View from Bryant Street

With my new batch of fabric lined boards, I set out to find images that might make good transfers. I wasn't sure how this one would translate. After taking the photo, I converted it to black and white, took all the clouds away, but decided not to repair any of the missing parts where the sun was shining on the objects, making them disappear during the contrast process. Even after seeing it printed I still wasn't sure about it, and only created a few copies, since I was so unclear if it would look cool or like a big mess. Once I began to peel the paper away I had my first glimpse that it was actually pretty successful.

Heather's Flock

This has been on exhibit at Secession since the beginning of June - it seems I didn't get around to photographing it before the show went up. Heather Robinson is one of the resident artists there and I think I was channeling her when I drew in the pattern - she does cool stuff with patterns and fabrics. If Trish hadn't pointed it out, I might not have made the connection. I feel pretty lucky to be influenced by so many talented local artists, whether it's conscious or not.

Muni Lines at 17th Street

City Art Gallery is doing the annual San Francisco show and I decided to go out into the City with my camera to see if I might find something that is distinctly San Francisco for my transfer series. This was taken at the entrance of the Muni bus garage on 17th Street in the Mission. I found some other little treasures and even got some new boards and frames for a whole new look. The opening reception is Friday August 5 at 7:00pm. Hope you can make it.

Bird Named Sue

Okay, I realize naming is not my forte, but I was having some fun this week while in my studio listening to my pals music on iTunes. She doesn't have play lists so you just hear her music alphabetically: one minute I was hearing Elton John, and the next, Johnny Cash. Apparently the strangeness found its way into my titles.

Boreal Sings like Elton John

This may be my favorite incarnation of the Boreal drawing. The owl is sporting some new fabric that I picked up and became so excited about I couldn't wait to start applying the wax once the fabric was adhered to the boards. Working with fabric really makes me cheerful!

Polka Robin

Carbon image transfers can be fickle - if the wax isn't warm enough when I set the image down, the carbon doesn't adhere. If it's too warm, the paper becomes glued to the wax and there's no way to separate the paper from the carbon - when that happens I melt and scrape the whole thing off and start over. The suspense increases the further along I get in the process. This one crackled in an interesting way, and I almost scraped it off but was able to let it sit long enough to decide it's cool.

Cherry Tomato Cluster