THE DIARY
2005    2004    2003-1999
Last entry first

End of 2007! 2008 will begin in the Latest! page

Last festival for an entire year! I can't wait...
Meantime, I've changed my ways and adopted an easier format for the Diary and Updates which will make things easier all around. 2008 is, after all, what I have dubbed the Simple Year. You can begin reading all about it here http://1000woodcuts.com/latest.html

End of November 2006

Almost seems an automatic activity to come from a festival to immediately head into the next. The easy part is that there is not much loading or unloading. Everything having to do with travel or art simply stays in the trailer and I quickly do "the paperwork" from the last festival just so the boring stuff doesn't pile up. For anyone interested, that entails recording the sales and other data regarding the event, entering the customers into my database and filing away receipts and other paperwork. I also always send thank you cards to customers who gave me their address, a habit that started with my first festival and one that I enjoy. Customers, after all, are my current audience and thanking them just seems the least I can do to reassure my identity as an artist.

I also like to stay in touch with everyone, so I sent my November 2006 Update. This newsletter audience has grown and grown and I enjoy "talking" with everyone, even sporadically.

Aside from that, I quickly replace any pieces that need replacement, such as the prints that go with any blocks I have left to sell, and my most popular woodcuts or "the bread and butter." In preparation for the back to back shows, I usually over-stock anyway, so the tasks are minimal which allows me time to rest up, both body and mind.

I am looking forward to my yearly "retirement" where I crawl into my studio and produce the works that have been in my head and struggling to get out. I used to sketch and refer back to the sketchbook in these times; now I simply remember what I want to do. Whatever stays in my head for a period of time, that's what I figure was meant to be created. At the moment I'm working on a new series, "seeds", and a few larger works on the vast beauty of the Grand Canyon. I also have in mind and have started some pieces that perhaps I will not print at all, along the lines of my puzzle works. Who knows!?

Next year, even less festivals. I figure I deserve to create more for a year or two and then maybe I will begin again with a flurry of selling...all new works!

Almost September 2006

Getting ready for the (fanfare!) first festival of the season!!! That magical moment, er, week, in which my studio is transformed into a frame shop and cursing can be heard as far as a mile away...perhaps farther. I hate framing. Well, not entirely true, I hate the thought of framing. Then I get going and really kind of enjoy dressing up my prints in new mats and frames. I really enjoy getting my blocks ready to exhibit, I don't know why because I hate to let them go when they sell.

Sigh. Well, I took some pictures and will upload shortly. Right now, my list of things to do goes something like this but basically falls into three categories, me, stuff to sell and display to sell it, and the vehicle:

-Check truck and trailer for travel ready condition
-Check the weather forecast
-Load appropriate tent in trailer (I have two)
-Load weights and hand-cart (they live outside between festivals)
-Check inventory, load enough but not too much (what a laugh, I ALWAYS take too much stuff!)
-Mat and frame as required, especially new prints and blocks
-Check and repair any display equipment that needs a touch up (I paint my weights and boxes every season)
-Double check the weather forecast, take extra weights (looks like wind)
-Check "office", a carry-on type luggage bag with all my shopping bags for customers (3 sizes), credit card machine, receipt book, stapler, pens, business cards, calendar post cards, etc. etc.
-Check credit card machine for readiness, paper and battery charge
-Check maps and reservations and (did I forget?) weather forecast
-Check acceptance packet again and again and again to make sure I didn't miss anything (a little nervous, are we?)
-Pack clothes and food (I hardly ever eat out while traveling) and coffee!

Okay, as promised, here are the pictures of the "frame shop"!

 

A couple of blocks ready to be framed, mounted on plywood and finished with a few coats of polyurethane. Even though I have a formica surface to work on, I always cover with matboard, cardboard or newspaper so clean up is fast.

 

 

View of the now framing table, with cut mats and gadgets. In the background are my "stock" boxes, where all the framed and matted art will be transported. I made these custom to fit the frames and they all have handles, straps and wheels. In the art festival business I learned fast to put everything on wheels!

