artHound

corner crows

July 10, 2017 in artwork | No comments

The circle of herbs has been cut for weeks, but there’s one slight hold-up. Actually, not one, but four, as in four corners, one per block and, realistically, it’s not been a slight hold-up either. Normally I would have an idea of the overall design of a piece before I even start carving. This time I focused on the circular portion and, for a brief time, considered stopping with the round layout. Apparently I wasn’t really committed to a parsley family mandala, hence the four blocks sat in the studio waiting. And then along came the corner crows, ready to preside over what is now officially titled Herbal Roulette!

Tags: apiaceae, as potent as a charm, crow, crows, hemlock, herbal roulette, linocut, parsley family, printmaking, umbelliferae

wheel of (mis)fortune

June 22, 2017 in artwork | No comments

So far, so good, but still decisions to make. Herbal Roulette.

Tags: apiaceae, as potent as a charm, herbal roulette, linocut, linoleum block, parsley family, relief print, umbelliferae

spinning my wheels

March 12, 2017 in artwork | No comments

Hemlock, Conium maculatum, and several of its nefarious relatives, are members of the Apiaceae (or Umbelliferae) family of plants, commonly called the parsley or carrot family. This is a large family of more than 3700 plants and deciding how to represent it in the As Potent as a Charm series has been a bit overwhelming at times. Inspiration arrived in a remark in a Peterson Field Guide, Easten/Central Medicinal Plants by Steven Foster and James A. Duke. In describing Golden Alexanders (also among the Apiaceaes), the author stated, “Amateurs fooling with plants in the parsley family are playing herbal roulette.” Aha! A wheel it is! This time the format will be circular, rather than the narrow rectangle of previous prints. A dozen sketches have been chosen, four of which are poisonous; further decisions are pending, but soon the fun will begin!

Tags: apiaceae, as potent as a charm, hemlock, linocut, linoleum block, poison, relief print, umbelliferae

Suspects

March 10, 2017 in artwork | No comments

A recent addition to the As Potent as a Charm series of poisonous botanicals, Suspects, is inspired by Castor Bean, Ricinus communis, with a nod to the 1978 ‘umbrella murder’ of Bulgarian dissident, Georgi Markov, in London. Neurotoxins found in the seeds are 500 times more poisonous than cyanide.

Tags: as potent as a charm, castor bean, Georgi Markov, linocut, linoleum block, poison, relief print, ricinus communis

Evolving Landscapes

March 3, 2017 in artwork, hanging around town, summit artspace | No comments

Evolving Landscapes
Summit Artspace
March 3 – April 8, 2017

As noted in a past blog post, Landscape Perils, the yew is one of those “plantings that add a hint of danger to the structure of the garden.” In Pleasant Valley appearances deceive: the ubiquitous landscape/foundation plant of suburbia, the Yew, seems ordinary, but all parts of Taxus baccata are poisonous.

Pleasant Valley (detail)
Yew, Taxus baccata
relief print

Tags: as potent as a charm, linocut, relief print, summit artspace, Taxus baccata, yew

’tis the season

December 9, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

As Potent as a Charm also included some holiday beauties whose good will might be suspect:

Black Hellebore
Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger

[holly]

Biding Time
Mistletoe, Viscum album

a riddle
I lived my life between the worlds
Neither earth nor sky would call me child
The birds were my companions
The wind and rain my mentors
Daily I grew in power and strength
‘Til snatched out of time by the trickster
answer: mistletoe

Tags: as potent as a charm, crow, hellebore, holly, linocut, mistletoe, printmaking, raven, relief print, riddle

landscape perils

December 9, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

There have been many surprises in the ongoing research on poisonous plants for the As Potent as a Charm series. Not the least is the number of common landscape/foundation plantings that add a hint of danger to the structure of the garden, such as this threesome of familiar shrubs:

A Deceptive Welcome
Rhododendron, Rhododendron

Pleasant Valley
Yew, Taxus baccata

Be Still
Oleander, Nerium oleander

Tags: as potent as a charm, botanicals, linocut, oleander, poison, printmaking, relief print, rhododendron, yew

tiny prints ~ small doses

December 8, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

Part of the fun in researching botanical poisons for As Potent as a Charm, was coming across bits and pieces of information, quotes and symbols. Tiny prints and commentary are gathered here in a collection of nine little pieces. There’s a crown for the Queen of Poisons (Aconitum) and a dagger to mark a botanical poison; Belladonna for dark, alluring eyes or castor oil to brighten the whites a la Cleopatra; the atropine dose from my hound’s recent surgery and intriguing quotes from disparate sources, including Agatha Christie’s comment on her frequent method of (fictional) murder: “I prefer to poison them.”

Tags: as potent as a charm, belladonna, castor bean, linocut, printmaking, relief print

the Solanaceae family

December 8, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

Black sheep and skeletons in the closet . . .
even the plant world has its share of family secrets, eccentrics and deviants.

Consider the family Solanaceae, commonly referred to as either the nightshade or potato family: members of this unwieldy clan run the gamut from the meek to the murderous. In each of the six Solanaceae prints the virtuous shares space with the disreputable.

Look for mandrake (Mandragora officinarum) and the potato (Solanum tuberosa), deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) and Petunia, henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) and eggplant (Solanum melongena), bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), along with tobacco (Nicotiana) and chili pepper (Capsicum). With about 2,690 additional species, the history of the Solanaceae family’s interaction with humans is one of dramatic trial and error, malevolence and goodwill.

left to right:

Loves Me Not
Deadly Nightshade, Atropa belladonna
Petunia

Deceitful Charm
Jimson Weed, Datura stramonium
Chinese Lantern, Physalis alkekengi

Bittersweet
Woody Nightshade, Solanum dulcamara
Tomato, Solanum lycopersicum

Scuttle
Mandrake, Mandragora officinarum
Potato, Solanum tuberosa

Best Laid Plans
Henbane, Hyoscyamus niger
Eggplant, Solanum melongena

Smokin’ Hot
Tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum
Chili pepper, Capsicum

Tags: as potent as a charm, botanicals, linocut, printmaking, relief print, Solanaceae

Ricinus communis

December 7, 2015 in artwork, hanging around town | No comments

The Castor Bean plant from this year’s garden found multiple uses in the As Potent as a Charm exhibit. The framed artwork is a print of a fresh leaf on mulberry hosho using oil based ink; the display leaves were overlapped, coiled in newspaper and dried.

Tags: as potent as a charm, castor bean, leaf print, printmaking, ricinus communis

as potent as a charm