It's been hard to find time for my blog lately, what with Lilah and Annabelle both having birthdays in the last week. So I'd like to turn your attention to Laura Wilder's groovy blog, about her printmaking, artmaking life.
Laura's blog is fascinating because she takes us through her process for creating block prints.
Her May 19th entry tells about the time she was approached by the publisher of American Bungalow, a magazine celebrating the Arts and Crafts movement, to create block prints for posters, to be given as gifts to subscribers. This came after she had already been dreaming about creating pictures about serenity, with quotes from "slow, wise types" like Emerson and Thoreau. She describes how she adapted her earlier idea to the American Bungalow project, and the execution. Her lovely summer poster contains the Cicero quote: "If You Have A Garden & A Library You Have Everything You Need," which I just love.
Read her latest entry here: http://www.laurawilder.com/Laura_Blog.html
But my favorite of her blog posts is the not-to-be-missed story of how she made her print "Lakeside Wood." She describes the painstaking process of making a block print from start to finish, and how moving from her old method of spoon-printing to using a letter press, has liberated her from the most labor-intensive aspects of the task, and has allowed her to create more prints in less time. Though the process of carving the blocks by hand, mixing the colors, applying them and printing is still plenty labor-intensive.
Check out the story of her "Lakeside Wood" print here:
http://www.laurawilder.com/Laura_Blog_1-25.html
And the conclusion to the story here:
http://www.laurawilder.com/Laura_Blog_2-15.html
Simone,
ReplyDeleteA week ago, Bob and I had just driven the 12 hour trek home from the Chicago show. Then last Saturday we hit the road again, this time for my 30th college reunion, where i did a power point presentation about my career. then drinks and dinner. It was a good time, but after big events, I CRASH.
Today i've been trying to recover, without much success, because whenever I return home from elsewhere, I am immediately overwhelmed and dragged down by the pile of things to do. Dirt, disorder, clutter, bills, too may emails, too many kids, too much of everything except time and money. waaaa. and I realized last THursday that I completely forgot the girls' birthdays again.
So just now I was kind of at my wit's end, wondering what to do that might soothe the soul. "I know! Simone's blog!" I read the most recent blog, and then scrolled down to find a this one. Surprise! Thank you so much for the lovely generous PR! I'm really touched.
Hope YOU aren't too overwhelmed with all the stuff you're getting from my parents!
love, Laura
HOLY. What? On everything that is holy? Laura Wilder is awesome! She inspires me with ideas for my art-even though I don't hold the same level of talent as she--who cares! :))
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