Phare-Camp Art Journal

An American Dragon in London, Barenforum exchange 51

2012-02-05T19:21:00.000-08:00

An American Dragon in London

Artist: Patricia B. Phare-Camp

Paper: 10 x 15” Mulberry Paper

Image: 13 x 8”

Ink: Graphic Chemical Water Soluble Ink. Silver and Black mixed to make Graphite.

Inspired by the historically significant rubbings of Merle Green Robertson. The imagery in this woodcut print is from an appropriated work of art located at the British Museum. Rubbings from historic sites eliminate the need to desecrate another culture’s sacred temples to display them in museums…

Yaxchilan Lintel #15 is a 23.25” x 34.5” Mayan bas relief carving dated from AD 755. It depicts a noble lady performing a blood letting ritual to call in a vision. Wisps of smoke from the basket of burning blood soaked paper take the form of a “Plumed Vision Serpent.” A god emerges from its mouth to give spiritual guidance to the lady Wak Tuun. Mayan nobles often used hallucinogenic herbs to initiate religious vision and dull the pain of auto sacrifice.

FOR MORE INFO SEE:

Merle Green Robertson:

http://www.archaeology.org/0205/abstracts/merlegreene.html

http://www.sunofmexico.com/photos_galerie_mexique.php?action=affiche&galerie=22723562@N05&server=6081&photo=6064350386&tof=6064350386_4be39bedfb&mcle=yucatan&PHPSESSID=fd7a32b88e7d304045e0603d147ec768

http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/50011098?rpp=20&pg=6&ao=on&ft=*&who=Maya&pos=111

YaxchilanLintel 15

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aoa/y/yaxchil%C3%A1n_lintel_15.aspx

Latest Projects, Grandson's First Relief Print, Year of the Dragon Cards & Baren Forum Exchange #51

2012-01-22T16:51:00.000-08:00

This is the first printing plate of 2012 for me; a 6x4" piece of battleship linoleum. I've yet to print it. Its said to be Quetzalcoatle, this bas relief is from the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico. Full size photo can be seen at: http://www.mesoweb.com/features/jpl/34.html.

This detail of a 10x15" woodcut printing plate I'm currently carving is Mayan. Its Lady Xloc Lintel #25 at the British Museum. I used an image from http://www.ancientsites.com/aw/Post/1229630. There is a cool video about Mayan bloodletting ceremony at: http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2004/maya/womenatcourt-p2.htm

This is a scan of my grandson Austin's first relief print. He carved an "Easy Cut" plate, its a soft rubber material much like the smaller white drafting erasures. The image is 5.75x6" on 8.25x8.5" cotton rag paper.

Well I've blogged long enough, I'm behind on the making of my American Dragons...They're both due 1st of February and I've barely begun the carving of the larger woodblock and school starts next week!

Sierra College Ridley Gallery Holiday Sale

2011-11-29T18:33:00.000-08:00

I've got the following artworks available for purchase in the above show.

Drop Some Breadcrumbs, a multi color block print

Nora's Daffodils: a silkscreen print

Looking for Trouble Buster? A two color block print

Some brand new hand pulled pochoir enhanced block printed cards:

this block print was inspired by a photo I took of my grandson back when he was only 2 years old. I stamped a holiday greeting inside so the cards can be used for Christmas cards.

A few reproductions of recently done ACEOs I sold on ebay last week:

These reproductions were printed onto cardstock for blank greeting cards then folded and cello packed with matching envelopes.

Last but not least I included several of my little one page wonders books.

They are all blank sketchbooks made from fine art paper of various sizes. Each 62 page accordion book is made from one sheet of folded, cut and folded paper and slipped into a book cover made from decorative papers. I brought one large book with flocked cat on the cover cello packed. I also cello packed a variety of 3 packs of matching books.

NibbleFest Art Contest

2011-11-20T18:12:00.000-08:00

Today I listed the following artworks on ebay for a monthly art themed exhibit/contest titled "NibbleFest Art Contest." (NFAC)

Many artist participate in this online exhibit/auction by listing artworks based on a new theme each month. All of the works have to be listed using the auction style with an opening bid of 99 cents. There are no reserve prices or additional fees other than shipping. I've yet to see any of the participating artists try to make money by padding the shipping. I've only seen shipping fees that are reasonable for careful packaging and postal costs.

I find these kinds of art challenges a fun way to step outside of my usual and experiment with materials and subject matter. The theme for November 2011 is Penguins. Click the following link to see an EBay search for this month's "NFAC" challenge: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=NFAC+Art+&_trksid=p5197.c0.m627

This artwork is a 2.5" x 2.3" mixed media collage ACEO (Artist's Card Edition or Original). You can learn more about ACEOs at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_cards

I got the idea for this image by googling "penguin" images. I saw this pic of two penguins and thought they look like they're snowboarding. So I created a digital collage on my laptop using that image. Then I made this miniature paper collage based on the digital collage. I used fun decorative papers pasted to a scrap of Stonehenge printmaking paper.

This one is an original 9" x 12" charcoal sketch on Canson drawing paper. I saw this cute screen saver of a photoshopped photo on the computer in the Sierra College classroom where I'm a teaching assistant. I mentally cropped it then sketched my idea and yesterday I created an open edition woodcut print from my sketch.

This is the open edition miniature woodcut print I created based on the above sketch. Its a 2.5" x 3.5" ACEO on vellum Bristol board.

Tea Party Proof

2011-08-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

The next step in the barenforum.org exchanges 49 and 50. These are the keyline proofs. I'm thinking of cutting repurposed stryrofoam take out trays for puzzle printing the color fields.

Desert Tea Party

2011-08-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

Been working on some new compositions for a couple of barenforum.org print exchanges. One exchange is to be 3x7" the other is to be a 3.5 x 2.5" ACEO (Art Cards Editions and Originals). The 3.5 x 2.5 size for ACEOs is a standard. The 3x7" size is a traditional size for a few of the annual barenforum print exchanges. The images I'm posting are the ideas I developed into digital collages. I've made a decision on which ones I'm doing...have fun guessing!

Exchange Number 49

Exchange Number 50

Tarot Stream of Conciousness

2011-06-09T16:13:00.000-07:00

started working on stream of consciousness studies of some tarot decks in preparation of designing the entire deck rather than one card at a time. Well I can only design one card at a time...what I mean is I will study all the cards then design the entire deck and then start carving and printing the physical cards.

©U.S. Games

I studied the Morgan-Greer Tarot deck in May. I'll start posting my research within my personal metaphysical studies blog here:

http://shadowork.blogspot.com/

And I'm currently studying the Universal Waite deck.

©U.S. Games

I think the next one I'll work with will be the Osho Zen deck

and then I'll tackle the Thoth deck.

©U.S. Games

The Thoth deck is so complex and rich in archetypes that I will need to give it more time to understand my reactions to it. It does give a lot of people feelings of unease, and it did so for me at first. Now when I handle the deck it just makes my forehead itch... I've worked with the traditional symbolism in the classic Coleman-Waite deck for so long I already have an understanding of my reactions to the archetypes but the Osho Zen and the Thoth decks are a whole ball game; or should I say card game...that's why I save them for last.

Bee God

2011-05-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

The following artwork will be offered in auction at the above fundraiser. They provided the box, I turned it into a mixed media encaustic painting. I pasted digital printouts on all sides of the box then painted it with encaustic paints and added found objects. I then attached hooks to the top and provided a 10 foot decorative chain for hanging.

A peek inside the box.

A view outside the box

tweaked in photoshop to show details outside the box.

And a view inside the box.

outside the box

2011-03-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

I've had this box lying around in an attempt to prod some inspiration. It was given to me to create a work of art around it for Outside the Box a fund-raising auction in Auburn California. I knew I wanted to do something in encaustic with but was completely uninspired visually.

Last week I attended a meeting of artists asked to create mesoamerican installations for the upcoming Festival de la Familia, well the research I conducted afterward became very inspiring for the box project...

First I needed to prime the box with all natural rabbit skin gesso, acylic gesso wont work with all natural bee's wax encaustic paints. So I went out to the studio and searched my painting cabinet, only to find I'm out of rabbit skin glue...think think...ok we'll use all natural rice paste and all natural mulberry paper to make a nice white all natural surface for the encaustics to adhere to...

Next I sized images I liberated from the www, sized them to fit the box and then printed them onto masa paper. Of course my printer only prints 8.5x11" sheets so I had to print them tiled and then assemble the tiles onto the box. I pasted the tiled printouts to the box using rice paste.

The largest surface, on the outside of the box

The inside of the box

outside edges drying beside the smoke box where I am smoking a pastrami. Thought I'd use the heat of the smoke box to facilitate quicker drying of box. Its been raining and everything is taking forever and a day to dry...

Nightmare Clown

2011-03-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

Well I finally finished the Mixed Media Clown Painting. As you saw in the previous post I painted the background then adhered decorative papers to the painting to create my visualization of Pennywise, the antagonist in Stephen King's novel "IT".

I adhered marblized blue gift wrap for the collar.

White mulberry paper makes up the face and printed scrapbook paper was used for the mouth.

Scraps of red hand made vegetable dyed paper are the nose and eyes. Very thin orange mulberry was layered three times for the hair and bitty bits of scraps were layered over the black mulberry eyebrows.

I made the eyes a bit more compelling with blue linen paper for the iris and holographic foil for the pupils. The reflective holographic paper has a checkerboard pattern which makes it appear as if the eyes may be compound.

I finished it off by drawing with color sharpie markers to create the illusion of depth and shadow. The whole is protected by a few layers of clear matte acrylic medium. The face and spots of highlight are enhanced with a layer of iridescent acrylic medium.

He is offered for sale at http://www.absolutearts.com/cgi-bin/portfolio/art/your-art.cgi?login=pharecamp&title=Beep_Beep_Ritchie-1299361368t.jpg

Phenomenon: Rabbits Rabbits Everywhere Rabbits...

