My latest chicken block print portrait is of Gracie the Miracle Hen.

As a toddler, Gracie was diagnosed with Marek’s disease, a neurological chicken cancer .  The doctor gave her only until the fall of 2009 to live. Defying her diagnosis, she spent the next two years in the home of a loving family. She showed remarkable perseverance and spunky personality and would follow her adoptive family around to help them with their daily tasks. She was deeply loved.

Learn more about the specifics of this print.

I am a long-time supporter of Save the Children, the world’s leading independent organization working to help children in need. They are a top-ranked charity which is efficient and effective at providing help to children around the world.  I like that they work not only around abroad, but also have a strong presence helping children within the United States.

USAID is currently matching donations to Save the Children that quadruple every dollar donated.  In support, I am holding a fundraiser sale from now until midnight, April 22, 2012.  For every purchase over $100 made through my Etsy site, I will donate $10 to Save the Children.  With USAID’s matching donation, Save the Children will receive $40 from your purchase.  You can buy any combination of non-custom items in my shop (shipping fees not included in $100 total).

This fundraiser is in conjunction with my ongoing donations for Breast Cancer Research through sales of my pink ribbon card sets.  Your purchase of pink ribbon cards can help two charities at once.

Stock up on gifts or treats for yourself and help this worthy charity.

At the end of the fundraiser I’ll post an update on my blog of how much was raised.

Read about last year’s Save the Children fundraiser to benefit Japanese tsunami victims, which raised over $8,300.

I’d like to introduce my new line of playful card designs aimed to help the fight against breast cancer.  These designs feature dogs and cats untying and playing with pink ribbons, the traditional symbol of breast cancer. The designs symbolize the process of getting through treatment, recovery, and moving on to the rest of life.

For every card pack sold through my Etsy site, I’m donating $1 to the Breast Cancer Research Fund.  BCRF provides critical funding for innovative clinical and translational research at leading medical centers worldwide.  This A+ rated charity puts 90 cents of every dollar donated into research and awareness programs.  According to BCRF, a $50 donation supports one hour of life-saving research.

These designs are also being sold at Pink Ribbon Annex and are an integral part of their social networking campaign. Pink Ribbon Annex is a new online community for women who have, or have had, breast cancer.  Please show your support for this great cause by checking out their site and Liking their facebook page.

To buy a pack of cards, click here.

I recently had the pleasure of making a portrait of Desmo the Chihuahua.  I was really impressed by his dapper dude-itude, his noble posture, and his very sweet owner, Meghan.  She writes:

Desmo was saved as a puppy with kennel cough, then a year later needed double knee survey to correct luxating patellas. Today he walks with a limp but carries himself with all the pride of royalty. Desmo is my constant reminder that one should conduct themselves with grace no matter the circumstances.

Honored to meet you, Desmo and Meghan! You are the kind of folk that make my work very fun.

Last Saturday I was fortunate to have been able to take a woodcarving class from Tom.  Save one experiment with an X-acto knife and a block of pine I found in my carport, I’ve worked only with linoleum.  It’s hard for me to express how meaningful it was to me to be able to ask questions and learn from someone whose work I’ve admired for so long.

The theory behind linoleum and wood carving is the same: the “white area” (the empty space in the design) is cut out of the block using knives and gouges, until all that is left on the surface of the block is the design you want to print.  That surface is then rolled with ink and printed onto paper.

I chose to work in class on a portrait of my friend, master printer Richard Seibert.  I started with an illustration I made of Richard, transferring the design to a wooden block.

Above: The wood block I carved, plus some carving tools, lots of wood shavings, and a corner of the original working sketch.

I quickly learned that the biggest difference between the two mediums is that wood has a distinct grain and direction whereas linoleum doesn’t. Carving wood requires patience and concentration to make sure the natural fibers of wood can pull up along the grain and remove part of your design.  Richard’s upper eyelid narrowly escaped being shaved off completely when my mind wandered.

I had thought the material would be hard as stone, but with sharp tools I found that it required less strength than carving cold linoleum (or maybe I just need to sharpen my lino tools!)  I have been using a certain set of tools to print my own work, so it was great to be able to try out a variety of Tom’s tools to see the difference they made.

Above: A closeup of the carved wood block.

