Monday 31 July 2023

July Summary 2023

We were busy showing prints and drawings in the month of July 2023, and ended on a high note in Madrid, New Mexico:


MADRID OPENING

The Tuesday Night Drawing group of Santa Fe (at Argos Studio/Gallery) had a life drawing exhibition in Madrid, New Mexico at the Roadrunner Studio and Gallery, on July 29th and 30th, 2023:





PRINT EXHBITIONS

The major challenge was keeping up with all the print exhibitions in July.


GUADALAJARA

Manuel Guerra took a few prints (including mine) from the 8x8 Show in El Paso last May, to show at the Galeria Sepia in Guadalajara on July 8, 2023. They also printed small round linocuts, some of which Manny took from the US, and others from Mexico.  See Instagram post also:



NATIONAL HISPANIC CULTURAL CENTER

The reception for the "Nexo Entre Raices" exhibition at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque was on July 14th.  It featured a panel discussion.  Marco Sanchez organized the exhibition, as is speaking on the panel in the photo below:



EL PASO MUSEUM OF HISTORY

We had a great closing on July 15th for the Ambos Lados exhibition at the El Paso Museum of History.  There was live printing of three kinds:




EL PASO MUSEUM OF ART

Marco Sanchez organized a PRINT PACHANGA of three parts:





I did not go to the juried print show


I met the new director of the El Paso Museum of Art -- Edward Hayes Jr. -- at the Print Pachanga:

The new director of the El Paso Museum of Art


MORE PRINTS

LASERING EVA FOAM

We used a portable laser cutter to cut EVA foam.  Then we inked the cut foam and made prints:






BLOCK PARTY

Ellie Weadock gave a printmaking workshop -- the 2nd BLOCK PARTY -- at the North Fourth Art Center in Albuquerque on July 22nd, 2023.  The prints were hung at the North Fourth Art Center afterwards:








OPEN PRINT EXCHANGE




SLIDESHOWS

I made two quick slideshows about printmaking for Manny to show in Guadalajara:






AI ART

Midjourney added Zoom out features, so I altered and pushed one of my figure drawings as far as I could (and it looked nothing like my drawing):







EL PASO DRAW

The Tuesday night El Paso drawing group moved to a new location in downtown El Paso, and I drew there twice, on July 18th and July 25th, 2023:





PROGRESS?

I did a Google Lens reverse search on my drawing, and it linked to the cover of my book, self-published in 2008.  Have I made any progress in the last 15 years?



RIP GRIFFS

Griff's Hamburgers at Central and Wyoming closed abruptly on July 6th, and was demolished on July 14th, 2023:



I had no idea that Griff's had closed the day before when I bought this Griff's print from Shorty during the downtown ABQ Artwalk on July 7th:


Griff's Hamburgers was an icon from my youth.  I spent a lot of time on that street corner at Central and Wyoming, waiting for the 66 bus, in the late 60s and early 70s.


HAMILTON

We saw HAMILTON on the last day, at the Plaza Theatre in El Paso on July 16th: 



TOADS

Summer is toad time.  

This year I spotted little toads on the banks of the Rio Grande.  I have never seen these before.  Earlier in the year the Rio Grande flooded, leaving lots of ponds of standing water, which I suspect are ideal for breeding toads -- and mosquitos.  The air was thick with mosquitos, layering on my arms like peanut butter.  

I saw the small toads on the north west banks of the Rio Grande at the Dolores Huerta Bridge in Albuquerque:

Seen on the banks of the Rio Grande on July 14th,
on the North west side of the river 
at the Dolores Huerta bridge in Albuquerque


After a huge cloudburst we saw a Chihuahuan Green Toad in Hueco Tanks, Texas:

seen after a big rain outburst
in Hueco Tanks, Texas



SOFTWARE PROGRAMS


July 31, 2023

Drawn at Art Buddies in Albuquerque:



















AI

The first and fourth drawings are of the same pose.  So I blended them together in Midjourney, and then generated the result in the style of Hans Bellmer (the original model was male):