2010-12-13T18:45:00.001-08:00

"It's just a rabbit" 8x8" mixed media collage on canvas panel

"Its Just a Rabbit" sketch for barenforum exchange print

"Its Just a Rabbit" kind of where I'm going with this but I'm not happy with the flourishes. still playing around with the composition. I intend to woodcut print this for an exchange with other artist and then use the keyline plate for my year of the rabbit new years cards. I'll split it into thirds and get three new years cards per pressing...

While cleaning up old files I came across this drawing that I based a woodcut print off of back in the early 1990s. I traced it to start a mixed media collage. Since this drawing is on tracing paper I'm thinking that it would be great to put into an encaustic painting. The transparencies of the paper and wax mediums will work together beautifully. I just have to get over to the art supply store and purchase a clayboard painting panel for my substrate.

"Beep Beep Ritchie!" 12x12" gallery wrapped canvas mixed media collage (in progress)
This is no where near done. This is simply a painted canvas with the cut papers collaged onto the surface. I've yet to got into it with sharpie markers to give it detail and I'm going to put some red hologram paper into the pupils. thinking of layering some more of the orange paper into the hair to give it some dimension and i will be using a dense acrylic medium in the teeth to make them appear to come out of mouth. May also work on the background a little more too.

Logos

2010-12-13T15:39:00.001-08:00

Illustration Friday: Burning

2010-11-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

This weeks illustration challenge for Illustration Friday is Burning. I think the above artwork is a fine illustration of the theme! This work was one of 4 woodcut images printed atop digital printouts that were then tipped into editioned books. The accompanying book text for this image is ""How About a Little Fire Scarecrow!" ~Wicked Witch of the West"

First I created a collage of digital imagery

Then I created a woodblock printing plate

Then I blurred the digital collage in photoshop to give it a watercolor painting effect. I printed the digital collage on fine mulberry paper from my canon printer. I then hand printed the woodblock plate on top of the digital printouts. I did an edition of 10 for hardbound books sewn by my late mentor Carol Wagner. I also did an edition of 4 printed on masa paper that were sewn into soft bound books by me. The other three images I created have been printed on 8.5x11" 100% cotton rag in editions of 25 for framing. This one is ready for me to print the edition suitable for framing.

See my blogs about this project at:
http://phare-camp.blogspot.com/2006/10/bookarts-midterm.html
http://phare-camp.blogspot.com/2006/10/autmn-follies-first-five-spreads.html
http://phare-camp.blogspot.com/2006/10/autmn-follies.html

Fun Printmaking Day at a Friends

2010-08-05T19:20:00.000-07:00

Fun Day of Playing at a Friends Press

Click images to enlarge, use your browser's back button to return to this blog.

Last Wednesday I had a fun day hanging out with fellow printmaker and friend Carrie Markel in her studio. She has a large press that she inherited from another friend, peer and Matrix member Char Sylvesri. The press was built by a shipmaker...remind me the next time to take my camera and shoot it.... I did the drawing above several months ago while in the throws of a fever. I didn't bring it with me but since the composition is uncomplicated I was able to work from memory in the following monoprints.

This was the first monoprint that I made. Unfortunately the paper slipped as I was registering. No biggy, I simply worked from the residual pigment to repaint the plexiglass printing plate and make following two...

This is the second one done using the residual pigment image as a matrix for this and the following print. I painted the background then used a q-tip and the tip of the paintbrush handle to remove paint for the skeleton and her reflection.

I really like the second image but felt that a little yellowing of the bones would help the skeleton pop from the violet background. As could be predicted the use of complimentary yellow theory was right on...

The images are approximately 15x22" on Rives BFK, one sheet of white and two sheets of brown. The medium is createx monoprint base mixed with createx pigment dispersions. Some of the line work was done by dipping Aquarell Watercolor Stix into the monoprint base then drawing onto the plate. The signature watermark does not appear on the original prints.

2010-06-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

Compilation of digital collages

Art Therapist Lisa Mitchell writes a regular web newsletter called Beyond Words (http://casts.webvalence.com/sites/The_Art_Therapy_Studio/current.html) The current issue addresses making in increments between all the practical stuff we do in life. In the article she asks the reader to consider their own increments. I thought it would be fun to ask my own peers, friends and followers to comment about their increments...thank you Lisa for this great way to realize our accomplishments!

"Identify something that you have done bit-by-bit over time. It could be handwork, painting, drawing, collecting, growing, writing, etc. Visit your accumulation by setting some of it out in a private gallery viewing. Make a slide show of this work, or share it with someone you trust. In the most positive and compassionate way, celebrate the commitment and endurance that this collection reflects."

I will post my own examples below. Please feel free to comment about your increments!

My education has been a project of almost 30 years. I started in the '80, taking a class here and a class there...with interruptions like basic training, marriage, parenting and just plain making a living. December 2009 I finally earned a master's in fine art. But it doesn't stop here. I intend to keep learning and taking classes, my next goal...Art Therapy certification...

The images in this post represent the first increment of a life work. I started this project in July of 2007 when I submitted my thesis proposal. These images are prints and proof that made up my master's thesis. I plan to eventually complete an entire hand printed tarot deck.

Upcoming Exhibit and the New Do

2010-06-09T14:51:00.001-07:00

Gallery U20 exhibit opening reception this Saturday. Will be demonstrating printmaking at the site tomorrow June 10.

Before picture taken in April 2010 & After picture taken in June 2010

The ponytail I will be donating to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. Last time I did this was in 2008, that's about how long it took to grow it out long enough to cut for donation again. Pantene requires 8 inches I had Shellie at Streaks Studio cut off between 10-11". this left a chin length bob for her to work with for a cute pixie haircut. Now I look like the mom in 1950's sitcom -- I'm just grateful I don't look like I just turned 51!

Hibernation

2010-05-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

sorry I've been quiet, those of you who've known me a few years know I sometimes tend to hibernate...still hibernating...don't worry, I'll be back before you know it...

Peace Love and Pit Bulls Art Show

2010-04-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

The large 36x46" mixed media painting will be showing in the above fundraiser exhibit. I've also been working on other ideas for the above exhibit. first i did some sketches of photos my son's dog one as a puppy and another as a a big dog.

Bubba da Beast - careful he just may lick ya ta death...

Then a friend said she loved the pics but wanted me to do one of her bully Lexi. So I worked with a photo of Lexi in a pink parka. First I sketched it, then I did a collage onto a 12"x12" canvas and added details with marker and acrylic paints. I'll be contributing the canvas to the fundraiser.

the above Snow Bully ACEO is a tiny mixed media collage
I just listed it in my etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/45084666/snow-bully-aceo

I also plan on using the Snow Bully painting to shoot silkscreen positives for playing around with my new YUDO silkscreening system. But today I'm going to experiment with the sketches to try my hand at encaustic monoprinting...

Two Art Shows Coming Up but will I be there?

2010-03-11T15:00:00.000-08:00

I have works in two exhibits opening this weekend; I hope to be dividing my time between the two Galleries on Saturday evening. I've got a severe cold and ear infection, I'm not very confident that I'll be well enough to be running around town by Saturday. We'll see, if my bent twig Megan is up to doing the driving I may be able to handle it.

Speaking of Bent Twigs (how's that for a segue) one of the exhibits titled "Bent Twigs" is a show in which up and coming artists works will show along side works by an established artist that mentored them. The above encaustic painting will be hung with two more of my works on the same wall as three of my bent twig Megan Robinson's works.

the above painting by Megan Robinson is showing in the bent twigs exhibit at the Vox Gallery

A large body of my works form the Zen Series will be on display at the U20 Gallery this month as well. I'm quite honored to be represented in this gallery incarnation of the "Bridge to Arts" organization. Bridge to Arts promises to be a significant influence in support of the arts in Sacramento.

the above painting titled "Cerberus" is from my Zen Series of artworks created by the universe... It will be exhibited with a large body of other works from the series.

I donated the above silkscreen print to a silent charity auction that will be held at the Vox Gallery this Saturday. The proceeds from the auction will benefit the National Transplant Assistance Fund.

Dr. Atl and Lady Liberty
Original Silk Screen Print
18 x 24" monoprint silkscreen on white Stonehenge paper. Edition of 15.
This is print number 15 of 15.

Dr. Atl waxes philosophic with Lady Liberty in the Library of the Americas in this postmortem collaboration. The positive for this print was drawn by my late mentor Carol Gilbert-Wagner. It was in preparation for an edition of prints of imagery from her large painting "Conversations with Liberty."

Carol had given me the positive on mylar to take home and said when she was feeling better she would come over and the two of us would pull an edition of silkscreen prints from it. She never did feel better; a few weeks later she left us for the grandest adventure of all.

I went ahead and burned a screen with Carol's positive and printed it over my own abstract silkscreen monoprints. The abstract background colors are different in every print.

To honor Carol anytime I offer one of these prints for sale the proceeds will go toward a charity.

if you can't make the auction one of the prints may be purchased from my Etsy.com shop (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10413928) where half the proceeds will benefit one of Carol's favorite charities "The Maitreya Project." http://www.maitreyaproject.org/en/index.html

Austin Phare Art

2010-02-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

Untitled Calaca, Mixed Media Collage, Sold

Check out the blog I started for my 6 year old Grandson Austin.
Austin Phare Art (http://www.austinphareart.blogspot.com)

in this first blog we talk about his first art exhibit and his first art sales with images of his work.

Now What...

2010-01-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

Did my final review for the MFA (master's in fine art degree) in December. The degree was awarded. I presented the following 8 cards and several recent derivative works.

Buzzed 36x48" Mixed Media Encaustic Painting (unfinished)

Calaca 2009 8.5x8.5" Collagraph Plate

Magus II 16x20" Mixed Media Encaustic Painting

Foolish Mandala 36x48" Mixed Media Acrylic Painting

this is by no means the end. I intended this project to be the beginning of a life work. Really -- there are 78 cards in a tarot deck, there is no way I could complete that in a year and a half! I do intend to complete 10 editions of 78 cards! In the next few month I plan to re-work the fool and the magus while I research and design the rest of the major arcana. I also plan to continue creating derivative works. And of course its time to start looking for my first teaching position...

