drawers!

this cabinet is the coolest thing on the planet.  it was painted green by some person very long ago who happened to know just the shade of green i love.  this piece was found at a street fair, and i bought it for storage at the shop.  when we closed, i had the right of first refusal.  so it came home with me, and now lives down the hallway from my studio.  i really wish it could fit in the studio, but i will say that it looks pretty terrific where it is.

i spent the other day cutting up some old cards from a "flinch" game to make the numbered tags.

then i decided to put all of my printmaking stuff in the drawers.  i figured since the drawers come out, i can carry what i need down the hall to work in the studio.  the drawers are kinda small, but perfect for carrying.  one drawer is about the size of a ream of computer printer paper. 

here's some of my printing stuff:

warm colored inks,

brayers,

masking tape.

there are 27 drawers, so i won't bore you any longer. 

funny that i decided to make a printmaking station, and now i have lots of prints to make for the cherry creek arts festival!  i think tomorrow is the day i begin.  i'm still terrified, but i think making work will help.  i also started reading "art & fear" again, and that always makes me feel better.  if you are the creative type, it's a wonderful book to read.  it always makes me feel like i'm not so crazy.

the adventure begins!!  

cherry creek arts festival

posture

i woke up about 5 times last night, thinking that it HAD to be morning.  why all of the restlessness from an ordinarily heavy sleeper?  because today is the day that the selected artists for the cherry creek arts festival are announced.

at 5:10 i just had to get up and find my phone.  and there it was.  the email.  saying i got in!!  (for printmaking and graphics).  i really was stunned.  i really didn't expect it.  i was ready for the letdown, but instead i got a great big rush of happiness.

ok.  so now i'm scared.

if you want to check out their website, click the link below.

http://cherryarts.org/

handmade brochures

i spent the day making brochures.  my dear friend johnine designed them for me.  she sent me the PDF images of the design, and i print them out at home.  the booklet is 10 pages in length, and has a cover over the pages.  they take a while to put together, but i think look really cool when they are finished.  the front cover is created from a collage i made, and the interior has a total of 16 artworks.  there are two pages of prints, two of collage, two of assemblage, and two of paintings.

the first step is to print out the pages using really nice paper and cover stock.  then i score and fold each page, making a nice crease with a bone folder.  then the pages are assembled together in order, and sewn together at the crease.  since the interior pages are one-sided, there is a tab left over.  i sew this down with a zig zag stitch that shows on the front of the booklet.  next, i cut the brochure down to size with a ruler and rotary cutter.  finally, i put a coat of matte medium over the stitching to keep it from raveling.

these little booklets now get placed in a translucent envelope, and are closed with a custom sticker with an image of one of my art pieces.  they can be addressed and sent as-is, or can be placed in my artist packet with my resume, etc.

johnine is a genius!!

it takes me over 3 hours to make 8 booklets, but somehow it is relaxing to me.  i am getting faster now that i know the process a bit better than i did when i started making them.

this particular batch was made to take to pagosa for the upcoming show at shy rabbit.  they are to be given to buyers of my work.  we will see how it goes.  hopefully their creation will bring some good karma my way.

framing madness

the framing for the show has begun.  my guest room is filling up with framed art, ready for its trip to pagosa springs.  i will be driving the pieces down, deciding that it will be safer for them than the post office.  hopefully nobody will come visit between now and then, because there is really no room at the inn.   with a few exceptions, the pieces will have chunky, modern, silver frames.  you can see some of the choices above.  i have chosen off-white or cream mats for everything.  the rest of the cache will be done in about a week.  i can't wait to see them!!

a week of printmaking

yours, truly

cool cat

i spent almost a week in taos, and much of that time making prints.  i would have made even more prints, but ran out of white ink.  i wasn't too worried about running out, as there is a fabulous art supply store in taos, and i was sure that finding what i needed was no problem.  sadly, the art store has closed in taos.  i guess the faltering economy has one more victim.  

tomorrow i will begin painting again.  i have decided to take some classes with a local (very talented) painter named mark nelson.  my friend kelly has been studying with him, and i think she is doing some great stuff.  we will paint for 3 mondays in a row, and then go to moab, utah as our culminating activity. in moab, we will paint for 3 days outdoors.  i need this.  i love to paint, and it was my first love artistically.  it taught me so much about drawing, value, color, texture, and having people looking over my shoulder.  i haven't really painted seriously for 2 years.  other stuff has peaked my interest, and painting has played the "ignored toy in the corner" role.  i do need to pick it back up and play again.  i just hope that i can still do it.  i hope it's like riding  a bike or ice skating--a skill you put into muscle memory, and just know how to do once you try again.

if you are so inclined, a little prayer of confidence would be appreciated.  i selfishly don't want to suck in front of a whole new group of people.

finished a new assemblage box!

i finished this box this am.  it's got a lot going on, but i think it works together pretty well.  the papers are all hand-printed, and the objects culled from my vast collection.  it will hopefully be a piece in the show i have at shy rabbit in october.  it's 11x14x2 inches, and can hang on the wall or sit on a ledge or shelf.  i haven't thought of a title yet.  any ideas?

diagram w

i worked at the shop two days in a row.  and while i was there i created some prints.  these are big, on hot-pressed watercolor paper that is about 14x22 inches.  i am still playing around with letters and numbers.  this new set of prints is adding the diagram to the mix.  this one has 5 layers of ink.  i wanted it to look a bit naive, so i hope i was able to get that look.  i also did one that's a diagram of a dress from an old dry cleaning ticket.  it's pictured below.  funny how that light blue keeps showing up in my work.  don't know why, but it's definitely been creeping into most things i've been creating lately.  

