World Printmakers
Newsletter, No. 18 December, 2002

Virtually Real vs. Really Virtual
The past month round here was dominated by our participation (under the banner of Grabadores Españoles, the Spanish version of our Spanish Printmakers site) in the annual Estampa print fair in Madrid. When you live the virtual lifestyle as intensely as I do, it's something of a shock to spend a week midst the hustle and bustle of a big international art fair. I must say, we loved it, found it stimulating and profitable and we'll go back next year. You can read two accounts of the fair on this month's World Printmakers: Estampa Roundup 2002 and Print Fair as Warfare.

Artists concerned about impending war are writing us to ask if the Printmakers' Peace virtual exhibit is still on World Printmakers. The answer is emphatically yes. We're in for the duration. The link to the call for work is in the "What's New" section of the main menu on the homepage, or directly at: http://www.worldprintmakers.com/english/prinpeac.htm. It's easy to participate. Just e-mail us a .jpg image of one of your prints (480 pixels long, 72 dpi) along with (if you like...) a brief one-paragraph statement.

Martha's Secrets
A lot of us have seen Martha Jane Bradford's drawn-in-the-computer digital prints and asked ourselves, "How on earth does she do that?!" This month we publish her fascinating article on the subject, Martha Bradford's Digital Drawing, which will be of special interest to printmakers who are curious about new computerized printmaking tools. Martha's step-by-step introduction to her techniques of digital drawing is a model not only of flawless technical communication but also of personal generosity in sharing her secrets with other artists. I suspect that, after reading her article, a lot of them will be tempted to try their hands at digital drawing.

More Digital
Harald Johnson, the dedicated moderator of the Digital-Fineart discussion list, has inaugurated a new website, DP&I (http://www.dpandi.com). "a digital printing and imaging resource." The site seems to me a benchmark in Internet communication. An extreme, no-frills production in the distinguished Google traditioin, Harald's new site is clean, lean and fast, and offers the digitial imaging community highly specific news and technical information. Though the site is new and not totally operative yet, we forsee a brilliant future for it. We'll be hearing from Harald in the near future, as he has also just published a new book, , which we will share with you just as soon as we receive our review copy.

And, before we leave the subject, don't miss the latest chapter of Dot Krause on Digital: Stars of Hope.

Our last chapter on the maestro Goya is about his "Tauromaquia series. As much as I personally deplore Spain's so-called "fiesta brava," Goya's rendition of it cannot be ignored.

Christmas is upon us (pardon the expression) and permit me to remind you that, if you don't have all your shopping done, there's still time to order some fine-art prints from World Printmakers.

See you next month.

Count your blessings!

Mike & Maureen Booth
Editors & Publishers
World Printmakers
The Worldwide Showcase for
Contemporary Fine-Art Printmakers
URL: http://www.worldprintmakers.com
Email: miguel@worldprintmakers.com

P.S. Our Christmas present for you: these images at right of lithographs by Chu Teh-Chun, one of China's three most important living printmakers. It's a privilege for us to have Mr. Chu's work on World Printmakers.