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My summer vacation is coming to an end. For the past two weeks I have been visiting my dear friend Taeeun Yoo in Seoul, Korea. We spent our time drawing around Seoul, eating great food, working, and exercising together. It has been truly restorative. Today, my last day here, Taeeun conducted a printmaking workshop for me. I am most comfortable working in watercolor or pen, but am always eager to expand my artistic vocabulary.

First, I started with a drawing. Printmaking is wonderful because it forces you to think about shape and color first. Whereas, with other painting techniques, you are thinking about composition and line. My composition is based on my recent summer travels and a story idea I have been thinking about here in Seoul. I will share a few of the steps.

After transferring the drawing, I carved the white areas first. As in watercolor painting, I needed to build my print slowly from light to dark. The seagulls in this piece would remain white.

We mixed a greenish blue sky. This is the lightest color in the print.

Next, I carved away more of the block and printed the trees and ground a middle blue green.

After the sea printed, I added a darker blue green to the landscape and then printed the jacket and head of the boy last. After printing the jacket, we thought it needed to be warmed up a bit. We added a bit more yellow and then decided that we liked the original green.

We printed an edition of three. You can see here that each print varies slightly. For instance, in the first print, we inked a clean, flat blue for the water. In the second print some of the texture of the plate was left behind, making marks that looked more like waves. I really liked that effect, and continued the water lines for the rest of the prints.

Lastly, once the ink dried, I add a few details with a brush.

Voila, my first linoleum block print. Many thanks to Taeeun Yoo for her friendship and instruction today.
Check out her latest book, Here is the Baby, written by  Polly Kanevsky, due out this September with Random House.

I’m a little slow….

After receiving an e-mail last month about speaking with Ashley Bryan at the Auburn Avenue Research Library it wasn’t until I spoke with my friend, Jan Burkins (Literacyhead.com) this morning that I realized I am being honored next year by Ashley Bryan in collaboration with the National Black Arts Festival!

Each year in collaboration with National Black Arts Festival and renowned illustrator Ashley Bryan AARL honors an illustrator for their commitment to the authentic and sensitive representations of people of African descent and Africana culture.

We would be honored to have you (Shadra Strickland) as the 2011 honoree. The event is schedule for Thursday, July 07 at 6:30 p.m. Honorees are asked to facilitate a discussion about their work and participate in a conversation with Ashley Bryan. This event would also include a book signing.

We would also like to exhibit your (Shadra Strickland’s) artwork in our small gallery during the month of July.

Yeah, don’t ask me how I missed that. They had me at “conversation with Ashely Bryan”. WOO HOO!!!!!!! What a tremendous honor!

Many thanks to Ashley Bryan, the National Black Arts Festival, the Auburn Avenue Research Library, (and Jan Burkins for making me go back and read my e-mail slowly). See you in July!

When Renée Watson and I had our book signing at the Shrine of the Black Madonna, the walls were filled with paintings from Linc Bennet. Most people would categorize his work as collage, but he uses fabric as paint to describe shapes and model form. The paintings are absolutely striking. I have fallen in love with one and will be purchasing it as soon as I have enough money saved. In the meantime, here is a video about Linc and his work.

Oddly enough, listening to Linc talk about panic and not having enough time to make all the work he would like to, is so familiar. I don’t know any artist who works on a project without conceiving of five more in the process. Without further ado, here’s Mr. Bennet’s beautiful work. Enjoy~

Watch The Art of Linc Bennett in Entertainment |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com