Printmakers Notes 28
The quiet of winter is for leaning in....
December was a whirlwind and I’m finally able to lean into the winter season and gather my thoughts for the new year.
Ive been working on my newest Linocut, “Owl and Moonflower”. I did not make much carving progress on the block in December, but am now enjoying the quiet of January to hibernate in my studio and carve an owl and his story out of this large lino block.
Here are a few progress and process photos
Working on final sketch, transferring my image in reverse to the block and then beginning to carve.
I did a lot of owl art in November and some in December, really had owls on my mind.
Most recently i’ve been researching Moths. Ive added moths to my design and have been sketching them in ink, colored pencils and even with monotype prints. here is a view of my sketchbook.
So far i’ve added 4 moths to the design. Many are not a certain type of moth ( i’ve used a lot of artistic license) Lol , although I did research Alabama moths and we have some gorgeous ones. It was a a lot of fun drawing them and I may continue on with them in my sketchbook.
They are very small and i’m using my smallest Pfiel tool to carve them.
To recap and little of the whirlwind of December.
It was a full month of Family, friends, cooking and a little crafting. I had my first ever studio Open House
Our tiny community has an Organization called Little River Arts Council. A non profit that supports multiple wonderful art events, a gallery and free summer music series. They hosted the Art Crawl at the beginning of December. Several local artists and art centric businesses were a part of the crawl. I was a little nervous not knowing how many people would come or what to expect. I guess not having had one before, It was more a fear of the unknown. As it turned out, the weather was gorgeous, cool and clear, almost a perfect Fall like day. I had so many people come, most of them I knew. I wish I had kept a guest book. Next year for sure. One of my dear friends came early and her presence was wonderful in calming my introverted nerves, lol.
photo of a little sky/moon she made and gave me to put in my pocket to remind me to breathe.
It was a wonderful time and left me filled with gratitude for this simple artists life we live up here in the mountains.
I am not much of a crafty person, but this December I worked on two little projects and they were so much fun. The first was a woodland garland made from tooled copper sheeting. I was so inspired by a friend who made beautiful tiny picture frames for gifts and La Scarlatte , where we worked on them during a zoom session with The Creative Cocoon. I strung mine together on a green velvet ribbon and have them hanging in my studio
The other fun little craft was a votive made with a ball jar and found natural objects from the woods, dried and pressed fern, mosses, gumballs, twigs, lichen covered bark and acorns. I bought some LED twinkle votive lights and really love them!
I saw a red shouldered Hawk Christmas Eve and captured him in my sketchbook along with seeing our first snowdrops. So thrilled to see the snowdrops..knowing spring is around the corner. :-)
Thankyou so much for taking your precious time to read, comment, share and follow along on my art journey. Also , many thanks to those who have purchased work of mine. Such a blessing to me and my practice and I’m so very grateful.
Wishing you all the best,
Meg
What a fabulous share! You have been up to so many creative — and new things! And they are all beautiful! You are really on a roll/flow. So glad the open studio was fulfilling - and that you had special art-friend support :). I am really looking forward to seeing your new works this year, Meg! (funny thing — I too have been studying and drawing moths lately..)
You have amazing control over your carving. The detail is amazing, and I could never accomplish that when I was doing Lino cuts.