stuck stuck stuck

Drawing drawing the same old lines again.

But finally, i am breaking through my pen & paper sketching block. Made these two sketches yesterday of my paper wings.

The one below came first. Hated it. Went to do another one (above). Okay with that one but still could not stand this first one:


So i torn up the back side of it and the paper becomes a very thin single-ply sheet...


And look...look how the lines are bleeding through the back...
________________

Today, on the trails, i got lost again and saw the most glorious yellows. I only had to look up and there i am taken to a world where it only matters to be alive and breathing. Felt so good, and so free.

more banana & grapes

For today's Blog Action Day issue on environment, i was thinking to do a post showing the process of using recycled paper to make these papier mache bowls. But right now, feeling too scattered to show more new work-in-progress, SO, more fruit prints instead. More bananas and grapes again:


[fruit series] chine colle woodcut diptych on arches printmaking paper, each woodcut image 6.5 x 9 cm, 1997


[fruits series] drypoint & chine colle on arches printmaking paper (printed from hard cardboard not copper plate), plate image 7 x 8 cm, 1997

This one above is actually a ghost image pulled immediately from the plate after it had already been inked up and printed on a different sheet of paper. So a paler image was produced from the leftover ink on that plate in the successive printing here. (It is the same plate as the one shown in the previous post Grapes.)



During college, in between meals, i was crazy for fruits, eating maybe 4-6 fruits a day at least, more if i am pulling an all-nighter. So that was how these prints got started, and before i knew it, they became connected with pieces of my thoughts, things from the senses, small details of just being.



...i think that is what a lot of my work is about...



Today i drifted off my usual redwing trail and hiked up a really steep incline. Felt really good to be so high up and be so fully aware of all these trees around me. Didn't realized how steep and high the incline was until i got to the top. Saw some broken bottles and cans scattered about that do not belong here. Pissed me off. Will have to remember to bring a garbage bag with me when i go on the trails now.

Also saw two deer with long tails that looked like nice white fur trimming. Did not know deer could have long tails. At first, i thought they were some woodsmen in their tan work jackets hunched over creepily.

Walked around some more and then suddenly came a rally of these turkey-looking birds bustling by like they got an important meeting to attend. Kept running away from me when i tried to take a closer look to see if they were turkeys or not.

But what startled me the most was this little chipmunk running right across my path out of nowhere. Will have to make John come with me to check out more of this wildlife area of the nature preserve next time.

blog action day today

more later today/tonight...

grapes

[fruits series] drypoint & chine colle on arches printmaking paper (printed from hard cardboard not copper plate), image size 7 x 7.5 cm, 1997

peel

[fruit series] drypoint & chine colle on arches printmaking paper, plate image size 8.3 x 7.1 cm, 1997

trailing

So i've been out on the trails again today. It's so stupid that it took me four years to discovered these nature trails right on campus where i work. But i guess better late than never. I was lamenting how i wish i could have discovered them at least earlier this spring/summer instead of right now when winter is about to set in.

But today, having come across various beautiful dried things, i think this new autumn beginning on the trails is not so bad at all...(thanks to Marjojo and Catherine for their writing/commenting on the beauty of being outside at this time of the year. It prompted me to quit moping around the house and finally go out for a walk like i keep saying i would).



Found these dried stalks last week when i was on one of the trails. I love them little pellet things bunched up together like that to become leaves.


...in a vase i made sometime in 2004, vase size appx. 5.7 x 9.7 cm

my little wire ladder

steel & copper wire, appx. 8-10 cm across,
work in progress/study sketch

So i've been slowly, very slowly working on this ladder for this June letters painting that is no longer about the June letters:


[detail, no June letters]

A few layers before this (that had been miserably wiped off, layers of orchres, reds, corals), it had these black letters on it:



And right before that was this:



So really, i have come back to a blank canvas again, just a few shades darker:



Well, not totally blank, as i do see an image of a ladder on it. Hopefully, it will take me somewhere to completion...



Coincidently, the last couple of days, i've been walking on these trail steps made out of wooden planks that look like little ladders. They are scattered around on various trails in the woods and for some reason, it gives me such a thrill to walk on them. That is a good sign, no? Painting is still so new and such a struggle for me, so i could use all the good signs out there for it.

happy birthday, Ba!

世界上最可愛最了不起的爸爸

生日快樂 ♡ 爸爸 ♡

記得要笑多一點, 不要嘴巴老是扁扁的 ☺