SPRING ARTS GAINESVILLE - MARCH 28-29

Nancy Hamlin-Vogler and her daughter, Alexis Hamlin-Vogler, at last year's show.

40th Annual weekend art event in Gainesville, FL. Come visit me at #241, between 6th and 7th Avenues. This is a fun show with lots to do at the Thomas Center park. For tons of info, visit the Spring Arts Fest website.

Meet Florida artist Nancy Hamlin-Vogler

"Heron Moon" copyright 2009 nancy hamlin-vogler all rights reserved!

I work in a backyard studio, surrounded by chirping birds, live oaks and luscious bromeliads, very near the Fountain of Youth Park, in St. Augustine, Florida.

Silkscreen printing (screenprinting or serigraphy) is my primary medium. I make all the screens from hand drawn positives. I also use photography to enhance my 'seeing'. I love to draw and I create mixed medium drawings on paper using various aqueous drawing mediums with chine colle. I do all the other fun art stuff too: win awards, have gallery shows from time to time and exhibit in juried outdoor art shows which abound here in sunny Florida.

Eastern Sun Printworks is my very own card company. I have published/produced a line of screenprinted greeting cards and journal books for 25 years. These cards are sold in indie book stores around the US, as well as in card emporiums, museum shops, and boutiques. The cards are silk screened by hand on 100% recycled paper. Each print is unique due to variations created by the harmonious blend of colors across the screen. This ancient printing process is simple and practical, yet elegant. One can produce the craziest, wildest color blends. When you buy one of these cards, you are purchasing an original, framable work of art!

I find it unbelievably satisfying to make something that I know is going to bring happiness to another being, maybe my neighbor or maybe someone who lives halfway around the world.

Now you must go straight to my store on Etsy, the place to buy and sell all things handmade!

OM MANI PADME HUM Prayer Flags

Today was gorgeous in north Florida: temps in the high 50's with a clear blue sky. I had put the finishing touches on my drawing for a new OM MANI prayer flag design, and was ready to shoot a screen (you can see the screen in the foreground). After everything dried and I had cut the fabric into 10" x 12" pieces, I was ready to go! I listened to Cho (Choying Drolma & Steve Tibbetts) while I printed the flags. I hung them out to dry on the clothesline in my backyard and pretended I was crossing a pass in the high Himalayas!

The new design, composed of Sanskrit seed syllables for the 'Mother of all mantras' Om Mani Padme Hum, is arranged in a decorative circle around the syllable HRI in the center. The design is a variation on the tradition of block printed flags containing prayers for compassion for all beings. These prayers are carried by the wind to all corners of the universe, to grant this ultimate blessing. Similarly, with the proper intention when hanging these flags, we can wish for benefit and happiness for all beings here and beyond!

Please visit my Etsy store for more Tibetan-style prayer flags, cards, and journal books.