Tag Archives: artist book exhibit

The Sketchbook Project

Its been a year since Black Thumb Art closed its Oregon studio. We traveled to the East Coast, Egypt, and Turkey before relocating in Spokane. While the new charcoal studio is being built, I’ve been working with different media and processes.

miracle 3

For several years I’ve collected photos from the sports section of the local newspaper; images that remind me of religious Mannerist paintings with their twisting figures, mouths agape, and heavenward glances. Before moving, I scanned and printed several of these photos onto paper. I’ve been experimenting with them since, layering opaque watercolor (gouache) and gold leaf over the images.

Recently I used this process in a book I submitted to The Sketchbook Project, part of the permanent collection at the Brooklyn Art Library and one of the largest collections of sketchbooks in the world.

My book, Angels in Egypt, has been chosen to be part of The Sketchbook Project’s Mobile Library tour this summer. You can check it out (literally) if you are in one of the tour cities, beginning this weekend in Chicago’s Millennium Park. The tour ends August 28th, back in New York at the Whitney Museum. Here is a link to the full tour schedule. Mobile library, 4000 books

If you can’t make it to one of these cities, Here is a link to the scanned version of Angels in Egypt.

“Angels in Egypt” pages 19-20. Colored pencils, Gelly Roll and Micron Pigma pens.

Scanned pic from the Corvallis Gazette Times

Working Small

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An exhibition of small works at The Arts Center

I’ve chosen four wildly different pieces for this show, which opens November 20— a book, mezzotint print, stitching, and a drawing on canvas. They are all exploratory experiments, which is one reason they’re small.

Mezzotint “Blue Moon”, 4″ x 4″

Page from accordion book “Cyclops”

I’ve switched to less toxic media with these printmaking projects. The hand-bound book with intaglio print illustrations is my first collaborative project with author (and partner) Gregory Newell Smith. It uses ferric chloride rather than nitric acid to etch the copper plates. The mezzotint print also uses a copper plate as the printing matrix. I switched to water-based inks from Akua (less toxic and easier clean up). The color is built up by printing layer after layer of transparent ink.

Stitched and waxed print ” Amorphous #7″, 7″ x 3″

With Amorphous #7 I was looking for a way to attach a small print to a larger paper, using something besides glue. Stitches worked, and to a calligrapher, they looked like Neuland letterforms. With this piece, I’d stumbled into a way of combining image and text that was integral to the form.

Charcoal on canvas “Doug is Good”, 5″x 7″ x 2″

I’m currently working in the studio with charcoal on canvas. This drawing, life-size though small, is an experiment with going frame-less. A local artist, Jana Johnson, generously shared with me her method for frameless pastel drawings, building up layers of charcoal and PVA size on canvas.