Another Year of Clovis

Clovis is six years old today.  How time flies.  I remember when he first arrived and was this tiny.

Now, he's six.  I have been planning to make Clovis t-shirts for a while now, but it seems fitting that the plan was finally realized on the eve of his birthday.  Here is a little bit about the process of screen printing the t-shirts.  I was led into the world of printmaking by a great teacher and friend, Caitlin.  We worked at AS220's print shop, the organization that was featured in a travel article about Providence in today's New York Times!

First, I started with the design.  This was an iterative process over many weeks.  Once the design was complete, I printed it onto acetate sheets.  At the print shop, the acetate templates were photo-exposed onto an emulsion that had been spread across a screen and dried.

The light-exposed emulsion hardens and the areas where the black template prevents light exposure remains soft and gets washed away, creating a sort of stencil.

Each shirt is placed on the table according to guide marks, the screen is folded down and the ink is hand-pressed through the screen using a squeegee.  Each impression is unique.  Learning the right pressure and angle for ink delivery is all a part of the art.

The shirts are then dried on racks.

Prior to printing the shirts, we did a number of test prints on various colored paper.  I love these, too!

And here is the final product, some beautiful Clovis prints and t-shirts, just in time for his birthday!

Growing in the Garden

One of the great things about Providence and my Armory Park neighborhood is the sense of community.  One way this manifests is in a series of community gardens.  I am so lucky to have a plot and make things grow.

Here's a long shot of the garden from earlier this spring.

A garden plot neighbor graciously allowed me to plant butter beans in an unused corner of their plot.  There are also thyme and sunflowers.

The garlic earlier in June and a box planted with herbs: basil, marjoram, thyme and wormwood.  What can I do with wormwood?  You can see a little tomato plant beside the box.

This is how the tomatoes and the ripe garlic looked a few days ago.

Long shot with stop sign.

Ripe garlic with the riot of the herb bed behind it.

The tomatoes are surrounded by marigolds and borage.

I also just harvested the garlic I planted last fall!

These Siberian irises are a part of my patch.  They had a lovely bloom this June.

And these are some pictures of flowers from around the neighborhood.

And here's Clovis taking a nice stretch after reading Absalom, Absalom! all morning.

A Little Time in Steamtown

I just came back from the residency for the MFA program at Wilkes University.  I got my MFA there and had the opportunity to go back, teach and read.   It was a great week spent with amazing faculty and students.  I always come home more motivated and confident and ready to write.  While I was there, I had the opportunity to read at the Library Express at the Steamtown Mall in Scranton.  It was awesome--a wonderful venue that I hope to return to.  My good friend Barb also had a little party for me, including this amazing cake!

Huge thanks to Barb, Dawn, Laurie, Kaylie and all the wonderful Wilkes MFA people!  Making great friends is another wonderful benefit of the Wilkes Creative Writing MFA program!

Scranton also boasts the work of a Provincetown artist.  Herman Maril painted this mural in the West Scranton Post Office in 1941.

Scranton was a major player in the American Industrial Revolution.  The rail yards and anthracite mines fueled the railroad industry.  The Steamtown National Historic Site has a great collection of trains and the history of the era of steam engine rail travel.  Worth a visit!

 And all that time, Clovis was away at Summer Camp.  He stayed with his Aunt Suzi, Cousin Henry and the cats.  The days were filled with activity.

 Here he is looking cute on the bed.

Here he is taking a photo of himself.

Attacking the "new" Lambie (sadly, I forgot the old Lambie in a hotel in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina and Clovis has never forgiven me).

Snuggled nap time is always important.

And a few random shots thrown in for good measure.

I caught this painting class on the beach in Provincetown.  Looks like the days of Charles Hawthorne and the Art Schools of Provincetown!

Screen Test

They call Providence the "Creative Capital."  They don't just mean creative accounting when they say it.  There is a thriving and diverse arts community here and I got to edge my way into a little piece of it last night.  My wonderful neighbor Caitlin taught me the art and process of screen printing!  My first project was to make bookplates.  I have had requests from a few people that would like me to sign their copy of The Rebel Wife, but they live hundreds or thousands of miles away.  One reader asked if I had a bookplate I could sign and send to her.

No, I don't have bookplates, I thought, but maybe I can make some!

You start with a design.  I used an image of Clovis that I altered to look like a drawing, then I put a laurel wreath around his head.  The Apotheosis of Clovis, or something very like it.  The other pattern is taken from an abstracted Greek leaf pattern on an iron fence in Philadelphia around the Second Bank of the United States (designed by William Strickland and built about 1818; Strickland also designed the Providence Athenaeum!).

The design then gets photo-exposed onto a screen, which then becomes like a stencil for printing.  The process is methodical and physical.  I am really looking forward to continuing with experimentation and new ideas.  Next will be Clovis t-shirts using the laurel design!

The screen with the template photo-exposed onto it.

The wonderful Caitlin and Cristin at the AS220 Print Shop

A test print... 

Hot off the presses and onto the drying rack!

The printer at work

Post-printing screen...

I like to keep my screen clean.

The final beautiful product after being cut!

The bookplate at work!

I also had a great couple days in the NYC area.  I read at the KGB Bar with other alumni from the Wilkes University MFA program.  It was a great event!  I hope to be able to read there again.  Before the reading, I went with friends to a fantastic restaurant on Mulberry Street-Balaboosta.  It was fantastic!  Service, food, atmosphere, everything.

The back of the menu

Fried olives in yogurt and harissa

The most amazing hummus and pita