Love Soup

J,

I know this will come as a shock, given my entire diet in college was based on various combinations of cheese and carbohydrates, but I love to cook. You’ll be even more amused to know that this time of year, soup is my favorite thing to make. From scratch, including stock. I know, I know, let the laughter begin! When we lived together I didn’t even consider soup a meal, which I pin on being raised by people who grew up in warm climates, and I was completely befuddled by your New Englander attachment to it. And now, even though I live in a warm climate, I’m obsessed. I’m particularly obsessed with Anna Thomas’ book Love Soup. It’s all vegetarian soup recipes organized by season. There’s even a chapter of cold summer soups, amazing for the long hot Texas summers. I haven’t made a bad one yet. Last weekend during our freak Austin snow, I made stock and a curried cauliflower soup. There’s even picture evidence:

stock veggies, ready for choppin’

Hope you’re enjoying some delicious New England soups and staying warm.

xo

C

The Sketchbook Project

J,

I feel like the creative wheels have been slow in turning so far this year; I’ve been distracted by the wedding, turning in my MFA applications, setting up 2011’s print subscription (more on that to come) and starting a new part time job.  

I did get it together to participate in the Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project.  I loved the concept; get bunch of artists fill up sketchbooks and then they go on tour en mass!  It’s supposed to come to Austin during SXSW and I’m really curious to what everyone else did. I feel like I haven’t kept a true sketchbook in years, definitely not since collage. In high school I would spend hours drawing and meticulously composing my sketchbook but now mine are more full of notes and ideas then they are of sketches. And I have to confess I feel like I sorta cheated with this one, I filled it with collages of print proofs from my MFA portfolio! The theme was ‘If you lived here’ and if you’d lived with me the last four months ( as poor B could attest) you’d know that was all I was doing.

What about you, do you still keep a sketchbook? Is it full of notes or drawings?

the beginning, ready to collage

Do you keep all your preliminary drawings? I always keep all my proofs, convinced I’ll do something with them, but this is the first time I ever have. I think I might try another version of this book the next time I have a show. I like the idea that the viewer gets to physically handle versions of the same prints that are framed on the wall.

xo

C

The old normal

J,

Those pictures just made me melt, J is so sweet and adorable! I’m glad mommyhood is agreeing with you.  I’m also amazed you’re getting so much work done!

Those bunnies are incredible! They’re so narrative and evocative, and I love the hint of uneasy in the way you’ve handled their expressions. They almost look like they are they think they’re being watched.  I think you have a lush, charcoal picture book on your hands!

Or maybe a narrative series about your ghost stories in New Hampshire? Don’t hold out on me now, I want to hear creepy stories!

I had a dose of the old normal last month when I took a trip back to Baltimore. It was the first time I’d been back since the summer after we graduated. Crazy! So much has changed; there are condos now across from the light rail stop and in the parking lot behind our old apartment, little coffee shops, bars and stores have sprung up on North Ave, and MICA has built several new buildings. 

I went to print my wedding invitations in Kyle’s (he says hello!) new print studio, Baltimore Print Studios. It was really fun and I think I might have developed an addiction to letterpress. I keep finding myself scouring the internet for a little platen press.  

Kyle’s shop on North Ave. See that donut shaped green building in the distance? That’s MICA’s new dorm!

I love these posters, have one hanging in my studio.

settin’ type

printing the background image, the stalk of a century plant

drying rack

Kyle mans the guillotine

ready for text

printin’

snowy Charles Village

XOXO

C

Bunny Love

C, 

Bunnies. Who doesn’t love them, right? When I lived in New Hampshire I bought a scrapbook from the 1940’s. It was clearly made by a young girl (or Henry Darger) because it is filled with magazine clippings of babies, puppies,and bunnies. Anything that is cute and cuddly is in it. My favorite clippings are two images from some Easter related ad containing bunnies posed holding eggs. These are clearly taxidermic bunnies and although it’s creepy, they have so much expression. I have been wanting to use them for years and now I have some images just in time for Easter! Writing descriptions for these will feel like writing a children’s book.

And here are my two favorite rabbit paintings just for kicks.

