Cloudery

I’m compiling a page with all of the drawings that are available as giclée prints. It means going back over the past two years of my work, when I finally got serious about drawing. A year ago I would have had trouble looking at many of the first drawings, but at this point I have more distance and feel less critical.

There are drawings I’ve completely forgotten—and I find myself glad to “find” them again. Below is one, Rabbit’s Vantage Point (after John Updike), drawn in November 2008, when I was re-reading Rabbit, Run for the fourth or fifth or sixth time. Turns out it was just a couple months before his death (January 27, 2009).

His day has been bothered by God: Ruth mocking, Eccles blinking—why did they teach you such things if no one believed them? It seems plain, standing here, that if there is this floor there is a ceiling, that the true space in which we live is upward space. Someone is dying. In this great stretch of brick someone is dying. The thought comes from nowhere: simple percentages. Someone in some house along these streets, if not this minute then the next, dies; and in that suddenly stone chest the heart of this flat prostrate rose seems to him to be. He moves his eyes to find the spot; perhaps he can see the cancer-blackened soul of an old man mount through the blue like a monkey on a string. He strains his ears to hear the pang of release as this ruddy illusion at his feet gives up this reality. Silence blasts him. Chains of cars creep without noise; a dot comes out of a door. What is he doing here, standing on air? Why isn’t he home? He becomes frightened and begs Ruth, “Put your arm around me.”

Safety Net. Pen and ink on Moleskine watercolor paper, 5 x 7 inches. August 2010.

Inspired by Illustration Friday — “caged”

Lowest left, behind the light . . . there it is . . .

Photo by Ed Marquand

Opening August 1st, 10 x 10 x 10 x Tieton: A Juried Exhibition of Art, Craft, and Photography features 179 works from 146 artists from around the world. The catch: All works must be under 10 x 10 x 10 inches, including the frame or stand. Jurors were Ed Marquand (Marquand Books, Seattle), Gail Gibson (G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle) and Greg Kucera (Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle).

Cloudery is proud to be one of the artists represented, with Oceanscape No. 2.

For more information about the show, view the exhibition website. The opening reception is Sunday, August 1, and the main reception is Saturday, August 28. The show runs through October 15. If you’re anywhere near Tieton, WA, drop on by.

Red Dragon, White Dragon. Pen & ink on Moleskine watercolor paper. 5 x 7 in. December 2008. (041)

Click on the image above to read the July 2010 Cloudery Newsletter online.

If you’d like to subscribe to receive the newsletter by e-mail (sent out 6 to 12 times per year), just visit the contact page to sign up.

Over the past few months I’ve been working on re-imagining how best to use Etsy as an outlet not only for offering Cloudery art, but to continue to supporting First Book.

There are thousands of prints on Etsy. But once you receive them, you have to figure out how to frame them. I found a great solution.

Last fall I discovered Plywerk, a small company in Portland, Oregon, that fabricates by hand ready-to-hang panels made from FSC-certified, sustainably-harvested woods. These panels are made of bamboo, or a plywood of maple with a birch & alder core. All come with a keyhole slot in the back, ready to hang right away on the wall.

Cloudery is now offering custom printed giclées of original illustrations from my collection (printed on eco-friendly, acid-free exhibition-quality bamboo paper by Pushdot Studio, also in Portland). The craftspeople at Plywerk then mount the prints on the Plywerk panels using a pH-neutral adhesive.

And there you go — affordable Cloudery art of your choice, shipped to you ready to hang. No framing to worry about. And in fact, it’s a really lovely, elegant, and green alternative to standard framing.

And each print sold from Etsy donates four new books to under-privileged children through First Book.

Take a look at the new line of products on Etsy — I hope you like what you find.