Impractical things are just more interesting.

Sad to say, I am almost out of time in the print studio. I'm going to miss going up to campus everyday... I think it's healthy to work away from your living space.  I am fortunate to have plenty of room to work at home, but I have struggled to really feel at home in my home-studio. What?

But try harder, Michelle.

Anyway, I have done a ton of printing, and the material I have accumulated will eventually take on other forms...books, certainly. And I have had so much fun revisiting my impractical tendency to pin little fragments to a big wall, and to each other. What will come of it? I don't know.

Check out my charming and talented studio mates for the past few weeks: Erica, Leslie, and Ele.

Rearrangement of bits.

Rearrangement and expansion. (The red bits have moved on.)

Pins! More Pins!

Something else, something scrappy.

Something else again, something.

Thank you for visiting!

Is 'temporariness' a word?

The snow didn't last long...

Except on these steps...

This grew yesterday. Give me a big wall, and I'll pin things all over it.

I just want to make temporary arrangements. 

Michelle, why does everything you do have to be complicated?

Mmm, translucent (wet) kitakata paper over other paper and etching plate. 

Drying leafy bits.

Inside.

Delightful outside on this snowy Saturday in February. Inside the studio is more confusing than delightful. Experiencing highs and lows, and asking myself lots of questions. Like...

1. Haven't I done this exact same thing before?
2. Is this too precious? (pretty? boring? fussy? pink? brown?)
3. What if I cut apart (whatever)?
4. What if I connect (whatever) to (whatever else)?
5. What if I sew on this?
6. But, WHY am I sewing?
7. Wouldn't this be impossible to photograph?
8. Shouldn't this be huge?
9. But also somehow tiny?
10. Shouldn't I try to do something I've never ever done before? 

...which is usually followed again by question number one.

My work has always had some cyclical elements to it, so I guess it makes sense that I am running around in circles in my brain....I am reminded of the three-legged screaming thing....

Again.

Okay. Pictures.

boring.

eh.

yeah.

had to do this; I think I still like it...

...maybe. temporary arrangement. pinned bits.

inevitable.

predictable.

Penland's printmaking studio.

Penland's printmaking studio.

Thank you for taking a look.

Outside.

Snowy day in North Carolina! It has been so very mild the past few weeks. I've been ready for this.

I was up at Penland today...I'm still renting the Printmaking studio. Distracted by the novelty of snow, I took a couple of good walks today.

Camera, thank you for your 'sweep panorama' feature.

From the meadow.

Snow on stone bench.

Snow on gravel.

Bits of grass.

Some time later it stopped snowing, but the wind picked up...

The roads around Penland got icy, so I went home earlier than planned.
Tomorrow is another day.

Parts of Parts.

What I've been working on: Portions of zinc plates, partially inked, printed on odd bits of kitakata paper. I'm in research & development mode, so I'm not sure yet what the final work will be...

...and these are just quick odd-tinted snaps of parts of things...

parts of parts.

click for glorious detail.

Brought to you (in part) by coca-cola.

Also drawing on a pronto plate...

In winter you can see mountain ridges that are obstructed by
leaves the rest of the year.  Penland feels much higher.

One of my Favorites.

Moving around books on the mantle recently, I came across one of my 'ol favorites, Search for the Rare Plumador by Ken Kirkwood. Not sure if this originally belonged to me, my older brother, or both of us, but I do have vivid memories of obsessing over its glorious color and detail.

It is not a traditional book, but rather one big pop-up. As indicated on the cover: "Giant 3-dimensional Dragon Island."

It is beautiful. There is so much detail, and so much to discover in all the nooks and crannies of the "island." I could show you where the rare plumador is nesting, but I don't want to spoil it in case you ever find a copy for yourself.

Love!

Don't Let's Start.

Winter Colors.

They Might Be Giants sounds so good in the winter. I remembered this after a trivia question about them the other night at the Pizza Shop. When I lived in Morgantown, I would trudge to the studio in the snow, listening to them on CD. Remember CDs? Golly...

No snow here. February first it was warm enough to wear a tee shirt outside. What? 

I've spent a lot of time in the Print studio this past week...and I am having a great time. But what am I doing? Still not sure. I am trying to give myself the freedom to experiment and play, but I seem to not be very good at that anymore. I feel sort of shy around printmaking. I can spend hours mixing up some lovely ink, I am scraping the hell outta some plates, and it feels so very good to ink plates and crank them through the press, but.......so? I guess we are getting to know each other again.

Mmm.

Mmm....

I have been decisively destructive. I have so many small, odd-size zinc plates. Many are little "demo" plates from teaching, and in grad school I was such a hoarder of old zinc. So I have been sawing some of them into shapes to be printed together, and in combination with larger plates.

I'm just sick of small rectangular things. It feels far too safe. Boring. I'm bored with my small safe-sized drawings and prints. So I've been thinking lots about format. 

Looking at big full sheets of blank paper.

How wonderful are anti-fatigue mats!?

I have a feeling this can has been around longer than Penland's print program.
"Burnishine!"

So I'm thinking a lot, taking notes, listening to a lot of music, (mostly The Who) and looking forward to many more long studio days this month. 

Thank you for stopping in on the ol' blog.