A Mother’s Love

I decided to crank out something made by hand in addition to my photos to submit to the fair. This ended up being a lot more than my original idea, but I guess that is how my artwork usually progresses. Somehow, my idea of wanting a minimalistic piece (kind of like a Japanese print) never stays that way, like it is too simple or I just didn’t work hard enough on it. I think the only reason it stopped here is because the deadline was a few hours away. All the butterflies are linoleum block prints. I cut 6 different plates and used them in a variety of ways. There are printed butterflies on rice paper, watercolor paintings, and chine-collé. Some of them were brushed with iridescent powdered pigments before drying. They were all hand cut and glued on top of watercolor on board. It is 20×30″. I am really happy with it. It still needs to be framed. If you are not familiar with chine-collé, it is a process in printmaking where additional thinner pieces of paper, sometimes hand cut to fit certain shapes, are added between the plate and the final piece of paper. Glue, paste, flour, or just pressure keep the papers attached.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Kiss

And now, to catch up in Weekly Challenge Land, “The Kiss” challenge! Along with the myriad of other “challenges” that have been occurring lately has been the situation with my new computer. You may recall my “old” computer was so ridiculously slow it made me very unhappy at times. So: Yea! I bought a new one. Boo! F^(&!#g Photoshop DOES NOT WORK on the new fangled imac. Nor does it even have a spot to insert discs. Seriously. Also, good information to know (ahead of time). Someday I might be wise enough to look before I leap. Some people think it is charming, this “devil-may-care” attitude/personality disorder that I have. ;-* BUT, in the spirit of all things good, this has inspired me to *gasp* abandon said Photoshop and try new things. I am now armed with a totally free and extremely cool program called Gimp. I used Gimp to make the above image today. I studied a youtube video by a very talented guy named Chris Fiedler and used some of his direction to create this “watercolor” photo above. I am also trying Pixelmator (made by Apple). Gimp is more like Photoshop (except it is FREE! ha ha ha ha ha). I also have Aperture and Colorstrokes. It is hard to get used to different programs. Everything is done in a different way. But like anything, trying new things can have significant benefits. It is either that, or try tech support for who knows how long, possibly spend $1000 (yes, that is what the new Photoshop costs) and still have problems. From what I have read, there are a lot of severe incompatibility problems (even though they say not) with all versions of Photoshop and the new Mountain Leopard, Mountain Lion, whatever, format. Why are all their systems named after big cats? Who can remember which. Why can’t they just use the number? They have one, but that is not what is used. Silly. “How old are you?” “Oh, I am Tyrannosaurus Rex.” “Ah, I see. Ok. Whatever that means.” Can you imagine? Funny. (Or, perhaps, I am just showing my real age, I sound like my Dad used to).  Live and Learn, right? At least I am doing both.

And another: I had to add Angelo and Juni. Gotta be fair. I like it, but I think the first one lends itself better to the beauty of the “watercolor”.

Jellyfish Painting

Watercolor and pastel on paper 16×20″

©2010cbt