NPS 2011 Workshop

Ah.  You are wondering, Dear Reader, the meaning of the large cooler of fish?

Well, they were all used for printing.  Fish printing.  Gyotaku, to be exact.  Gyotaku just means fish printing in Japanese.  I did a lot of fish printing while at the NPS workshop in beautiful Fort Collins, Colorado.  The Nature Printing Society has a workshop each year and many of the very talented members teach classes in their areas of expertise.  Since this was my first workshop and since there are so many members with great skill at gyotaku, that was my chosen area to explore at the workshop.

I must admit that I am fairly new to printing in general and until the start of the workshop, had never printed a fish in my life!  I had three great fish printing instructors and learned three different methods of printing.

My first class was in direct fish printing---where you ink the fish directly and then put a sheet of paper (gently!) over the inked surface.  Jack Schwartz was the instructor and he was a very good teacher.

Jack showed up how to clean our fish to remove any bacteria that would, in years hence, come to eat into our print and/or cause stains to the finished art.  You have to clean the fish with soap and water, then alcohol and more alcohol.  It was much more rigorous a procedure than I had imagined.

Once the fish is clean and dry and you have sealed it's various openings with crazy glue (!!!!), you need to cut and position supports for the fins and tail, so you will have a steady, flat surface to work on.

We used foam core and T-pins to elevate the fins and hold them in position.  Once the fins and tail have dried the way you position them, they stay in that shape and the pins are no longer necessary.

I chose a rock fish.  It was quite a lovely specimen and a fish for which I have a great fondness.  When I was a girl, my father and I used to take weekend fishing trips to Puget Sound or Hoods Canal.  Our favorite eating fish for these trips was rock cod.  Anything that reminds me of my father and those happy memories is okay by me.

Here are a couple of my fish direct fish prints, before I got the eyes painted in.  There is a lot of room for improvement, but Jack made the class a lot of fun and I had a really nice day printing my rock cod.  Once I was done, I cleaned the fish of ink and returned him to the ice chest so it was available for others to print as the week went on.

Here is my fish for the indirect fish printing class, taught by Lori Ann Loftus.  Lori taught the beginning indirect class.  I was amazed at all the steps involved with the indirect method, many more so than with the direct method.

As in the direct method of fish printing, the printer must first get their fish properly cleaned, dried and the openings sealed.  You must then dig out a spot for your fish to sit into on a piece of insulation board, trying to get the fish as flat as possible.  The fins and tail must be supported for them to print properly. You need to make stencils for the edges of the fish and the pectoral fin.  Once you've done all this, then you cover the entire fish with paste and gently ease a piece of silk onto the fish, working out the wrinkles, until the entire fish is covered.  Then you dry the silk-covered fish with a hair dryer or sit it out in the sun.  (Yes, the room did get to be rather pungent with the smell of warm fish!)

Once the silk is dried onto the fish, you are ready to start using tampos (a sort of pouncer made with a toothpick, silk batting and fine silk covering it all) to apply colored inks to the silk.  Because you are printing onto silk with the fish underneath, the process is indirect, but amazing detail is achieved with careful inking.  A well-done gyotaku of the indirect method will show every scale and every ridge of the fins of the subject fish.

In theory, it should take 30 pounces on one spot with an inked tampo before any color begins to show on the silk covering the fish.  To my mind this is just craziness!  I am not a patient person and all the masking and pouncing and tampo-ing and fussing required of the indirect method were not well suited to my impatient, get-on-with-it temperament!  Needless to say, my fish is lacking in finesse, but I surely do have a great deal of respect now for a well executed indirect fish print.  I will, however, not be using that method again!

Sharron Huffman led my third "fish" printing class.  What were were actually printing were octopuses.  That actually leads me to the question of just what, exactly, is the plural of octopus?    Well, I just happen to have a little video to answer that burning question......

Sharron Huffman turns out to be delightfully funny, terribly talented and an all-around lovely human being.  I just adored her class on printing the little critters and had more fun than I could have reasonably expected.

As in any method of gyotaku, you must first get  your octopus dry, dry, dry.  (And you have to seal up those pesky eyes and get the silt left by cleaning the octopus really dried out, too.)  We then used bits of paper towel to stuff the "heads" into a more normal shape.  (These octopuses come in 5 pound frozen blocks and are usually from Thailand or Vietnam.)