And just to reassure you followers of this project -- the design for strength and a quicky sketch of my first visualization of the hermit...

Happe Noo Yirrs!!!

2010-01-02T19:33:00.001-08:00

Art by: Austin Lee Phare, age 6

lovers popes and strange fruit for exchange 42

2009-10-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

The Pope Card has been editioned

I'm currently printing the Lovers edition. This is a proof. A proof is a test print pulled to make sure my registration is correct and checking to see if any changes need to be made to the plates before I print an edition.

I'm currently carving the Chariot Keyline block

Just finished designing the Strength Card. The next digital collage will be The Hermit.

Baren 42 exchange participants may not want to go beyond this point!

the linoleum cut moons

printing paper moons

printed paper moons

paper moon with paste placed on plexi

substrate place over paper moon

plexiglass with substrate and paper moon being run through an etching press; in a process called Chine Colle the moons will be fused to the substrate with great pressure.

paper moon fused to substrate

a plethera of chine colle paper moons drying

inking up the linoleum cut strange fruit plate

the freshly inked linoleum plate will be run through the etching press with the chine colle paper moon substrate atop it.

the linoleum plate with a freshly pulled print

Strange Fruit, size 3" x 9", mixed media relief print, edition: 38
The above is 3 prints out of an edition of 38 prints. This means that 38 prints were close enough to being exactly the same.

Lovers, Choppers and a Community Painting

2009-09-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

Bursts of Activity

The community painting created at the Alley Arts Festival this weekend. At first it was hard to get someone to pick up a brush and contribute to this painting but once the first person started dabbing others started painting into it as well.

Visitors age 2-92 at the Alley Arts Festival took part and made their marks.

"Strange Fruit" the digital sketch for a mixed media print project. I'll relief print the treeline and skeleton atop the chine colle'd moon that will be fused to dark blue fine art printmaking paper.

The Keyline for The Lovers. The next step is to transfer the keyline to 3 or 4 "Shina" plywood for the color plates.

This is my digital sketch for the next card in the series The Chariot.

Video of the Alley Arts Community Painting. Can you spot the chicken in the brush?

The photo above is from my other blog about my biggest distractions to art making:

Life Outside the Studio Window

2nd Saturday Artwalk

2009-09-12T14:03:00.000-07:00

If you're out and about for the 2nd Saturday Artwalk come by say Hi and sling some paint onto the canvas I'll have in progress here!!! Find out just how much fun painting to live music is!!!

2ndSat.ArtWalk:

final

ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL 2009

Last one of the 2009 Season

Host: KLSCstudio, Doolittle Properties, and Bridge To Art

Type: Music/Arts - Concert

Price: FREE

Date: Saturday, September 12, 2009

Time: 5:05pm - 10:05pm

Location: In the Alley behind 1812

Street: I Street

City:: Sacramento, CA

Description

Come check the final 2ndSat. ALLEY ARTS FESTIAL w/a Great Live Music Show and Artist Pavillion tonight, Sept. 12th with the SoulShakers (BluesRock), Jambination (East Indian, World) and Todd Morgan & The Emblems (Swing, DooWop) (6-10PM) in the Alley behind 1812 I Street in Sacramento, CA 95811
www.myspace.com/toddmorganandtheemblems
http://www.myspace.com/jambination
http://profile.bandpump.com/soulshakers

The Lovers Keyline is Complete

2009-08-26T16:45:00.001-07:00

The Lovers Keyline block is complete

This is a photoshop phake proof. This is what I hope the printing of this will look like tomorrow when I proof then transfer this keyline to the woodblocks I will use to carve the color plates.

The Lovers Keyline in Progress

2009-08-19T17:33:00.001-07:00

The lovers keyline block in progress. You can click on the image to see the original file and see details better. Click your browser's back icon to get back to this blog.

Below are photos taken by Rachel Stonecipher of Carol Wagner, my mentor and fellow barenforum.org member. The photos were taken about a month before Carol passed away.

In the above photo Carol is binding one of an edition of books we collaborated on. You can see the pages I created for the book in the following blogs:

Autmn Follies The first five spreads and Autmn Follies

In the photo above Carol and I were visiting an retrospective exhibit of our friend Alice Fong's life works at the museum of the Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco.

Yeah that's me looking coy...
The acordian book behind me was made by Alice Fong also that is not wallpaper on the wall behind me, its one of Alice's works, I believe its a large monoprint. Let me check the catalog...
...actually it's a 30" x 72" acrylic painting on canvas titled "Late Late Bloomers."

The book is 9"x36"x6." It's titled Chinese Zodiac Animals and is Serigraphy (silkscreen) and collage on Rives BFK fine art paper.

2nd Saturday Art Walk

2009-08-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well I wont be @ Alley Arts Festival Today...thought the cold Hubby came down with last week was the same one I had in Tennessee...nope last night the soul rattling sneezes came...this morn my head is thick with ick. Don't feel up to hours on my feet painting, even if it is to live music & I don't care to share this misery with anyone. I'll just have to wait for next 2nd Saturday to paint to live music.

oh don't let my lack of presence dissuade you from attending the 2nd Saturday art events in Sacramento. if you were planning to attend do so still! Even without me its still very cool and the Alley Arts Festival is a lot of fun. Also there will be lots of other galleries with art and music all within walking distance in downtown Sacramento--all of it free to attend so go go go!

Alley Arts Festival

2009-08-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Come by and say HI! I'll be the one painting.

2ndSat. ArtWalk: Alley Arts Festival in Midtown, Sacramento

When: Saturday, August 08, 2009 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM PDT

KLSCstudio, BridgeToArt.com, Doolittle Properties, and JungleSupplyCo.com host:

2ndSat. ArtWalk: ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL in Midtown, Sacramento
in the ALLEY between 18/19 & "I"/J Streets on a HUGE PARKING LOT.

Saturday, August 8, 2009 6-10PM

featuring:

12 Fine Artists &

LIVE MUSIC with Sacramento's own:

"Low Down Dirty Dogs"

&

The Red Hot "Jenn Rogar"

FREE TO ATTEND, OPEN TO THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY.

Hierophant Proofs

2009-08-05T15:53:00.001-07:00

Finished State

Sketches for BarenForum.org Print Exchange 42

2009-07-16T10:50:00.001-07:00

This Year's Inspiring Tennessee Skyline

as i signed up for the barenforum.org print exchange i thought about what i would make a print of to fit the Chu-tanzaku (3x9") paper format. I remembered the big orange full moon that greeted me on my return to Tennessee (just like last year) and thought that it might make a good focal point. Then my mind's eye saw it as it was rising above the tree line across from my son's front porch...perfect! The dark treeline silhouetted against the dark blue night sky with that big round orange ball rising above.

so I stepped out the front door with a ballpoint and my trusty composition pad to sketch the treeline. As I looked on it I couldn't help but notice the dead tree emerging from the martini glass shaped opening in the treeline and remembered how I thought a few days ago that I would have to draw that tree...PERFECT!

This is the sketch of the Tennessee treeline I did from my son's front porch with my original placement of the moon. As I sketched in the morning light I of course no longer had the full moon of a week ago to reference, but I do have the creative imagination needed to draw it from memory. As I did so I had a spark of something...what if I made a collage of simplified shapes and moved the moon around withing it to determine the best placement within the composition.

This is a construction paper collage I did playing around with the placement of the simplified tree silhouettes and the moon. I finally decided I like it best with the moon in the original location. But I am toying with the idea of randomly "chine colle"ing the moon on each print in different areas of the sky and of course the black treeline will be printed at the same time. I also like the idea of the dead tree breaking the top edge of the night sky; if I do this I'll cut the sky down by about a 16th of an inch so the top branches break out a little more dramatically.

Chine Colle is a printmaking process where thin paper is sprinkled with rice paste or other natural adhesive then fused to a damp paper substrate by passing it through a press. I'm thinking that circles of a nice orange mulberry paper would make a great moon fused to a midnight blue paper -- I even know the perfect fine art paper for my substrate...

Fabriano Roma Paper comes in may colors, one of them being a dark gray blue, it's expensive (about 12 dollars per 18" × 26" sheet) but with the smaller paper format in this exchange I can get a lot of prints from each sheet making it more reasonable financially than if the project was one of the other larger formats.

last years Tennessee skyline in July inspired artwork. A pastel drawing that I still intend to do a collage or chine colle version of, one day...

Da Pope Blocks

2009-07-12T18:37:00.000-07:00

Number 5 The Hierphant Card

Hierophant Buff Block
I decided to print this part a buff color-somewhere between a natural butter color and sand.

Hierophant Red Block
The black areas will print the red parts of the card

Hierophant Blue Block
I will print this one with a blend of dark blue to black. The black area is what will print blue to black.

Hierophant Keyline Block
this block will be printed last in black. The Red line work is what will print; except the lines in the left hand corner and left center edge. These raised lines are called "Kentos." They are so I can bump the edges of the paper up to them for registration. Registration is how I make sure each of the colors line up as I print them.

Alley Arts Festival

2009-06-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

Poetry and Jazz
22 x 28" Acrylic Painting on canvas board
publicly painted last night at the Alley Arts Festival.

Alley Arts Festival last night was too much coolness! It was way too much fun slinging paint around while beat poets and jazz musicians grooved not 20 feet away from me. One of the musicians told me I inspired her performance. I had about as much fun last night as one can have in public without chemical enhancements...

In other news, I turned 50 last week -- I survived a whole half a century!!! To celebrate this momentous milestone I'm going to give a 50% discount on all sales of my artwork for the rest of the month of June to anyone who asks for it. Just send me an email with "Happy Birthday Sale" in the subject line. Tell me the title of the work you want and your name in the email. I will then send you a private URL where you can purchase the artwork at 50% of the listed price.

