Visions of the Flint Hills

Preserving the Tallgrass Prairie Art Exhibit and Sale

I am pleased to report that I have had one of my etchings accepted into this juried, benefit show and sale in Kansas City. This show is a benefit for the Kansas Park Trust, www.kansasflinthills.org, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve and the Flint Hills in Kansas. The show is at the Buttonwood Art Space, 3013 Main St., Kansas City, MO 64108.

You can find out more about the show at www.visionsoftheflinthills.org.

Above Otter Creek

Original Copper Plate Etching by Stephen Perry

The Print that was accepted is above and can be seen on my Backroads Gallery page at

www.backroadspress.com.

Stephen Perry

New Linocut Just Printed

I just finished a new Linocut (Linoleum Block Print) to add to my showing at Botanica, the Wichita Gardens, on Saturday, Sept. 12th.  The show has a great setting in the gardens and should be a good show if it doesn't rain. The Linocut is from a location we drove by up northeast of Tuttle Creek Reservoir in the Flint Hills. The old ranchhouse is on Meyers Valley Road, just east of Highway K-13.

Proof Print of Prairie Homestead

I'm also trying to get a new etching done for the Botanica show. We'll see if I can get the edition finished and get the prints dry with all the rain this week.

Check out my new website:

www.backroadspress.com

Stephen Perry

A New Determination and A New Web Site

I have to admit that it's been quite a while since I blogged. I am determined to post on a regular schedule from now on. While away I was working on new prints and getting my web site developed which took much longer than I was planning. The wait and the work was worth every bit of angst. I am extremely happy with the web site and what I am able to do with it.

If you have a chance, please visit my site at:

http://www.backroadspress.com/.

What you will find is a full Backroads Gallery of my original etchings of scenes found along the backroads, many of them from the fabulous Kansas Flint Hills. I will be adding new prints each month as they are created. I also have a Backroads Journal with stories of the great backroad travels that we experience on our search for scenes to feature on my prints. I hope that the stories will entertain and encourage you to drive a few backroads and find the true America.

Drive a few backroads, take in the sights and sounds of the countryside

and learn to love this great Country of ours!

Stephen Perry, Backroads Traveler

http://www.backroadspress.com/

April Final Friday

Last Friday we were able to participate in the Final Friday Gallery Crawl as the featured artist in Springpark Gallery in Clifton Square. With such a great evening and perfect weather it is hard to believe that only a month ago it got cancelled by the blizzard! The art aficionados were out in force. It is amazing how the arts scene has sprung to life in Wichita! It's a good thing, not only for Wichita and the artists, but for the young crowd, who for so long have complained about there not being interesting things to do in Wichita. With Final Friday and now First Friday Music events, the Downtown and Old Town have come alive. It's great!

"1881 Spring Hill Ranch"

An Original Etching

My First Sale

Tall and stately,

it has watched as fortunes and fads have come and gone,

generations age and youth leave for brighter horizons...

Yet, through it all, the grasses, the hills,

and the sky have remained constant and eternal.

Stephen M. Perry

Looking forward to the Symphony in the Flint Hills

For the past four years I have had the opportunity to work with the Symphony in the Flint Hills organization on illustrations for their program book. Talk about a great event! The Symphony in the Flint Hills is a world class event that Kansas can be proud of! It's too bad that tickets are so limited and hard to get. Tickets go on sale early in April and usually sell out in one day, but I just now visited their web site, www.symphonyintheflinthills.org, and they are saying tickets are still available, but the site may not have been updated since April 9th. Check it out if you are interested.Spend some time on the prairie,

Learn to recognise subtle variations of the bluestem prairie grasses.

Notice the myriad wildflowers and critters of the grasslands.

There is some real beauty to be found everywhere.

Stephen M. Perry

New Proof Print

Today was a printing day to finish up an edition started earlier and to proof the new etching plate that I have been working on in the past week. The image below is from the plate done from the drive up Carnahan Creek Road north of Manhattan. The title of the print will be "Above Otter Creek". There's still some work to do on the plate, such as polishing the beveled edges so that they don't catch ink and print dark like the image below. I am also trying to decide if I will do an aquatint on the ground surfaces to give them some tone. The line work was successful and I hate to take a chance on messing up the image with bad aquatint. I may go ahead and print a small run without aquatint and then try it so that I will at least have a small edition.

"Above Otter Creek" Proof Print

From the pavement to the pasture

the track is rutted and muddy,

but for the cattleman the way is the life he has chosen...

He is the steward of the cattle, the land and the Bluestem grasses,

but above all he is the steward of independence and hard work.

Stephen M. Perry

Just a Studio Day

I just got back from a Botanica Children's Garden Steering Committee meeting. Fundraising is still underway, but the project is shaping up to be a great and exciting addition to Botanica and a wonderful attraction for Wichita. Stop in to Botanica and find about the project and how you can be a part of making it happen.

Tomorrow will be a printing day. Today will be spent matting and framing prints for the upcoming Wichita Book and Art Fair on May 9th and 10th. It will be our first art fair since the early '80s. Exciting, but lots of work to prepare enough prints to hang a decent show and have replacements for all of the prints we plan to sell! Damn the economy and full speed ahead!

Real happiness is not related to wealth.

It resides in the joy of achievement

and the therapy of creative expression.

Stephen M. Perry