Portraits of a great woman...

These are drawings from a sketchbook I have made of my Mother for the past 6 years. During every visit to Memphis I sketch her doing things around the house. Glad I have it. It makes me remember how absolutely wonderful she is. She is the reason I am an artist. Her drawings were always an inspiration to me.

Leap Year Mother...

Took this picture of my mother in her southern kitchen. It was a priceless moment to see the wallpaper and her bathrobe a perfect match.

Third of about 5 drawings I did last night.

So happy to get to work with watercolor and graphite again. Need to start translating this technique to my prints.

Long overdue sketching...

It's been about a week since I've been able to do some sketches. Did this last night. Our print studio has been really really busy. If there was an odometer on our press it would have passed the 2000 prints mark. Our visiting artist is headed back to Florida, sweet visit, he was a hard-working artist. Plan to get back into the routine this week with a new group of lithographs based on a cacti theme, called "Mutant Prick" series.

Need to get ready for an upcoming group show, I am one of 3 artists.

Visiting Artist

Charles Coates is visiting this week. He is primarily a relief artist (see example of his print, "Confidence") but this week he is doing lithography at L VIS Press. He printed two smaller images first as a preliminary/warm-up to the large stone. He is shown here doing his drawing on the big litho stone. The image is based on some of the southwest icons such as the San Xavier mission (detail of interior of the mission). He is checking out Uof A for graduate printmaking. We are thrilled to have him here!

Walking woman, pen and ink, watercolor drawing.

"Reconciliation"

Sepia and black pen drawing about sisters who haven't spoken for years because they have very little in common. One is conservative and the other is unconventional.

Drawing using sepia micron pen over light pencil rough... Came across this older sketch... silly little writings, must have been a "drama" moment...I'm always going back to my sketches to get ideas for upcoming prints.

Graining stones today. Busy...

"My Eyes Hear You"

Pen and ink drawing from my sketchbook. Playing with distortion to exaggerate the eyes and ears, the mouth was left out intentionally. Funny thing a psychiatrist bought this, he said it was for his office. I think he just liked the title.
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Lots to do...I pick up our visiting artist today. He says he wants to take a sketching tour of the town. Sounds like fun. I always like group sketch.

Drawing in sketchbook.

"Twist of Faith"

Another drawing from my sketchbook. This was a drawing demo using pen and ink for my illustration class. The concept was the plight of the American Heartland.
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Finished graining the big stone yesterday. Need to finalize my concept for the image.

A second drawing of the heartland taken from my sketchbook. These were watercolor demos for my illustration students.
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Back to the studio...got my prints signed, numbered and shipped. They should arrive tomorrow. That leaves 2 more editions before the end of the month.

Watercolor and graphite drawing in sketchbook. A series of sketches based on survival in the heartland. I look for shapes in the washes to determine the figures and the landscape. The graphite goes easily on to the dry watercolor surface.

"The Neighbor's Cat", 11" X 14" painting

"kaypachiswaychis", lithograph, 15" X 19" created for a print portfolio with the theme "Do You Know Bolivia?".
Kaypachiswaychis meaning, "Empower us, give us strength, vision, everything we need to propel us into manifestation. Burst us forth from our cocoon."
—Incan Shamanic Dictionary

The fighting Cholitas, women from Bolivia who fight competitively. I chose them to represent the indigenous women of Bolivia who are fighting for greater independence and education for women.


The young woman in my lithograph is standing on a salt mound. The landscape is the famous Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats) in Bolivia.

On the sides I show the quipu (pronounced key-poo) a system of record keeping based on knot making. They were worn by the Incan shaman who kept track of numbers. Each knot or series of knots represents a number.

It seemed that the record-keepers had a lot of power. Even though the women were not the record-keepers I put the emblem of a gordian knot on her shawl. "Whoever breaks the knot will rule".
(c) 2007 Patt O'Neill, http://www.incaglossary.org/appc.html

This is a window from my back porch. I have been cementing these thrift store finds directly onto the window sill for a few years. They need dusting. The ceramic tiles are the beginning of a mosaic wall mural I am slowly but surely creating on the back porch wall. I'm quite certain that the resale value of our home is in constant jeopardy with all of my "outsider" art approaches to the decor. Obviously it doesn't stop me. TeHe

Morning Sketch on the Porch

Took my cup of coffee and sketchbook outside on to the back porch. Looks like a beautiful day. Those tangelos on the table are from our tree.

This drawing is for a new portfolio called "LOS ANIMALES CUTE". It is 10" X 24" and only 10 in the edition. Whew! Due March 1. My plan is to grain the big stone tomorrow and draw it the following day...etch that night and print the following day.

I am presenting Sydney our Coyote/Aussie as a the "queen" she is. Thinking of titling it "Bow-Now". It's true, she thinks we are here to serve her.
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Busy, busy, busy. We have a guest artist coming to stay with us a week (arrives on the 21st).
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Today I'm printing the red plate, the last color on my 6 color print for "Ink for Ink" portfolio. "Stripping" my prints to get ready for the final color and to prevent offset from yesterdays green color. This goes fast, I can do 3 prints at once.

Prismacolor drawing from sketchbook. "Green-eyed Daughter".
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It's late (or very early) and I'm watching a 1938 movie called "The Citadel". I'm thinking about what to do when I print my 5th color today. Will take a short nap before starting printing.
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I had some difficulty yesterday. Usually if I am printing a color lithograph I will use the stone for my "key" color and plates for my additional colors. I've been using polyester plates to print color flats for about 4 years. They're much less toxic than photo litho plates. One of the mediums I was testing to apply to the plate was Golden GAC-200 Medium (instead of Future floor polish). Unfortunately, it did not hold up as well as I had hoped. It started to break down after about 20 prints. My edition was 38 prints. I was forced to go back to drawing on the p-plate with a sharpie. I like using the sharpie pens for control and detailing but it "lifts" and discolors lighter color inks (like yellow) with a blue cast. I don't mind using them with blues, greens and dark reds. I was printing blue so this went well for the remaining prints.

