The Praga

For several years I have been on the hunt for an etching press. It's a critical piece of equipment to works like these:

Finally I found a beauty - just the size and brand I was looking for! A Praga - 24" x 42".

It now sits in the dining room, waiting for space in the studio to be prepared, and for felts to be ordered. The press bed is not yet installed, but it did get a thorough and loving cleaning.

On a miserable winter day we drove out near Peterborough to the studio of Michael and Melanie Robinson. With the help of some very strong neighbors, it was loaded in pieces into the back of our van.

It was far too snowy and miserable to be able to trek up to the studio - a distance from the house, but I hope to take a trip back there and visit. I'm thrilled to have a press with a history. Michael Robinson was a well-known artist - writer and printmaker. You can view his  work here. We had a most lovely and gracious visit with Melanie, and enjoyed tea and stories. 

This will change the work I do. I have been marking time for a few years, enjoying exploring other media, but this is the one I connect with. I should be set up and printing in a few weeks!

Gallery Stratford - Huron-Perth Exhibition 2012

Photos from the exhibit opening - it's a beautifully diverse and uplifting show. Visit if you can, and also take in David Leventi's spectacular photographs in the other galleries.

A few words from the juror's statement: "I found myself responding most strongly to work that conveyed a focused and intense engagement with materials, either in the understanding of traditional technique, or in an experimental and innovative way, forging exploratory extensions of the medium's possibilities.... As you walk through this exhibition I expect that you'll appreciate it's diversity, but I also hope that you'll notice threads that run throughout; the ways in which the works resonate with each other, whether through subject matter, technique, or the artist's innovative and personal use of materials."

one (more)

From a series of 36

I'm nothing if not impatient, so I often have unfinished pieces around (for far too long) while my mind and heart have moved on to other things. But I'm drawn to some older pieces I unearthed recently and want to finish them.It just takes focus.