Rainy Day at the Pond

Rainy Day at the Pond

7 x 5

hard ground etching

Here' s an etching which I completed recently which depicts a rainy day at a nearby pond. This image was inspired not only by the rainy weather we have had this fall but by 19th century Japanese wood block prints which depict the landscape in the rain. I wanted to see if I could capture the look of rainfall and also to evoke the mood it produces.

The plate was step etched, meaning that different parts of the plate were bitten for different amounts of time. The lighter areas like the trees in the distance and the sky were bitten for the shortest amount of time, then stopped out (covered with asphaltum) to keep them from continuing to etch. I then continued to etch the areas I wanted to be darker. The lighter areas were only etched for a few minutes. The total etching time was about 35 minutes.

All images can be clicked for a larger view. Here are a couple of details. The first one shows the line work in the trees, bushes and grass.

 This one shows the rainfall and the pond water.

This etching as well as several others are available for purchase through my studio. Click here for purchase information.

Virtual Learning

Work in Progress
After the Rain 14 x 18

I laid in this painting about a month ago in preparation for the demo I did last month. The lay in sat around in my studio, and then this week the rainy sky seemed to provide the right idea to finish it. This is very rough-just the initial dry brush under painting and a first pass on the sky. I seem to be a little bit obsessed with fence lines and windbreaks at the moment, so there will be more coming soon I'm sure.

I've been thinking this week about how the art world- and more specifically, my little corner of it- is changing. The most obvious change is how virtual connections have expanded our opportunities as artists to show and sell our work. But, all this activity in cyber space also encourages new ways of learning. My husband has been bugging me to organize some sort of virtual workshop for artists who would like to study with me, but are not able to make it to a class here in Texas. I like the idea for several reasons. Although face to face learning is undoubtably the best choice, I know that often a workshop experience- crammed into two, three or five days- can simply be too much information, too fast. A virtual class would give me a chance to provide more written material which could be read and studied on the participant's schedule and video demos which could be viewed many times rather than just one live session. Right now I'm thinking in terms of a blog that would be able to be accessed only by registered students and would have links to written material, video demonstrations and images, and where students could post comments and questions. This could be supplemented by video conference calls using Skype where work could be critiqued and discussed.

I'd really love to hear from anyone who has had any experience with an online class, particularly one involving visual learning. What worked, what didn't- was it a worthwhile effort and would you do it again? Or, from anyone else with ideas! Thanks!

Evening Study
8 x 10

After a couple of weeks of really hot weather and almost a month without rain, we finally got two days of rain and temperatures dropped about 10 degrees. As the skies cleared at the end of the second day, the evening sky was the most beautiful shade of violet.

The Day After Thanksgiving

The Day After Thanksgiving Oil 6 x 8
$100 + $10 shipping

Late on Thanksgiving weather blew in- by Friday morning the sky was heavy and violet grey. Noises- even the rainfall-seemed muffled in the thick damp atmosphere. I've always loved the woodcuts of the landscape in rain and snow by Japanese masters, so I decided to try to capture that effect in this little piece. Can you see the rain falling?