Val David - Round #4 Days 1-4

This time I came to the Atelier de l'Ile with a solid plan, to - do list and idea of what I am going to work on. "Round 3" was frustrating because I came without the above listed things and didn't get as much done because of it. Anywas... Lots of productiveness, I'm so exhausted but it's the really good kind of exhaustion. I finished my Christmas cards for this year, so over the next 2-3 weeks those will be sent out. If anyone who moved and has a new address I don't know about, sent me an email so you will receive the card too. :) This year it's "different" very different than the past 2 years. I'll post photos after I sent them out.
Anyways, whatelse have I done this weekend? I continued experimenting with my pattern prints and layering more and more. I finished the litho stone drawing I started last time, and printed it today. I brought my 2x8 ft linocut to Val David, it's AMAZING to have a table that is LONG ENOUGH to hold it! Makes working on it so much easier! I made serious progess carving the miniscule detail and drawing the rest of the block, i am hoping to finish the drawing itself during the next day and a half.
I worked on more pages in the Arthouse sketchbook for the sketchbook library project. I'm going to have to focuss on that like crazy over the next month, since it's due January 4rth. Which isn't that long, and that sketchbook has a lot of pages!
I also decided today that it's time to research galleries in Germany. It's kind of ridiculous that I haven't exhibited in my home country.
Alrighty here are some pictures:
Wet stone during the printing.

The first print on good paper.

My endless linocut, I keep running out of sharpies so the drawing looks a bit ridiculous, but it get's the job done. Afterall the carving is all that matters in the end.

Ridiculously detailed carving.

Carving this section took me 14 hours.

2x8ft lino #1 - drawing and carving

So as part of my thesis i am carving three 2x8 ft linocuts. Insane? Yes. Fun? YES!
I bought the linoleum as one large piece at a carpet and flooring store. It's not battleship lino but I find it actually works even better for very delicate carving because it has a bit more stable surface not quite as porous as the battleship. So. I so far only drew about one third of the lino and started carving, now I'll alternate between drawing and carving since it gives my hand a bit of a rest.
Between Drawing, carving and sewing my fabric pieces my left hand is hurting badly with Carpal Tunnel. I am so happy I had the surgery done 3 years ago on my right hand. I really wouldn't be able to do any of this otherwise. But I keep wishing I would have had it done on my left as well. Well gotta deal with it. Anyways.. here some pictures of my monster of a linocut.

I don't have a table long enough for it, so i have to improvise.


Only the pattern will be carved. not the figure. It's just there as guide.

Letterpress workshops

This past Wednesday Nov. 4th I taught two 4hour Letterpress workshops back to back specifically focused on Typesetting. It was a bit crazy since there were about 17 people in the first one. Only 5 students in the second workshop felt like a vacation after that. :) Anyways as always people did some pretty cool stuff, and I took photos wherever I could:

Matt Mewett typeset this one.

Nick`s print.


4 girls put there little sets together into the press.



Annie typesetting, inking and printing.

Sketchbook Library

Here are some more drawings in my Arthouse sketchbook for their sketchbook library. It's due January 4rth and I have many more pages to fill.

Val David - Round #3 -Day 5

I'm editioning the small test block of the yellow lino. It's working perfectly. I'm relieved this means that the thesis linos won't be a problem. When I get home I can get started on the huge 2x8 ft blocks. :)
inked up yellow lino.

Next layer i'm printing is the other weird rubber "lino" that really isn't lino, but cuts like butter. We'll see how it prints. I imagine it'll be very nice for handprinting, but using a printing press, I don't know..we 'll see.

Made big progress on the little litho, I want to finish it today, etch it and have it ready for printing for next time I come back to Val David in November.

Val David - Round #3 -Day 4

Alright, I printed Lino for 3 days and realized I just need to start a little litho stone for balance sake. I don't think I'll be able to print it this time around, but I'll finish the drawing, and first etch before I leave to return to Montreal.
Work in progress Litho.

Proofing new pattern on top of my other patterns.







My little test lino.


So people have been doing some talking about this new "lino" stuff, for carving. It's sort of like compressed rubber, very very easy to carve, cuts like butter.... but it's rather wobbly.

Val David - Round #3 -Day 3 ;)

Hello hello hello,
So I escaped the city for a weekend and I am back in Val David. The stay began with some serious snow. But that has all melted in the mean time.
This time has been a bit of a slow start. I'm not feeling all that great, must be fighting a cold or something.
So I am experimenting and editioning the Linocut that I finished over the past few months. I'm quite happy with the results so far. But printing it is a very slow process.
I also tested a tiny piece of the gigantic 6x8 foot lino that i bought, carving went ok, i just need to see how it prints, it has quite a different surface. If all else fails, I can sand it.
I came here thinking I won't do a litho, since the last 3 times I printed litho here, it didn't go all that well, of course after a day of printing lino I decided that I need the balance of the calm drawing process. So I'll grind down a small stone for a small edition today.
Anyways here are a few pictures of work in progress:

I'm editioning it on Nepal Light Ricepaper.








a lil bit of snow..