new print on etsy

i listed this print on etsy today.  i made it in the studio at sk3tchbook a few weeks ago.  it was kind of fun, as a woman came in and watched me working on it for at least 30 minutes.  that's the kind of thing we are always hoping for at sk3tchbook.  people coming in and watching us create, asking us questions, and enjoying the process of art.  it was a great day.

the print is 9x12, and is mounted on cradled hardboard, which is painted black.  the process is long and almost unexplainable, but basically you layer oil-based printing ink over and over to create the print.  the images of the bottles are created with cut paper, which blocks the ink where it is placed.  the lines are done last, by scratching through the layers to expose the ink underneath.  they are monoprints, as you can only do one at a time, and the paper cut outs aren't reusable because they get covered with ink.

i was in a retro kind of mood when i started this print.  i had been looking at various catalogs, and it seems that bottles in retro shapes are all the rage.  i'm not sure why i chose turquoise, it's not usually a color i work with.  who knows, really!

i worked on two more prints on saturday at the studio.  it was a big zero in the creative department.  i threw both of them in the trash on the way home.  they were terrible.  i tried to print on primed canvas and black paper.  at least i know i don't have to make those mistakes twice.  oh well, live and learn!!

prints

like i said a few posts ago, i have been working on prints for my class at shy rabbit in pagosa springs next weekend.  here are two very different examples.  you can click on them for a closer look!

 the first one is an assemblage box that contains a 3x3" monoprint.  i have placed it into a brass "frame" which is really a top to a brass box neal gave me a few years ago (thanks, neal).  i have used encaustic wax over the top of the print to give it a nice mellow patina.  oh and before i put it in, i ran it through the sewing machine for some texture.  the print is sitting on top of a page from a very old french dictionary.  (been using that a lot lately).  the trick to get it completely flat is to wet it first, then glue it down with matt medium.  i use a little brayer to get the air bubbles and extra medium out.  then i repeated the print image underneath with found objects.  the top of an old weathered can i found up in silverton.  (there is a place there by the railroad tracks that was once the dump.  you can find all kinds of fodder there.  and a lot of it has char marks from some 100 year old fire.  there are pieces of vintage china, old bottles, metal, and mechanical parts everywhere!)  lastly, i put in a vintage toy car that i have had sitting in my studio looking for the perfect home.  and i think this is the place it has been looking for!  the piece is 8x10", and is in a frame i have covered with ephemera.

the second print is about 9.5x12.5".  it's printed on 90 lb. hot pressed watercolor paper with oil based block printing ink.  there are about 5 or 6 layers.  i have scratched through some of them with an exacto to reveal what's underneath.  i'm not usually a blue person, but i think it works here. this print kinda reminds me of the background scenes from cartoons of the 60's.  the last layer was the white trees.  i cut a stencil out of contact paper over an original drawing to create them.  i think i will matt it under charcoal colored matt board in a 16x20 frame.  i also did two versions of this in browns, taupes, and purples.  they are really different in feel.  after the class all of this will be for sale on the website.  i need to confer with michael at shy rabbit before i put them up for sale!

i'm having so much fun!!

some more finished prints today. with the new ink from gamblin. i am having a blast with this. now if i could only keep the margins clean so i don't have to mount every print...i would like to show the edges of this beautiful paper...but i am a mess. i get so excited with the process that i can't even think about keeping it all tidy. my mother would be telling me to slow down and be neat if she were alive. "ruth claire, you need to stop being such a mess", she would have said. i will listen to her next time, i promise!!

my hope is that people will "get" these. that's the problem with abstracted images...people sometimes don't get it. i was thinking today that i am really into just trying to solve the problem of getting something that looks beautiful...i really don't care if it looks like something. i named both of these works "trees" because they remind me of sitting under a tree on a breezy day when the leaves overlap each other as they move, but i could have just as easily called them "composition in green and brown".

collaged monoprints

i have still been playing with the printmaking process i learned at shy rabbit in pagosa springs. i have been cutting up the prints and reassembling them onto wooden blocks. i am trying to make several at a time with the same color scheme and feel so the could be hung together. here are two examples of the new work. they are on 3x4.5" birch plywood that has been stained on the edges and back. i am thinking of also making some simple strip frames or putting them into a shadow box type frame. lots of possibilities. i am putting some on the website for sale. the ones that are just glued onto blocks as-is (a single print) are $35, and the collaged images are $45. can you guess which parts are collaged, and which parts are not? it's pretty hard to tell, and that's why i like it so much!!

i also ordered some new printing ink. it's made by gamblin, and is really intensely colored and i have found it is best knocked down with some transparent medium, also made by gamblin. it's oil-based, and about the same price as the speedball inks i have been using, but i think the quality is better. i just have to play with it for a while to understand the way it works. i also like that it comes in glass jars. it just seems cooler for some reason. don't know why...maybe because it seems old-fashioned or something.

monoprints!!

these are the monoprints i have been practicing since i finished the (amazing) class at shy rabbit in pagosa springs. i mounted them on 3x4.5" blocks of birch plywood so they can stand on a ledge or be hung on a wall with mounting hardware. i think they are pretty cool...i will be working on a whole new series this week...and will post the results when i am finished. they are printed with oil based block printing ink on hot pressed watercolor paper.