Year of Chemistry 2011 - Printmakers Periodic Table Honored

Jenn Schmitt, the originator of our Printmakers Periodic Table of the Elements has sent some exciting news on about the project. Jenn can be contacted about the project at periodictableprints@gmail.com . The Printmaking Periodic Table of the Elements can be seen at the following website: http://azuregackle.com/periodictable/table/ My print is Rutherfordium, an element created in a race between Russia and the US by blasting various elements together at high energies. The stuff of mad scientists!

• The Printmakers Periodic Table is being honored as part of the Year of Chemistry, 2011. The September issue of Chem 13 News magazine features the Printmaking Periodic Table as the centerfold! Their website is http://www.chem13news.uwaterloo.ca/ Copies of the magazine can be obtained by contacting the editor, Jean Hein at jhein@uwaterloo.ca . Each copy is $5 (I guess Canadian). The address to contact for copies of the newsletter is:

Chem 13 news

Department of Chemistry

University of Waterloo

Waterloo, Ontario

N2L 3G1 Canada

• The Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia will be showing the Printmaking Periodic Table at a show called Elemental Matters: Artists Imagine Chemistry. The show celebrates 2011, International Year of Chemistry and features 97 artists' works from all over the globe. The opening is February 4, 2011. The shows should be fabulous, there is a wide variety of techniques and interpretations at play. I hope some of us can get to the shows.

Value

Did a value study in a class. Value is shade, dimension and volume. Had to paint clouds so I made it easy and just did spheres. Not sure the shading of the sky and land are correct but it looks kind of other-worldly, doesn't it?

Jewelry - 3 Silver Earrings

Since I found the lost wax surprises in the basement I have been dragging out all my jewelry supplies. I made 3 pairs of earrings today, I am rusty so the ear wires need to be replaced as they are not perfect. It is fun playing with this stuff. The earrings are made of sterling silver, freshwater pearls, garnets, glass and stone.

Lost Wax Casting

I just ran across some lost wax casting silver pieces I made a number of years ago. My little sculptures in wax were kind of thick so my silver pieces came out quite heavy. I just found some of them in a box stuck away in a corner of the basement. I never finished them and made them into jewelry. Now I shall have to do so. The lost wax process is far more difficult than working with precious metal clay.

Monet in a Day No. 1

As promised, here is the first faux Monet I made. Unfortunately number 2 is I think a lost cause, I am ready to paint over. But Monet in a Day No. 1 somehow just works. I used left-over paints after doing another painting exercise and who knows why or how but it just worked. Acrylics on a tiny canvas 4x6 inches.

Monet is probably turning in his grave about the name!

Monet in a Day No.3

I am not much of a painter as those who know me are well aware. I am taking a class that dabbles in this and that and wouldn't you know it we had to paint. So I whipped out some horrid thing. Then I used my left over paint to do a mini-faux-Monet. It was pleasing to the eye although I am sure critics will shudder at the sight of it. Anyway I made a second that is horrid and then a third faux-Monet. I can't seem to get the reeds right, no matter how small the brush it either globs or refuses to transfer paint. I have tried palette knives and toothpicks also. Sigh. Oh yes this is in acrylics and is on 8" x 10" canvas. Enjoy! or not and if not and your 2 cents is worthy, please give me pointers on doing things better.

Inspiring Photographs - Droplets & Small World

There are some fabulous niche photos on the www. As a scientist, I have always gravitated towards the tiny images we saw using tools one's body did not provide to see the world in a new way. Droplets and small stuff have always been my favorite categories, I find many of these quite abstract in nature. You shall have to open the link to see pics as I am not sure of copyright issues on this artwork. It is VERY worth the effort. In addition to artwork some of the sites give info on how to create the effect or obtain the photo. General tips and how tos: http://digital-photography-school.com/category/photography-tips-and-tutorials/other_tips Droplet photos and tutorials: http://www.photosbykev.com/wordpress...r-photography/ http://digital-photography-school.co...hy-water-drops/ Nikon Small World Photo contest, go to the gallery to see the pics: http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/ Enjoy - I hope this opens up new ways of looking at the world for you. blr

Periodic Table Printmaking Project

The periodic table printmaking project is up at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, so if you are in the Philly area please stop by. http://azuregrackle.com/periodictable/table/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/azuregrackle/4415192883/in/pool-periodictable http://www.flickr.com/groups/periodictable/ I worked on rutherfordium and did a monoprint with Caron d'Arche watercolor crayons. Experimental at best like rutherforduim, created by among other methods bombarding plutonium with neon. Since this is the stuff science fiction is made of, I made the print to look like a page from a 1950s comic book. Russian and American researchers both laid claim to the element which was called kirchutovium for a while by the Russians, until a truce was decided and both men honored. Anyway, this is not my best work but the table looks fabulous with it in.

Shell - Plexiglass Drypoint

Here is my first attempt ever to use plexiglass as the plate medium for intaglio. I haven't finished printing this little edition yet. The plexi was really inexpensive, I got a big sheet at a hardware store and cut it to size.

Details:

• 5x7 inch plate
• Arches cover paper
• Daniel Smith inks & modifier

Fun to sit out on the deck and do, one good thing about plexi is that you can take it anywhere to work on it really.

Spring!

Another spring with flowers, leaves and beaches! It is about 70 degrees and sunny today, a record breaking spring day! I don't do many flower images but here are two clay relief etchings, "Tulip" and "Iris", to herald the new season. (I am creativly challenged when it comes to naming my work.) These are printed a la poupee, the plates are colored with ink prior to printing. This technique is a bit more challenging that coloring after printing when you can "color in the lines".

Sea Sea Sea

This one is for artist David Jien out in CA whose print I have yet to hang on my wall. Have you been on my side of the world of late David? Who else writes such deep messages on walls?

The surf today is spectacular, normally I would put art up here rather than photos as I can't claim to be other than a snapshot taker. But the scenes are art-worthy! The sea wall is about 20 feet high.

New WIP - Intaglio Snail Print

I finally created enough of a hole in the mess in my art room to use the table and press. AND I actually went in and played, I talked myself into a 15 minute session and it expanded to a little bit more.

The intaglio snail print I worked on is a WIP, not finished yet. The lines in this are very fine so I need to play with the ink a bit more to get it just right. Ink used was Graphic Chemical oil-based "mud" old ink scrapings tossed into a big jar and mixed. I cover with water to store so no hard dried surface scum forms.

If you note the clips, my EZ-no-space drying system consists of 3 long curtain rods that are on the wall. I can put small pieces like this on one clip, or hold large pieces with multiple clips.

2010!

Warning: Persons with coulrophobia (fear of clowns) may wish to avert their eyes. WOW This century, this decade! Years ago the government promised cheap commercial fusion reactors making energy from seawater by 2020. Only 10 more years to go and I can get rid of the oil tank in the basement, turn the heat up to 75 degrees in the winter, down to 60 in the summer and throw out all environmental consciousness with my winter clothes. So are we on track? Or have the ideas mutated into a non-feasible happenstance like my Killer Clownfish from Under Sea? Killer Clownfish From Under Sea is an original hand pulled print using oil based Graphic Chemical inks on Rives BFK paper. The plate was inked using both intaglio, relief and a la poupee methods and printed on a press. He is pretty nasty, isn't he!