Here are some links to sites that feature my artworks:

My Web Site : http://www.imp-s.com/

Web Portfolio: http://www.absolutearts.com/pharecamp/

My Etsy Shop: http://www.PhareCamp.etsy.com

Screening of "Drag Me to Hell"

2009-05-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

Sac Horror Film Fest Screening of
"Drag Me to Hell"

Saw Drag Me to Hell on Tuesday night thanks to free passes from the Sacramento Horror Film Festival. I loved it! It was campy dark humor with a few moments of suspense only a little gore. It also kept you guessing as there were times when they did the predictable and times when you expected something predictable that didn't happen...It was only a little scary and a lof of fun.

It's tame enough to take a preteen or older child to see. A sensitive kid or younger then 8 might get nightmares. I don't remember any swearing in it and the sex was tamer than prime time. It reminded me of the campy late night horror flicks I was hooked on as a kid. Remember those weekend shows with a host that wore halloween makeup and a tuxedo who told corny morbid jokes before and after commercial breaks...that's the kind of horror flick I love.

Don't care for the carnage filled ax murder or brain eating zombie flicks. And sorry Rob Zombie -- I know what you do is also campy dark humored art but its too gross with creepy inbred characters that remind me too too much of some of the backwoods stereotypes I ran into in Alabama...House of 1000 Corpses gave me psychologically disturbing dreams for days (no nightmares, its not as scary as The Thing Under the Stairs [nothing but mouth full of all those sharp F'in' teeth!])

Drag me to Hell doesn't pretend to be high art, its just good ol' fashioned B movie fun that goes great with a big bucket of greasy popcorn and large coke spiked with the Captian that fit nicely in my pocketbook...

Thank You!

2009-05-25T14:57:00.001-07:00

A hug filled thank you to the Men and Women of the U.S. Army...oh yeah a grateful hug to those who served in those other forces too...;^}

My Grandfather Raul Rodriguez and his brothers.

Hierophant Blue Block and Lovers Key Block

2009-05-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

The blue block for the Hierophant is carved

These are the printed proofs of the adjusted keyline for the Hierophant.

I've started carving the Keyline block for the Lovers

Here is the lovers with changes I made to the design. I made the figures larger. I changed the bouquet the bride carries and I put lotus blossoms in the pool of the unconscious.

Zen 5

2009-05-10T11:55:00.001-07:00

Zen V
30" x 40" acrylic painting on stretched canvas

This is the painting I did last night at the "Alley Arts Festival." I will be doing a Zen paintinge every 2nd Saturday at the "Alley Arts Festival" until September. In Sacramento the 2nd Saturday of each month is when the local art galleries have their public receptions. "Alley Arts" will have artists booths, music and a beer garden during the warm spring and summer months. In the winter it will be something else, somewhere else. I like the ambiance of this venue and it is soooooo awesome painting to live music!!!!

This is a scan of the 0.5" x 1.5" piece of Zen I pulled from the Zen Jar for last night's painting. As you can see I squashed it to fit within the dimensions of the canvas. I did have quite the audience while I was painting this. The best compliment came from a little boy who excitedly returned again and again and said "this makes me want to paint!" The second best compliment came from a guy who said, "I don't even like abstract but this makes me want to lie in bed and look at it hanging on my wall."

Ignorance
10 x 15" 3 color woodcut printed with acrylic paint on Japanese calligraphy paper.

Ignorance
it enslaves
it victimizes
it is without voice
it is without vision

Sold one of the above prints last night too. Woo Hoo!!! Thank you Brandon!

It was a totally fun night last night and I so look forward to more painting fun each month at the Alley Arts Festival in downtown Sacramento. My friend and mentor Rachel Stonecipher brought iced tea and kept me company while I painted. My awesome hubby Jeff helped me break down and pack up (that easy pop-up canopy aint so easy [especially for a shorty like me]). And the latin jazz really grooved! I told Jeff that I was going to have to hire a band every week to paint too...

Thank you Kevin Santos-Coy for organizing this totally cool publicly accessible arts venue!

Zen Painting at the Alley Arts Festival

2009-05-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking I will do a zen painting at tonight's event.

my zen paintings started out as an 18" x 24" drip/splatter painting on paper. I cut that painting into .5 x1" and 1x1" pieces and tossed the pieces into a jar. Occasionally I will pull one of the pieces out of the "Zen Jar" and blow it up into a much larger art work. Either I will paint it on large sheets of paper (36 x40") or carve woodcut plates. The images in this blog are examples of works I've done over the years from "Zen Jar."

Come see me tonight while I work on a new Zen Painting

"ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL"

Tonight 6-10 PM

featuring:

Live Latin Jazz Music with:

Nagual Quartet,
La Sociedad Cafe,

and Atapaz

AND 10 Fine Artists
1 of whom is ME

On the huge parking lot in the ALLEY between:
18/19 & I/J Sts. in Midtown, Sacramento, CA

behind: 1812 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95811
Come enjoy this special FREE pre-Mothers Day event one block from the bustle of 15,000 attendees of the epicenter of the ArtWalk.

Look for the ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL signages on the corners of the block for a great find!!

AND Great Arts Fun!!!

"ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL"

2009-05-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

BridgeToArt.com and KLSCstudio hosts"

Sacramento 2nd Saturday ArtWalk

"ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL"

featuring:

Live Latin Jazz Music with:

Nagual Quartet, La Sociedad Cafe, and Atapaz

AND

10 Fine Artists

On the huge parking lot in the ALLEY between

18/19 & I/J Sts. in Midtown, Sacramento, CA

behind:

1812 I Street
Sacramento, CA
95811

6-10 PM

Come enjoy this special FREE pre-Mothers Day event one block from the bustle of 15,000 attendees of the epicenter of the ArtWalk.

Look for the ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL signages on the corners of the block for a great find!!

AND Great Arts Fun!!!

Kev..LSC, BridgeToArt.com

The 4 Finals

2009-05-07T15:10:00.000-07:00

Completed all four paintings for finals in my "Composition in Abstract Painting" class.

Still Life with Japanese Doll

Diana with Friend

La Luna

La Luna Zen

The Reference Photo for "Still Life With Japanese Doll"

The reference photo for "Diana and Friend." Photo by Karin Jurick

Reference photo for "La Luna" taken by hubby Merlyn J. Camp

Scan of .5" x 1.5" inch section of an 18x24" drip painting used to create "La Luna Zen"

Two new paintings

2009-05-01T10:44:00.001-07:00

"Diana & Friend" based on the "Different Strokes" photo for the week 31-39 challenge. Didn't get it turned in on time but that's ok, at least I did it. Think I'll do a little taming in the top third of the left side...

Really like how he turned out. It's not even the way I had it in my head to do when I started. I envisioned this in soft violets, pinks and baby blue...I even mixed a baby pink to paint the flesh of this old white guy; but for some reason and without a thought as I was about to place that first pink stroke I grabbed the tub of cadmium red deep and dunked the pink tipped chip brush right in...Funny how our paintings decide for themselves what they will be...I guess the old white guy had more inside of him that he needed me to express in his outside. I think I'll call him "Harlequin."

Hierophant Green Keyline

2009-04-29T10:19:00.001-07:00

We have the first keyline for the hierophant. I've printed it in a transparent green because I didn't want to cover the red lines on the plate in case I still need to cut and I can see I do...the monk on the left is supposed to be holding a snake. There is so much detail around him that he's hard to see. I think I will carve very thin white line around the snake so it jumps out a little. also the letter t in the title at the bottom disappears into the detail above it. I will carve just a little of the detail away from the "t" so that we see it more.

Now once I've printed my color plate (later today) I will carve away all of the sky, mountains and ocean in the background. Also the dark tiles will go away. I plan on printing those red so there will be no need to leave them in the keyline once I have the color plates carved. I will leave all the wood in the keyline until I have carved and proofed all the color plates. This is in case the registration turns out to be off or I don't like one of the color plates or I decide to add another color or for whatever reason I need/choose to carve an new one.

I Was Interviewed by Printsy.blogspot.com!

2009-04-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

A couple of paintings, the first is an underpainting using a photo by Karin Jurick at Different Strokes. I'm doing it for one of finals in the abstract composition class. bear in mind this is an underpainting and it will change significanty before I am done... the othe is a male nude for this week's homework assignment in the abstract composition class. Yes it is done and it actually started out as a rendering and became abstract as I deconstructed it...

Hey - cool news, I was interviewed for the Blog

Printsy: Printmakers of Etsy

(http://printsy.blogspot.com/)

this blog is for printmakers who sell their works at Etsy.com (a sight dedicated to handmade and vintage merchandise).

Here is a static link to that interview of ME!

Printsy Interview - Patricia Phare-Camp (http://printsy.blogspot.com/2009/04/printsy-interview-patricia-phare-camp.html)

As the Emperor Turns

2009-04-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

Almost finished editioning the emperor. Glad I broke off on the last steps when I did, I find that i'm getting too dense of cut marks on the keyline (black) block. I'm going to need to wipe the plate in some areas before I print it. I like to incorporate cut marks and I like the marks on the slightly lighter plates, I may cut some of the cut marks out or just wipe lightly so that I get blendy cut cut marks.

I will also need to go into some of the cards after they dry and lightly brush in some yellow on the turtle. My press kept loosening on one side, the side closest to me so it was easy to readjust, but the gauge didn't move so I couldn't tell the pressure was too light on the turtle side until I pulled the print.

When the pressure is adjusted just right there is a very slight resistance when it hits the beginning edge of the plate and it gives a very slight jump when the roller goes of the edge of the plate. This will still happen if one side has enough pressure but the other side doesn't so there was no way for me to tell when the odd side had loosened.

I think I'll have hubby Jeff break it down and give it a little maintenance when I've finished this edition of emperors. Since I have a lot of carving yet to do on the Hierophant I wont need the press for a week or two.

Revisions to Two Paintings

2009-04-13T15:36:00.001-07:00

Old figure study on the left, new figure study on the right.
Old landscape on the left, new landscape on the right.

I'm Printsy This Week!

