All Hallow's Eve v. 2009

perfect October 31st moon

this year's pumpkin carving

most spirited neighbour

July Event: KISS Concert / Part 1 Fans

Here are some KISS fans, in order of their appearance to me and my camera, as I walked toward the crowd where we'd stand and wait for KISS to perform, oh, two hours (?) later...

Fans in Background: vintage = original

Best Dressed Demon fig.1

Best Dressed Demon fig.2 note great platforms; tongue not as long as G.S.

Best Dressed Demon fig.3 they could be a couple

Best Dressed Demon fig.4 just friends

Most Zen or inebriated Cat

Role confusion: tongue of GS wearing clothing of PS.
He later removed his platforms as his feet were killing him. I watched him do this.
Ladies, we all relate right?

Most Stoic

Most Unlikely Clothing for the Demon

Most Casual

Illustration Friday: Modify

Delbert told Hubert he had to modify Chestnut's horn using a nail clipper, a vise and some duct tape. He said Chestnut dulled the tip down while bobbing for apples.

Sometimes Hubert questioned Delbert's idea of the truth.

Welcome August.

August rushes by like desert rainfall,
A flood of frenzied upheaval,
Expected,
But still catching me unprepared.
Like a match flame
Bursting on the scene,
Heat and haze of crimson sunsets.
Like a dream
Of moon and dark barely recalled,
A moment,
Shadows caught in a blink.
Like a quick kiss;
One wishes for more
But it suddenly turns to leave,
Dragging summer away.

- Elizabeth Maua Taylor, August

Fish in a Coat

Fish in a Coat
5" x 2" x 2"
ceramic handbuilt figure; slips and glazes fired to cone 6

I made plans to go to the Lunenburg Folk Art Festival this year. This is a once a year, one day only event, for four hours from 12-4 on Sunday August 2nd. We were going to leave today, drive most of the night, or just switch drivers, and get to the campsite for camping by the ocean in Nova Scotia tomorrow night. We were planning to toodle around northern Nova Scotia taking in Digby and Bear River and then head south to Lunenburg for the folk art on Sunday and spend the 4 hours there and pretty much head home right after so I can be ready for work come Tuesday morning.

This is my third year attempting to get there. I had to cancel yet again for the same reason I had to cancel before: no money.
*sigh*
Well it seems if I can't go to the folk art, the folk art's flowing through me.
First it was the fish painting series and now I am making ceramic "fish in coats". This was the first one that came from nowhere. Last night I made one 3x the size of this one. It seems I am making some sort of city I think populated with fish folk, or maybe just animals wearing coats. Not sure. Anyway, if anyone is reading this who's going to the folk art festival have fun. I guess I have to start saving NOW to make sure I get there next year. You'd think I would have figured that out by now.

Ottawa Focus Interview

I just got word that my interview for Ottawa Focus just appeared.

I just read it. Boy I sound busy. It's funny to read about yourself.

Here's the link: http://www.ottawafocus.com/spotlight/katie-argyle.aspx

Thanks Ren...

Fish Out of Water Series

I just started work on a new series of paintings, loosely called the Fish Out of Water series.

Here's the 2nd in the series called

"Something Fishy at the Masquerade Ball"

30" x 36" acrylic on canvas

More in this series to follow...

Look for this and others this Sunday at the Ottawa Farmers' Market as I make my colourful return to this delicious venue.

Happy Anniversary - man on the moon meets man in the moon

As a kid I remember sitting at the kitchen table, legs folded under me, leaning forward into the glass as far as I could get, gazing up and in between the leafy willow branches to see a giant red moon hanging just above the horizon.

I was 5.


To me, the moon was obviously mad. I had seen the astronauts on TV walking on the moon. I wanted to know how the moon felt about it and I wanted to know if I could see them up there from here. It was obvious to me, the moon didn't like it and it was red with anger.