At Nicole's house, I love those huge plants, I hope mine grow that big one day! :)

Busy busy busy .. and some fun! :)

It's been busy. I've been teaching another workshop, this time for the Mailaender Offset press. I finally bought my 6x8 ft linoleum, it came on a roll, so now it's flattening in our apartment before I can cut it into the three 2x8 ft pieces that I need. :) I also picked up the Japanese rice paper I want for printing them once they are carved. Big accomplishment. I'm relentlessly printing more fabric pieces. I think I printed somewhere between 60-80 new pieces for the installation. I started sewing the first patch and stuffing them. It takes a long time.
When ever I am "taking a break" I'm sewing a Christmas calendar for Scott and me. With 24 little pouches. Alternating days, one half I'll fill with presents the other half he will. And it'll make December a fun month. :) Will post pictures when it's finished. Last week he came home from work early, cooked us some chili and then took me out on a date to the Chinese Lanterns in the Botanical Garden. Oh it's so worth seeing, if you are in Montreal!!!
On Sunday Vroni and I did some Pumpkin Carving and I roasted some seeds.
Thursday I'm driving back up to Val David for a 4-5 days of non-stop-productiveness.

A few pretty helpful and insightful sites

So I've been participating in a lot of projects over the past months, and I found out about a lot of them through friends. So I thought I'd put together a list of sites that are good for artist and printmaker's to check out.

Projects & Community:

http://arthousecoop.com

http://society6.com

http://www.thehelloproject.com/

http://www.undergroundartschool.typepad.com/

http://myartspace.com/

http://www.fineartregistry.com/

http://www.artemerging.com/

Interesting reads:

http://artmoneyguide.com/

http://www.theartrepreneur.com/

http://unclutterer.com/

http://www.liquidlight.bm/BermudaArt/Organizations/organizations.html

http://www.artspace2000.com/

http://www.fecalface.com

Competition lists:

http://www.theartlist.com/index.php

http://www.artdeadlineslist.com/

http://www.myartcontest.com/


"Print" specific:

http://www.ifpda.org/content/

http://tamarind.unm.edu/

http://www.atlantaprintmakersstudio.org

http://www.southerngraphics.org/

http://www.moma.org/interactives/projects/2001/whatisaprint/flash.html

http://blog.meetyourprintmaker.com/

Print Exchanges:

http://littlestprintexchange.blogspot.com/

http://www.printzerostudios.com/

http://www.greendoor-printmaking.co.uk/



There are many more of course. If you have any good ones you feel like sharing, please post them as comment! :) THANKS A MILLION!

Letterpress workshops

Hello! I just survived quite the intense weekend. Saturday I taught 2 very intense 4-5 hour Letterpress workshops and Sunday one more that ended up stretching into 6 hours. Sarah from Concordia's Design department hired me to teach her students Linocut and Typesetting on the Vandercook Letterpress. It was a lot of fun!
So here some photos from the Sunday workshop.

Explaining to the students how to lock the blocks into the press.



How to make an impression.. First round was blind embossment, after that we inked up the blocks.

One assembled set of 9 blocks.

Ink- demo.

wooden and lead type.

How to ink blocks with a larger roller.

Samples of student work created during the first 2 workshops on Saturday:

hello Scott.

My dear boyfriend came back from class the other day and handed me this post-it. For submission to the "HELLO PROJECT" . I had to post it because it made me SOOOO happy that he participated, and I think YOU should do it too!! :)

My "Green Draw" Submission

As explained in the last post, this is my postcard submission to Green Door's global "Green Draw" project. Medium: Pen & Ink, Prisma color.

Green Door's Green Draw

For the love of drawing...
Dear friends, doodler's and happy folk!
Our friends at Green Door's Print Studio in Derby, UK, have launched yet another fun project.
Last year they organized a BIG FLASH Draw, where they went out and handed people anywhere post-it notes and a pen and had them draw on the spot, this is part of a campaign to encourage drawing. http://www.campaignfordrawing.org. Please check out photos from the flash draw right HERE.
This year they are planning on going global with this project, and asking anyone (anywhere) to take a blank postcard (or make a card to similar size), draw on it. Write your name and the location (where you drew this card). And sent it to:
Green Draw
St James Centre
Malcolm Street
Derby
Derbyshire
DE23 8LU
England

Rumor has it there will be an online gallery with all the submissions, and maybe even a few shows in England exhibiting the work. Who knows?
Have fun!

The Hello Project

Because I'm totally on a roll with these online projects (it's sort of like Homework, but way better). Here is one I found on Doodler's Anonymous today, I think EVERYONE should participate: THE HELLO PROJECT
This was my submission:

IPE Print Exchange & the lil sketchbook exchange and some lino-printing action

Today I received two very exciting letters in the mail. One of the two was posted from Derby, United Kingdom by Green Door open access Printmaking studio's IPE (international print exchange) 2009. Who by the way have a very cool website, definitely worth checking out, and very soon will have artist-profiles and an online gallery of all the prints which were submitted.
This wasn't just a fun print exchange to participate in, it is by far the most informative and well presented exchange I've ever been part of. Here is what was in the package:

An envelope with the small prints by other artists that I received in return for my edition submission. A list with detailed information on the prints that I received and Names and origins of the artists that my edition went to (this one I didn't find until later on, it was hidden in the backpocket of the very cool fold-out "poster" info booklet that they included as well.