2009-04-12T07:48:00.001-07:00

The above silk screen print Nora's Daffodils II was featured in Who's Printsy This Week. An entry in the blog Printsy: Printmakers of Etsy.

two new paintings

2009-04-10T20:38:00.001-07:00

A Couple of Painting for My Abstract Composition Class

A semi-abstract nude using acrylic paint on 18x24" canvas board

A semi-abstract landscape using acrylic paint on 30 x 40" gallery canvas

the photo on the left is the reference photo
for the landscape - sorry can't post the
reference photo for the nude...;^}

I posted this unedited version of the figure painting because the purple storm clouds behind it are just so darned purdy...

Tarot Update

2009-04-08T09:49:00.001-07:00

Priestess test with brownish lines stenciled in the library. think I will add another line in the upper left where it's a bit empty. I think a grayish violet would also work best in here to get a little contrast with the golden shades. Also think I will dry stencil just a little white in the library ceiling.

Emperor with chromatic gray glaze to mute the background. Used a stencil for this. The experiment with the cut marks didn't work as planned but I think I will try it on the press and make some plain keylines just to try and push the envelope a little. Although I wont experiment/mess with the plates until I've done an edition of these first.

I thought the firsts tests with the glaze were to light and tried variations of the glaze with more and more pigment. I like the darkest one best. We'll see what the adviser thinks...I also put gold on the sword and in some of the above in the turtle, the crown and/or the sceptor. there are touches of blue in the globe as well. I prefer last emperor with the dark background with only a little blue in the globe and gold in the sword.

New Figure Painting

2009-04-06T22:51:00.000-07:00

New painting for my abstract composition class.

Hierophant Keyline Progress

2009-04-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

I've been working on carving the keyline block for the Hierophant. He's card number 5 in the Tarot Major Arcana (trumps). I carve a little on the floor tiles (tiny details) then shift to the skeletons or columns (larger details). This is because the floor tiles are so tiny and detailed that my right wrist and elbow get sore. I can carve the larger details with my left hand but daren't try carving tiny details with the left. I'm making good progress with it. I just turn on the classic movie channels as I carve. I've seen those old black and whites a thousand times; I visualize the stories as I carve. No need to look away from my carving as I listen to Orsen Wells "we don't need no stinking badges..."

Went to a teaching workshop in Hunting Beach this weekend. It was wonderful. The beach was awesome, the food at the pier was delicious and I actually learned something. The Pearson Publishing workshop on student success covered how to recognize your own learning and teaching style, how to recognize your students' learning styles and how to adjust it for students who don't learn the way you teach. It was pretty valuable information. I picked up some cool teaching tools and books and I won a raffle prize, a T-shirt that says "it's in the syllabus" you teachers out there will wish you had one...

the shirt is one size too small but that will keep me motivated to continue losing weight (I've lost 20lbs since October [was diagnosed pre-diabetic, told to choose; lose it or knock many years off my life span]) anyway I now fit into those few pieces of clothing that I still had from over a decade (2 sizes) ago. Now that I'm into those few pieces (actually they are all I have to wear - the old sizes are so big they fall off) anyway the smaller shirt will give me something to actually SEE the weight loss as it gets looser and looser on me...Actually the shirt is my size but you know t-shirts, 1st washing and it will be a size smaller...

So what does all that have to do with my masters project? Well the only reason I'm reaching for a master's is so that I can teach at university level - so teacher's building blocks are valuable for the teaching I do now and the professoring I will do later. And the way I have lost weight is that I eat more food (more of the right kind) and work out - 5 days a week! Those workouts command a two hour chunk of my day -- that's 10 hours a week I'm not working on art! Believe me you its a setback in my studio time -- but, theoretically, it will make up for it in studio time in my extended life span. Oh and all this healthy eating doesn't mean I'm giving up chocolate, scotch or herb!!!! And of course there's always sex and metal...

Illustration Friday, Different Strokes and Abstract Painting...

2009-03-30T21:58:00.001-07:00

For this weeks Illustration Friday theme of "Poise" I decided to go with three drawings I did of the same model using three different mediums on three different substrates. The model looks to me as if she is dancing. Dancers and good models always have grace and poise.

The 18" x 24" drawing above was done with Conte chalk pastels on heavy brown craft paper.

The 11" x 14" drawing above was done with black and gray magic markers on drawing paper.

The 18" x 24" drawing above was done in charcoal on newsprint paper.

All three of the above drawings can be purchased at: http://www.absolutearts.com/pharecamp/additional-artwork/patricia-phare-camp-2.html

The painting above was done for my Abstract Composition class. Once again the photo for the Different Strokes From Different Folks painting challenge fits perfectly with the class assignment. This time the assignment was to paint a non-objective landscape and the reference photo is a landscape (see photo at the end of this blog).

It also reflects the wonderfully relaxing weekend I just had. The timing magically coincided with my return from a conference at a resort in Hunting Beach California. I was freshly glowing from being at the beach so I could paint the scene with my heart in an appropriate place.

This photo was taken by Karen Jurik, the moderator for the Different Strokes From Different Folks painting challenge. It's the challenge photo for artists to paint from during the two week period between March 18th and April 1st.

Abstracted Landscape Sketches

2009-03-26T16:04:00.001-07:00

The following pictures were done for the first landscape assignment in my Abstract Composition class. The assignment was to do a black and white sketch of a landscape. I did three sketches. I chose the reference photo for this sketch because it was a natural for abstracting. I also liked the element of repetition provided by the moon's reflection in the water. (see photo at the end of this blog entry) In each sketch i used different tools to achieve different stroke characteristics and experiment with using stroke direction and quality to affect mood.

I specifically wanted to create a dynamic and moody effect in the the above drawing so I used a Japanese calligraphy pen. This pen is like a fountain pen except that it has a brush tip (hair) rather than a nib. Its great for getting dry brush effects in a drawing as well as creating areas of dense blacks. (see the brush pen at http://www.danielsmith.com/products~sku~266+150+003.asp)

In the drawing above I wanted to create an energetic vibrancy with the brush strokes. here i used several variously shaded gray Tombow markers that have a simulated brush tip that is merely an extended felt tip. Not easy to get dry brush effects but nice for making marks of varying width. Denser areas were created using a brush of 80% shade and overlapping the strokes. (http://www.danielsmith.com/products~cat~350~sku~243+010+199~subcat~350203305.asp)

In the last one, pharecamp3 I wanted to create a serene meditative mood. Here i combined the use of the brush pen and the Tombow felt tips markers. I used 20-30% shaded felt tip marker sides to create broad horizontal strokes and overlapped the marks to create the water and sky. I used the same method on the denser shaded areas going back and forth with an 80% shaded Tombow marker and the brush tip pen.

The following picture is the reference photo I used for this assignment. It was taken by my husband on a birdwatching expedition. It was that recent crisp winter night when the moon was the closest to the earth that it would be all year...

Emperor Proofs

2009-03-25T09:10:00.001-07:00

experimenting with the location of the strength archetypes. i like the above right one a lot.

My advisor likes the one on the above right the best, I also like it a lot.

the above left one is my favorite, if I did this I would make the floor gray and darker gray, but the adviser rightfully pointed out that it doesn't provide a sense of place and that you don't quite get the sense of passages as much in this as in the above compositions. Passages are important to me in this one...

We have emperor proofs. I don't like how the throne and the background merge. I was thinking of subduing the yellow but my adviser gave me a better idea.

what i will do is create a plate that i can print a chromatic gray glaze over just the back ground without effecting the foreground. This will also give a sense of space to the image. She also pointed out that I may want to make the eagle darker so it contrasts highly with the background.

Chromatic gray is a gray color created by mixing two complimentary colors (opposites on a color wheel [red/green, blue/orange, yellow/violet) or by mixing all three primary colors (red, yellow and blue). Varying the percentage of how you much you mix of each of the primaries you can get hues of brown, warm gray or cool gray.

I also noticed that the cut marks didn't print in the above proofs like it did in my keyline prints. this is because i used a larger brayer (ink roller). since the brayer is the size of the plate it doesn't dip down into the open spaces. I'm going to try a few color proofs using a smaller brayer on the black keyline so that I can see if the textural effects I like in the keylines below will translate well in the color whole...oh, oh-oh-oh, i just thought -- i will use a smaller brayer on the keyline to ink the chromatic gray glaze, use a stencil to block the foreground then use the larger brayer to roll black ink. Since the larger brayer wont touch the gray glazed cutmarks I'll achieve two shades on one block! I may not have to carve another plate after all...woo hoo! I had a plausible idear!

Featured Artwork

2009-03-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

One of my works, A Maze Me, a 6" x 6" encaustic painting has been chosen to be part of the Featured Artwork rotation on the homepages at World Wide Arts Resources and absolutearts.com. The feature will be on 2009-03-13. The duration of the feature is one day and the rotation changes every few minutes. Please stop by at http://wwar.com and http://www.absolutearts.com and take a look at my featured artwork.

This is one of four 6" square encaustics. I've framed them in 8x8" shadow boxes and they look great grouped on a wall.

Top Left: Cosmology,
Top Right: I Give You My Heart,
Bottom Left: A Maze Me,
Bottom Right: Shooters

Empresses, IF and Different Strokes

2009-03-11T10:31:00.001-07:00

We have and edition of Empresses

this week's block print fits right in with this week's Illustration Friday challenge. The theme is "intricate." This tarot card and the symbols within are definitely very intricate.

I like the way my Empresses came out. the colors worked great. As for the black overprint on the slightly larger cards...nah don't care for that but a ruler, a bone folder, a little water and some careful tearing will eliminate that...Next edition is the Emperor.

Current Different Strokes From Different Folks Challenge

The "Different Strokes From Different Folks" (http://differentstrokesfromdifferentfolks.blogspot.com/) painting challenge fit in perfectly once again with my Abstract Composition class. The mid-term for the class was to be an abstract of any still-life set-up of our choosing. The sushi photo for the Different Strokes challenge is of course a still life and sushi looks so abstract to begin with that I could take it even further...this really did become a challenge when I bumped the easel and all fell with the painting flat on it's face. I was able to take a pallet knife and smoosh goopy paint in the messed up areas to fix; although it did become a different painting afterward.