“Rabbit and Copper Pot”, 1739-40

by Chardin

“Skinned Rabbit”, 1972

by Antonio Lopez Garcia

Love,

J

Hibernation

C,

Summer was hot, fall was a blur, and so far this winter I am starting to feel back to normal. Of course it’s a new normal. I’m not quite sure I have the words to describe what mommyhood is like just yet. But cuddling and playing with a sweet happy baby all day is pretty awesome. 

I have loved all your wonderful posts during the summer and fall. I was super jealous of your galavanting across the country. Not only did I want desperately to explore the William Johnson House  with you but I also happen to think the giant cone at the Kentucky State Fair looked delicious ( I was still pregnant).  Being that we are both history geeks I promise I will someday tell you all my  stories  about working in historic homes in Portsmouth, New hampshire. Crazy stories.

Currently I  am working on descriptions for the work I’ve done since last spring.  Today I worked on the story of Morris, who wished he could experience the Yosemite Firefall in person but alas….

To be continued.

Love,

J

November’s Print!subscription

November ‘Winter Migration’

‘Winter Migration’

J,

In central Texas the first sign of winter is not  dropping temperatures, but the arrival of the birds. It’s not as creepy as Hitchcock might lead you to think, but it’s really very strange and beautiful to see a huge mass of migratory birds in an urban setting.  I wanted this soft-ground etching to be simple and slightly whimsical, but also carry the feeling of the starkness of winter. Check out the rest of the year’s subscription here.

mixing up wintery ink

birds on the press!

the flock drying

the birds love grocery parking lots

E.A.S.T. East Austin Studio Tour

J,

The last two weeks have been busy! In addition to working on my MFA application images, I’ve madly been getting the studio, exhibition & volunteers ready for the East Austin Studio Tour. EAST is an awesome annual art studio tour that the WPA studio participates in, with hundreds of art spaces open for the public. It seems to get bigger and bigger every year, the map is a little overwhelming. I’m excited to wade into the madness next weekend and see what everyone’s been working on around town! It’s fun to introduce the public to printmaking, most people are pretty interested to learn about the process, we’ve had lots of people jump in an print during our gelatin printmaking demos.  

October’s subscription print

J,

You know I love autumn; cooler weather, pumpkins, apple cider, renewed interest in knitting projects, but here in central Texas there is something missing: leaves!  Most of the trees around Austin are live oak trees, which are beautiful and gnarly, (the kind you would imagine inhabiting in fairy tales), but they keep their leaves all winter. Admittedly this makes winter less depressing, but I do miss leaves crunching underfoot, swirling softly through the air and dancing across the road. I love when yellow leaves collect in the gutters and it looks like the streets are paved with bright gold.

I wanted this month’s print to look of a page out of a plant specimen book. An iconic, simple celebration of one of my favorite things about fall, beautiful autumn leaves.  

Check out the rest of this year’s print!subscription here.

Fortunately we had the lovely excuse to go back to Kentucky for a wedding two weeks ago and I got to see some bright fall leaves.

xo

C

Gelatin Printmaking

J,

Have you ever tried gelatin plate printmaking? I tried it for the first time a few weeks ago and now I’m hooked! It’s super fun and so easy it’s addictive.  I think it would make an awesome workshop idea or just fun thing to do with JC once he’s old enough. The gelatin is so soft that it prints on contact, no press needed.  I’d never heard of gelatin plates until our art marketing cluster gave try it to make cards.  We used Akua Kolor inks with smooth pre cut cards and make stencils with leaves and circles.  I even channeled my inner 5 year old to make cut paper snowflake stencils! I had almost completely forgotten how. I’m really happy with how they turned out and have a feeling we’ll make more soon.

We’ll be selling the cards at the WPA Studio during EAST, East Austin Studio Tour Nov. 13-14th, 20-21st and WHAM in Houston, Nov. 20-21st.

Check out this video for gelatin plate instructions. 

xo

C

Happy Halloween!

J, 

Happy Halloween! Did Jackson dress up for his very first Halloween?

We were excited to be home for Halloween this year, out first time handing out candy in the new house.

xo

C