The first print in the stack by Elizabeth Burton (Queensland Australia).
And here are the other 7 prints I received, i'll list the artists from left to right, top to bottom: Mirka Hokkanen (Washington, USA), Anna Ornella Dell'Acqua (Italy), Melissa Lee ( Florida USA), Anjali Goel (India), Benjamin Love (Idaho, USA), Sarah Harvey (New South Wales, Australia) and David Bigelow (Michigan, USA)
Turns out my prints are now all over the world: (Several went to different states) USA, Italy, Singapore, India.
That super cool fold out booklet had all the names of the printexchange participants.
And this is by far the coolest, it had stats about the exchange, location, print medium and paper type. Turns out half of the exchange came from the US (even though it was organized in the UK), the most used print medium was Etching, and in 2nd place linocut. And the most used paper was Rives (really no surprise there! :) )

So after this super cool package, I opened the second letter which came from Iowa! I mentioned before that I started this sketchbook exchange with Allison Honeycutt from Iowa. We both began sketching in these little moleskin journals, and are now exchanging them after filling 2 pages each (+ inside cover). This is super exciting. I really love her light and weightless drawing/painting also because i've been doing rather dark pen and ink drawings lately and i think this will be a very cool collaboration!





So I am also still working in the printshop. Initially I wanted to wait with printing my new linocut until I return to the Atelier de l'Ile in Val David. But since I found out that this might take a while (end of october), I decided to proof it at school and here is what I did:

The inked up block.



printed proof.
set up and proof on the small offset press.

The offset press blanket with the image tranfered to it.

Another Sketchbook project AND the good ol' fabric pieces are back

Heyoeyoeyo. How goes it everyone?
It's friday. Which is always a relief even though I have to work tomorrow ;). But I like working so it's ok. I've been buuuusy. As always I'm trying to make my work schedule, my "art-work"schedule, my scott-maria schedule, my Vroni-Maria schedule, and my Maria-Maria Schedule work. Damn. To everyone else and the above listed who feel leftout. I'm sorry I'm trying. So. What have I been up to. Applying to a whole lot of shows and residencies and some scholarships.
Yeah doing my thesis without any funding is become a serious problem. But that's what happens when you go to places where you are considered "Alien" of sorts they just make your life miserable. Hence it's understandable that every once in a while i have the urge to punch the Quebec-students in the face. Because they do get horrendous amounts of funding and then they STILL BITCH ABOUT how much their (joke of a )tuition costs. Sorry. That had to get out. Anyways.
I'm working hard while juggling. I'm participating in another one of the legendary Art House Projects: The Sketchbook Project / The Sketchbook Library you should definitely check out their site, it's actually pretty cool. Anyways the way it works is that they sent you a sketchbook, which you need to fill. When you finished it will be part of a sketchbook collection, which will also go on a traveling exhibition and finally become part of the Art house Sketchbook Library.
Of course I have many more pages to fill, but this is what I got so far:
The cover.
The inside cover and first page.
page 2 & 3 I'm not sure if I will leave all the even pages blank, of if I'll cover them all with patterns. We'll see.
Page 4&5

Page 5&6
All of these drawings are geared towards my thesis ideas and I'm sort of using this project to work them out. Before turning to larger more solid pieces.

On another note, the Mailaender offset press is back to be fully functioning, and I printed the next batch of double-sided fabrics for my fabric installation. At the moment I am restricted to 20 at a time, hopefully over the span of the next semester I'll be able to double that per printing session. So now it's back to sewing. I was considering buying a sewing machine yesterday. But you know. Pricy. And that money needs to go towards my 8x6feet piece of linoleum that I am about to buy.

Sketchbook Exchange

About a month ago or so I got in touch with an artist who I found on Arthousecoop.com, and Allison Honeycutt was interested in Art trading, so we decided to do a Sketchbook exchange. We are both starting out with a small moleskin, each one of us is doing the inside cover, first page and then the first spread. Once done we are exchanging the sketchbooks, and are going to work the next spread in each others moleskins. Then switch again..etc..etc.. In the end both of us will end up with a nice collaborative sketchbook filled with both mine and her art. So our first due date is September 23rd. I just finished mine, and thought I'll post them. I've used this opportunity to work out through sketching some of my thesis ideas and plans. But don't get too excited this won't tell you much about what the thesis project is going to be.
:)

"Colette" - Inspired Art Chicago Donation

Poem #57.

At Peace
I feel at peace when I see trees
Under my knees like a bowl of peas
When I’m at peace I feel
Comfortable, protected and relaxed
When I’m at peace I feel calm
Like the fish in the sea
While lying on the grass
Thinking about how time goes by so fast.
Anonymous

For more information on the Charity please check out the Inspired Art Chicago blog

Print Info:
Title: "Colette" inspired by poem #57 "At Peace" (see above)
Medium: B/W Stone Lithograph printed on Rives BFK cream
Edition size: 8
Image size: 4 1/4"x5 1/2"


Process:

During printing this is what the image looked like on the stone.

