Leannderthal

I got to teach eraser carving (to make your own rubber stamps) at the Two Twelve Art Center in Saline last night.  It was a small, but dedicated class.  I was fortunate enough to work with very enthusiastic students.

Tools were laid out, paper was everywhere, erasers were carved.  Everyone made beautiful stamps, I’m very proud of these guys.

Coffee and cake were consumed, also.  Such wonderful cake.   Thank you for the opportunity and the cake,  Kat.

If you would like to learn how to carve erasers into rubber stamps, I will be giving a workshop at the Northville Art House on Saturday, October 9th from 1:00 to 3:00.  The cost is $20.  You can register and/or find out about all their classes here.

Our ATC group is in its second round for the circus book swap, this time I did a flea circus poster.  This piece is 6.5 x 10.5.

A reduction print I did in two colorways for another book swap.

This is a stamp I carved for a book swap, I did a water meter cover from New Orleans.  Though the rubber I used was difficult to carve, I’m happy with the way the print turned out.

Our theme for the latest set of artists’ trading cards is nature, and boy did I have a hard time with it.  I’ve made two sets, I’m not real thrilled with either of them.

The first set is called Ode to Eva Gabor:

Text taken from Green Acres theme song written by Vic Mizzy.

The second set I call Everything Dies:

I’m happier with the second set, though they are very simple, rubber stamps on mulberry paper.

The results of workshop day:

The assignment:  make a small accordion book.  My own assignment: add skulls.  Here are some close-ups.

Today was workshop day!!  These are my feet with Lynn’s feet and my art and Lynn’s art and Karate and Ninja whabblers from Kate.

See Jane.  See Jane play with art supplies.  Jane is happy.

See Lynn.  Lynn is explaining life to Kate.

See Ruth and Jackie play with art supplies.

see a table full of art supplies.  We had big fun!

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places Lynn Krawczyk spends her life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. If you’d like to join her by posting a photo on Sunday of places you’ve been on your blog/photo hosting site/website, leave a comment on her Sunday posts telling her where she can find you/your photo and she’ll add a link to her sidebar so others can find you. I am one of those that Lynn has badgered into joining her, I have changed it to “where I stood”, because right now I’m sitting in front of the computer, not standing anywhere.

When my sister Jane and I were preteens, our parents took us to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.   I don’t remember a lot, I do remember horses, and trapeze acts, but mostly what I remember is the amazing wild animal tamer, Gunther Gebel-Williams.  He had long blond hair and a bare chest, and he didn’t use whips and chairs, he coaxed the animals into place.  Gunther had incredible showmanship and a gentle way with his animals, you could see he loved them.  Being preteen girls, we were smitten.

So when our artist trading card group decided to do a book exchange with the theme Circus, my mind went to Gunther.  In researching the mesmerizing Mr. Williams, I found out that he was only 5′4″ tall, which probably made him look all the more brave in the ring with lions and tigers.

This is the front of my page, I hand carved the stamps on Gunther and the animals.

This is the back of the page, the images come from some antique rubber stamps I have in my collection.

In one of my art groups Kate has taught us how to make flip journals.  I already knew how, because Kate and I have both been with the art group a long time and I’ve seen her teach this a couple of times, just like she’s seen me teach eraser carving several times.  Because I knew what I was doing, I decided to make a small journal, 4″x5″ instead of the 5.5″x8.5″  that Kate makes them.  Kate had made us great kits to make the journal, so I got one of those and I’ll do something with it later.  I thought the small journal was a great idea, so I decorated it with hand carved rubber stamps and named it Great Ideas.  Now, of course, I have no great ideas to put in the journal.  Maybe I should have named it Mediocre Ideas.

The theme for the next artists trading swap exchange is circus.  I did a clown.  I did a bunch of clowns, from an antique rubber stamp set.