work study unless you’re prepared for the most exhausting two weeks of your life! But if you’re up for it, it’s worth it.

I’m at Penland! I will be taking a two week long printmaking class and I’ve been crazy busy since I’ve been here so just a short post. Weather has been wonderful since I got here and I have already met so many amazing people. Here’s a view from where I am staying.

And here’s a view of my “room”. Or more accurately, nook. Classes start tonight. Can’t wait!

No posts for the month of April? I couldn’t let that happen! It’s May already?! How did that happen. I find it rather disturbing that the semester is almost over but I’m also very much looking forward to the break. It looks to be a busy summer ahead with a lot of exciting things to look forward to. A performance with live stop motion. A trip to North Carolina for a printmaking class. A trip to Maine to spend some time with Ben, relax, and make some art. Perhaps a trip to Colorado to see the wild ones? I’m ready!

Those are the first words that came to mind when I decided to post these paintings. Sure, why not? I promised myself I would not end the day without making something I was happy enough with to post to my blog. Here I am, doing that. Goodnight, then. Let’s go have a beer. And frolick with the polycorns. (Ben now has me quoting Baby Cakes. Thanks Ben.)

I thought I would take this opportunity of school being closed today to share some things. This is a painting I finished recently for a friend. An xmas gift. Belated xmas gift. Perhaps the start of a new series? We shall see…

And, of course, how could I resist sharing a snow picture? Wow, this was before it even stopped. We had some crazy thundersnow that night too. It woke me up at 5am it was so loud. I have to say I quite enjoyed myself this weekend. Got in some sledding, some hot toddies, long walks, hanging out with friends, and watched a lot of people use their feet instead of their wheels.

On a recent trip to Austin I saw the work of artist Teresita Fernandez at the Blanton Museum of Art. The image above is from a room that featured work that was made entirely with graphite. The structure in the foreground was built of graphite (not really sure how) and the work in the background was small bits of graphite that were stuck to the wall and there were soft traces of smudgy marks (either from graphite dust falling over time or drawn, not sure which) on the wall. It was difficult not too touch. I think what amazed me most about her work was that each piece took a relatively simple idea or material or form but then the scale or light or placement of the viewer around them (sometimes all three) transformed them into individual little worlds or landscapes where I felt like I was the only person that existed in each of them.

I suppose the holidays are officially over even though classes haven’t started yet. To get myself in gear, I forced myself to paint today. These are the results. They’re very derivative of a lot of my other work recently (but how could they not be, I made them, right?) but I guess they aren’t so bad. It’s difficult getting back into it after a 3 week (or so) hiatus. However, I have to remember to cram as much time into making work before school does start back even if I don’t feel like it… wah.

Wow. This movie is… well… I hate to say it… but… perfect? Maybe? Perhaps? I can think of nothing critical to say, anyway. How could you possibly not want to see the stealthy teenage fox sneaking around in such a lovely homemade bandit hat as pictured above? Just go see it. Now. As fast as your legs will get you to The Charles, or your local theatre wherever you may be.