These where newsprint proofs of the print.
This is the piece framed. I shipped it off today. (Sorry for the bad photograph ;). )

Little Colette asleep in her stroller.

This past week I drew up a new litho-stone. As part of my sleep series but also my donation for the Inspired Art Chicago Charity Auction/Exhibition I did a drawing of the daughter of my dear friend (and former teacher) Jodi Greico. I'm very excited that I finally had the opportunity to create a portrait of at least one of her kids. The little Colette asleep in her Stroller. She is adorible and was quite a pleasure to draw.

This is the initial drawing on the stone, of course it will be reversed when printed something that on rare occasion i forget about. ;) woops. But that's ok. there are a few images where this really matters, in this case though it'll be just fine.

Coz even a workaholic has got to have fun sometimes!

So here is the story... ;) Most people know that I have a hedgehog as pet. So the other day we went to Ikea with my friend Veronika (old friend from Germany, who is now studying in Montreal for a semester) and i found cookie cutters in the shape of a moose, a hedgehog, a fox, a snail, a bear, and a squirrel. As I have posted earlier this summer, I grew a lot of plants on our deck, peas, beans, sunflowers..etc.. And the entire summer we had Squirrels come in and dig in the pots, eat our flowers, bite through the stems of the big sunflower and then just leave it to die, make a huge mess on the balcony. And it didn't stop there either, whenever we leave the kitchen door open, we have to keep an eye out for the crazy squirrel that sometimes comes running into our kitchen attempting to attack our garbage can. So understandably I have a bit of a grudge against squirrels. But I can't kill them either. So the fun animal cookie cutters clearly were enough reason to let my imagination go wild ;).










After the death of the evil cookie squirrel, we enjoyed the vegan chocolate chip cookies very much! ;)
Vroni (Veronika) all smiles as always! For many more photos, adventures and if you read german, some stories too: Check out Vroni's blog

On Saturday Scott, Vroni and I went kite-flying. There wasn't much wind, but we still got it up a few times.




Oh yea.. and there was also a moose.

The new Linocut is DONE! :)

Speed carving, my arms and wrist is super sore but i just finished the new linocut. :) Yeay.
Can't wait to see that one printed!!! :)

Many Many things going on. - New Lino and a box.

Lots and lots going on. Sorry for the lack of updates this past week. Here are some things I've been up to:

-Spent 2 days in the dark room at school, printing photos for my mother and my friend Bhinesha.
-Helped Bhinesha move into her new apartment.
-sent out 6 packages.
-participated in the Arthouse 10000 Project, and sent out my Submission.
-did a photoshoot for my thesis ideas and prepared some sketches, once it's more finalized I'll blog about it in detail.
-working on a new litho which will be donated to the Inspired Art Chicago Charity project
-got my studypermit and CAQ all sorted out, now I am set for Canadian visa's for the next year.
-got my workstudy authorization sorted out (this was supposed to be the easy part... WRONG!)
-researched LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of galleries, residencies and some scholarships that I am going to apply for this month, October and November.
-bugged my landlord about our apartment (which is falling apart.. things are breaking left and right)
-set things up for my friend Veronika from Germany (who is arriving tomorrow for 1 semester of studies in Montreal)
-annoyed the hell out of my boyfriend when I wasn't feeling all that well over the weekend.
-bought a Stunt Kite (on sale) and tried it out with Scott last Sunday. It's going to take some practice, but DAMN so much fun!
-lost my ATM card again and got it replaced
-made cupcakes
-packed up everything that is left in my studio space at school (have to move it all out this weekend)
-worked hard on finishing the newest Linocut.
-ate AMAZING beefstew and cornbread that Scott cooked this weekend
-organized a collaborative Sketchbook exchange with a cool woman who I found through ArtHouse-coop. She lives in IOWA and we are going to do something like a Moleskin exchange.
-Scott and I discovered a coffeeshop/soap store not far from our house, where after talking to the owner I am going to put some items for Sale on Consignment (meaning, I'll get paid when something sells). For that I made a display box, packaged all my items, labeled them and typed up a consignment contract. Will drop that off Friday or so.
- ... much more!

Anyways. Here some photos of what's new:


This is the box with items to be sold in the coffeeshop.
The Linocut I'm working on carving up.



The submission to the 10'000 Project for Arthouse.

New Item for sale!

BUY IT HERE!!!

Work that I finished in Val David

Title: "Rejuvenation" -first state
Medium: B/W Stone Lithograph with 1 color layer of linocut pattern printed on Rives BFK white
Size: bleed print - 19 3/4" x 25 3/4" (50cmx65.7cm)
Edition: 1 AP
Prize: N/A

Title: "Rejuvenation"
Medium: B/W Stone Lithograph with 6 layers of Linocut pattern printed on Rives BFK white
Size: Bleed print - 19 3/4" x 26"
Edition: Varied Edition (V.E.) 1/5
Prize: $450



Title: Rest
Medium: B/W stone Lithograph with one layer of color linocut pattern printed on white Somerset Rag Paper
Papersize: 23cmx28cm (9"x11")
Edition size: 8
Prize: $120 - FOR SALE HERE!!


