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You are here: Home / Abstract Calligraphy / The Wabi Sabi Suite of New Botanical Cards and Upcoming Shows

The Wabi Sabi Suite of New Botanical Cards and Upcoming Shows

February 8, 2023 by Iskra Leave a Comment

Summerlight Botanical Card

 

Everything is in flux in late February, not quite winter, not yet spring. The juncos still sit on top of the echinacea forgetting December’s snows and pecking vainly for seeds. The willows hang above the water’s edge remembering autumn, and the wild plum cannot wait for the warm winds that bring spring’s color and perfumes. A new set of cards from the Gardener’s Almanac of Irreproducible Phenomena is out today and available in my shop. I am calling this set of images The Wabi Sabi Suite, in recognition of the sense of impermanence that colors February’s mood.

The images were originally made as transfer prints using my original paintings or photographs printed onto rag paper with a solvent. The process is unpredictable and brings a granular texture and soft irregular edges to the images. “Wild Plum” is particularly soft and dreamy, as its original source was a 40 yearold film photograph with the distinctive soft focus only film can create. If you are interested in the large size of Summerlight, it is framed in maple and available from my studio. A very limited edition of 3, of which one is left, the image is 16 x 21 on a sheet of 30 x 22 Arches 88.

 

Summerlight in FrameSummerlight, available from my studio

Wild Plum transfer print

Wild Plum

The Willows Botanical cards

The Willows

The Wabi Sabi Suite

 

A lot is happening all at once in the studio. I just sent 8 framed prints from The Tarmac Residency up to Whidbey Island, where you can see them soon near the Whidbey Island airport at Sea Biscuit. I was pleased late in 2022 to have a piece from this series included in an exhibit with the Center for Fine Art Photography called (Un)Natural Cycles. Take a look at the fine pieces in this show, reflecting on climate and change in our (Un) natural world. I received an honorable mention for Cloud Mountain, below.

Cloud Mountain

 Cloud Mountain

The Tarmac Residency

Each print at Sea Biscuit is an edition of 10, 11.5″ image framed in brushed silver with a rag mat. Contact Museo Gallery for sales.

I am in the process of finalizing images and framing for “9th Street Women” opening in April at Art Spirit Gallery in Coeur d’Alene Idaho. This work will range from black and white to color and is entirely abstract. My father was born in Idaho, and I love having a show there. Sense of place meets memory meets the silver dust from the mines, where my grandfather did his part with a pick axe and the dogged work ethic only a Swede could endure.

TheAcrobat Iskra Calligraphic art

The Acrobat

Mesa (Snake River Canyon)

Mesa (Snake River Canyon)  © Iskra Johnson
 
A new set of very different cards is coming the first week of March, stay tuned…..and sign up for my newsletter for faster updates on my shows and discounts on my shop!

Filed Under: Abstract Calligraphy, Airport Landscapes, Botanical Art Cards, Iskra Shows, Upcoming and Past

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I’ve written a wild-mind sort of blog post in wh I’ve written a wild-mind sort of blog post in which I let the story of place, museums, witness and culture unfold as it wishes. It’s an old-style post before I had “newsletter consciousness.” (Sigh….when you send out a post with one image and a show announcement and maybe five more words and someone writes, “perfect length to view on my phone” you may be tempted to perform more of the same and forget the original muse, born long before success was judged by how well thoughts fit within 2x5” square inches. A few excerpts here and first link in bio to read the entirety. Witness and elegy is where I seem to live. Painting is acrylic ink on panel, a piece I have yet to resolve but like to see into for the next step.
If you are born on 9.11 take back this day. It’s If you are born on 9.11 take back this day. It’s still yours! Yesterday I started early and went to an island in the middle of the blue sea to be in beauty and celebrate life. As we walked the beach we met a young boy also born on 9.11. His parents had brought him to Vashon for the same reason, and he had found a perfect moon shell for his own birthday present sent from the sea. It was such a lovely moment, to remember the world is young no matter how old we are.
Taking the last golden days of summer for study. T Taking the last golden days of summer for study. The Volunteer Park museum has an exhibit showing the influence of the Edo arts in Japan on Toulouse-Lautrec and I went to see it last weekend. As you can see from these images, I seem to have no interest in Lautrec— True! But these details of woodcuts and paintings on silk fill me with a quiet rapture.
Walking Meditation Walking Meditation
RIP Brian McBride, The Stars of the Lid RIP Brian McBride, The Stars of the Lid
Sunday Morning Meditation: River and woods, stone Sunday Morning Meditation: River and woods, stone and light.

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