Weekly Stitching

It is time to get caught up with the weekly stitching project.

Weekly Square #17

Weekly Square #18

Weekly Square #19

I like the direction this last one took.  I still haven't ventured beyond horizontal and vertical lines yet. But there are still a lot to do.

Jordan Craters

We have been having perfect weather for this Memorial Day weekend.  Yesterday, we decided to do a day trip to explore Jordan Craters in Oregon.  There is vehicle access at Coffee Pot Crater.  The lava field, crater and spatter cones created an otherworldly landscape.

From a distance, the lava field and crater are the dark areas.

Those little shapes on the horizon are Anna and Frank exploring the lava field.

The lava field looks relatively flat, but as we walked around we would find sunken areas.  And on some areas of the lava, we could hear, if we stomped on the ground, that there were hollow areas underneath (but the rock was strong enough that we weren't going to fall through as we were stomping).

Frank walking down one of the lava chutes.

Even though it appears like a landscape of gray, there is actually a lot of color to be found if you look closely.

And some life.  Can you see the lizard in this picture below?

Coffee Pot Crater

It was a very interesting place to explore and we were grateful for the light cloud cover as it would have been a little bit too hot if it was a clear, sunny sky.  Unfortunately, we were there right around noon, the worst time of day to take pictures.  (Despite that fact, I still took over 300 pictures.)  I guess we will have to go back another time at a different time of day.

Thought of the Day

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" 

- Leonardo da Vinci

Kitchen Corner Series

I have one more linocut completed in the Kitchen Corner Series.  That is all I will be doing for right now.  I'm going to take a break from the press and get back to fabric.  I might revisited this series at a later date.

This fourth piece in the series is called Drink Me.  And I did some in black and brown ink again, since that was what I was doing for the rest of them.

Kitchen Corner Series

The Kitchen Corner print series started with the two prints I did for the Leftovers exchange.  I liked how the first two came out so I kept on going.  The third print in the series is called Mix it Up.  I also did black and brown ink on these, but I didn't care for the brown ones as much on this print.

Mix it Up

linocut

Image size 2-1/2" x 4"

Paper size 4-1/2" x 6"

©Lisa Flowers Ross

 $20

I think this one is o.k., but it is my least favorite of the group.  I think I cleared out too much of the linocut material.  I like the measuring cup and the eggs.  But the Kitchen Aid mixer stand seems not as timeless as the items in the other two prints.  The background wall has a regular pattern and is not as organic as the leaves out the windows of the first two prints.

On its own, the print is fine and I like it.  In the series, so far, it doesn't seem to fit in as well.  What do you think?  I have one more to share with you in another post.

Gallery Five 18

There is a new gallery in town.  It is called Gallery Five 18.  A new concept from the Lisk Gallery, this one is located on the fringe of downtown at 518 S. Americana Blvd.  It is similar to a co-op gallery in that artists pay a monthly fee.  But that is where the similarity ends.  The artists get to keep all the proceeds from any sales and they do not have to spend time "manning" the gallery, an employee is there during business hours.

The building was formerly used as working studio space for several artists.  The Lisks have been remodeling the space and it was ready for the opening last Saturday night.

Outside view.

Anna and I went to the opening and it was wall to wall people.  Everybody was excited to see the new place.

You walk into the open spaced gallery on the main floor.  This picture above was taken from the upstairs where there are a couple of small spaces for artwork, a computer and a bathroom.

As you enter the front door, there is a small intimate gallery just to the right which is a good place to show smaller works that need to be viewed up close.

Work by Mark Lisk, Pat Kilby and Mary Meyer

At the opening, drinks were being served from a small bar area.  Out the back door, there is a small patio area with outdoor sculpture where there were a couple of food vendors set up outside for the event.

Artists will rotate to have solo and/or group exhibitions throughout the year in the main gallery.  The artists in the gallery are:

Anne Petersen Klahr

April Howland

Carl Rowe

D'Arcy Bellamy

Erin Pietsch

Jerri Lisk

Jerry Hendershot

Karen Bubb

Karen Klinefelter

Kay Seurat

Mark Lisk

Mary Meyer

Matt Grover

Melissa Osgood 

Pat Kilby

Rachel Tennalach

Randy Van Dyck

Sue Latta

Swede Lisk

This exhibition will be up for the month of May.

Kitchen Corner

In the last post, I shared the linocut print I did for the Leftovers exchange.  Since I was so happy with that one, I decided to do another one.  It is the same size and I got it finished before the deadline as well.  Therefore, I have two sets of prints for the exchange and I will get two (different) sets in return.

And a series has been born.  I am calling these little linocuts the Kitchen Corner series.  This second print is also a varied edition as I did some in black and some in brown ink since that is what I did on the first.  Not really having planned to do another print, the brown inks don't match because I mixed each of them by hand.

Oops, I just noticed here that I was in such a hurry to get them in for the exchange that I forgot to put the E.V. next to the number of the print.  I'll put it on the ones I have remaining.  I have a few in the black and a few in the brown color and they are available for sale.

Ready

linocut

Image size: 2-1/2" x 4"

Paper size: 4-1/2" x 6"

©Lisa Flowers Ross

$20

Stayed tuned for more in the series!

Leftovers

Happy May Day!  It's hard to believe the month of May is already here.  April was a busy month with a few deadlines to meet, the biggest being taxes.  But a more pleasant deadline was that of the Leftovers V print exchange.

This is the fifth year that Wingtip Press has hosted this exchange of small prints (less than 5" x 7" in paper size).  The intent being to use up the leftover pieces of paper that printmakers often have after tearing the paper sheets down to size to create a print.

So far, I have participated in the exchange every year.  This year I wasn't sure I was going to make the deadline.  My first attempt at a reduction linocut print was a complete failure (which you may have read about here).

With the deadline creeping up on me, I decided to go back to basics, a simple linocut.  I carved a 2-1/2" x 4" block and got them printed up.   I decided to do some with black ink and some with a dark brown ink that I mixed up.

Here is the print in black.

At Home

Image size 2-1/2" x 4"

Paper size 4-1/2" x 6"

©Lisa Flowers Ross

From the writing on the bottom of the print, you can see that I made 28 prints in this edition.  E.V. stands for a "edition varied".  In this case, that means I did it in two different colors.

Here is the print in brown.

I thought it was hard to portray the transparency of the glass jars with the linocut.  But I am happy with the print.  I purposely left a lot of the chatter, especially around the trees because I wanted it to suggest a little bit of movement like a wind blowing the leaves.

I turned in 14 of the edition for the exchange and still have some available for sale.

I was so happy that this print turned out o.k. that I decided to do another one.  I will share that one in the next post.