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First weekend of Napa Valley Open Studios

9/19/2011

Thank you to LeeAnn for taking and sending this photo of me on Saturday!

What a wonderful weekend! Thank you to everyone who came by to see what I've been up to, art-wise. Ed Breed and his wife Sandi, whose guest I am for Open Studios, are such congenial hosts! Ed brought his trailer over to my studio last week and helped me pack and cart, and then set up my display equipment outside the entrance to his glass studio.

Calistoga painter Ann Renard is helping me during each weekend, too, which has been a huge help. We've had a lot of visitors, and I'd be completely overwhelmed if she wasn't there with me, welcoming our visitors.

Thank you to Gunter for taking and sending this photo of me on Sunday, holding "Hillside Vineyard (Tilted Heart)"!

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Knights Valley view

9/12/2011

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At last! I've finally finished my second painting of this view – although it looks quite different from the first one (I would never do anything the same way twice). Sometimes paintings can give you a struggle – that was true with this one. I began it months ago – I think in November of last year – and went back to it periodically, coaxing it into its best self. It's been a long time and a lot of work, but I think it's finally grown up and is ready to go out into the world.

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Pear and pepper sketches for Napa Valley Open Studios

9/12/2011

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I'll be bringing sketches to Open Studios, too, including a series of sketches of pears and peppers I particularly like. I love the shapes of pears and peppers (and apples, too – you only have to ask any of my students who've seen me demonstrate still life painting). They have great character; they're very figurative.

These pears came from my friend Heidi. I just got some more from the trees of my friend Ellie – perhaps I'll have enough time to sketch a few of them, too – I hope! The peppers, however, came from Trader Joe's.

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Songbird block prints for Napa Valley Open Studios

9/5/2011

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Since I'll have a selection of block prints to share for Open Studios, I thought I'd pull out a series of songbird prints I printed last summer. These were my first prints on special, patterned papers. These papers also had a slight texture that became enhanced with the block printing – an interesting effect.

As I did with the dragonfly prints, I mixed the ink colors as I printed, to work with the papers I chose. Some of the prints had two print runs, with the second an impartial inking (two of the seven I'll have for Open Studios have two print layers), while others had only one. It's certainly not standard to have a series of block prints like this – with each one differing so much from the others. In a standard print edition, each print is as identical to the others as possible. The prints are numbered, and there is a total for the run. These are one–of–a–kind, however. My painting roots are showing!

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Dragonfly block prints for Open Studios

9/5/2011

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I decided I'd get out some of my soft block prints for Napa Valley Open Studios this year. This last year, I was printing on special papers, with a variety of patterns and colors, using different colored inks that I mixed as I printed. These were more dragonflies – although from a different block than the print in my previous post. I trimmed off the background off this block, and use it as a stamp rather than printing traditionally.

Most of these prints also use two printings of different colored inks, with a third solid color of either iridescent or metallic color between them for the dragonfly's wings and body.

I've chosen the twenty-two best prints from this series to bring to Open Studios. Each is completely different from the others – such as the three above. You can see another four different prints at my Line, Color, Paint, Joy blog, too - just click here.

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First weekend of Napa Valley Open Studios

Knights Valley view

Pear and pepper sketches for Napa Valley Open Studios

Songbird block prints for Napa Valley Open Studios

Dragonfly block prints for Open Studios

Karen Lynn Ingalls

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