I have three sizes, two for 16x20"s since these are the most popular; two for 22x28"s which also fit 24x30"s; and one for larger works, up to 32x40" (that's a monster box!). All the 11x14"s go into another box, a very large plastic tool box purchased at Home Depot.

 

Here is a close up view of the framing table. To the leftmost of the picture is my faithful matcutter, 750 model. Cut mats directly to the right of the matcutter awaiting to be mounted.

Right of that is the cutting board with marked measurements, acquired at the sewing supply store. They usually last me a year or so since they are not meant for blades, but they work well for at least that long. On the cutting board, a woodcut ready to be bagged for the mat bin.

Behind the art, my inventory sheets, price tags, certificates of authenticity and such things. Behind that assorted tools for framing and preparation such as pens, pencils, rulers, screw drivers, paper towels, brush, and a long etcetera! Also to the right of the artwork more tools and the all important framing wire, points driver, staple gun and glue by the gallon.

Some blocks and prints ready to be placed in their appropriate containers for travel. I separate the frames from each other with foamboard the same size as the frame to prevent knicks and bumps. Other than perfectly fitting in their cases, that is all the protection I have found necessary and I frame with real glass!

That's about it. Everything is loaded in the trailer now and ready to travel. I will continue with the festival pictures this weekend.

 

 

August 2006

Two more done, I enjoyed this set and feel I'm back "in the groove". I completed the first of the Grand Canyon series and will be printing it next week, the next design is ready to go down on the next big block. Here are my new prints:

The Cairn Project is progressing nicely, I got all the blocks mailed out and will anxiously await their return. It usually takes a while and it is a lot of fun to upload the single images as they come in. This year I learned from experience and will be uploading as they come, otherwise the job is huge!

I picked up a few more festivals and my Calendar is now settled for the fall, although I'm still waiting to hear from one festival. And my book is done! I'm whitling out the last few revisions and add-ons and I will be ready to publish by fall/winter of this year. Yes! Even with the festival schedule, I'm sure of it. The book "Art Festival Guide" for artists or something like that, will get its own website with list of resources and all kinds of goodies for anyone who wants to start doing art festivals.

With the August Newsletter sent out and frames ordered for next season, I feel I'm getting close to being ready to get on the road again. I missed doing festivals but also enjoyed the free summer; I might do it again next year!

Off to the studio...

July 2006

Finished 4 more prints! Just little ones and not very complex, but it "felt" like progress, finally. I am enjoying my summer off selling. I miss the traveling and the artists and I know when I go back this fall I will feel a bit out of place again, but it is nice to have uninterrupted time in the studio, day after day.

Here are the four, click images for enlargement:

So I move on! I started an eBay store again (http://stores.ebay.com/1000woodcutsartbymariaarango), just to continue to empty the drawers from accumulating old inventory. The off season selling also seems to empty the mind from the old to make room for the new.

Other things accomplished this past month, finally ordered the wood for the Cairn project and I'm excited to start chopping it up next week and send it off with instructions to 79 participants from across the globe, wow...http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

And I started some large prints which, together, will make a nice collection. The subject: The Grand Canyon. I can't wait...I'm planning a couple of odd shapes, elongated like Chinese landscape scrolls, two vertical and two horizontal. Let's see how far I get on that!

April 17 2006

Two more prints are done. One is the customary Chinese Lunar New Year exchange print which will soon be on its way to about 60+ homes of printmakers scattered around the world. This is the year of the dog and I just HAD to make a "desert dog" print. These would be the coyotes, abundant everywhere despite civilization having encroached upon their peaceful territories. My favorite "feature" of the charming canines is their ability to engage in howling-yapping concertos that pierce the desert night and raise the hair on the back of the neck of any human camping on the wash.