Title: (not yet determinded) RestII
Medium: B/W stone lithograph on 1layer of lincout & 1 layer of color lithograph pattern on ricepaper
Edition: 1AP
Prize: N/A


Title: (not yet determinded) RestIII
Medium: B/W stone lithograph on 1layer of lincout & 1 layer of color lithograph pattern on ricepaper
Edition: 1AP
Prize: N/A


Title: "Presumption II"
Medium: B/W lithograph with one layer of linocut pattern printed on Rives BFK white
Size: 11"x15"
Edition: 5
Prize: $180 FOR SALE HERE!

Green Door International Print Exchange: "5 hour nap" - print

Title: "5 hour nap"
Edition: 10/10 (for IPE exchange), 5/5II., 5AP's (Artist Proofs)
Medium: B/W stone Lithograph printed on Rives BFK cream
Paper Size: 14cmx14cm (5.5"x5.5") Image size: 8cm x 8cm
Printshop where I editioned it: Atelier de l'Ile (Val David, QC)
Prize: $40 BUY IT HERE!

20 (REST OF) AUGUST GOALS

1. Etsy: 5 new items
2. Website: talk to fi about few things that need fixing.
3. Flickr: update with process photos, and new work
4. Pay fee, package and sent out Green Door Printexchange prints (due received Sept. 1st)
5. Grind down big litho stone and start new drawing. + another sleep print on little stone
6. Photograph my recent work
7. Apply to Alberta Printmaker's Society Call
8. Photoshoot for Thesis refs.
9. Buy $200 worth of linoleum
10. Sell at least 5 more prints or etsy items (gotta get that money for the lino from somewhere ;) )
11. Pay for and pick up Canada Study Permit at the Border
12. Peeps to get back in touch with: Cornelia, Gran, Jodi Greico,...etc.. (<3 )
13. Update my email list & sent out newsletter
14.Meet with thesis Advisor + find external and internals for thesis jury
15. Research & Contact Galleries about Thesis Show
16. Update CV
17. Check if "Workstudy" status.
18. Stop by artboutique to sell more cards.
19.Darkroom to print more photos for Mutti & Bhinesha
20. GET ALL OF THIS DONE IN 2 WEEKS.


------------------------------------------------------------

Join the Modish Biztips Monthly Goal Meet Up!!!

Val David Day 3 out of 4.

Hello my dear readers, followers of my blog who are overall just wonderful people! :)
Just felt like saying that today. :) Thanks for sticking with me!!!!!!!

The other night we had a thunderstorm, and shortly after the sunset-sky turned GOLDEN. It was so beautiful.

Rainbow behind the Atelier de l'Ile. :)


So now here is what's been going on:
2 days in a row 14h workshifts, in tropically humid weather is getting to me. Day 3 is not going to be much better but at least it's a bit cooler today. I have such bad allergies, I am sneezing my way through the Atelier.
Otherwise lots and lots of exciting stuff is happening. The last two days I drew up a little litho, that I am printing today. Hopefully I'll be submitting it to the International Print Exchange at Green Door Studios in the UK, if you are a printmaker check it out HERE! It is due Sept.1 st so sent it out ASAP, but it is a small edition and most people might already have an edition floating around their studios that fits the guidelines for this one.
I also printed about a million layers of my pattern linocut. I editioned the large one yesterday, and experimented with some fabrics.

Additionally I drew up and started carving a new linoblock, that I am quite excited about. It's steering more and more towards my huge Thesis projects, the prints I am doing now, might be in my MFA Thesis Exhibition in April or not, eitherway they are sort of researching the methods that I am going to use for my main Thesis work. My Masters degree is officially a non-thesis degree, but they treat the "Graduate project" as Thesis, with Thesis work, Thesis Exhibition, a Thesis Jury and finally my Thesis Defense (yes we have to defend ourselves infront of a Jury) all of that is going to happen in April. So we'll see how it goes. Hopefully in the next two weeks, I'll blog about my Thesis-Battle-Strategy. What I am planning on making and how and why..etc..

Anyways here some photos of the work in progress:


This was the one I printed the other day and posted, this is what it looks like trimmed as bleed print, I had pinned it to a board, and I actually kind of like seeing it mounted to something in this color.
This is the same image with only one layer printed on it. THought it was interesting this way too, so I left one like this.

The new linocut.


I finally did a test with a third color (a yellow) on this print, I like it a lot. It gives it a very strange effect.

Another test.

Kind of liked this proof as well, I played with the back side of one of the proofs from the "Possibility"
Editioned the large ones.



This is the little litho that I am going to be editioning today.

My fabric experiments:









Alrighty friends, this is all for now!

Back in Val David for 4 days of experimenting/printing madness.

I'm back at the Atelier de l'Ile in Val David, QC. This time only for 4 days, but believe me, very very very productive 4 days. Here is the plan: 2 days of Linocut insanity, I'm experimenting with layering pattern, and layering transparent colors of my lino pattern over lithos..etc. Also some fabrik experiments. The 2nd 2 days I'll be dedicating to printing one or 2 new lithos (depending on how many I manage to draw up.) Only little ones this time.

Here some photos of work in progress:


One layer of linocut pattern.

