The Archipelago on the east side of Georgian Bay gets its share of rain. This past week we had lots of it and spent many hours under a tarp drawing. We even had a black bear stalk us, moving from island to island around us then sneaking into our camp from behind. My extensive repertoire of bear chasing noises had him leave in a hurry.
A friend told me that at my parents’ Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary he asked my dad what the secret was to being married that long. My dad said that it was ‘Easy, just get married and wait!’
Apparently having a cool newspaper is the same. I bought this fifty years ago (with my pre-kindergarten milk money…honest) and have moved it around all these years.
I can’t imagine thinking about 2019 when I bought it.
I called this ‘Out Of The Wind’ all the time I was working on it but, because I imagined the two people lost in their thoughts at the end of a day, but still very much together, it reminded me of a poem I’d read called ‘Two Solitudes.’
Without any explanation I presented both titles to a few people. They all disliked ‘Two Solitudes.’ I assume that it was a negative thing for them, the two people were angry at each other. Or something.
The poem reads: Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.
Long story short, by the time I got it into ‘Insights’ it was called ‘Out of the wind.’
It’s always a thrill to be accepted into INSIGHTS, a great juried exhibition of multidisciplinary works from many of the region’s best artists.
Opening Reception at The Wellington County Museum on Wednesday, June 19th between 7:00 to 9:00 P.M.
This is a fun show in a great village near Guelph. Lots of Art, lots of music!
This is one I did for a postcard exchange for the Chinese ‘Year of The Boar’.
I call it “Two sows, and nineteen.’
I had a spatula of dark ink after cleaning up from printing and ‘painted’ this tree with it. I liked the tree so I created a background for it. 
Here’s a great show that features engravers, small letterpress printshops, unbelievable bookbinding and many related artisans as well as printing ephemera and books.
….and us, Raven Press.
Come early, see the show then take a hike along a wooded trail on top of the nearby Niagara Escarpment!
I editioned this years ago but something about it always bugged me so it was relegated to a drawer. Two weeks ago I sliced a lot of roadway from the bottom of the plate and all of a sudden the eye was drawn to the barn, not the road!
These are printed in black with an image area of 35.5×58.5 cm (14×23″).
What kept me going
What kept me spending long hours last summer turning this old shed into a great studio was the thought that we could be inside working on those icy cold, snowy winter days.
I had to go out in the icy cold, snowy winter night to take these pics of my partner at work.
These hay pulleys ran along a track near the peak of the barn roof. The bottom pulley clipped onto a large fork that dropped down and stuck into loose hay on the wagon just in from the field. The rope was attached to a team of horses that would pull the hay up to where it could be dropped into the loft. Hot, dusty, sweaty work.
This is a four colour print with an image area 28 x 34 cm (11×14.5 inches)
A brief respite from a slow going, very detailed engraving. A small, 2 colour engraving of a nude. It’s a closeup because I do a terrible job of faces, and hands, and feet…and other parts as well. 
My first concept for a Chinese ‘Year of the Pig’ card was this Hoggytonk piano player singing “Have a swill year, my sweet (and sour) mama’…..but I have a better idea :- )
The Studio is ready for the winter! It’s insulated, the heater is installed and working, the pressroom set up and ready.
This is the first colour print, one that I knew I could adjust the press to. It’s from an old sketch, one titled ‘Landscape with Moon’. There’s actually a coyote baying at the moon but you can’t see it from this angle.
Dynamite Show at the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto, the same place this pic of the group of severn was taken. The wall were covered with paintings and portraits of/by Canada’s best (and lesser) known artists or, as a female exhibitor pointed out, a lot of old white guys.
Even as an old white guy, it was good to have that pointed out.
The art there was great. The bookbinders in attendance have taken bookbinding to a whole new, almost sculptural, level. Papermakers whose paper was superb, wood engravers, lingo engravers….the list went on. Damn! Almost forgot the display of typewriters from the1800’s, incredible.