Print number two is a return to the vessels series, which often means I'm deep in thought about something. In this case, the "something" is the growing heated immigration debate. I'm still figuring out where I stand. Meantime, this image of a wall came to ming, sort of a double wall that we build on one side while climbing on the other. I suspect everyone has their walls and everyone tries to climb other people's walls. The "other side" is always more luring and exciting than our own. Anyhow, the vessel encloses the whole nonsense.

Next in line are two landscapes on purple heart wood, for which I am going to experiment with masking as a way to get color areas without splitting the block in a puzzle. Sort of a mask-puzzle? Pictures to come.

I also started a second collaborative project with nearly 75 printmakers from all over the world; I do that sometimes. This will be a crazy one! Here are the details: http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

Almost April 2006

Finished uploading the Floating World series. The paper is Beech Grove Paperworks hickory blend; we named it "the dark side," but it is a beautiful fibrous paper full of verve. Here are the mini-thumbs of the series and a link to the Woodpeople Gallery:

Sent out my end of March update, complete text here: March 2006 Update

Housekeeping Notes : Not much to say on this mini-update except about the reorganization of the website and the studio. Oh, one sort of bad thing about this, the reorganization included many instances of renaming files so if you had direct links to some of the pages...well, sorry about that! Here is a list of new and improved web updates:

• This Diary will now be kept a bit more consistently since I am using it as a journal/diary/record of activities.
• You can now take a Virtual Tour of my studio and see where I work, or nap...
• New look and sections in the Studio Notes, the most recent one is a Glossary of printmaking terms.
• All the Galleries have a new look! I "framed" all my thumbnails and reorganized some galleries.
• To make navigation a snap, I now have new javascript menus on every page, but you can also get to everything from either the index page or the site map as usual and search through my site from the index page.
• A new Project is born! I wasn't exactly bored, but it was high time to get another mega-collaboration going.

Enjoy the website and drop by a festival some time!

March 2006

Very busy February! I had a show every weekend and had to catch up on my usual end/beginning of season tasks such as repainting my weights, washing the canopy, and all such maintenance things. But I made it through and also enjoyed taking this month off.

As usual, what prompts this entry is that I am getting ready for an upcoming festival. This time is Tempe in Arizona, downtown, a festival known as a zoo (tons of people, tons of artists, usually pretty good money). After 6 years I am finally cutting down on the anxiousness that preceeds a festival. This year also has become the "Year of the Web"! I am getting orders consistently and seems my collectors are enjoying purchasing art they have seen before, usually in a festival.

I plan this year to be "better" at the diary entry thing and to continue to add pictures. My latest adventure was at the Grand Canyon, and if that doesn't inspire an artist, nothing will. So with a head full of ideas and a camera full of pictures, I set off into the studio, newly renovated. I spent the better part of the last two weeks renovating the website too, to make it easier to navigate and clean up the messy stuff. I am nearly done but ended up with a longer list of things-to-do than I started!

Let's get going...

January 2006

As I write this January is nearly over and, as usual, I am getting ready for my first festival of the season. I had the chance to rearrange my studio and am still working (probably will be for a while) on the most perfectly efficient arrangement...or at least the most "work-conducing-inspiring" arrangement I can muster.

I'm feeling a bit rattled and lost; the only thing to do is to work myself out of the slump, this year's slump being a bit lower than most. But a festival is coming and there is nothing to do but to get ready for it and, as has been pointed out, consider myself lucky to have a show. In fact, I am lucky enough to have a run of four festivals, which will leave little time to ponder as there is much to do.

This month's task list included making some new wooden carry-boxes (with wheels, of course!) for my larger works, painting my hangers and weights, washing both canopy tops and reconciling current inventory. I somehow managed to finish the "floating world" series of prints and finish printing 6 smallish series so I can get my greedy hands on the blocks.

I'm trying some new things on some color pieces in the works and also carving the finished blocks more as a relief carving (as opposed to a flat woodblock). Let's see where that will take me.

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