Lonely is the Illustration Friday word this week and I must admit that I think I've missed the mark here because although this little girl is alone she's not really lonely.  How could she be when the trees and lamp posts have been so wonderfully decorated. Perhaps it's all the people in the background, at the edge of the park, who aren't enjoying the wonderful yarn bombing who are the lonely ones.  You can definitely feel lonely in a crowd. This is a reduction linocut inspired by a picture I saw of a yarn bombing in Seattle.  Thank-you to all the knitters out there who stage these magical events!

A little Illustration Friday for Sunday.
It always amazes me that when I paint over layers of old paint and ink interesting things happen.  In this picture, the man's face was there, I didn't paint it for the picture.  Also his pants pocket was there and I thought, "Oh, he's wearing jeans". I do have fun.

I've been working away and trying to get enough art together for our print show this fall. (I'll be posting all the details about it later)  One thing I know about myself is that I can't create under pressure.  Many is the time I've tried to make a little birthday card for someone the day of their party.  I should be able to whip up a little card right?  Nope.  The second I start thinking that I have only an hour, or a day, or a week to do something, the creative muses fly away.  I'm not sure why this happens.  Creativity seems to creep in from the side and take over my brain so that there is no room left for practicle thoughts.  I need blocks of time where I don't have to think of anything else.  This sounds a little weird and I know lots of people create wonderful things under pressure.  Maybe if I understood the process better I could too.  But for now, it's a hot summer and the print show is months away, so I can hide in my cool basement studio and let linocutting take over my brain.

I've been working on this large reduction linocut called, "Toast is Up".  It involved 6 colours and the plate is cut away after each colour is printed so if you make a mistake it can ruin everything.  The farther you get in the process the more you have to loose and I must admit that towards the end it was getting difficult to breath.  However, it all worked out. Yeah!  Even though it makes me tense, I'm kind of addicted to it.  I'm already thinking about what to do next, but I'd better do some mixed-media to chill out!  I love doing linocuting because it's such a different process from mixed media.  In mixed-media I can play.  If I make a mistake, No Problem!  I just paint over it.  Lino has rules and sharp edges.  I'm glad I don't have to choose between the two.  I love them both!

I was excited to see the new look for the Illustration Friday Blog so I had to submit something this week.  Illustration Friday seems to be keeping this blog alive these days.  I've been doing a lot of  printmaking for a show this fall and I'm never sure whether I should share or wait until after the show.  While I was doing this page in my art journal, I realized how much I miss painting and doodling and just messing around. 
Thanks to Illustration Friday for reminding me that I have to play sometimes!