Life at the Nerdery

The Wild Parrots of Mission Bay

It's really hard to tell from this picture, but I'm pretty sure these are parrots. Maybe I'm just imagining things, inspired by The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, which I saw last summer. Still, these are definitely NOT seagulls. They're green. They have bright yellow bellies. And they're VERY loud in the morning, when I'm trying to sleep. Any ornithologists out there?

No, it's not mine. It's called Dew Drop, by Chen Yuqiang. This is one of my favorite print artists--not just for the beauty of his compositions, but also for his brilliant mixture of techniques. View the large version of the picture at the right--you'll see that many of the objects are blurred or indistinct--much more like a water color or a silkscreen than a woodblock print. At the same time, Yuqiang retains the simple shapes and organic lines that, in my opinion, are so essential to the success of a wood print. Yuqiang has worked for a long time in multiple media (specifically relief printing and silkscreening), and the crossover between these techniques is very apparent here. You can see more of his prints at Artelino, or at chinaprints.com.

I've been thinking for a while now about doing some prints of my own on a similar theme. Mission Bay has several large estuaries that provide perfect opportunities for getting some great pictures of coastal birds. Or at least, they provide great opportunities for experienced photographers. I am quickly learning how hard it really is to take a good picture of anything. But I recently got a new digital camera, and I can't resist putting up some of my own efforts at capturing the local wildlife.

On my way to work last weekend, I stopped and got a few shots of some pelicans and a heron near the south bay estuary (across the road from Sea World). Hopefully, I'll be able to use some of these for sketches and design ideas. I'll post more as I get them. And I have to put in a disclaimer here--I don't have a telephoto attachment for my camera, and these pictures were taken from a few hundred yards away on a foggy day. So they're a little grainy...

First print from the Japanese Lanterns plate. This copy was done with printer's ink and a brayer. I would like to do it with sumi ink, but I always have problems with large dark expanses when printing in that style.

I haven't decided on the colors yet for this print. I may just paint the lanterns and leave everything else in black and white. And perhaps the cypress trees as well, in a dark green?

Japanese Lanterns - unfinished plate

Here's the unfinished plate for a print I've been working on for quite a while now. The design was done about a year and half ago, from a combination of photographs and personal memories. There are quite a few shrines and temples like this in Japan. It's a wonderful experience to go visit one on a summer night when the air is still and heavy, and the sounds of the city are muffled by the trees on the temple grounds.

I made a mistake on this plate, and cheated by filling it in with wood putty. Normally I refrain from doing that, but this print had been so long in coming that I really didn't feel like starting over...

Prescott Lake - pink & green plates

Test print, showing the combination of the rock plate and the trees plate together. I have quite a bit of work to do on the color, but at least the two plates match up fairly well...

Prescott Lake - rock plate tests

These are test prints for the pink/rock plate. I'm trying to get a feel for how to apply multiple colors on a single plate. Also, I'm using a brush (actually, a mushroom brush meant for cleaning vegetables) that leaves distinct marks in the paint, which allows me to impart a sense of movement and structure to the surface.

Another picture of the Prescott Lake print. This is the pink plate for the rocks. The colors shown here are much more vivid than what I will probably use on the final print. I'm still figuring out how to apply different colors during the same press, and it's more fun to practice with a lot of colors.

I'm working on a print of a lake in Prescott. Jun and I went up there in August, and were kayaking out on the lake as a storm came up from the east. I have only done on other color print before (a frustrating disappointment), so this is all a bit of an experiment. At this point, I'm just playing around with my technique for applying the paint to the surface of the block, etc.

This picture is of the "green" plate for the bushes and trees.

Walk for the Cure

I came home from work on Friday to find that a small city of tents had sprung up across the street. It turns out that the San Diego Walk for the Cure charity event is happening this weekend, and all of the participants are camping out in Mission Bay Park for three days. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday they will all walk 20 miles a day, ending in Balboa Park on the last day. As my neighbor Dennis put it, "there are 10,000 women camping out 20 feet from our apartment."

A ride in the park

I've been trying to do something semi-active at least once a week (pathetic, I know). So today I took a bike ride across the bay to the mudflats that run along Mission Bay Drive near Sea World. It was a great day for it--partially cloudy, but with the seen peeking out here and there. More importantly, it was nice and cool. Which was good, since I worked up quite a sweat just getting over the first bridge. I may want to step up the exercise routine a bit :) Also, I noticed after a few minutes that both of my tires were partially flat, which makes it seem more like I'm riding an exercise bicycle, rather than a mountain bike. I finally made it to the mudflats, and it was well worth the tremendous effort. There were quite a few birds there, including two blue herons and 10+ white herons. At least, I think the white ones were herons. I'm no ornithologist. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the blue herons, as they flew away before my camera could turn on. Stupid camera. Definitely on my list of things to purchase now that I actually have a real job...

Pictures from the ride: