Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Pluto Comes 'Round Again

So it’s been a while since our last blog posting but things have been moving along at quite a clip at Twin Vixen Press. Since the beginning of May the vixens traveled to Maine for a little work and play, I started to pack in the hours on my Wicked Plants illustrations, Helen began to paint like a fiend for her show in September, a beginning etching class was taught and the Aquatint box finally arrived.


The etching class, which was held last weekend, June 19th and 20th, was a huge success. We managed to fit 5 students in the studio with plenty of room. The class started with a hardground project and from there moved onto spray-paint aquatint and softground techniques. Everyone finished at least two plates and came out with a handful of prints. Helen and I found out that we taught well together and only contradicted each other once in a while. We’re looking forward to our next class, which will most likely take place in the fall.


The Aquatint box showed up on our doorstep on Monday morning. Since the box had traveled from the Netherlands to Boston to Chicago and back to Vermont we really weren’t expecting it to arrive so soon. Our upstairs studio neighbor helped us move it into place. We haven’t yet had a chance to use it but we’ve already started to practice turning the handle.


Helen and I have also finished our Aquatint box fundraiser plates, which we are calling our ‘Spring’ plates. We’ll spend the next week or two printing these up so that we can send them out to all of you who have contributed. The plates were executed in the usual manner: Helen went wild and turned out a beautiful, lively plate and I spent hours drawing miniature circles. We’re both very proud and excited to share them with you all.