Thursday, September 15, 2016

Something for the "Yay Jar"

The "Yay Jar," celebration reminders for year's end.

As always, the Birds in Art opening weekend at the Woodson Art Museum was filled with great art, good friends and colleagues, and way too little sleep. (When I finally made it home and in to bed I slept 13.5 hours!)

There's always a little let-down when the magic is over and it's time to face the reality of deadlines and paperwork (and studio time, of course). But if I'm lucky I might get another bit of news to celebrate in the week following the opening. This year I did, in fact, get two: "It's April, No Foolin'" was selected for the 2016-17 national tour and a private collector will purchase it.

Things for the Yay Jar, absolutely. You don't know what a Yay Jar is? Here's mine... a former pasta sauce container repurposed as a place to collect happy news and milestones throughout the year.

 In December when I'm planning for the upcoming year it's all too easy to dwell on the things I didn't get done. So... I empty the Yay Jar, read its contents, and remind myself that I did manage accomplish a thing or two in the previous 12 months. (It seems like I got off to a good start this year, as there's something peeking out that's marked January 1. I don't remember what it was.)

Obligatory artist-standing-next-to-their-work photo from Birds in Art

Another bit of fun while I was in Wisconsin was the discovery that my piece is playing a part in the museum's Art Park interactive area for children and families. A half dozen pieces from the show were replicated as relief blocks (how appropriate!) from which kids can make rubbings and then color their own masterpieces.

A familiar little owl at the rubbing station in Art Park

Of course it's a good thing that I got those 13+ hours of sleep at the beginning of the week, because since my return I've been up to my elbows in lino crumbs and ink. I've got three colors down on a new large-ish (18 x 18 inches) linocut, but at the moment all I can show you is the first stage. After that last snow scene I had to psych myself up to print blue again, but thankfully this is the only blue pass for this piece. Stay tuned!

What's it gonna be? Step 1 of a new reduction linocut

4 comments:

  1. I love your Yay Jar! I may have to give this a try and suggest it to others.

    You are such a tease showing us only step 1. LOL

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    1. Mostly I only showed one pass because I want to keep the process shots all together in posts, but ALSO.... the fourth pass is going to be a doozy and the entire thing could fall apart at that point. Trying not to jinx it. ;-)

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  2. the YAY! jar is a good idea :D I should prob do something similar

    and congrats on the sale ;)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. :-) And yes, I find the jar really helpful... and kind of fun to watch it fill up. I have a tendency in December to look at my list of things I wanted to accomplish and focus on the things I didn't get to. I used to try to remember the good stuff, but my brain ain't what it used to be. ;-)

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Linocut in Progress: The Third Act

Time to wrap up this linocut ! And we are wrapping at warp speed (see what I did there?)... because there are deadlines. Exhibition deadline...