It’s hard to believe that Twin Vixen Press has been up and running for six months. At times it feels like we’ve hardly gotten going and then we have moments where we look back and realize what we’ve accomplished. The studio is in great form right now (and fairly tidy since we just did our 6th Brattleboro Gallery Walk). Tools seem to have found their resting spots and, for the most part, we have everything we need to maintain a fully-functioning etching studio.These days I manage to get up early enough to get to the studio before 9am. And then…I jump right into my etchings. So far I have completed 15 plates out of 40 for my “Wicked Plants” book project. My goal has been to etch at least 2 plates every week (and this is just minimum...I should be doing 3!). Mostly, this plan has worked just fine but it’s hard sometimes to stay exactly on schedule every moment of the day: to have breakfast, go on a bike ride and be on top of sketching and etching for the rest of the day.
I’ve had a funny sensation the last couple of weeks: Every time I make my walk down to the studio I can’t help noticing the leaves and flowers on the plants I pass by. I often find myself thinking, “Well look at that! A leaf with Doubly Serrated teeth next to one with Denticulated teeth! I must pick both for my collection.” Unfortunately the Latin names have a hard time sticking. I kind of love being a pretend botanist. Maybe I should go back to school.I have also started to hand-tint some of the botanical etchings for a few shows I have in Washington at the beginning of August. This is a print of Rosary Pea. It's an awfully sneaky and malicious little thing.
This Friday Helen, Jesse and I will head out to the West coast for our collection of art and wedding events. If anyone is around, the Froggwell art show will be held on Whidbey Island from 10 am til 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday August 2nd and 3rd. The show will feature the work
of 14 printmakers, sculptors and bookbinders and will be held in the beautiful Froggwell gardens. I’ll also be exhibiting my work in the Karlson/Gray Gallery in Langley, WA for the “1st Annual Handpulled Print Show” which will open the whole month of August (www.karlsongraygallery.com). And lastly I will have a small show in conjunction with the RISE Benefit for Hedgebrook on the 7th of August. The evening will be a fancy evening of cocktails and probably a several-course dinner. It will also be the unveiling of the Hedgebrook wine for which I made the label! Wahoo. If you want to come to the dinner, tickets are $1000 per person.That’s about it. We’re all trying to stay cool in this intense humidity. What a shift from the dry air of Washington coast summers! It will be good to visit my home and parents for a few weeks but I can also imagine missing the studio and Vermont in such an intense time of beauty. Well, actually, I haven’t yet experienced a time where it hasn’t been knock-your-socks-off beautiful. This is an amazing place.
