Joy and Wonder

May all your seasons be filled with Joy and Wonder

Robin's annual hand pulled print card - the ink/paper combo took DAYS to dry, we had cards on every horizontal surface in our house!

Enjoy!!!!!!

Insectile Duality

If you happen to find yourself in northern Michigan, I hope you'll consider visiting a very special (at least to me!) exhibition at Three Pines Studio in Cross Village.



This little beaded caterpillar (more about him here) was the inspiration for this project and show - my husband and I each choose six insects,twelve total,  and interpreted them in our separate types of media. Robin used three different types of printing techniques; linoleum block, white line and reduction. I worked in a mixed media style, starting with painted canvases and adding all types of fiber techniques including, embroidery, beading, applique, needle felting and more.




This was Robin's first show and it was a joy to be able to share it with him.

In the gallery, each of our pieces hung side by side.

Those of you familiar with my work might notice that the pieces are a littler looser and more whimsical  than is typical for my work - I'm not really sure why, it just moved in that direction and I decided to follow.

This is my favorite of Robin's pieces, an inchworm done using the reduction printing method, with eight layers of color.

Joann and Gene, the owners of the gallery, our delightful to work with and they have displayed our work beautifully - at the opening reception there was even these super cute "ladybug" bites!

Holiday Wishes 2013

 

Holiday Wishes are "Slipping & Sliding"

 

their way to you and yours!

Tumbling Turtles - 2012 Christmas Card

It's become a tradition over the past several years, for us to create a turtle themed Christmas card; they're a real labor of love we send out to friends and family.

Each year we start with a basic design - never traditional - and preferably modular. In this case, an old fashioned bicycle and tumbling turtle snowflakes. Each element is a separate, hand carved linoleum block, which we use to create hand-pulled prints. We cheated a little this year, only the bike is hand pulled, the turtles are done more rubber stamp style. A swipe of white, sparkle ink grounds the design. Currently, we print approximately 70 cards (more really, if you count the rejects) and every year we intend to start earlier, but you know what the say about intentions....

Each one of these blocks can be reused for non-Christmas projects; we're starting to accumulate quite a library of turtle designs! 

Enjoy your holiday!

Turtle Cards - An Explanation

It's become our personal tradition to make cards each holiday season; we currently have four designs in our turtle "series".

The cards are hand-pulled linoleum prints. In the most basic, think of hand-pulled prints like a set of twins (or triplets or quadruplets, etc). All are originals, no two prints are ever exactly the same, even if pulled from the same plate. Each print, regardless of technique, is an entirely individual piece of art.

Hand-pulled  prints involve a certain amount of physical labor not found in digital prints. For us, that means carving our chosen design into a block of linoleum:

We have a variety of carving tools, each allowing us to remove just the right amount of the linoleum block - these are relief prints, so we need to remove anything we don't want to appear in the final piece and it becomes important to consider both positive and negative space.

 

The block needs to be inked before each print is pulled - it's a tricky step to get just right, as too much or too little ink results in a poor image.

The inked block is placed in the press and paper placed on the block:

We give it a good press and then use a barren to force the ink onto the paper - the paper is then "pulled" by hand off the block and with any luck, the image is good.

It's quite a time consuming procedure, but so worthwhile and one we plan to continue each year - our personal gift to friends and family at such a special time of the year.

Why turtles?

Turtles and Mackinac are closely entwined, as the Great Turtle of legend is a large part of the creation story of the island. If you visit Mackinac, you'll see turtles referenced and displayed all over the Island.

Our Christmas Card to You - "Turtle Tree"

There is always music amongst the trees, 

but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.

Merry Christmas from Mackinac!