This is the photo for the Different Strokes challenge. It was taken by Karin Jurick; the moderator of the Different Strokes from Different Folks blog. These are obviously California Rolls sitting in shoyu; let me just paste what I wrote in an email about the subject matter:

"I have to say I love sushi, but California rolls are my least favorite -- why -- because most places don't make them right. Most places only put avocado and that fake crab in the roll; a true California Roll is supposed to have cucumber, avocado and REAL crab! Also it seems these days at every Japanese restaurant the combo meals come with fake California Rolls. They've become a flavorless cliche... "

Priestess Edition is almost there...

2009-03-04T10:37:00.001-08:00

Started editioning the priestess. Got about 8 printed before I noticed the red cutmarks being picked up (see above card on the right) So out of 20 I've got about 12 to work with for an edition of 10. Not such good odds, may end up printing more in order to get a good edition. An edition is a set number of prints that are very very very consistent.

Here you can see why two of the same prints would not be considered an edition. There is a variation in the color between these two cards. For some reason the brayer (roller) didn't pick up and/or transfer as much blue ink to the printing block when I pulled the card on the above right. Variations like this occur because a human being is printing these images. If a machine were doing this, as in the pages of a magazine, then variations are an extreme rarity. When a human being does it clean consistent editions are not as easy.

Personally I like variations and usually consider minor variations to still be within an edition. But for a master's degree in printmaking my thesis project has to be full of good clean consistent editions. Simply because a master had better be able to know the difference and produce.

Because of the nature of the handmade paper these cards are being printed on there will be some variations that are unavoidable. these handmade papers with four deckled edges (jaggedy untrimmed edges) don't always have even or squared edges. Because of this some of the cards will have a slight border on the top and/or the left edge. (see the top of the right hand card on the very top of this blog)

IF: Breezy

2009-03-01T22:09:00.000-08:00

This is my entry for Illustration Friday the theme is "breezy." I didn't think I had an idea then I remembered the tiny daffodils in my window boxes, I'd just been telling my husband that they look like they're walking into a headwind...As I was working on this painting big gusty blustery winds started buffeting the windows, perfect music for painting a work in the theme of Breezy! Anyway, daffodils are a perfect subject for my submission to this week's Illustration Friday as it was almost exactly two years ago that I did my first Illustration Friday challenge and that one was the first daffodils of spring!

This is my painting for my homework in my Composition for Abstract Painting class. Well this one was a tough one. it was really hard for me to connect with the subject matter -- basically I felt nothing about it...so I simply jumped in and tried very hard to use the technique from the teachers demo...at a certain point I thought, "there is nothing else I can do with this and it sucks!" So I scraped off as much of the paint as I could, remixed completely new colors and started stabbing at the canvas, using the under-painting as a guide. Interestingly even though I didn't use the photo for reference in my second attempt the image still came out less abstracted than I'd intended.

Last night I was still less than thrilled with my effort, then this morning as I was cropping and sizing my photo of it I thought of the pot as a coffee pot, then I thought of the chilies and thought Mocha Mexicana with chili's and lemon -- uuuuuhhhhhmmmm!!!

combination of chocolate and chilies is an aphrodisiac you know! Now if I'd thought of that last night The painting could have gotten really interesting with all those vessels and peppers...

The little pictures below are the photos I did my paintings from. The coffee pot photo is from the Academy of Art class collection and the photo of the daffodils I took in my front yard. Its been really stormy and windy here in Northern California, perfect weather for photography!

Master's Update 2/25/09

2009-02-25T10:37:00.001-08:00

This is a proof of the spot color plate for the Empress. It's very transparent but still too yellow; it obscures with the chair and the ottoman.

You can see above how the the purer yellow competes with the chair and ottoman. On the left we are closer but the addition of opaque white to the yellow ink has made it too opaque and since not enough of the white of the paper shows through it's still too yellow.

The one on the right is still too opaque, the one on the left is closer but still too yellow. I still need to add a whole lot more transparent base. It needs to be near imperceptible because when it's printed on the press it will become one with the paper and intensify.

Here we have the spot color for the priestess. On the left we have a warm silver. On the right a golden brown.

The proofs are made using the proofs from before so it doesn't reflect the changes I made to the plates. In the plates I took out the black outline for the moon and removed the black lines in the library. These proofs simply let me check registration and play with color. I can see that I will want to remove the library ceiling and all but a few lines of library floor in the brown plate. and then in the library ceiling on the yellow plate I will cut away some circles of light. I think I will hand darken the end of the hallway. These little tricks should help to emphasize the perspective.

The table top in the palest version works great after spot printing the brown, but I want the green in the tree to be a little richer. I think if I make the yellow a lot more transparent the blue will blend into better. Right now the yellow is so saturated that the transparent blue overprinting cannot subdue it into a green green. But I like it softer green in the columns so I may play around with making a light blue to dark blue blend with this...we'll see.

Zombie Casting Call...

2009-02-23T12:32:00.000-08:00

Different Strokes and Abstract Homework

I combined my abstract painting class homework with the new painting challenge from

Different Strokes from Different Folks

Different Strokes is an artmaking challenge similar to Illustration Friday. The blog Different Strokes is maintained by Karin Jurick.

"A bi-weekly challenge for any artist who would like to join in - I'll post one photograph every other Wednesday evening and I want you to paint or draw or etch it your way. Sorry - no digital interpretations (and that includes paintovers) after Week 1. My intentions are for you to use different mediums (in the tradition sense) and not the computer."
you may click the image above to see it full screen, use your browser's back button to return to this blog

in this artwork I blatantly used complimentary color schemes; red/green, orange/blue and yellow/violet. Complimentary color are color that are directly opposite or across from each other in a color wheel.

I didn't intend for this painting to have a specific focal point. I wanted it to have a chaotic pattern like effect with each manikin head competing for attention with the others.

I started this painting just as Jeff (my husband) left for the gym. He goes to work out for about 30 min - an hour then plays basketball for a couple of hours afterward. I was just cleaning my brushes as he returned. He walked in stepped behind and me and went whoa...

Which was good because I wanted it to elicit a response from its viewers. I said "scary bitches eh." He said "uh yeah." Inside I high fived myself because Jeff is my greatest critic, if I made him feel what I wanted my viewers to feel it means I nailed it...if I hadn't nailed it he would have immediately let me know it sucked. Or if he didn't understand it he would have immediately let me know it sucked...

I think of it as a Rob Zombie casting call...or a goth convention. I was trying for a creepy starlet/super model effect, like they would gladly suck your brains out then purge... I also wanted each to have her own element of individual attitude.

The reference photo below was taken by Karin Jurick, moderator of the blog

Different Strokes from Different Folks

Master's Update 2-18-2009

2009-02-18T10:41:00.001-08:00

Empress proof red state and yellow state

Empress proof blue states. On the left I used lots and lots of medium for more transparency. The one on right was the 1st state which I found to make the sky a little too intensely purple.

Empress Keyline states

The four colors brought together in one. The one on left is the 1st one printed using the blue that I found to pigmented. Don't want the sky to be that purple. the one on Right is just right; although I believe I will carve out much of the moon.

Lighter blue proofs. The one on right is just right the one on left is too light.

tried to print a priestess block for spot color, specifically for the library perspective lines. Mistakenly grabbed an unvarnished block and the ink bled...If I can see the kentos (registration marks) well enough I will use this block, otherwise it goes unused...when I tried to print another one the ink started acting strange on the mylar. It was drying before I could transfer. Something must have gotten in the ink or on the plate and was reacting with the ink. I will try again as I need two spot color blocks for this print. The other spot color block I'm not happy with as it looks to be off registration -- although I may find this to be untrue after a proofing...

The priestess keyline with the old lines removed from the library.

The following documents are my research on the hermit card. I start by looking at the same card from 4 different decks and writing down every little iconic thing I think of while looking at it. Then I do more research with books.

the following documents are my research into the various meanings of the hermit card, modern and historical. I use several books from my own collection of books on the Tarot. See the bibliography at the end of this blog. Remember you can always click on any of these images to see them enlarged, afterward click your browser's back button to return to this blog.

Research BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Akron & Banzhaf, Hajo. The Crowley Tarot: The Handbook to the Cards. Connecticut: U.S. Games. 1995
Berti, Gianluca, Gonard, Tiberio. Tarot of the New Vision. Italy: Lo Scarabeo. 2005
Greenway, Leanna. Simply Tarot. New York: Sterling/Zamezi. 2005
Hoeller, Stephan. The Fools Pilgrimage: Kabbalistic Meditations on the Tarot. Illinois: Quest. 2004
Huson, Paul. Mystical Oringins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage. Vermont: Destiny. 2004
Jayanti, Amber. Living the Qabalistic Tarot. New York: Weiser, 2004
Laurence, Theodor. How Tarot Speaks to Modern Man. NY: Bell. 1972
Levitt, Susan. Introduction to Tarot. Connecticut: Us. Games. 2003.
Lionnet, Annie. The Tarot Directory. New Jersey: Chartwell. 2002
Pollack, Rachel. Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdon. London: Element. 1997
Wang, Robert. Tarot Psychology. Canada: Marcus Aurelius. 2007

IF: Tay Tay Celebrates Sound

2009-02-15T21:23:00.001-08:00

Tay Tay Celebrates Sound

This weeks Illustration Friday challenge is Celebrate. A think a recent photo of my 1 year old granddaughter Taylor playing drums on a popcorn tin and singing loudly to Sevendust illustrates beautifully how children celebrate sound. And so I did a little painting of it (16x20").

Abstract Painting Class

I used another photo of Taylor playing drums to create the following painting. It's for my painting class. We had to use only 4 colors that illustrate contrast using color contrast, temperature contrast and or chiaroscuro (light and dark). The four colors I used were blue, black, red orange and yellow ochre.

