Water Hyacinths in progress

Invasive plants will soon be part of my repertoire, starting with a pale purple beauty, the Water Hyacinth. They were originally introduced as a decorative plant and unfortunately are still being sold commercially. When I googled "water hyacinth pond plant" I found numerous stores who would sell me one, which is quite dangerous. Many nursery's sell invasive plants that are pretty leaving it up to the consumer to know what they are getting themselves into. Water Hyacinth's are one of the fastest growing plants known to man, they can double their population in 2 weeks! EEK! Stay far away from these beauties, because once you have them, good luck getting rid of em'

Carving a Venetian Lagoon

I had to bring a bit of Venice home with me. When I found out the the city was built upon a series of piers that were pounded into the mud and then a layer of marble was placed upon the piers and monuments were built, I couldn't resist making a woodcut showing a cross section of the place. San Marco is in the background and a swarm of native fish including sardines will begin to appear in the bottom section of the piece. This will be the 2nd long skinny vertical woodcut I have made. I am lovin' the size!

Art mounted on Bamboo!

Underworld Owls 8x10

Load of Monarchs! 5x5

Side View Underworld Owls 11 x 14

Set of 2 5x5 Monarchs

A Starling Guide to Night 8 x 10

Anemone Cat 8 x 10

I love love love my new bamboo mounted art! My sold out woodcut designs are now available as reproductions on sustainably harvested bamboo! They have a keyhole slot, so, can be attached right to the wall with one simple screw, not needing a frame or they stand by themselves and can be placed on a shelf. The prints are beautiful, being a printmaker, I was so leery about offering reproductions but could not be happier with this product.

Venetian Watery goodness

Oh Venice, how you inspire with your reflecting lagoons and cappuccinos...I cannot wait to return! I have been back in the US for a few months now and am feeling like such a lucky gal to have been able to spend so long on marble paths surrounded by watery tendrils. I think the turquoise has been infiltrating my artwork for the past few months, soon I will post some progress photos of new pieces. I am currently managing 6 woodcuts in different stages! 2 I have started printing and both are filled with many shades of yellow-blue. Maybe I need to go to the desert to get some orange infusions?

reflections abound

who ever turns 50 next, this will be your b-day card

me doing a little reflecting, who knows what
the UFO's are up to...

What do April snow showers do to the flowers?

Winter---April 23rd 2012

apple

cherry

dogwood

After shaking out the snow from our flowering trees. So far apple really down (laying on er' side), 2 large willow branches, and many pieces of maples, poplars, and cedars. It is like a tree massacre in the yard.

Printing an ancient reef

Roll em' up

steady....

Hovering takes much concentration

I think it is lined up

grrr...roll!

I get to work in my slippers :)

Lift off

And, the tan color is printed and in the right spot. Yahoo!

A colorful reef in progress

I couldn't resist posting this photo of the Devonian Reef woodcut in progress. Much movement thanks to the shooting ammonites in the background with a smattering of colorful ancient corals.

Carving an ancient sea

A new ancient reef woodcut is coming together! Sometimes the blocks look so pretty as I carve...

I live in Ithaca, NY and was told that the Devonian period was almost called "The Ithacan" instead but Devon, England had more clout at the time and jumped on the naming boat first!

Seahorse Latitudes Finished!

Done with my Seahorse Latitudes woodcut! These Longsnout Seahorses make the Sargasso their home. The Sargasso is a large sea that is bound by 3 strong ocean currents. Unfortunately, the movement of the currents make all of our plastics pile up creating the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre which is basically a landfill at sea. I wonder if plastic mining will be in our future?

The wonderful critters of the Sargasso depend on us. As more of the ocean is littered with trash, oceanographers wonder when the entire ecosystem will start collapsing, or has it already occurred? How much plastic an a pelican eat before it starves, it's stomach full but unable to digest anything? How much petroleum can pass through the gills of a seahorse before it is poisoned? Do we really need that item in a blister pack from the store? What about the people making the plastics that are thrown immediately away when we bring an item home? What is their fate?

I am reading Moby Duck right now by Donovan Hohn which is about his path of following a container ship that spilled into the ocean that was filled with plastic bath toys, he actually visits a trash gyre (there are multiple places in the ocean where currents converge creating multiple gyre's in the sea), goes to a remote beach in Alaska and sees the debris washed up on shore and visits a factory where plastic "things" for American consumers are made. It is quite a good read, and does make me question the fate of plastic, and of all the animals that make the Sargasso their home or any other watery wilderness. I hope that we don't ever see our ocean kissed goodbye, for then, any land dwelling animals surely could not survive. That is unless we colonize the moon.