Fall at Twin Vixen Press

Helen and I have had an exciting, action-packed fall so far. For Halloween we decided to momentarily change our name to Twin Skeleton Press and dress up as glow-in-the-dark dancing skeletons. It was quite fun but by Saturday we ready to return to our normal Vixen roles.

This weekend Twin Vixen Press put on its second Beginning Etching Workshop. The class was absolutely a blast. From ten to three both Saturday and Sunday we prepared plates, etched and then printed like mad. There were 7 students and they turned out to be a great group of artists who all made beautiful prints. We had a great time and now have a few new friends who are obsessed with etching like ourselves!

This last class was so great we've started thinking about hosting an 'open studio' class on Wednesday evenings from 6 to 9 so that people can keep working in the studio. Stay tuned for more details. . .

Things are moving along. We finished a CD design this late summer and are working on two more designs that will be finished by the end of November. We will post them when they are complete.

We are gearing up for this December's Gallery Walk where the Whetstone Studio Building will be featured. Our studio will be open for a party, with music, friends, and some framed prints.

A few photos from our weekend workshop:


• Lauren and Ruth discussing their plates • Helen helping Terri register her plate on the press


Joan stopping out her aquatint • Lunchtime!

UPCOMING EVENTS!

Beginning Etching Workshop

We had such a great time teaching our etching class last spring and are going to teach a similar class again this November. For all those who couldn't make the last class, please sign up for this one, it is a lot of fun! This time we will be using our new Aquatint Box and teach the authentic aquatint etching process.

Etching Workshop
$160 (includes material fee)
Saturday, November 15th and Sunday, November 16th 10 am – 3 pm

In this class, students will learn the various techniques of etching on copper, including Hardground etching and Aquatint (with our new Aquatint Box)! Students will also try various printing techniques. This class is open to all levels, including experienced printmakers. Please sign up, it is fun!

November shows in Vermont















This Holiday season Helen and Briony will both be participating in a number of shows. Here are a few coming up this month:

On Friday, November 7th, during Brattleboro's Gallery Walk, Helen will be showing her etchings and some small paintings at Amy's Bakery and Arts Café with her friend and painter Jill Auerbach. The show will be up for the month of November. Please come and check it out.

On Saturday, November 1st, Briony will be participating in a miniature show at Haymaker Card & Gift in Morrisville, Vermont (just a few miles north of Montpelier). Some of her smaller prints will be on display. If you are in the area, come check it out through the holiday season.

Holiday Miniature Exhibition:
A Group show of five artists working in small sizes

November 1 - December 24, 2008

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 8th, 5-8 pm

• Autumn Fahey (abstract acrylics, Morrisville, VT)
• Briony Morrow-Cribbs (etchings, Brattleboro, VT)
• Omri Parsons (mixed media, Peacham, VT)
• Jennifer Ranz (pottery, Greensboro, VT)
• Julie Ruth (oils on canvas, Montgomery Center, VT)

Haymaker Card and Gift Gallery: 84 Lower Main St., Morrisville, VT. For information call 802-888-2309 or visit Haymaker Press on the web.

Twin Vixen Press at the Langdon Street Café

You are invited to join us for an artists' reception and musical performance on September 13th in Montpelier Vermont at the Langdon Street Café.

On display will be works by Briony Morrow-Cribbs and Helen O'Donnell. Briony will be displaying prints from her Wicked Plants illustration project and Helen will be showing paintings and prints from the past winter and spring.

Musical performances include Magdyn Osh, a five piece psych folk band from Brooklyn, NY followed by Wooden Dinosaur celebrating the release of a new CD "The Hum Of Your Valved Voice." The new CD features limited edition hand printed sleeves done by Twin Vixen Press. Knotty Pine, a northern Vermont new time old time band finishes up the evening with raucous fiddle tunes and sweet ballads.

The Langdon Street Café is a live music hub located in downtown Montpelier with beer, wine and food available.

When: 7pm Artists' Reception
8:30pm Music by Magdyn Osh, Wooden Dinosaur and Knotty Pine

Where: Langdon Street Cafe, 4 Langdon St., Montpelier, VT

For more information on the Langdon Street Café visit www.langdonstreetcafe.com

'Bellingham Bay'

'Bellingham Bay' by Helen O'Donnell

Hey to all the loyal Twin Vixen Press fans. This is my newest three color etching! This came about because my dear friend Terry Turville got married to my dear friend Gary Hallowell. Terry was trying to figure out what kind of present to get for her wedding party and she came up with this great idea... She commissioned me to make a brand new piece of art work and she gave it to her people. This was the print that I came up with and luckily she was happy with it.
I also got to deliver it in person and join in the celebration. It was a terrific wedding and I got to see all my people on the West Coast. It was the best.

There have been lots of things happening this summer, lots of changes in the air, projects, work, moving to a new apartment, teaching art camp, getting ready to coach soccer in the fall and to teach a printmaking class during the upcoming school year. Vermont is beautiful and I think that I am sticking around for awhile! Briony and I are still great friends and business partners and we think that our studio is the greatest place on earth.

Dentated and Dentiguated teeth

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.

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.

Tulips and Sombreros

Today Briony and I are sitting on the porch making plates and writing emails and we decided to take some lovely shots of us with the tulips. We are working on a plate together and when one of us gets tired the other one picks up the slack. It is going very well. A pheonix rising out of invasive weeds.... you'll see.

We had a lovely walk in the retreat woods in the early morning and came out onto a dew drenched corn field....
We had a good weekend that started off with a good Gallery Walk. Briony and I both sold a thing or two and I sold a small painting that Briony quickly photographed before the new owners took it to its new home. It was painted at Hart's Pass, Washington when Briony and I went camping with Tom and Pam.
Unfortunately we do not have any photographs of our exciting adventures with our new buddies at the Motorcycle Swap, a trip to Margaritas (where we won free sombreros), the leather store, and a terrific gas station called Mort's, but I am sure no one can imagine a more perfect Sunday.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Aquatint Box Project. We have officially ordered one and it is on its way from the Netherlands... yeah!