Oh obviously it's not Taylor...its the boots and chair legs that are to the right and behind her (see the 1st photo below). I included the original photos below. What I love is how both of these photos show her experimenting with different sounds; in the photo on the left she's hitting the sides of the can, in the photo on the right she strikes the top. Any of us who have ever beat on a can know that the sides sound different from the top...

New Semester, New Class

2009-02-12T19:55:00.001-08:00

Principles of Design

I'm taking a class this semester titled Composition for Abstract Art. The paper making class I wanted was canceled. I'm hoping a little bit of paint slinging will help loosen me up. The Tarot project is so process driven and complex in subject matter. Some non-objective creation will do my tired brain some good. Anyway the first homework assignments were to paint three 6x6" pen and ink drawings demonstrating three of 13 principles of design. the three we were supposed to express were balance, contrast and focal point...(descriptions were taken from: Wikipedia; Design Elements and Principles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_elements_and_principles) The ink drawings were to be objective and we were to submit photos of the subject matter. The photos are above, my drawings are below. I executed the drawings in black magic marker and Japanese brush/calligraphy pen (like a fountain pen except the writing/drawing tip is paintbrush like).

BALANCE
Can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical depending on if the right or left side is identical or not. Also refers to a sense that dominant focal points are balanced and don't give a feeling of being pulled too much to any part of the artwork. Balance can be balance by location of objects such as windows on a house, balance by volume or sizes of objects, balance by color (like desired brightness in a room).

Contrast
Contrast is the occurrence of contrasting elements, such as colour, value, size, etc. It creates interest and pulls the attention toward the focal point.

Focal Point

Areas of interest. Guides the eye into through and out of the image through the use of sequence of various levels of focal points, primary focal point, secondary, tertiary, etc. Emphasis hierarchy may give direction and organization to a design, and avoid subconscious confusion to sometimes improve the design's (like a house) visual appeal and style. Emphasis hierarchy or focus is not giving each object (like a bed or curtain) in a project (like a bedroom decor) equal dominance. Emphasis or dominance of an object can be increased by making the object larger, more sophisticated, more ornate, by placing it in the foreground, or standout visually more than other objects in a project. Avoid style confusion.

I had fun doing these drawings. I struggled with the image for contrast and re-did it three times. Getting the light values just right for that setting sun and the halo that illuminated only a small sliver of the log was very tricky. This photo was taken by my husband on a recent bird watching expedition in Lodi. He also got some beautiful pics of the January full moon over the marshes where the sandhill cranes roost. Those pics will show up in later semester paintings.

The little doll my son bought for me in Japan; the burlap bags she sits on were given to us by my husband's friend Kevin. The string is just something I have in the studio. I thought the string would make a good contrast study but when I noticed the curve of the bottom of the sting spool repeated by the curve of the draping hankerchief I decided to make it a study in balance. Of course the little doll could have been a contrast study with the rough burlap juxtaposed with the sleek doll. And the sunset log could have been a focal point study...

Empress: Getting Ready to Proof the 4 color blocks

2009-02-11T10:44:00.000-08:00

"Hook 'em Horns"

Happy Year of the Ox
Hope it Rocks!!!

trying to work out ways to get deep perspective back into the Priestess' library

Yellow Empress Block

Red Empress Block: workin' the cut marks here!

Blue Empress Block

Empress Keyline block

Priestess: 4 color proofs

2009-02-04T10:51:00.001-08:00

I've hand printed proofs of the priestess. In the proof on the left I mixed a lot of transparent base into the red and blue pigments to make the colors softer. The proof on right has more "saturated" pigmentation; meaning I have a lot of pigment in the trans base making the colors richer. I like the deeper green in the tree and the deeper brown I get in the trees trunk and pot but I like the softer colors in the atmosphere of the proof on the left. I believe I will also mix up a warmer yellow for this one, that will mute the intensity of the greens and help to enrich the depth of the library behind the priestess. I will also play around with ideas to bring back the deep perspective in the library. I will create a stencil to hand color other areas of the print. For instance a silvery gray for the legs of the table and the laptop and mice, perhaps even the owl. Over all I believe I will try something my adviser suggested; print a very transparent layer of yellow ocher (an earthy yellow) over the whole. this will neutralize the pastellyness of the violets.

New Years Cards and a Master's Tarot Project Update

2009-01-30T18:55:00.000-08:00

as always click an image to see it larger use your browsers back icon to return to this blog.

I'm ready to proof the priestess cards

I've begun carving the empress blocks

I've begun carving the Hierphant keyline block
Barenforum card exchangers dont go below this line!!!!!

I completed my cards for the www.barenforum.org Year of the Ox exchange

Master's Tarot Project Update

2009-01-21T20:25:00.001-08:00

We have an edition of Magicians

The Emperor Keyline is printed

The Priestess Keyline is printed on paper and on blocks

The Priestess color blocks have been laid out

The Empress keyline has been printed

Strength is in the progress of being designed. I plan to make the lion larger and have him and the lady bumping forheads with her back arm over the puma's shoulder

So far I have these designs finished though lately I'm thinking about putting the silhouette of a helicopter passing in front of the Chariot's moon. This will help segue into the Hermit as I am beginning to see him and it involves a flying machine.

I also want to add that this work has begun to have effect on my personality. I wont go into details; suffice it to say that lately I walk with one foot in the light and the other in shadow...I'm beginning to realize that despite it's attitude my shadow is not so bad...in fact my shadow is a lot more fun than that do-gooder light half...

Fools in Space

2008-12-04T17:08:00.001-08:00

The Emperor Keyline is near completion, the Empress, with all her garden detail requires frequent breaks and is taking me longer than anticipated.

This is the press setup for printing the woodcut plates. I went to Lowes and the older fella in the lumber department knew I needed rails "to lift the rollers on the press" before I'd even finished saying what I was looking for. He must be familiar with the printing process! These pieces were already cut and price and the perfect size to fit the press bed and the perfect thickness to accomodate the plates.

I really like the smoother dispersion of the inks in the damp paper printing, there is a lot less pebbling in the larger color fields. The image on the left I laid down the inks in one pass of the brayer. In the one on the right I laid down all the colors in one pass of the brayer but on the blue I did an additional curving pass on the top and bottom edges to create a deeper blend. I feel this gives the image more depth. I'm not happy with the registration on this one. The elements in the most of the prints are in registration, the biggest problem is in the text, especially the caption at the bottom. I will probably re-carve and re-print this one when I've completed all the cards for the masters. For future pressings I'm probably going to have to adhere L-shaped edges to the sides of all the cards to ensure cleaner registration while using paper that is deckled on all four edges. That is simply not going to help with these plates since the registration is clearly off in the bottom caption in every card this shows the text registration is off in the carving.

Fool and Magus Color Proofs

2008-11-19T18:44:00.001-08:00

In a previous post regarding my master's project I mentioned I was proofing the new Graphic Chemical Water Soluble inks. I love the way they handle and the color transparencies are gorgeous! I will be muting the blue and the yellow in parts of the fool using rainbow rolls and I will be amping up the blue in the Magus' tablecloth and the red in the curtain. Other than that I'm pleased with the colors

Above and below are some notes I made for my project journal. These are changes I want to make to the actual blocks. The touches of beige, brown and silver in the blocks was brushed in using stencil brushes. I think I will cut some acetate stencils just so I have a little more control on where the ink goes when I ponce it.

Above and below you can compare how the pigment dispersions handled versus the Graphic Chemical Inks. Details and lines are crisper and the cut marks are finer with the Graphic Chem inks. The Graphic Chem colors are richer and the blacks are deeper then the garish pigments.

Here we have a picture of the Empress carving in progress. Her garden has been giving me a sore elbow and numb palms so I'm going to work on the Emperor for a while. In between I will test making relief marks in wood with a woodburning tool and test print. If I like the line quality of the woodburning tool I will use it to finish the Empress' garden.

ITALY

2008-11-15T14:06:00.001-08:00

OK so I have this crazy new idea. I would like to do some study in Italy. I figured I could just afford to do so if I sold most of my current artworks at a 25% discount. So I'm making this offer...

If you want to help an itinerant American artist get some exposure to great European works and architecture you can do so by buying my art! You can see most of it within my website: http://www.imp-s.com. If you send me an email message with the word ITALY in the subject line and the name of the work(s) you want in the message I will go into my absolutearts.com porfolio (http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/p/pharecamp) or my Etsy Shop (http://www.PhareCamp.etsy.com) and reduce the price just for you. If want a work in the website that's not listed in my portfolio or my etsy shop I will create a listing in Etsy just for you...

May be, just may be this crazy idea will work and I will be able to go to Italy with my college study abroad group. If not I will at least be able to start an Italy savings account and go by myself at a later date...

Ciao, Patti P-C

The Chariot

2008-11-14T12:28:00.000-08:00

I've reached a somewhat finished point with the chariot design. I'm still not quite pleased with it; I feel like I've left something out, can't quite put my finger on it...oh well, I'm sure if I leave it alone and work on printing and carving that when I come back to the chariot whats wrong will jump right out at me. I may or may not leave the gold square on his breast...

I do realize that I need some shadows to ground the bike and the doggies, that will be hand drawn on the block, as well as warming up the highlights. Since the light source is from behind the skeleton will be mostly blue violet with peachy warm highlights just on the edges of shoulders, elbows etc. It's in my head don't need to put it in my digital sketches. I suppose I could print it out and watercolor the details...

If any of you viewers are Tarot readers please comment on what it needs for improvement. I may or may not use your advice but I will definitely appreciate it; if anything I'll grow from it!

I'll also appreciate artistic comments on improving the aesthetics and technique.

I'm proofing the fool and the magus in color with the new Graphic Chemical Water Soluble Block Printing Inks. I love them! At first I was concerned as the Lemon Yellow was really loose. I added just a touch of extender to it as the extender is super stiff, well then I couldn't get the brayer charged! So I added a drop of vehicle and it was back to the loose stuff. "Oh well" I thought and just rolled it on the block and printed it. It printed great! The pigment laid down thinly, smoothly and coverage was even. I would have never used oil based so loose on the block but it works with GC's WS. I've got just the lemon and the peacock printed so far. I'll post pics later when I've finished.