I grew up in Sudbury, and while I don't recall details, having been so young, I do remember knowing the astronauts had come to town. I remember looking up to the stars. I knew they were going there... somewhere ... and they wouldn't be here (looking down at the earth at my feet). To this day I find it hard to actually gaze easily up to the night sky. As soon as my mind travels to how far that star is, and where or what all that blackness is and where it ends, or not, and how small we are, I am completely emotionally overwhelmed. Call me space sensitive but it's easy for me to feel just this big in the face of all that.

I had no idea what an effect this whole event had on me. When I took my first plane ride in 2000 I flew to the Arizona desert. I was immediately at home in the barren landscape. I felt like I was in familiar territory. The colours were new and fascinating but the landscape was soothing.
Sudbury was a black barren landscape when I lived there. It's actually now too green for me. I remember all the "make work" projects of the early 80's and the sod laying and the tree planting. Those of you out there who think Sudbury is bleak now would have run screaming a few decades ago. I think you must have had to grow there like I did to feel fondness for that but there you go. I love the bleak dark rocky harsh landscape.

When I started seriously painting I wanted to paint astronauts and this continues to follow me. I continue to gather information about the space missions and follow all of them enthusiastically. I am not so sure how I feel about the proposed plans to land again on the moon. "Why" is my first question and on the heels of that is "they're gonna ruin it" with more than a vague sense that the moon will now be used. Emotionally and spiritually, we should leave it alone. We got enough to deal with right here on Earth. Logically I see why people do this kind of thing though I really don't agree. There are alowas those who take perfectly good small houses and tear them down to build McMansions. Why? I see others with tiny bits of land here in my dense housing complex where I live, perfect soil to make tiny garden plots to grown things and as soon as they move it they put 2' square patio stones over the good earth. Why? I don't get a lot of what we do and I am sure I am equally contradictory and mysterious in my own habits. I just think about things a lot when I notice them.

Here's today's take on the moon landing in the Sudbury Star. Seems I am not alone in having been imprinted that day in my young life in Sudbury:

Headline: Sudburians recall Armstrong’s giant leap for mankind in ’69
http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1663167

And here is the entry for the day from

Astronomy Picture of the Day


Apollo 11: Onto a New World
Credit: Apollo 11, NASA

Explanation: A human first set foot on another world on July 20, 1969. This world was Earth's own Moon. In honor of today's 40th anniversary, NASA has released a digitally restored video of this milestone in human history. Pictured above is Neil Armstrong preparing to take the historic first step. On the way down the Lunar Module ladder, Armstrong released equipment which included the television camera that recorded this fuzzy image. Pictures and voice transmissions were broadcast live to a world wide audience estimated at one fifth of the world's population. The Apollo Moon landings have since been described as the greatest technological achievement the world has known.

Galleries Around Town & OPENING TONIGHT

Click here to learn more about Blink

BLINK OSA exhibit opens Thursday July 9th, 2009 6-9 pm.

Vernissage jeudi 6-9 pm.

Gallery Hours are:

Vendredi 1 - 6 pm Friday

Samedi 12 - 5 pm Saturday

Dimanche 12 - 5 pm Sunday

My graduating class and I are exhibiting at Blink for two weeks. I am in the first group and we are opening tonight! My compadres open next week. Come out and see our work and say hello...


Other exhibitions of our work:

Ottawa School of Art- main floor galleries
Graduation Exhibit at the Ottawa School of Art

Also IPO Gallery on O'Connor Street
Here are some recent reviews of our graduation exhibit including a video of me describing my Big Print on view at the Ottawa School of Art.

http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/bigbeat/archive/2009/06/24/the-art-of-the-ottawa-bus-strike-at-ottawa-school-of-art.aspx
Thank you Peter Simpson of The Citizen.

Also:
http://www.apt613.ca/2009/06/25/alchemy-tonight-at-ottawa-school-of-art/
Thank you Ren.

And finally...
http://www.ottawafocus.com/artshows/alchemy.aspx


More about the grad later.... come see our work!