2 layers.

3 color layers of linocut - pattern on this litho (this print will be trimmed down to be a bleed-print)

Now same print with 6 layers

This is what the bottom strip looks like up close, It's going to be trimmed off, but I actually like this so much that I am thinking of making a whole print with just these layers.






I had some old fabric-prints left from my ongoing installation project, it was time to experiment on it with the new pattern. It made me think I should just do linocut prints on t-shirts, haha why not.

"Certainty" and "Interweave"

Title: "Certainty"
Medium: B/w stone lithograph printed on Somerset and Fabriano Paper
Edition size: 10/10 and 5/5 II. (different paper)
Image size: 5 1/2" x 3 3/4"
Paper size: 11"x9"
Prize:$100 BUY IT HERE!



Title: "Interweave"
Medium: B/w stone lithograph printed ontop of a doublesided (pattern) plate lithograph on Ricepaper
Edition size: I.


Also: The "Noah" Print is now for sale HERE!

3 Lithos - 3 Stages

I finally finally finally printed the Noah Litho, and I am psyched to have it out of the way. They will be up for sale on etsy soon!

I drew up my little litho stone that I haven't used in a while and did a tiny sleep drawing. By now it's etched and ready to be printed, so either today or tomorrow i'm going to get that baby printed.

After the last version of this image got ruined terribly during my stay in Val David, I decided to do something I've never done before: Re-draw it, on a different stone. We'll see how it goes.

new studio + finishing up Noah-Litho (aka old man litho)

The past 3-4 days I spent re-arranging one half of our apartment. Starting in September I won't have a studio space at school anymore, and all the things that are currently there have to come home/ I need a SPACE to work in, (and to think up and create my thesis.) I was not happy the way the current set up was, eventhough I had a whole room to myself, it was very cramped already and because there is a tree in front of the window, very dark. Way too dark for me to work in. So it was time to find a solution. :) I think we found a great one. we turned my former studio into a double office, scott and I share that big room with both of our office desks and it's working quite well. And my art work space is now where his old office space was. Because there is a big window (which isn't blocked by a tree) and the front balcony door, I have a LOT OF light in there especially until around 2 in the afternoon, then it gets a bit darker, but still no were near as dark as in the other room. I also wanted to be able to easily pin things to the wall/ pin paper/ canvas to the wall andwork on it directly. So I went to homedepot and bought 2 8x4 foot panels of insulation (pressed paper) fiber board, attached it to 3 of the walls and painted it white. Now I just have to bring home the rest of my supplies from my school-studio. And I'm ready to roll.

Storage space, I am going to put up at least one more shelf in there, and I sort of created like a luggage net, that keeps my million portofolios in place.

The big 8x4 panel.

Shelf purely for supplies.

my drawing table, with pinboard next to it that is dedicated purely to collecting ideas for the thesis and images/artists that inspire me.


I also did the first 2 etches on the Noah litho, this is the stone lithograph that I started drawing over a year ago, and never finished until this summer. Tomorrow I am actually printing/editioning it. Hope all goes well. Then I can finally put a new image on that stone. :)

Before the etches.


After the first etch, rolled up ready for the second etch.

b/w Photography - portraits

Heya,
I've been doing a lot of developing in the darkrooms over the past few months, and here are some samples of the work I've printed. The first batch are photos of my Mother, Margrit Doering, she modeled for me when she came to visit me a couple of weeks ago. They turned out perfectly and she ended up giving one to my dad as present for their 25th Wedding Anniversary this past Tuesday.



Last summer I took photos of my friend Bhinesha, it took me until this summer to finally develop the rolls and print a few photos. More will come in August.

Art House Print Exchange.

Hello Friends,
as mentioned before I'm participating in "The Great Art House Print Exchange 2". Hop on over and check out some of the submission photos that people uploaded I'm excited to receive my 20 prints from other artists! :)
Anyways thought I show the nice scanned and cleaned versions of the prints:

Title: "Possibility"
Medium: Color Linocut printed on both sides of the paper, one side has a b/w stone Lithograph as 2nd layer. Editioned on Rives BFK.

Front View:

Back View:


This is not part of the submission, but I also editioned the Black and white stone litho on regular Rives BFK white by itself. This one is Titled: "Presumption"

Residency at Atelier de l'Ile - July 12 -26, 2009

I just returned from my Val David Residency Sunday night. It was quite the intense 2 weeks. I worked an average of 12-14 hours a day for two weeks, it felt so good to be in the old swing of things. I REALLLY love the little village and the silence and I absolutely adore the Atelier de l'Ile print shop, the atmosphere reminded me quite a bit of the Hartford Artschool's Printshop.
The artists that I met there where very content, quiet, hard-working printmaker's and I felt so at home that I think I'm going to return several more times to actually create the core of my thesis exhibition at the Atelier. I was very lucky to be able to stay with Nicole Davidson, who grew up in the village and welcomed me into her home as if I am part of the family. Needless to say I am already looking forward to my return up north which for now is scheduled for August 16th. During my week there, Paul Ballard one of the two technicians snuck up on me a few times to take pictures while I am working. He was so kind to let me download them to my laptop. :)

Inking the linoblock with color Lithography ink.Registering the ricepaper on the block.