Once you get your specimen ready to print, you need to mask the area under the legs with paper and then ink the little guy with ink.  Sharron uses a foam brush in a pat and dab sort of movement.  She is careful not to leave brush strokes.

Once you get the body and legs nicely inked, you need to remove the masking paper and clean up any ink "glitches" with paper towel, baby wipes or Q-Tips.  You can see me cleaning up the background of my octopus in the above photo, taken by my friend Bee Shay.

My last class was with Maria Arango Diener.  Maria is a woodblock artist of great talent.  I love her work and learned so much from her.  Unlike all the fish printing I did earlier in the week, carving a relief printing block was something I had done before, so it was not a totally new art form for me.  I really enjoyed the class, partly because I was back in my comfort zone, but mostly because it was so much fun and I got so much useful information from Maria.  

I used a piece of wood that I found on the sidewalk one day on my way to lunch and a ginko leaf as my design elements and did a simplified sketch for my woodblock.

Each of the participants in the class was to pull 17 prints so we could exchange a print with each person in the group.  We all came away with a little portfolio of prints.  I was so impressed with the work done by the other artists and I was so happy to have a piece of their art to take away with me.

I was lucky enough to be in the same class with Bee, my buddy and roomie for this workshop.   She did a wonderful print of seahorses that she took from a relief print of a seahorse she had in her portfolio.

One of the nicest things about my time in Fort Collins turned out to be Fort Collins.  It's a lovely little city, home of Colorado State University (where we had our meeting and class rooms).  We all found that there were shops there for every taste.  I was especially thrilled to discover that Fort Collins had two bead shops!  Two!  And Jerry's Artarama, too.  I mean, for what more can one ask?  Oh, you want more?  Well, there's Screen Door Studios, a wonderful place to buy art, beads, baskets, one-of-a-kind sweaters and all sorts of amazing jewelry and I found way too many things there that had came home with me.  (Try packing three baskets from Ghana in your suitcase sometime!)  Fort Collins is pretty, interesting, restaurant-filled, friendly and a great place to spend some time.  I especially enjoyed Old Town and I was sorry to leave.

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary."  Pablo Picasso

ArtFest 2010 Catch Up

Here's a toast to ArtFest 2010! Tracy and Teesha Moore have outdone themselves once again. I had THE BEST TIME! Every year I think that they won't be able to make it better, more fun, more jam-packed and every year they prove me wrong.

Even the weather co-operated.

I took classes from Catherine Witherall in PMC bead and ring making, a class from Bee Shay that was delightful and on my last day I finally had a class with Lynne Perrella (whom I have been trying to get into one of her classes for five years!). Each class was wonderful and I learned a long ton from each of my teachers.

Classmate in Bee's class who was really into her painting....and I can't remember her name, unfortunately!

Bee helping a student in her Draw It, Paint It class on Friday.

My painting from Bee's class. This is Lady Phyllis Sopwith, wife of Tom Sopwith (of Sopwith Camel fame). She was described in an article in the London Times from the mid 1930s as having "pretty teeth" but I suspect most people who are familiar with her name remember her for being the navigator on an America's Cup challenger in 1934 and 1937. There was time for some early morning beach combing.....

....and a little shopping in Port Townsend....here's Bee modeling a hat. I think she looks like she's having an IDEA! I'd have bought one of these amazing felted hats but the $300+ price tag was waaaaaaay over my hat budget! But my goodness, they are really cool hats.

Nonie and Bee at lunch at The Silverwater Cafe in Port Townsend.

Cheap advertising for a surprisingly good coffee shop.

Morning reflections at Port Hudson, one of my favorite places to start my daily walk.

If you ever have a chance to attend ArtFest, RUN don't walk to sign up. It's magical.

Congratulations Bee!

Oh happy day! My dear friend, Bee Shay, has written a fantastic book and today it arrived on my doorstep. Her book is called Collage Lab:Experiments, Investigations, and Exploratory Projects . I can't recommend it highly enough. If you have any interest in collage, or in mixed media or just love to look at creative and entertaining books stuffed with great art, this is one you will want for your personal library. I have been drooling over the projects all evening and plan to get out my art supplies and put into action some of the great ideas Bee puts forth in her projects just as soon as I finish packing up "Christmas."

