First Peek at the New Series in B/W

A few black and white images from the series I'm working on:

Rooftops of Montmartre 

This was created from a sketch I did perched in the window of our incredible home exchange in Paris last summer. The apartment we stayed in was filled with light, art and incredible books.  Creating prints always becomes a blend of things for me; the subject itself, how I was feeling when I sketched it or chose it, my environment when I'm carving the plate, what music I'm listening to as I ink and transfer the image, all of it rolled up into one image. This one makes me feel great, blending time in that great apartment with my husband, time spent here at Ginestrelle, carving in the sunshine among all these wonderful and artistic people, listening to Lucio Dalla, and to Middle Brother singing songs like 'Portland' and 'Daydreaming', thinking about my family and music, art and life. All on one piece of paper. Definitely keeping one of these for myself when they're done. 

Glass Ceiling

I wandered into this building in Rome as I was walking from the trevi fountain to piazza Navona.  I'm glad I looked up.  I had an immediate and I think understandable urge to lie on the floor and contemplate it for hours.  The sunshine was streaming in, the sky bright bright blue.  So beautiful. 

Le Petit Prince

This was my room in Lyon, France last summer. I stayed here while I was studying, and I loved it. Not just the room but the whole experience; having an 'apero' every evening, dinner and conversation in the dining room with my wonderful host, and every night reading the copy of Le Petit Prince that was waiting in this room for me when I arrived. 

While the little prince and Saint Exupery were not actually in my room, somehow they landed here. They both make appearances in other prints from this series as well. I wonder if anyone will spot them.  

I loved the experience of reading this book so much, I thought I'd recreate some of that magic by reading Pinocchio in Italian while I'm here. I'm not sure if it's because my italian is not great or because I've been so busy, but I'm on page four on day 19.  Not exactly crashing my way through it. Oh well, I have a six hour train ride coming up in a few days. Maybe I'll make some progress then. 

I've pulled between 4-7 prints each from 8 different images. That's a lot of rubbing with a wooden spoon. My hands are officially done.  It's time for a well-earned rest. 

For anyone who might be wanting one of these when they're done you can still order them at the pre-buy pricing anytime before April 15th.  The info is on my website at http://www.carolmcquaidart.com/italy-2014.html