Catching Up

You may think I’ve been goofing off all summer, swinging from a hammock between two shady trees, sipping iced tea, and reading Scandinavian mysteries. Not So! The Brooksville Farmers’ Market is up and running and I’ve had perfect attendance for the last nine weeks. One Tuesday morning I had a whole crew of assistants:

Peter (my nephew), Bella (my niece), and Bella’s best friend, Lucy

Note the new blue tent, the new PenPets banner, the new clear plastic card rack, the new "Welcome to Brooksville" T-shirts, and the new driftwood bookmark rack. It took eight markets to pay for all my expenditures, but it's all gravy now!


I’ve also mounted three exhibits of my work. In June I had a solo show, “Woodcut Critters,” at Mainescape, a Blue Hill garden center that also sells pet products, and now sells a full line of my PenPets greeting cards—like hotcakes, they say! At the end of June I showed seven woodcuts and pen-and-ink drawings at a group show, “Chosen Places,” at the Deer Isle Artists’ Association. Currently I have another solo show of 25 woodcuts and drawings at the Brooksville Free Public Library. Here are some shots from the opening.

Judy Madson (past President of the Library Board of Trustees) & Leslie

Leslie & Heather Tooker (current Co-President of the Library Board)

Leslie & Margie Van Dusen, Patron Saint of PenPets!

Speaking of the Brooksville Free Public Library, our Board of Trustees held its Annual Summer Book Sale on July 10th (I was in charge this year) and we made a whopping $1,700 selling used books from 9:00 AM until noon. Not bad!

I’ve also done two new PenPets commissions this summer:

Minnu & Dakota

8" X 10" pen-and-ink

2010

Jassie (short for Jasmine)

8" X 10" pen-and-ink

2010

And that’s not all! I carved a multi-color woodblock and I’m now illustrating a book, but more about these adventures later.

DIAA Show

I have been a member of the Deer Isle Artists Association since last fall when I showed three woodcuts in its "Noah's Ark Revisited" group show. This summer I have six woodcuts and a pen-and-ink drawing in its "20/20" group show (August 23-September 7). Here is a mini show of the exhibit. Enjoy!

Leslie Moore

pen-and-ink

Leslie Moore

woodcuts

Don Bardole
oil

Betsy Braunhut

photography

Mary Eaton

oil

Shari Ciomei

oil

Gail Eckberg

watercolor

Sara Forster

watercolor

Lorraine Lans

oil

Lacey Kellett

oil

Jackie Wilson Woodcuts

Thrasher

12" X 9" woodcut

Jacqueline Wilson

Tom and I went to a Jackie Wilson exhibit of woodcut prints at the Deer Isle Artists Association. It was an astonishing flock of woodcut birds -- owls, crows, cormorants, kingfishers -- carveddcut prints this afternoon on big pine boards -- fully fledged, wide-eyed, sharp-beaked, and ready to fly away from the paper, just like Hokusai's birds. Each print was hand-rubbed with a wooden spoon and printed in warm shades of burnt umber. It was inspirational to see Jackie's work and exciting to meet her. I've learned a lot already this afternoon and I hope to visit Jackie's studio soon. Imagine having such a wonderful woodblock artist living just down the road from me! You can see more of Jackie's feathery woodcuts at the Isalos Gallery.