Feet Redesigned

I remembered that I had a drawing of feet that my mother did years ago!  I didn't want to remove the glass and I knew that reflections could be a problem if I took a photo of  it. Anyway, I placed it by a door in my house for light and found that the reflection from the window gave it an intriguing look. So here it is in a new way!

Virginia Woodturners' Ornaments

Virginia elves are busy making their beautiful Christmas decorations! I was at the Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke, Virginia last week with relatives for Thanksgiving. (It was unusual not to be cooking! Well, I'm not complaining!) I saw this busy elf in the lobby with the tree and so many great decorations. I would love a tree full of these wood ornaments! The woodworkers who made these are so talented and all from Virginia.

Recently I  finished reading the classic sea tale of Mutany on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Hall. I didn't read it in school nor have I seen any movies based on the story. I'm not sure how I missed it! I thoroughly enjoyed this sea adventure based on the true story of the tragic voyage of His Majesty's Ship Bounty in 1788-1789. I loved some of the descriptions in the book, especially near the end since they seemed quite sentimental. A character in the story, on a ship in Portsmouth Harbour, England, says "I saw boats passing back and forth, their oars dipped in gold, and the men in them seemed transparent in the pale light. Knowing how brief a time remained to me, I found nothing unworthy of interest and attention. Even the common objects in my small cabin, - the locker, the table, and the inkwell before me, - seen in various lights at different hours of the day, I found beautiful and wondered that I had failed to notice such things before." These words made me think of painting and paintings so I spent some time on-line looking for paintings illustrating this story. Of course I found several good ones of the sea and the Bounty and also some portraits of the characters in the story.
This story was a good diversion from the usual reading of art books!

Butterfly Boxes!

Somehow I got distracted and thought I should make something for the Christmas fundraiser at my art center.  So I painted these boxes last weekend with acrylic paint. They still need is a shiny coat and felt inside. (I made a funny error on one of them! Maybe you'll see what I did.)

Now back to printmaking!

New Linocut

I've been working on this linocut, layering several light colors, trying to keep it soft and subtle. Now I have to decide - keep it going?  And how to proceed!! Hmm....thinking......
Maybe watching a little college football this afternoon will inspire me. Wishful thinking!

Lilypads - a miniature linocut

This linocut is very small but someday I'd love to make a larger one.

Or maybe a painting would be simpler. Or faster!

Linoleum Block Printing Book

When I was looking through my art book collection yesterday, I could not believe that I have this little book about linoleum block printing!! I don't remember it - it must be magic! And because I love block printing, it's a fabulous find! The 47 pages were printed with the actual linoleum blocks in 1939. In the preface, the artist says that it is possible to run a well-carved linoleum cut for at least 50,000 impressions. Can you imagine that? It's all very charming!