Have I mentioned how enthused this book has gotten me---all jazzed up and full of ideas to try? I bet is will plant many seeds in your psyche, too. Try it, you'll love it!

To my little Kumquat, congratulations! I am so happy to see all your hard work realized, in a beautiful book I can hold in my hands and return to whenever I need inspiration. Hip hip hooray and atta girl and wa-hoooooo! Bee, darlin', you are amazing.

Talk about a hat trick!

ArtFest & My DDNDS

L to R: Miss Bee, Nonie, DDNDS Susan

ArtFest was bliss. It started the Sunday before with the arrival of Miss Bee from Back East. We met online three years ago when I was involved in my first ATC book for my first ArtFest and she was the hostess. I ran into this lovely lady on the beach at Fort Worden early one morning that first year and we chatted for a long while, poking along the beach. Finally we introduced ourselves and it turns out that I had been happily speaking to my ATC friend, Miss Bee! Last year I offered up my guest room to her for pre- or post-AF, and she accepted. We had a great time and spent another happy day on the beach, this time in Edmonds. This year Miss Bee arrived three days before AF and we picked up our conversation as if it were only yesterday since we'd last spoken face-to-face, not months and months (October).

It transpired that Miss Bee, in the course of her duties as hostess of the AF ATC Fatbook had been emailing this nice woman, Susan, who had a few questions as this was her first ATC exchange and her first AF. In the course of their email conversations it became obvious that Susan had been a student of Miss Bee's some years back when she lived in Pennsylvania, before she moved to Maine....and they were reunited and made arrangements to meet in Port Townsend the Tuesday before AF began. Nonie and I were both going over to PT early as Nonie wanted to see about getting some of her art into a shop or gallery there and I just wanted to get into AF mode and do some shopping before the crowds arrived. We all made plans to meet for dinner at Silverwater Cafe. So Miss Bee introduced me to Susan.

Ah, Susan. How to explain? We just connected. She is amazing! Strong, compassionate, funny (really funny!), talented, complex, curious, out going, adventurous, brave, loving and beautiful....and my DDNDS. That, Dear Reader, stands for Dear Darling Newly Discovered Sister. And she is. I miss her a lot. I wish she didn't live all the way across the US from me. (I wish that about Miss Bee, too. Profoundly.) But at least Susan is discovered and she will be treasured. I hope we can enlarge and expand our new friendship over the course of the next year and then have a huge, happy "family" reunion at the 2009 ArtFest, with Miss Bee. (Power of three, don't you know, power of three.)

Nonie and I stayed at Commander's Beach House one night and had a charming room on the ground floor with stunning views of the beach. I really liked it there and will try and return for a weekend sometime this year. The bed & breakfast (gooooood breakfast!) is located in Port Hudson and there are lots of lovely boats just a very short walk away at the marina, offering a great photo op.

I was assigned to Dorm 225 again and I had a lovely little single room on the west side (no water view, alas) with the most rare of AF accouterments....a comfortable bed! I had a nice little closet and a desk and chair and even an outlet for my cell phone and camera battery chargers. I had an Ott light, a cheerful quilt and my pillow from home so I was cosy and well lit. I was very comfortable. Only a water view could have improved my accommodations and who knows, maybe next year! I spent so little time in my room this year that I didn't really get to know any of my neighbors other than to exchange a few words when we met in the bathroom. They were quiet, I'll give them that! I slept like the dead.

