hurricane from space

This marvelous video shows the entire development of Hurricane Sandy and its interaction with the cold front coming from the north. Really cool! If you can't see the entire globe, go here.

short film about a printing project

Click on the words "Lennon's Poster" if the video doesn't come up on its own.



Lennon's Poster from Make Productions on Vimeo.
A short film following the recreation of the Pablo Fanque circus poster that inspired John Lennon to write 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite' for the Beatles album 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. Using the traditional methods of wood engraving and letterpress printing, Peter Dean and his team of experts bring to life Lennon's poster.

A Film By Nick Esdaile & Joe Fellows http://www.makeproductions.co.uk/

last space shuttle voyage

new work

Nests

relief print

6 inches wide x 9 inches high

another view, same moon

september full moon

new work

Flatland

4 inches high by 6 inches wide 

relief print; linoleum blocks and lead cut

shrubs mark the spot

Canisteo, NY, in the Southern Tier, claims to have the world's largest living sign. Here it is.

the milky way

I went to Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania for an event called the Black Forest Sky Party, which is a weekend of astronomers of all levels coming together to look at the sky. Cherry Springs is a dedicated dark sky area, meaning that there are no human lights around and none allowed on the Astronomy Field, a meadow at 2300 feet elevation in the midst of the Susquehanna State Forest in Potter County. Lovely place! The Cherry Springs Dark Sky Association is responsible for helping keep this place dark. Go to the links, go to the park, you haven't seen a night sky light this one if you live anywhere where people light their backyards and parking lots all night long.

This image is best viewed large and in the dark. Click on it and turn all other lights out, and then it will be as though you were with me in the field.

another new work

Swimming Geometry

collage

8 inches wide x 10 inches high

winchester, virginia, sunset

newest sockmunkys

southern kitchen

Wonderful neon sign belongs to a diner in Newmarket, Virginia.

appalachian fog

new work

Silence

collage

8 inches high x 10 inches wide

clayton mercantile

This little storefront opens into a huge space full of the most wonderfully interesting things! I spent over an hour in here, picking up stuff to bring home. If you ever find yourself driving south from Columbus, Georgia, then you must take a detour from Eufala, Alabama, to Clayton. This is also the home of the whiskey bottle tombstone from the previous post.

whiskey bottle tombstone

When the town drunk died in the village of Clayton, Alabama, his widow had no money for a tombstone, so the citizens of Clayton got together and bought him this stone in the shape of the whiskey bottle he so loved. There's another story that has the wife designing the stone if her husband drank himself to death, but I think the first one is more to be believed.

sunset over gulf of mexico

panama city beach, florida

storm is coming

birdie on gulf coast beach

eufala, alabama

little birdie in north carolina

sunset and sunrise in north carolina

new printed cards

I printed 10 of each of these cards and envelopes by hand using a wine cork and the eraser on the end of a pencil. The blue/grey/yellow ones will be available at the Park Avenue Festival in Rochester, NY, next weekend at the Chartreuse Studio tent outside of 270 Park. They also have some of my collages for sale. Nice place. Take a look.

I've succumbed.

I have made a Facebook page for The Make Things Workshop. If you use Facebook, it would be nice if you "Liked" it. And let me know what I should do with it.

the great and the finger lakes

Get details about this image here.

what I did in Iowa #3

One of the workshops I took was marbling paper. Some of my results are below. The woman who taught it is Melinda Stockwell, who owns The Calico Press in Birmingham, Iowa. Wonderful teacher and all-around fun person. Need graphic work done? Talk with her!

what I did in Iowa #2

I took several workshops while I was at Printer's Hall. One of them was to make a book structure called a Star Book. Below is mine. The book arts workshops were taught by two wonderful people from the University of Iowa's Center for the Book.

what I did in Iowa #1

Printer's Hall in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, is part of a historical complex that includes steam threshers, steam engines, railroad, carousel, and lots of letterpress printing stuff. Because this is a working museum, everything works. Everything! And people are encouraged to learn how to use it all and then use it. Below is some of what I printed, just for the fun of it.

what I've been doing the last two weeks

Go here

Handmade booklets

I've made a few of these little booklets using my own marbled paper. And I have an Etsy shop where this one is available for sale right now. I expect to have a few more up there soon.

Blank paper notebook, hand-marbled paper cover with stamp, hand-stiched with beaded tassel. 5.75 inches high x 4.25 inches wide. About 16 pages. Oh, and there's a secret map inside!

Danielle Ate The Sandwich: Faith in a Man

a book with drawers

I went to Paper Circle in Nelsonville, Ohio, to learn how to make a book that had sort-of-hidden drawers in it. It's called a Chamber Book; the technique has lots of potential for manipulation. I have ideas to try out!

I-80 underpass

Several interstates cross the Cuyahoga River in Ohio. In the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, they must be held high because the valley is deep.

ohio and erie canal

That ditch to the left of the path and behind the signpost was the Ohio and Erie Canal, back in the 1830s, now part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park just south of Cleveland, Ohio.

ohio sky

Camilla, the Flying Chicken

Read about this rubber chicken and the students who sent her off to near-space here.

new film

Spring Flamingoes

Impossible film for Polaroid cameras, color shade.
Lots more information here: The Impossible Project.

how to be creative

I am often asked about where I get my ideas, and I always first shrug, then say that I get them from everything that is around me. John Cleese of Monty Python fame gives an excellent explanation in the video below about what one needs to be creative. He is absolutely correct. Remember that 365-day project of mine, in which I had to make a piece of art each day? One of the important parts of being able to do that was to establish a two-hour time period for making that piece. Cleese gives himself an hour-and-a-half. Another was to let every absurb idea be examined. And so on. The video is long—a bit over half an hour—and has Norwegian (I think) subtitles, but it is all worthwhile. And, you don't actually have to watch it; you can just listen.

award

Heeheehee. . .take a look here at my distinctive use of postage stamps :-)

the end

Rippling
collage
84 inches long x 6.25 inches high

rippling is coming to an end

10th rippling panel

. . . long rippling

. . .