Printing the linocut on the American French tool press.
Tracing my prep-drawing onto the big stone (this is the one that actually filled in completely, possibly due to problems with the chemistry, meaning I never got to edition it the way I drew it because it turned too dark, and then pitch black. )
Drawing up the first stone.
After the problems with the first stone I only had a few days left to do another print before the end of the residency. So I drew up a small stone in 2 days and it printed beautifully. This time we used a brand new batch of nitric acid for the etch and it worked fine! :) On the Saturday when I was editioning my stone the Atelier had an open house, there were many people in and out all day, a million questions where asked and it was definitely a rough day. This is me inking up the stone during editioning.
The inked up stone ready for the paper to be put ontop and printed.
I editioned the stone on plain white paper as well as ontop of the pattern linocut.
Tomorrow I'll head to school to scan this print before I have to sent the edition to the ArtHouseCoop Printexchange.

Before Scott and I headed back to Montreal I got to practice some more driving Standard in his car, and we went to Lac Raymond and took nice walk. It's a beautiful place :).

terrible day in the shop.. brr

before the 1st etch...

after the 2nd etch.... (note how dark and splotchy it got)

after a 3 proofs it started filling in so badly that i had to stop printing... o.O i might have to counter etch it and work into it again to fix it because even after washing out the ink and etching it stronger it still getting worse... o.O

i'm working on prints for the arthouse printexchange... the first 2 layers are printed front and back of the paper one in red one in yellow...

Printmaking Residency in Val David, QC

Hey friends, so I was incredibly fortunate to be invited for my first artist residency at a printshop. And that is where I have been for the past week, it is time to show some work in progress. I'm working in image size 20 inch x 26 inch printing on 22x30 sheet of white Rives BFK. I've so far finished carving a 20x24 inch linocut, and am in the process of editioning it, this will make up for the first 2 layers on the print i'm working on. I'm also working on a large 26x20 stone lithograph which will be printed ontop of the patterns. So that's the plan. :)



First good proof of the pattern.



Testing it on my blue paper.

on red.

on green





lighter layer.

i decided to edition it in a light color and to then turn the block around and edition it again with a darker color on top. :) making the most of on block! :)
and this is the litho that eventually will be printed over all the patterns :).

"Scott"

Title: "Scott"
Medium: Pencil on Paper
Paper size: 8" x 11 3/4"

work in progress - sleep drawing & growing plants..

This is what I am currently putting a lot of my time into.. I think I want to do a series of sleep drawings this summer, :) Of course this is unfinished but i kind of like it like this too. I'm also spending a bunch of time in the dark room, as soon as there is something to show, I'll upload that as well. :)

The beans and peas. :)

A few of the many sunflower plants! also grown from seeds!

Our strawberries!

Beans are about to blossom!

And my peas are starting to blossom as well!

I can barely believe that these guys grew from seeds! :) hehehe i'm a proud plant mommy! :p

Pattern Passion Goods

My etsy shop now operates under the name Pattern Passion Goods, and I am adding at least one new item a day, so you should definitely stop by! There are some mayor expansions planned for it. And LOADS of new work for sale!

These lovely Thank you cards can be found HERE.
I'm playing a lot with non-toxic block printing inks these days and some of my new linoprints/cards are for specific occasions and some can really be given any time, or even put in a lovely frame and hung up as decorative element in your apartment!

But I am also playing with handcoloring prints I have done over the years and beautiful proofs I printed on nice papers but never used until now. You should definitely take a closer look at these etchings HERE and for the woodstack ones HERE.

And of course there are new and fun promotions going on. With every purchase for the next 2 months you get a Surprise handmade item sent along!
Stop on by and take a look!

I'm a linocut/card making machine!

I've been experimenting with non-toxic water soluble speedball ink. And as part of http://thedoodleoff.blogspot.com I've been doodling type like crazy. :)



Set of 4 Greeting cards.
Lino printed on the inside of the envelope.

Set of 5 "Breathe"- greeting cards.

Etsy-Treasury Feature

My Lithocards were featured on this lovely etsy treasury page. Check it out here!

our new home :) hehehe!

I've been waiting for it to stop raining so I could take photos of our extremely sunny apartment. Well it stopped but the sun is still not back. And since people have been complaining to me about wanting to see photos of the new place after the move, I finally gave in and shot a few, please imagine loads of sun coming in through the windows. My studio, Scott's office, and the entry hall are very sunny in the morning, and the rest of the apartment is very sunny in the afternoon, where as I have to say the sundeck is sunny pretty much all day! :) IT'S SO FRIGGIN' BEAUTIFUL!! I LOVE IT!

Anyways enough talk about sunshine, here are the photos:
Our living room, with my old bed that we turned into a couch/guest bed.

My studio :)



Exit onto the front-balcony. One side of Scott's office.
Scott's Office :).
Our entry hall.



Bedroom.

Kitchen, obviously. We are planning on getting another table the same kind and some chairs so more than 3 people can eat at it. :)


Say Hi to my green bean plants and Peas! :)
There is a cloud of amazing sent on the sundeck thanks to the HUGE lilac bush/tree.
My baby sunflower plants.