Today I print green. Will use the sharpie again. Should take me about 3-4 hours to print.

Donate Your Hair

This print was part of a portfolio called "Hair Farming" organized by Melanie Yazzie. The emphasis was to bring attention to hair donation. There were 11 other artists' prints. Some amazing imagery and interpretation by each.

Choose your charity to donate your hair to. You'll find a lot of options and you might pick based on who the charity helps. Or just on the amount of hair you have to give. But do your homework.
Pantene Beautiful Lengths
Wigs for Kids
Locks of Love
Children with Hair Loss
Childhood Leukemia Foundation
Matter of Trust

Nest

This is a sketch I used for a print edition called "Nest". I'm considering modifying it for an upcoming small (5" X7") print portfolio that is due March 12th. I may combine relief and lithography.
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Last night I finished my second color on my edition for the Ink for Ink portfolio. Lost two out of 38 to missed registration. The paper accidentally moved after I put down the backing sheet. That gives me 11 extra prints to fall back on for the next 4 colors. Because I don't have time for my prints to dry between colors I might strip them (run them through the press to lift off wet ink) before I start. Hope to start printing at 2 pm.

Morning drawing...

3 cups of coffee and a new drawing in my sketchbook, "Taughther", based on things I taught my daughter about love.
Graphite, watercolor drawing and a lot of manipulation. Plan to print this afternoon, need to do a lot of prep first. Maybe a Valentine lunch with "A" beforehand.

Heart in Hand

Never found the time to print my valentine heart image before Feb 14th. Oh well...
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A love story...to help tell it I revamped an old painting (2002), "Non-Indigenous Woman Serving Time". This painting was about "paying dues", working hard to get somewhere, even though it was in marketing (not waitressing, however, I did waitress for one day when I was in college, that job lasted 2 hours, since then I have always given my food-servers giant tips out of empathy). I often felt like I was "serving others not myself" working in business all those years. I would arrange my business trips to have an extra day to visit all of the art galleries and museums I could fit in. The good news is that now I'm doing what I should have done all along...24/7 ART and I LOVE it.
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Early morning (early for me that is, 8 am) finalized drawings on 2 mylar film positives to expose for photo litho plates. Decided to add 5 colors to the new print for the "Ink for Ink" portfolio (organized by Joseph Valesquez, he was sweet enough to give me an extra week, whew!).

Zinnia will celebrate her first Valentines Day tomorrow.

"Queen of Hearts"

Pulling out all the "hearts" for upcoming V-Day. A year old 3 color lithograph created for a portfolio called "Royal Women". Chose to do the "Queen of Hearts". Yeah, okay, I know you're thinking it and I see it, she looks sooo sinister. I just can't help but like the "crazy-eyed non-indigenous queen" Also, you might be noticing that I use the "ruff" (collar) when ever I can . I think it indicates hidden humor, clown, but something lurking underneath . Guess this one's not very romantic, huh?

Mi Corazon

Think I like this one the best. Will try to make a pronto plate.

4 of Hearts

Trying to decide on which version to print. Just like me to wait until the very last minute to print a 3 color valentine. Will have to get everything ready to print today. It will be a 5" X 7".

Printing Day

Moving the slate slab back to shelf. Hydraulic lift makes it sooo possible for me to move heavy stuff easily. Thanks to "A" man. Registered paper standard T/Bar.

In homage to an incredible leather roller. Always primed to print, I love this roller. It is well prepped with ink. Mix a good stiff black. 3 parts Senefelder's Crayon Black to 1 part Charbonnel litho.

Experimented with a Soy Response washout. It worked. NON-TOXIC!!! Yes no lithotine. Consider the possibilities?!!!

Love Red, Yellow, Black and White

Sketchbook drawing with prismacolor.

Need to tear and register my paper (before noon) for the Flash Book edition of 25. Plan to print 10 over the edition because of color. I'm debating whether or not to share my image with the Blog. Also doing some proofs on 8" X 10" (about 8). So that is 43 total. "A" is going to print with me so it should go fast.

We'll play a mix of music that we both like, Brian Eno and Bang on A Can for him and Regina Spektor and Wolf Parade for me. This gives us pace while we print.

Mini-Relief Prints

I was scheduled to do a workshop with a group of non-printmakers. I made a kit of 6o small 3" X 4" lino blocks (2 per student), inexpensive brayers, non-toxic roll-up ink and several speedball knives for carving. The workshop was rescheduled to be advanced students learning pronto plate lithography instead. So after the workshop was finished I was left with a stack of lino blocks. I left them out on the small sofa table. I started doing one a night. Easy and fun...not too serious but another departure from the "high-control" stone lithography I've been doing. Each print is spontaneous, no expectations.
I've been able to entice passers-by to cut one or two.

Quick Relief Printing

I have a big collection of the character portraits that I have been cutting over time. This is a quick proof that I printed multiples of in my sketchbook. I work on our dining room table a lot. In fact, I find myself taking over every workable table space in my home. Bad habit or impulsive?

These exquisitely sewn hearts are from Thailand. They're from the UNICEF store, too.

Signed and Delivered

This edition of 30 prints has been signed (signed the back), covered with archival glassine and shipped to ASU. I used this for the "Women In Art" exhibit that opened Friday night.

This was a sketchbook study for the small painting. I added the heart and the torus knot.