I was lucky enough to be a randomly selected winner over on Cathy of California’s blog the other day. I won a lovely set of stationery by French General. So I thought I’d pass along the goodness and have a little giveaway here on my blog. To enter just email me (I’d have you leave a comment but for those of you who have tried, it’s a pain in the ass, I know. I apologize.) So anyway, as I was saying, just send me an email saying “pick me” or something similar at d _ rogal at hotmail dot com The deadline for entries is November 1.
The prize you ask? One of my sugar skull prints in celebration of the season, the end of the pagan new year, friends and relatives who left us too early and of course, Halloween. It’s all good. I’ve framed the print, it is numbered and signed by the artist (hey! that’s me). I will ship it to the winner, but will limit winners to Canada, USA or Mexico. Winners will be randomly selected by some complicated method that my darling eleven-year old will come up with on November 2nd.
If you have HBO I hope you’ve had a chance to watch “True Blood”, their new tv show about vampires. I love it. I’m totally hooked. In fact, I read the first book in the series (Dead Until Dark) that the show is based on this weekend so I’ve totally spoiled the storyline but that’s okay, because I’m really just watching it for… Bill (aka Stephen Moyer).
So now I “have” to go get the next book in the series.
I’ve not posted in awhile about my printmaking class. It’s been a funny session. There are 8 people in the class and its a very small space so it’s pretty hectic in the classroom. Luckily we still have both Kamala (the instructor) and Joan (the TA) and they are both amazing, so we’re not lacking in help with our work and everyone taking the class is really nice. But it feels like a dance trying to move from your table to the press to the sink to the supply cupboard and being Canadian and all I have to be very polite about it. But it has been good and I’m gaining more confidence around the press, and with my work. I’ve had a couple of really crappy nights but the last two classes have made up for it . . .
Reductive Linocut. These make my head explode. But I love love love the end results. I needed to do a prairie scene because I had a sun in mind that I wanted to try, and I wanted the layering of the yellow and oranges. I started with just a straight yellow etching ink then in each of the two subsequent runs I just added more red ink. I’m thrilled with the results. The last step is to cut your linoleum block down to the black lines, but I want finer detail than that can afford so I am just going to add the detail with pen. (You can see the slight lines showing through, these are from the pen I used to draw on the lino, a mistake? or cool technique? I’m thinking about it. And even though I’ve cut the lino three times for each layer, I think I’ve figured out a way to make more prints using a monoprint with two colors then overlay the lino then do the pen work. Are you as excited as I am? I thought so.
Intaglio on the cheap (aka shellac plate etching) This is a really fun technique especially if you love to sketch. You basically sketch your drawing by “etching” out the shellac using a pointy object (I used a dental tool for this one). Then you push the ink into the lines, wipe the plate clean, lay your wet paper over the plate and run it through the press. I know I’ve talked about this technique before but it is cool. Ages ago my friend Sophie had pointed me to this article over on the Daniel Smith website which describes an intaglio technique using watercolor pencils. The idea of a sugar skull came from a discussion I was having with P’s art teacher. I’m so pleased with the results because even though it looks like a pencil drawing, when you look closely you can see the bits of colored pencil all over the paper like sugar sprinkles gone awry.
The Lego catalog arrived yesterday and the Christmas list making has begun. I tried to explain to P how it might be easier to circle the things he didn’t want. That confused him, because there wasn’t anything he didn’t want.
My list looks a lot like the kids’ lists . . . All electronics, all the time. Actually, I’ve been “borrowing” P’s DS because he rarely uses it, but lately every time I pull it out to play crosswords he wants to use it. Fair enough.
Oh, and of course I want the last season of Corner Gas on DVD, right Dad?!
Starting on Thursday two little boxes filled with candy will be added to this little tree. Each day after that leading up to Halloween two more boxes will be added. I was going to let them split the candy in the boxes, but, we all know how that would turn out. Early mornings, sneaking candy, tears, fights. Yup. So two boxes with exactly the same candy in them. No lessons trying to be taught here.
The tree is from K&Company. They have the most amazing line of Halloween paper goods this year. I barely resisted, it was all so cute.
And the things they have for Thanksgiving are just as beautiful. And don’t get me started about the Christmas things I’ve seen on their web site. I’m stalking our local Ben Franklin craft store waiting for it to arrive.
Scary because the kids are clamoring to eat this! mmmm, dried out gingerbread house.
We did have fun putting it together. The kids love these kits and what the heck… a nice addition to our Halloween decor. It’s actually looking pretty good around here, the gravestones are in, we’ve decorated the living room. Lots of fun.
This little cartoon was mentioned on this blog (which I read everyday and makes me believe that kind thoughts do make a difference) and I just had to bring it to you for the weekend. Are you ready for Halloween?
One day this will be you too. After last week’s trip to the eye doctor this is the new me. From the top down:
Regular prescription for near sightedness, my current glasses actually because this hasn’t changed for years.