Self Portrait with Door

Self Portrait with Door 11 x 14 woodcut bleedprint on Somerset paper




artist proof, edition of 8 and woodblock


This was my last official school project, and it was unofficial and voluntary, but I was invited to participate in the diploma 1st year 1st semester relief printing class and while I spent most of the semester getting stuff done for my grad I did want to do the class print exchange. Our topic was "self portrait" and we needed to do 1 artist proof and and edition of 6.
I ended up with a final edition of 8.


print and plate

I printed this through the press. I was able to do that as I carved a piece of plywood finished with popular and it is fairly thin. You still have to set the rollers very high and I had to remove one of the printing blankets and at times I had to help the print roll on through but I got my edition and they were pretty consistent. It took about 5 proofs though to get the black right. I always need to add more ink that I think I do.

This is a bleed print as all the edges are printed and the paper is in fact smaller than the plate. I've never done a woodcut bleedprint or a woodcut on the press before. I think I'll do more.

Post #300 - the simple beauty of friendly plastic

I have a thing for alphabets, type styles, fonts, text, letter shapes and plain old words. One of the best uses for friendly plastic has been in the simple construction of my sign. I firmly believe your sign should reflect your medium. Painters should have a painted sign. Ceramic artists a clay sign. Textile artists something sewn. It's a very effective way to show what you do. What I didn't realize is that there are lots of people out there who want their name in friendly plastic too. I've only made one but there's a young artist in my hometown (Keely you know it's you!) who made the names of all her friends after I showed her how to work fp on a visit here a few years ago.

A sign can use up a lot of plastic and this is the primary reason I don't make these for others. I made my own business name from snappers worked very slowly and minimally. I also chose the colours that just don't do it for me (hello burnt orange blechh) or those sticks that I had a lot of like light blue.

I didn't try to disguise the joins or do anything fancy. I just like the plastic like it is. I rarely try to change the surface. I'm a friendly plastic purist. I enjoy the sheer plasticness of it and the round shapes and the pillowy surface a melted stick gives you. There is much to love here without colouring or twisting or marbling or pressing it into a mold.

I did use one of my favorite colours for my name: metallic red on red. It is SO vibrant. I swear between metallic red on red, metallic royal blue on black, and metallic purple on black, and even metallic white on white, I will never leave this medium. There is nothing to compare to it. I know my friendly plastic blog has been short on friendly plastic, and this with the resurgence of fp on the scene, but first things first and getting my fine art diploma was at the top of my to do list. With graduation fast approaching I am looking ahead to re-discovering fp and making some of the things that have crossed my mind. Most of these are BiG ThInGs. With 4 rubbermaid bins of bits more or less full I've got a lot of raw material to dig into, and with three years of art school a lot more ideas of how to approach this stuff. Fun.

Our Grad Invitations Are Done - Here... Have One.

My class and I are graduating June 25th and the work of the 2009 graduating class will be on display all month in the main galleries of the Ottawa School of Art.

Come and see what three years of study did to us.

Ottawa Small Press Book Fair June 20th, 2009

WHEN: Saturday June 20th, 2009 12 to 5pm

WHERE: Jack Purcell Community Centre, Elgin at Gilmour Streets

BLOG: smallpressbookfair.blogspot.com

EMAIL: rob mclennan az421@freenet.carleton.ca

This is why I always have my camera with me

Saturday I rushed off to the school to work in the print room and I forgot my camera.

I really shouldn't have.

First of all I was making a poster using wooden type. I had a job hand setting type years ago and all the skills of using the Vandercook Proof Press came right back. But I was using metal type and we had minimal wood type and certainly no wooden spacer bars! OMG. If any of you out there know what I am speaking of, it's totally redonkulous the wooden spacer bar. Wow. I just felt so privileged to have access to this stuff. And on top of that we were using a poster press. I don't really know how to set it properly but we improvised and it worked.

And no camera. So here's a picture of wooden type kind of like what we (me and Shirley) used.

