6th Annual Art in the Gardens

I'm in prep mode for the 6th Annual Juried Art Show at Aldridge Botanical Gardens, Hoover, Alabama.

Here's the announcement that I emailed to a few of my patrons and friends. The image, a linoleum block print, won a 1st Place Award last month, at the 19th Annual Southern Roots Exhibition. I wrote about this in an earlier blog. One day I'll share the story behind the title "Like a Martin to its Gourd."

My daughter celebrated her 26th birthday last week. You can read about her special day on her blog. My son has just reached the halfway mark towards his M.A. Such sweet babies!

I need to get you all updated on my kiln purchase, upcoming shows and the new lino blocks that I've cut but I have to get back to the printing press.

I'm Back in Business!

My sanity has slowly returned.

After fighting with my Mac OS off and on for the past five weeks, I'm finally back in the driver's seat. I've learned more technical stuff than I care about. Turns out that all of my glitches and false starts led back to the new RAM which I had my service technician install. My goal was to max out the RAM on my computer. When I brought my Mac home, I immediately had a problem starting up. As you all now know, it went downhill from there. My son (who is smarter than I'll ever be) suggested that I take the new RAM out. I could have done that, on day two, but I just knew that that solution was too easy. So I struggled along until last Friday, and got so frustrated that I finally opened the back of the computer and jerked out the RAM. Guess what??!! As soon as I put my old RAM back in my computer all problems ceased. Unreal. Five weeks. FIVE WEEKS of pure agony. And to think that I even had the hard drive erased. Replacing and rebuilding old files has not been fun. Geez. I'm a bit smarter now.

Last week, I took a leisurely drive to Camp McDowell located outside of Nauvoo, Alabama. It's located in the northwest quadrant of the state, in an area which I have not explored very much. I met with a lovely young woman who is the Director of the newest branch of the facility THE ALABAMA FOLK SCHOOL at CAMP MCDOWELL. She loved my portfolio of lino block prints. I'm signed on to teach Linoleum Block Relief Printing the weekend of December 7th -9th. This is exciting! It's a wonderful opportunity and I'm looking forward to meeting lots of interesting people. The Folk School at Camp McDowell is modeled on the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina.

And speaking of lino prints, here's my latest cut. The title of it is "Like a Marlin To Its Gourd." In June, when I participated in the art festival at Aldridge Gardens (Hoover, AL) a couple came over to my booth to chat. The guy, who had grown up in the South, seemed to identify with all of the block prints that had gourds. He said that the imagery of the gourds and the birds reminded him of a saying that he had heard his father utter many times, while working the farm. I loved his story. Many times, the images in my block prints are based on stories or sayings or some recollection that has jarred someone's memory. Patrons love to share memories (of days gone by) with me as they view my work and reflect on their formative years growing up in the south. Friends and family have shared stories of their youth, also, and it has afforded me an opportunity to record some of those memories through my interpretation via block prints...and needlepoint, too. I love the south . . .and all things southern!

My next art venue will take place in October. Don't forget to mark your calendar for Saturday, October 6, 2007 the 44th Annual Bluff Park Art Festival.

Gettin' Ready for my Second Art Festival!

I am stoked! Last week I received a call from the owner of the 4 Seasons Antiques and Art Gallery in Bluff Park informing me that all four of my linoleum blocks prints had sold. Thank you! Thank you! I'm in need of additional funds to frame nine more lino block prints for the Magic City Art Festival which will be held at the end of this month. There's a lot of truth in the statement that "it takes money, to make money." Framing is sooooooo expensive. I'm still new with the art festival circuit thingy and it always seems as tho I'm rolling pennies to apply towards framing. Why is that?

Hey, I'm posting the front side of my post card announcement that I'll mail out next week. It's simple but it serves the purpose.

I'm in overdrive these days carving and printing lino blocks. A friend of mine has cautioned me to not become too ambitious with cutting large blocks and to keep most of my prints smaller than my usual 8 x 10 size. So this go 'round I'm focusing more on 5 x7 block prints. I trust his judgement. He has a pretty good feel for art festivals. Just that little bit of information has saved me a lot of time and angst.



For some reason I'm in a raven/pumpkin/gourd mode. Ravens are really difficult to cut. One teeny slip of the cutting tool and your raven has turned into a duck! or a sparrow! It's hard to 'splain (Lucy), but ravens are a challenge. Here's the first print of many that I've already printed. What do you think?

My lawn needs to be cut. Once upon a time I was the homeowner, on my block, who set the bar in keeping the yard mowed and trimmed. Neighbors followed suit within a day or two. However, I've had to REALLY prioritize my time lately. And most weekends and evenings, after work, have not included yard work. Geez, it shows. I feel like I need to "keep up with the Jones'." Where are the teens who used to come around and cut your grass for pocket change? Times have changed.

The ONB/Magic City Art Festival web site should be up. If I was as smart as my kids I could add a link here so that all you'd have to do is "click." Obvioulsy, I don't know how to do it so you'll just have to go to: www.magiccityart.com and check it out. I'm in the printmaking catagory.