I took two classes from LK Ludwig this year and both were fantastic. I had taken one class from LK before, in Portland last October at Art & Soul. Unfortunately, it was my last day in Portland and I was tired and burned out and didn't get as much from the class as I should have. It wasn't that LK didn't give a great class, it's just that I was a crummy student! I thought I should try again as I am a great admirer of LK's work. (In case you've been vacationing on Mars, Dear Reader, and haven't seen it yet, LK has an amazing book out called Mixed Media Nature Journals. It is an inspiring read with many examples of the talented lady's work and is full of useful techniques and encouraging writing. Be sure to check it out.) I took both her Seasons Journal and All About Me (self portraiture explorations). I, of course, did not work on a journal of seasons but rather on a book that I have wanted to construct for some time to hold my ephemera, photos and even some feathers of birds that I have been amassing. I am quite happy with the results, although I have a very long way to go before the book will be full and complete. I had never constructed a book with signatures before and found the process easy and fun, although my stitches on the spine are not as even and tidy as I would like. Guess that practice will make me more perfect? Maybe....In the self portraiture class I learned to (finally) do a usable water transfer, something I have despaired of ever mastering. Please don't ask my why I have had so much trouble with that technique, but I have. At least I think I've figured it out. I found a wonderful old book in Port Townsend that was hand made by someone to conserve an old book on Chinese porcelains. They had very carefully pasted the pages of this old book into a blank book, only using the right hand page (I know there is a technical book term for the right hand page, but I don't remember what it is!); the left hand page is blank. Since I am an amateur ceramicist and I love things Chinese, it seemed like a perfect book to alter to house my self portraits (both painted and photographic). I will continue to add to it as I find images or poetry or my own writing that I want to add. I did not get as far with the self portrait book as I did with my Bird Journal, but I have a lot of ideas that LK sparked, and I found both classes very valuable. If you want a well presented, organized techniques class, LK is the teacher you are seeking.


For my last class, I opted for Mary Beth Shaw's acrylic abstract class. I loved the painting and found the day relaxing and fun. I am not much of an acrylic painter nor am I, in any way, an abstract painter, but it was fun to try and I found myself using a palette that surprised me, not one I would normally choose. I liked the results and found Mary Beth to be a great teacher---organized, prepared, taught in logical steps and gave us time to explore one or two techniques before moving on, and she has a great sense of humor. She's fun!

Vendor Night was great fun. Miss Bee let me help out in her booth and that meant that I got first dibs on her work. I came home with two shadow boxes that take my breath away. One has seal vertebrae and the other a basket with feathers. Both of the boxes were lovingly made by Miss Bee's DH from flooring from a 200-year-old farmhouse and glass that is over 100 years-old and wavy and full of bubbles. The boxes are works of art in and of themselves. Bee's work is spare but speaks volumes and I love her almost Zen-like approach to her art. She never feels the need to "goop things up," as I do on occasion. I think I would say her art is truly wabi sabi. I was able to buy one of two of LK Ludwig's delightful crow dolls. My whimsical crow is now presiding over my desk on a shelf where it makes me smile whenever I see it. Mr. Crow has personality and presence. I love him.

Artwork shown above is the work of Bee Shay and is copywrite protected.

Artwork shown above is by LK Ludwig and is copywrite protected.

It was bliss to be with people who get me. You read over and over in ArtFester blogs about the joy we all feel when we find ourselves surrounded by others who get us. I sometimes feel that some of my family and friends don't really get me. (In all fairness, to a person they let me be me and encourage me to explore the whole art thing that I came to so late in my life.) But to be surrounded by 600 other souls who don't even blink when you sit down to eat with what can only be called gel medium hideous skin disease (where the gel medium you used all day and that had adhered to your skin is coming off in large, icky flakey sheets). Any one of them understands that it's easy to get your liquid make up mixed up with your fluid acrylics (which I did last year). I kept hearing the word "Tribe" and I guess that's about the best way to describe the ArtFesters as a whole. We do form a tribe. It is incredibly inclusive at ArtFest. Everyone is there to make art, everyone is there to share their art with others, to learn from each other, to support each other and to just revel in the sheer bliss of all being together in that wonderful place for that magical few days. Teesha and Tracy Moore (and their unceasingly hardworking family) have given us such a rare gift by creating ArtFest. I am blessed to be able to attend and honored to be a part of the Tribe. How many days until next year?

I got to go to ArtFest, I met my DDNDS, I spent wonderful hours with Miss Bee, Nonie and I shared another trip and good times together, both before and after Artfest, I walked on the beach at dawn, made art, laughed until I cried and had the best time yet. It just keeps getting better and better!

Above photo by Kathy Peterson, copywrite protected, used with permssion.