Pemaquid Summer

 It's a spectacularly beautiful day here in midcoast Maine today, which is a wee surprise since the last week and a half has been all over the place, weatherwise. Record high heat (with attendant humidity, ugh) followed by almost record low temps, clouds, and rain. Wacky.

Somewhere in there I managed to carve out this little linocut of the lighthouse at Pemaquid Point. Although it's about 6.5 miles from my house, it IS literally at the end of the road I live on... so it's always nice to think of it as the lighthouse at the end of my street. In the winter time it's a favorite place to walk (in the summer it can be very crowded with visitors), and I have really loved watching many of the different aspects of coastal weather from this spot.

"Pemaquid Summer" is 5 x 7 inches, printed on 300# Arches watercolor paper and then hand painted. I waffled for a long time about whether or not I should limit the edition or leave it open, but in the end I decided that the projected lifespan could be 50. I haven't printed nearly that many yet (ran out of paper!), but it will be nice to have something that I can print in small batches from time to time when I'm either avoiding work on another project or longing for studio time when other commitments are keeping me away. A rather summery sort of attitude, in more ways than one.

Winging Wisconsin-ward!

#birdsinartducky

There's a suitcase on my bed and a mellow yellow fellow on the suitcase. It can only mean one thing. It's time for Birds in Art at the Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin!

Ducky and I will be up well before the other ducks and chickens tomorrow, since we've got a 2+ hour drive before our 6:30am flight. Ooph. But it will absolutely be worth it to spend the weekend with friends, colleagues, and fantastic bird art. (And a ducky or two.)

Sculptor Don Rambadt will be honored as this year's Master Artist, and I encourage you to check out his work and... hmmm..... have you ever come across a little nuthatch sculpture in an odd place? Could be you've been an unwitting participant in Don's "Magnetic Migration" project. Such a cool idea...


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In studio news, I spent a good chunk of time this past week printing, hand-coloring, and matting a stack of Bitty Birds and getting them ready to pop into frames. The holiday season is coming soon! (Eek.) Unmounted these little guys are a perfect price for gift-giving, which is why it's a good thing I've got a Gift Gallery on my website, with original prints under $100. (Ahem. Was that subtle enough?) Just remember when you flock to the website that I won't be back to fill your orders until next week, so don't get your feathers ruffled.

I'll be homing in on the home studio again early next week... planning to get a new lino on the press before the week is out. Keep watching this space!

Bitty Birds, hand-colored linocuts, 3 x 5"
(They fit great in an 8 x 10 frame. Just saying.)

Bitty Birdies For the New Year

American Robin

 Alright, sports linocut fans. I finally finished painting enough of the "Bitty Birds" to put a set up on my Etsy store, Rio Salida Art.

Each image is approximately 3" x 5," printed on Arches 140# cold press watercolor paper and hand painted with an assortment of Holbein, Winsor Newton, and Sennelier watercolors.

It was fun to putter around with watercolors for a change, and a good warm-up for the extensive watercolor illustrations I'm working on for a client right now.

These are a few of my favorites, but there are 18 in all! (And only $20 a piece, totally giftable.)

I've got more ready to go in addition to the ones in the shop, but since they're all hand painted and variable I decided to put them up separately. (And hey... if you want a short cut to the store, there's a page on this blog that will take you there, too. Up there in the menu bar where it says, oddly enough... Etsy Store!)

Audubon's Warbler

American White Pelican

Barred Owl

Common Goldeneye

Wilson's Phalarope

Linocut experiments: Little hand-colored birds....

Okay, then! I finished painting the first set of little bird linocuts....

This first set took a little while... I wanted to keep the overall color palette cohesive so they could work as individuals or groups, so had to engage my brain cells. Hopefully the next sets won't take quite as long.

It's funny, but I felt a little guilty coloring these with watercolor rather than working them as full-on reduction prints. But my goal is to produce some inexpensive, "giftable" little images, so this seemed like a workable idea.

Here they are, all trimmed and ready to go. Almost. I'd like to have a few more sets done before I pronounce them ready to meet the world.

Once again, you may employ the embiggenator with a click.