HAPPY SPRING!

Helen O'Donnell
Color of Winter
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"

Happy Spring! I am posting some of my new prints and paintings that I have been dutifully working on this winter. I have also been spending lots of time setting up a website, which will be up and running in a couple of weeks.

Twin Vixen Press is doing well. We are continuing Wednesday night Open Studio indefinitely and have a Beginning ETCHING WORKSHOP coming up the weekend of April 18th and 19th.

We also are having our ANNIVERSARY PARTY (and Birthday Party) on APRIL 10th, starting at 6 pm. Our friends Mike Roberts and Katie Trautz of WOODEN DINOSAUR will be performing that night in our studio. Drinks, food, and etchings will also be highlighted!

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our Annual Print Subscription, we really appreciate all the support! The offer is still available to anyone who would like some great prints at an affordable price. Click here to read about it.

Spring is officially here, though you wouldn't know it with the cold weather the past couple of days, but there is hope and lots of bare ground. We hope that Spring is treating everyone well and we look forward to hearing from you!

Helen O'Donnell
Noah's View
Etching with Aquatint
5 1/2" x 5 /1/2"

Helen O'Donnell
The Red and Black
2 plate color etching with Aquatint
5 1/2 " x 5 1/2"

Helen O'Donnell
The Sea
Etching, Aquatint, Dry point, Roulette
5" x 4"

Helen O'Donnell
Four White Pines
3 plate Color Etching with Aquatint
12" x 14"

Twin Vixen Press Annual Subscription

Do yo have an itch for some low-priced hand-printed etchings by Helen and Briony? Here's your chance!

Last year Twin Vixen Press put together the Aquatint Box Project, a subscription-like project that helped us raise enough money to purchase a rosin dust box for the studio. The project was a success - we now have our lovely aquatint box installed in the corner of our studio - and we decided to offer a similar opportunity to raise money to keep our studio alive and well. Our next big project is putting together a ventilation system for the studio space. We also have our eye on some new blankets for the press and a shop vac! Lastly, in our current financial times, this is a really affordable way to support the arts and artists like Briony and Helen!

2009 Twin Vixen Press Annual Subscription details:
Prints: 4” x 6” images on 8” x 10” Rives BFK paper
Price: $60 for regular edition, $100 for special edition, hand-colored prints
Edition: 60 regular edition prints, 10 special edition prints

If you would like to participate in this year's subscription please email us at twinvixenpress@gmail.com and we'll sign you up. The prints are expected to go out at the end of May. Last year we sold out quicker than we thought so email us as soon as possible if you would like a set.

Prints of last years subscription will be posted soon!

February Etching Workshop

We've been enjoying teaching our etching workshops so much that we're going to do it yet again this February. 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.

Beginning Etching Workshop
$160 (includes material fee)

Saturday, February 7th and Sunday, February 8th 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 will be tons of fun!

Botanical Sute 2008

Plants illustrated: Trout Lily, Jewel Weed, Fiddlehead Fern, Milkweed and Roundleaf Sundew

Portfolio, Title Page, Hand-tinted Prints, and Colophon

This December Briony released her third, annual Botanical Suite. Every year Briony creates a collection of 5 botanical images, package them in a nice portfolio and gather them with a letter-pressed title page and colophon. This year the images focus on plants that are native to Vermont. The suite can either remain as a whole, in the portfolio, or be divided, the images framed and hung individually. As in previous years, there will only be 20 copies of the suite available.

2008 Botanical Suite Details: The suite will consist of 5 hand-colored etchings on white Magnani Pescia paper. The images will be a little larger this year, 4” x 4” images on sheets of 8” x 10” paper. Each suite will come in a lightweight portfolio with a letterpress printed title page and Colophon (printed by Rollin Milroy of Heavenly Monkey Press). The price is $300 per suite. The suite will be a limited edition of 20. I still have a few left so contact me if you are interested!


Please e-mail Briony at twinvixenpress@gmail.com or call Briony's cell: 802-236-7697

Edition: 20 per etching
Etchings hand-colored with watercolor
4” x 4” prints on 8” x 10” paper.
Price: $300 per suite

Open Studio Class

After our last Beginning Etching class we decided that it would be great to have one evening a week where we would open our studio up to our students. The idea is that the Open Studio Class allows printmakers to use the studio and facilites as well as have fellow printmakers around to converse with. This is what we came up with:

The Open Studio Class will be an opportunity for printmakers to work independently on their own work with full access to the press and equipment of the print studio. Each student will be required to take an introductory class at Twin Vixen Press or attend a one-hour introduction to the Twin Vixen Press studio. During the class, Briony and Helen will be available for questions and technical support in the studio. The class may choose to do group critiques and discussions on individual work.

The Open Studio Class will meet for 15 weeks from December 3rd to the last week in March (taking 2 weeks off for Christmas and New Years). We will meet Wednesday nights from 6 to 9 pm. Students have a choice of purchasing a 10-class card or a 5-class card (or both). There will be a drop in fee option as well. If we have to cancel a class for any reason (weather, vacation etc.) we will offer make up classes.

10 Class Card:
$250.00

5 Class Card:
$150.00

Drop in Fee:
$35.00

Toxic Blue Green Algae

Just last week I finished my last plant illustration for my 'Wicked Plants' book project. The 40 botanical illustrations took me nearly 8 months to complete. The project has been a huge learning experience for me in so many ways. It's probably been the hardest thing I have done in my life so far but it has also been extremely rewarding. The book, written by Amy Stewart and published by Algonquin of Chapel Hill, will be on the shelves sometime in May.

The last plate I worked on for the book was Toxic Blue Green Algae. This plate was by far the most challenging to figure out how to illustrate. I also ended up doing a fair amount of research to complete the plate. Finding a whole fish in Vermont is a lot harder than I thought it would be...

Wooden Dinosaur Album Cover

This summer Twin Vixen Press had the chance to collaborate with Wooden Dinosaur to create a CD cover for the first release of "The Hum of Your Valved Voice". The Album cover was created by both Helen and Briony (simultaneously drawn) and was printed in a limited edition of 50. The project was a great learning experience and turned out really well. The press is currently working on two more album covers: one for Sudan, titled "Edo No Hana" and another for Heavy Winged, titled "Spreading Center". Both albums should be finished by early December.