New prescription for mid-distance, e.g. beading, sewing, printmaking, etc. (oddly enough, I read best without any glasses at all, but for anything about 1–2 feet away I need this extra pair).
New prescription that combines the above two, “progressive lenses” (aka bi-focals)
Ultra groovy prescription sunglasses that make me look like a movie star because I’m in denial about the above new prescriptions.
sigh. Is the photo in focus? I had to take it without my glasses on.
Today is blog action day. A day when blogs all around the world direct attention to issues facing all of us. This year the issue is poverty and although we are by no means impoverished, it does face us. Every day.
We realize how lucky we are to be in a position to help others. We donate a large percentage of Derick’s paycheck directly to the charity of our choice, HopeLink. As a family we’ve discussed this particular charity, they are a group that helps local families suffering from poverty. They help by providing food, clothing, training and other types of assistance. They are one of the nicest charitable groups we have ever dealt. I’ve taken the kids there to donate books. We’ve donated to their back-to-school backpack program in lieu of teacher’s gifts. Every little bit helps.
Today the yard is filled with starlings. I got my camera out to take pictures of them fighting at the bird feeder when this little guy came along. These are such pretty birds. The first I knew of them was when I found a feather in the yard with an orange “bone” (what the heck is that middle thing called?) Anyway, Sophie told me it was from a flicker and since then I’ve seen them many times. Luckily today I had my camera at the ready.
We came home from the cottage last night to find out there’d been a little party. The window ledge was covered in paw prints, as was the wall, and they continued near the various food and water dishes that we leave for the cats when we’re gone. The food was gone (we’d left out enough for a week even though we were only gone two days) and the water was muddy. Muddy. Our cats don’t typically wash their paws in the water. On closer inspection the paw prints weren’t even made by cats.
The culprits? Raccoons. Little stinkers. They’d found the cat door, let themselves in and had a a little raccoon party. I guess the good news is they didn’t get into the cupboards. Or make any long distance calls. Or drink Derick’s beer. But honestly.
So the cat door is now locked down once the kitties are in for the night. Sorry cats, but until you can teach your little friends a few manners, they aren’t invited and your midnight ramblings will have to be curtailed.
Eeeek! It’s Jack, the Halloween bunny. He’s a bit wonky, but I love him just the same. The pattern is from this book. The kids go crazy when I make things like this. They both grabbed the book and put in their orders for various pigs, bunnies, pandas and so on. And colors of course. Luckily they take no fabric to make so although this one was made from a remnant I got at the fabric store, the kids are getting ones made from old t-shirts and fuzzy pants.
Miss R brought a book home from the library the other day. “baker’s clay” published in 1976, and it’s about crafting with salt dough. So we were off!
We used the 1 cup salt, 2 cups flour, 3/4 cup water recipe then added food color to it. The book said to knead it until you got rid of all your frustrations – Miss R, being in middle school and all, apparently had a lot of pent up frustration. This really is so fun, and the resultant clay is so much more fun to work with than polymer clay or even the fun Crayola clays. Of course, it takes 8 hours in a low oven to set it, but what the heck, it was a cold night.
You know those guys, the ones who you see out power washing their house or their driveway. Using enough water to last an African village a year just to get a few leaves down to the curb. Well, I totally get it. I’m ashamed to say I had to stop myself last week from power washing my entire house. And my driveway. omg. Those things are fantastic! If I could use it inside my house I totally would.
As it was I washed our old tent trailer for the season. Then the bikes. Then the scooter. Then the old sandbox. Then just one side of the house. Then just a bit of the driveway. Then the garbage pails. Hold me back.
I mentioned my toy to my friend Sophie and her eyes lit up. She gets it. I’m taking it over to her house on Thursday!
If you read my blog, or are a member of my family, you’ll know that I rarely chat about music, or keep up on music, or… Yeah, if it isn’t Joni Mitchell I rarely listen to it. But I do have a few other favorites, so here it is, your weekend music video, a new feature here on the blog.
So, I’m taking Printmaking 101 for the third time. The third time! Yay! The first night was monoprinting, which is fun and interesting but not “my thing” until I realized that combining it with my relief prints would be clever (it is this kind of “duh” thinking that is preventing me from moving on to Printmaking 201 and makes Kamala, my instructor, roll her eyes at me).
The result is my octopus print. The background is a monoprint with oil-based etching inks, the octopus is a block print, using water-soluble inks. The water-soluble inks are great for working with at home but I still got myself into a bit of a mess. Okay, a big mess. I’m pretty pleased with the result, but have since done some more carving on the block to make the details a bit finer.
By the way, I use Safety-Kut blocks which are excellent quality, no “dust” and smooth as butter. They are better than Speedball blocks and usually cheaper than Mastercarve blocks (which are also excellent quality). I get my printmaking supplies from Daniel Smith which luckily is in the neighborhood.
Outils 
Aide