When I left the school I couldn't cross the street to catch the bus because a cop was leading a group of naked cyclists. Yes. Butt naked and chanting "more ass less gas". They were protesting the consumption of petroleum products. Somehow the sight of naked bodies phased me not one bit. I think it's all the life drawing classes. But the majority of the spectators were freaking out. Oh if I had had a camera... I would have taken a picture like this

or this
So I crossed the street after the cyclists rode past and when I got off I saw a bride wearing the poofiest bridal gown I've seen in years. It was right out of that glorious Aaron Spelling creation Dynasty. Again, had I had a camera you'd have seen it but it looked like very similar to one of these gowns - no - it was poofier.

After I had my fill of her gown I noticed a man at the base of the stairs where the bride was posing. He had a GIANT cockatoo on his shoulder and was wearing a bright blue Hawaiian shirt with bright green palm trees. Here's an image kind of like it but what I saw was way more vibrant

Beside the cockatoo lover were two girls. They were obviously trying to get a picture of the cockatoo on the guy's shoulder but they didn't want him to know so one was taking the other's picture and making sure the cockatoo man was in the frame. I found that amusing. Here's a tourist taking a picture. You'll have to imagine the rest, including the poofy bride in the far background.

I just could not believe I didn't have my camera. I reached my destination just before it closed at 4.

I was glad I made the effort. I actually talked wooden type and ludlows, and linotype machines and slugs and Vandercook presses as if it was current technology. I even had imprints of type on my forearms from our printmaking that afternoon to prove I had just been doing that. Nice. I was reminded that letterpress people have THE BEST business cards in the world


Next weekend it's the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair. I'm looking forward to it.

Doors Open Ottawa - Ottawa School of Art: June 6th, 2009 Print Room Demo 1-3pm

From the City of Ottawa Website:

Ottawa was the second city in North America to launch this prestigious
event based on a successful European program dedicated to built heritage, architecture and design.

Each year, visitors hear first-hand the remarkable stories that have shaped the National Capital region. As Ottawa’s largest heritage and architectural event, Doors Open has recorded more than 340,000 visits since it began in 2002.

Currently, 48 European countries participate during European Heritage Month. In addition, Australia and the United States have joined the highly successful Doors Open movement.

Doors Open Ottawa is brought to the community by the City of Ottawa and a dedicated group of volunteers, in collaboration with Heritage Ottawa, Heritage Canada, the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects and the Ontario Heritage Trust. We strive to build partnerships between the City of Ottawa, building owners, neighbourhoods, and the corporate community.

More Info Here: http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/heritage/doorsopen/

PDF guide to all the locations available here

http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/heritage/doorsopen/pdf/guide_en.pdf

Argyle Series by Katie Argyle

I spent the day in the print room today. There were people on the roof installing a giant air conditioning unit and they were super noisy. Some sounds were interesting, but mostly it just grated on your nerves. Inspite of this I got good work done. Here are my proofs for a triptych.

Good prints should be made over the weekend at Doors Open Ottawa. I'm demonstrating printmaking at the Ottawa School of Art on Saturday, 1pm-3pm. I plan to be printing these up and doing proofs of my bus strike series for a book.

1. Argyle Socks lino cut relief print 8x10

2, Argyle Socks lino cut relief print 8x10


3. Argyle, No Socks lino cut relief print 8x10

The Bounty of a Grocery Store

When I worked for a local grocery store, before they went bankrupt and we were let go without notice, (alas my tales of working for others are short and seem to end this way) I used to take home these fantastic Argentinian Pear shipping crates.

There was something about the wood. it was smooth in places, like they'd finished the slats by hand and other times rough like you'd get a million slivers just going near the thing. I found them mysterious, wondering what kind of tree that wood came from. They were inspirational and I did a lot of work on these small bits of wood that ended up becoming large paintings over time. I was just going through my archives and thought I'd post these.

The Big Nut

Other Uses For a Magic Wand No. 1

The Bath

Icarus Was a Gifted Flyer

You Smiled At Me

I have to tell you, I LOL'd at this version of the You Smiled At Me. Is it ok to love your work that much? *blush*