Update on the Masters

2008-11-05T22:22:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I blogged on about my Master's Project so here goes...as always you can see an image full size by clicking on it; use your browser's back button to return to the blog.

Color proofs of the Fool and the Magus were done. After discussion with my adviser it was decided I should stick to western techniques, using water based relief inks.

My adviser suggested Graphic Chemicals inks and a few days later my friend Rachel asked me if I wanted some Graphic Chemical water based relief inks she didn't plan to use again...

I don't care for the garishness of the pure pigment dispersions in these two proofs and I plan on eliminating some of the cut marks. For instance most of the red marks in the sky behind the Magus' curtain.

I completed the Priestess Keyline block and proofed it.

I'm mostly pleased with this keyline and will work on the color plates after I've reached my semester goal for designs and keylines. I do want to clean up the gap between the numbers at the top and give just a little more definition to the letters at the bottom; though I do like the way it weaves into the image.

As usual, I was so gungho at the beginning of the semester to get started on this work again that I wasn't paying attention and carved nearly the entire Empress plate before I realized that she wasn't backward...

I've re-carved the keyline and am about to the same place I was when I discovered my error. Eventually I will finish carving the 1st one and varnish it as a bas relief work, and a reminder to "pay attention stupid!"

I completed design of the Lovers card and have the basic composition for the Chariot. I still want to go into it and eliminate the cacti, replacing them with skyscrapers and I want to replace the rottweiler on the left with a great Pyrenees. I also want to include some symbolism on the gas tank and an amulet on the rider's chest. Oh and of course I need to put in a number VII and the name of the card.

I have my composition for Strength in mind and have begun the research on the Hermit. Someday soon I will start posting my research on the cards. I should have started out doing so...

IF: "And I Can See Russia From My House!"

2008-11-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

This is a recent aquatint etching I did. I thought it perfectly fit this week's Illustration Friday theme of "Vacant." As well at this week's Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) activities and next week's elections...

Some appropriate toonage:

"Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant"

Calaca IV featured

2008-08-22T21:44:00.001-07:00

My monoprint titled Calaca IV will be part of the Featured Artwork rotation on the homepages at World Wide Arts Resources and absolutearts.com. The feature will be on August 23, 2008. The duration of the feature is one day and the rotation changes every few minutes. Please stop by at http://wwar.com and http://www.absolutearts.com on the 23rd of August and take a look at my featured artwork, let me know what you think. You can see my Premier Portfolio in progress at: http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/p/pharecamp/

You may also view more of my artworks at:

My website: http://www.imp-s.com/
My Etsy Shop: http://www.PhareCamp.etsy.com
My flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pharecamp/

IF: Detach

2008-08-22T01:43:00.000-07:00

I had no ideas for this week's Illustration Friday theme Detach and had pretty much given up on coming up with something. Then Wednesday afternoon when I was feeding the critters that make my backyard their home I noticed the three pullets were not following their Mama around anymore. When chicks reach a certain point in adolescence the mother hen, with the help of the horny old rooster, chases them off. There is usually much drama and these chicks are no exception. Now on their own they are more timid than usual. All teenagers are hungry yet they are too frightened by the sudden change that they wont come near me. If a bird flies overhead they run for cover and hide. It came to me that these chicks are not too please with their sudden state of detachment...

I may need to draw a new avatar...

2008-08-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

Fuzzy Ponytail GONE!

Well I finally did it. I cut off the hair and sent it into Pantene Beautiful Lengths so it can be used toward making a wig for an adult woman going through chemotherapy.

I had originally committed to cutting it on the 27th of July as a tribute to the memory of my mother. Lung cancer took Mom in 2006, July 27 was her birthday. Well I got around to it late. I was out of town on the 27th of July so I waited until I got home to get the hair cut.

I chose Pantene Beautiful Lengths because they only ask for 8 inches of hair as opposed to other charities that demand 12 inches. Also I like that they give the wigs to adult women. There are plenty of charities that give natural hair wigs to children but not so many that give natural hair wigs to adult women.

Well that extra few weeks wait to do the cut must have made a difference because the entire ponytail was pretty darned close if not 12 inches.

Both pink shirt photos on the right show my hair in 2006 shortly after Mom's passing. The red shirt photos on the left show the new do with the one on top showing the donated ponytail.

Eight months ago when I made the commitment to cut the hair it was several inches longer but still layered (see the 1/3/2008 posting: Pledge to Cut Hair on Mom's Birthday).

For more info on Pantene Beautiful Lengths go to: http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/about.jsp

NFAC: A Dog's Life - contest submission

2008-08-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

NFAC: Gracie & Austin an Original Etching by Phare-Camp Opening Bid 99 cents

This print is my entry in the eBay Nibblefest Art Contest, a themed art contest beginning on the 20th of each month. The theme for the month of August is "A Dog's Life." The winner of each month's contest is the work that recieves the highest number of bids.

This image size of this etching is approximately 4x6" on fine art printing paper that is approximately 6.75 x 9.75"

The subject of this etching is from a photo of of my grandson Austin standing in a field of wildflowers hugging my sister's dog; a mini Aussie Gracie.

This signed print is also marked A/P which indicates it's an Artist's Proof. In this case since I hand pull my prints it's a working proof that has few if any variations from the numbered edition prints.

In addition to this print I submitted 4 more works that feature dogs. A color version of this one, another dog etching with a boy and a color version of it and one of my Year of the Dog cards for 2006

Gracie & Austin a Mixed Media Etching by Phare-Camp

opening bid $25.00

Four color mixed media print edition of 75: The black line work is intaglio (etching)and the color fields are block printed.

An original print of a boy and dog by Patricia B. Phare-Camp

This is a print of the artist's grandson Austin being kissed by Gracie, her sister's little miniature Australian Shepard, in a field of Texas wildflowers.

Honey I Think One of the Neighbors is Stealing My Tomatoes Opening bid 99 cents

Hand colored open-editioned block print of my golden retriever Keya. 4" x 6"

There was this one summer where each morning as I watered the veggies I'd note which tomatoes would be ready in time for dinner. I'd go to work & return to find all the ripe tomatoes gone. I told hubby I thought someone was stealing my tomatoes so he came home early from work to investigate. As he stepped on the deck he noticed Keya running away and shaking her head violently. Worried he ran over to discover she had a tale tell tomato hooked to her fang, She was trying to shake off the evidence before he discovered her thievery! I'd have never suspected as she was arthritic and I didn't think she could cross the two foot fence around the garden. Only goes to show that pain is no barrier to a juicy tomato at the perfect peak of ripeness! Keya left us later that year and I remembered our love for her in our hand printed holiday card.

Chris & Keya; Original Dog & Boy Etching by Phare-Camp

Opening bid 99 cents

Black and white etching. 4x6" on laid print making paper. edition of 100

This is a print of my son Chris when he was 12. He and his fuzzy friend Keya were cooling off in the shade of an old mulberry tree after a rousing game of soccer.

Years later Keya left the planet a week after her boy Chris left home for basic training in the Army.

Chris & Keya; Hand Colored Dog & Boy Etching by Phare-Camp Opening bid $25.00

Mixed media print:

intaglio/etching & monoprint

4x6 edition 25

In this edition I scrape the intaglio ink into etched lines of my printing plate. After wiping the plate clean of most of the ink I hand paint ink thinned with linseed oil onto the un-etched areas of the plate. I then print the hand colored plate through the press to transfer the whole onto a sheet of print making paper.

This is a great opportunity to collect some of my animal prints at a great price and help save the environment at the same time. All of these prints were created using non-toxic printmaking technology and 20% of the sales for these items will go directly to Ducks Unlimited a non-profit wetlands conservation organization.

Please be sure to search eBay for NFAC to see more great entries from many other artists, each starting at just $0.99."

IF: SAIL

2008-08-13T03:35:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for Illustration Friday. The theme this week is Sail. I used various decorative and handmade papers to create this collage ACEO (2.5x3.5"). While sketching this image I remembered the poem by Edward Lear titled The Owl and The Pussycat. I vaguely visualized then sketched the following ACEO.

The Owl and The Pussycat
an unfinished posthumous poem by Edward Lear

I

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

III

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

IF: Enough

2008-07-21T18:41:00.001-07:00

This is my entry for Illustration Friday.

The theme this week is Enough. Enough said.

IF: Foggy - July Nights in Tennesse

I've been vacationing in Clarksville Tennessee; visiting my son Chris and his family. I had a vision for last week's Illustration Friday Theme but I lacked tools to execute it. Finally went to a store called Hobby Lobby in downtown Clarksville where I picked up a small box of some hard pastels. Anyway the image I had in my mind was what I was seeing each night last week from my Son's back porch. It was a treat to watch the moon fill out and light up the mist hanging above a distant meadow. It was a perfect Illustration Friday for the theme Foggy. My original idea was to make this as a collage in various papers but since my supplies were limited I decided to get my vision down on paper and perhaps when I'm back home in my studio with my multitude of paper scraps I'll make a collage of this vision in torn mulberry papers and tissue.

IF: Make Lemonade

2008-07-05T17:19:00.001-07:00

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This week's them for Illustration Friday is "Sour."

Original collage ACEO
2.5 x 3.5"
PhareCamp.etsy.com

This tiny collage was created for Illustration Friday, a website where each week on Friday artists are given a theme to illustrate. It's a really fun website; I can waste hours just looking.

I used decorative papers to create this. The backing is a dark blue art paper. the lemon is make with a paper that has an embossed texture. The orange skin is a mulberry paper printed with gold leaves, the pulp is a peachy mulberry printed with yellow leaves. The lime skin is a marbled paper and the lime pulp is a paper printed with green chrysanthemums.

Once I pasted the papers down with pva glue I embellished with a little magic marker.