Printmaking experiments

More experimenting with monoprints in Norwich. Two variations. I'll continue to work on these images some more maybe adding in some pastel and/ or pen and ink....

Inspirations and Encounters

I am a huge fan of David Lance Goines and have been for many years. His posters for Alice Waters restaurant, and his illustrations for the Chez Panisse cookbooks (which I have been using lately) are perfect and unique. I recently tried emailing Hieronymus Press to find out about his latest poster, "Grow What You Eat". To my surprise, David Lance Goines emailed me back himself saying they were available signed from St. Hieronymus Press for $175, and unsigned $35 from Chez Panisse,
although this 2008 poster is not yet on their site. You can see all the posters and more here. Here is another link to see the posters including the Ravenswood Wines one. I didn't really know a lot about him, but found this in Wikipedia to share...

David Lance Goines (born May 29, 1945) is an American artist, calligrapher, typographer, printing entrepreneur, and author. He was born in Grants Pass, Oregon, the oldest of eight children. His father was a civil engineer and his mother a calligrapher and artist.

Durng the 1960s, Goines enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley as a Classics major. While a student in classical literature at the University of California, Berkeley he participated in the Free Speech Movement of late 1964, which led to his expulsion. Though soon re-admitted, he again left the University in 1965, this time to apprentice as a printer in Berkeley. In 1968 he founded Saint Hieronymus Press there. The major output of the press consists of Goines' limited edition poster and calendar art. ^[1]

In 1982, Goines published the calligraphic classic A Constructed Roman Alphabet, which won him the 1983 American Book Award. Several books collecting his poster art have been published as well.

In addition to his artistc and calligraphic work, Goines is also a non-fiction author who has written about political activism. His book The Free Speech Movement: Coming of Age in the 1960s, was published in 1993.

Goines has enjoyed a friendship with the restaurateur Alice Waters since they were both teenagers. Every year Goines creates a Chez Panisse anniversary poster and has illustrated many Chez Panisse cookbooks. He also designed the logotype and lettering for a number of Berkeley-based businesses, past and present, including Velo-Sport (a bicycle company) and the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Company. The logo he created for Ravenswood wines is known throughout America.

A strong advocate of the voluntary blood donor system, Goines claims to have donated a cumulative total of 17 gallons of blood so far during his life. (Wikipedia)

On a sad note, I just became aware that Andrew Wyeth ( 91) died in his sleep Jan 16. Here is the New York Times' obit. I went to the Brandywine Museum once while in school in Philadelphia. My friend and I were in the gift shop later and he walked in. I only remember that he was tall and had really long fingers. A reproduction of his work hung at the top of the stairs in our house while growing up. It was one of his hauntingly beautiful interiors that held a great story, which I imagined myself.

(n)ice day

After the little birds' morning feeding frenzy, squirrels descended.
Squirrels, trees, branches and birds are figuring into my sketches. Looking at all this biology makes me think of Charley Harper. A copy of his Golden Book of Biology from 1961 is for sale on Ebay for over $300. He died in 2007. I just bought some of his chidren's books for presents here
There is a great interview and illustrator tutorial with Eleanor Grosch (a Charley Harper fan) over at Grain Edit, Print Magazine chose her as one of their picks for New Visual Artists of 2008. Her shop is here . GrainEdit is one of my new favorite RSS feeds. Reindeer garden sculpture by Julie Dermansky

anemones and nasturtiums

Experimenting with doing color reductions using the nasturtium study and a linocut made from a study of anemones in the gardens at Cornell Plantations. Two very different styles.