I learned that when you cut away all but a very thin line perpendicular to the grain of the wood, it can begin to fragment and chip away.  You can see in the detail above that the line of Richard’s glasses is a little ridged, as some of the wood pulled away when I was carving.  It’s not super noticeable in the final print, but it is definitely something I’ll keep in mind for future prints.

Linoleum often shows a color gradient between the surface and the interior, so it’s quite clear where your cuts have been made.  Wood doesn’t have that clear distinction. The light in the room wasn’t great, and I think a stronger light would have thrown stronger shadows and helped me figure out where I had made my cuts.  I found it was most useful to put my face just a few inches from the block to carve very detailed areas.

Above: The finished wood block, inked and ready to print.  The blobs of ink on the lower right and left will not show in the final print because they are on much lower areas of the wood and won’t touch the paper.

We carved for about five hours. By the end I felt very bleary-eyed from staring point-blank at the surface of the wood, but very happy.  I am super lucky to have been able to learn from Tom. Learning about the temperament of the material gives me even more respect for the medium and artists who work with it.

Above: The finished print.

I’m always excited to learn about new small farms and the work they do with their local communities.  Recently I was introduced to Waltham Fields Community Farm (WFCF) and have been very impressed with their work.

WFCF is a non-profit farming organization which grows organic vegetables on 15 acres of land just outside of Boston.  They serve their community in an impressive number of ways, including offering access to affordable fresh vegetables to those in need, distributing to local public schools and donating to emergency feeding and nutrition centers.  They also offer education for children and adults as well as a formal Farmer Training program.

For those who just like to eat fresh and healthy vegetables, WCFC also has a 20-week summer share program (CSA) with pickups at the farm. For those who like to lend a hand, they even have a volunteer program.

I was so impressed with the work that WFCF does that I happily donated some of my vegetable block print reproductions for a fundraiser being held on Saturday, April 14.  It will be at the Museum of Industry, which sounds very cool and I wish I could be there in person!

WFCF is looking for more donations for their fundraiser.  If you have something you could donate, please consider them!  If you’re in the area and would like to participate in their CSA program, they have 50 shares on sale to the public starting today.  See their website for more details.

Waltham Fields Community Farm
www.communityfarms.org

This Valentine’s Day, consider one gift with triple rewards.  For every online order of gourmet (and award-winning!) vegan cinnamon rolls from Berkeley’s locally-owned and much-touted Cinnaholic, $5 will be donated to the Beagle Freedom Project.  To top it off, you’ll also receive one of my letterpressed “Bad Beagle” cards, featuring local beagle Daisy.  That’s a whole lot of benefit from one purchase!

The Beagle Freedom Project works to rescue beagles who have spent their lives in animal testing facilities and placing them with good homes.  My friend Daisy and her sister Maxine were both rescued from drug testing labs.  Their transformation from scared and timid souls into the rambunctious, loving, energetic (and, yes, at times mischievous!) dogs has been phenomenal.  (Read more about Maxine’s story here)

Cinnaholic serves 100% vegan cinnamon rolls in a variety of delicious flavors.  A host of people-in-the-know rave about their rolls, including Daily Candy, Chow, Reuters, and just about every local news outlet you can name.

I’m very proud to be a small part of this very generous offer from the good people at Cinnaholic.  If you are local, please stop in at their Berkeley store on the corner of Oxford and Center St, across the street from the UC campus.  The smell alone will make you swoon!

Stop the free radicals!  I had a bunch of fun creating this poster design for my client.  I can’t wait to get my T-shirt with this design on it!

Midori Farm is a small organic vegetable farm located in Port Townsend, Washington. I recently had the pleasure to work with them to re-design their logo. The elements of the logo were chosen to subtly emphasize the farmers’ part-Asian heritage and the farm’s emphasis on fresh and fermented organic vegetables.  Good people, good vegetables!

Local folk, check them out!

It's a holiday miracle! Nikkei the cat, lost 3 months ago in Ithaca, NY, was joyfully reunited with her owner.  I'd like to think that my portrait of Nikkei and the 'Lost' poster I created helped locate her.  Franklin Crawford at tinytowntimes.com distributed the poster around town and on the website, making sure it reached the maximum number of eyes. It takes a village to find a Nikkei.

I also hear it was re-purposed for a local band's show poster, so if the drawing didn't help find the cat I hope it helped find a crowd for the band's show.