Maine VI

April 17, 2014
Charcoal on paper
3.5"x5.25"

It was the last full day of our trip to Maine and I almost did not step out for this one. It was cold and the sun was close to setting, but I wandered down to the landing and scrambled across the rocks to this point. As it turned out, I was serenaded by a group of distant gulls as the light faded and I captured one last drawing before the long trip home.

Maine V

April 17, 2014
Charcoal on paper
3.5"x4.75"

This view of Hamilton Cove is another place I could visit and sketch a hundred times as it is just such a beautiful spot. This effort felt good and is another that I may translate onto a piece of copper with ink. I have been thinking about changing my usual process of inking the plate black and removing to white. Instead I am planning to work into the plate with ink and brushes using a limited palette.

Maine III

April 14, 2014
Charcoal on paper
3"x5"

Monster
Rocks stretching out to sea 
Like a Leviathan 

I struggled with this one at first, but it turned out to be one of my favorites of the trip. There is something simple about it that appeals to me and I hope to make a monotype from this sketch as well.

Maine Sketch II

April 14, 2014
Charcoal pencil on paper
3"x5"

This is the second time around sketching this spot along the Marginal Way in Ogunquit. I think this one is a little better than the one I posted last spring and hope to make a largish monotype of this one next week when I have some time booked on the big press at SPA.

Maine Sketch I

April 14, 2014
Pencil on paper
3.25"x 4.75'

I made a series of thumbnail sketches on my family vacation to Maine. Started out with this one in pencil and quickly decided that I was in the mood for the charcoal pencil instead. It was cold for most of our trip but I managed to get out for several walks and had a productive time of it despite the weather.

Absence and Presence II

March 2014
Copy, pen and white-out
8"x10"

This sketch is ready to be carved on a block of linoleum.  After being asked to submit work to an international response and series of exhibits to the March 5, 2007 bombing of Al Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad I struggled at first. I took a literal spin on the project and tried to create a drawing of books in a pile of refuse.

After some thought I realized, I needed to stick to my muse, the landscape. While looking at photos online I realized this was the perfect opportunity to continue my ongoing exploration of double meaning and reverse images with a Rorschach landscape. This one is very different as the images are not the same and I have separated them by putting them into two circular designs. After I transfer it to a block I will carve and create a two color print of this design.

Absence and Presence I

March 2014
Copy, pen and white-out.
4.5"

I have been invited to participate in a print-maker's response to the March 5, 2007 bombing of the book market on Al Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad. As a landscape artist it was a hard task to wrap my head around and at first I looked at images of books in piles of refuse. This first sketch is unfinished and I do not plan to carve it in a block, but it was an interesting diversion form what I usually create.