Baby Bean-plant. ;)
The other night Scott and I did our first BBQ of the year! HMMMMMM delicious!

New Items on etsy & general updates

Sorry for not posting in a while, we moved in the past 2 weeks, and we still don't have properly functioning internet in our new apartment. I also haven't gotten around to taking some proper photos of the new place. But I promise they will follow soon. In the meantime I applied for the grad.reserve (one semester) teaching position for Lithography at Concordia. Had the job interview yesterday and am hoping to find out the result in about a week. Wish me luck!!
As mentioned before Racheal and I have organized another doodle-off (Version 3) and it's in QUITE the competition with 16 participants and 150 doodles each in 2 months. You should definitely check it out at http://thedoodleoff.blogspot.com !!
As part of the doodle-off I made a new set of greeting cards:

Check it out here!

Also a new twist on an old idea, my dear grandma Almuth actually suggested I should sell the different litho-pattern cards as an Assortment set. Excellent idea! Something for everyone!
Check it out here!

And finally I printed a larger edition then necessary for my printzero studio's exchange submission and turned some of it into cards as well:
Check it out here!

Meet our new apartment! :)

I just couldn't resist, even though the landlords cleaning-people haven't been there and dusted the place off so we can move in, it is too nice to not show it off already! :) So below is the door that you come through after climbing a very long staircase to the second floor.


Right next the open entrance hall is a nook which will be scott's office "area".
Next to the nook is a large window and the front balcony door. on the other side of that wall is the double room which will be my studio and the living room.

The room with the window is going to be my studio.
The other half will be the living room! (love the columns! haha!)

Our cute bathroom with a huge window/skylight. And a cute bathtub.

This room will be our bedroom.

Ok the kitchen is gigantic. This is only a third of it...


This is also the kitchen. opposite this wall is the wall with washer/dryer/frige and stove.

The door that leads out on the sundeck


The huge sun deck that could be easily turned into a reed-roof-patio.
it's nice how "private" it is. For people watching one can hang out on the front Balcony!


The neighbors downstairs have a cute little backyard, i really hope they'll grow lots of veggies and stuff, since it's all set up for it! :)

Kite-flying and sunshine and such.

oh hello. After another round of sickness, ear infection, cold etc. the weather was finally a lot nicer even if only one day at a time Scott and I went to the park along the St. Lawrence river and assembled his super complicated kite (took us about an hour and a half) only to realize that we have no professional kite flying skills which is something you need for this monster (aparently). We tried though! His brother is very much into kites so he will show us one day how this thing works. So it doesn't fly up and come crashing down trying to take one of us out, as it did the other day. On Friday we are signing the lease on our place :) Soooo excited. I'm already working on packing up my life into boxes. Which is definitely much easier this time because I have so much wonderfulness to look forward to!
Other news, i've been working like crazy on new etsy items. This past week I made 50 new cards and a whole bunch of other stuff that will be posted soon!

Also, very exciting! THE DOODLE-OFF v. 3.0 is starting this Friday May 1st. It is hosted by Doodlage.com, who will do a "weekly-best" update. As always though the full competition is posted on the official Doodle-off site. This time we have a LOT of paticipants and the competition lasts over 2 months and 150 doodles a person! You should definitely check out the blog, there will be doodle give-aways to the audience and in the end a beautiful handbound book which will hopefully be up for purchase in July/August. Leave us some love and motivation!!

Calm & Refreshing Waters - Greeting Cards

Get them here!

Welcome Spring & Sunshine!

As always for sale right HERE!

Otherwise much has happened. Incl. My last final critique was this past friday and now I am officially finished with classes and have one year to work on my thesis. This last critique was more so an experiment on "where" I want that current body of work to live. At the same time it was a bit of a finalization for me because once I was finished in that little room I literally closed the doors behind the rupture subject matter for now. Since I've been back in the printshop for the past month printing away I have many plans for new work. But that doesn't mean I am not going to continue working on the old work as well. Esp. the Fabric pieces is an ongoing project that is just going to keep growing on the side until there are enough to install it in an entire room.





Also Scott and I finally found ourselves a BEAUTIFUL sunny apartment that we are moving to last week of May. I am super excited and i am happy that the search is over, I'm not very good at living in LIMBO, not knowing where I'll be next.

So I am very excited to have enough space for my studio and living, a huge kitchen and 2 balconies, the back balcony has a sundeck! Oh it's beautiful! :)

our door way is the one on the left. :)

upstairs is going to be ours. we are signing the lease on Monday! :) Jipppy!

This is going to be our new street, with a big park at the very end. :)

Work in progress...lino, stone litho, litho pattern

I'm currently working on a linocut that is going to be part of Print Zero Studios Exchange! http://www.printzerostudios.com/exchanges.shtml This color number 4, at least 3-4 more to go.

Soon finished with the "uncle noah print" I know big surprise, I haven't worked on this in a long time. But I am finally going back into print so this one will be printed before next friday. :)

I also editioned the pattern print again. Blue this time. :) Time to make some new greeting cards soon!

GREEN GREEN GREEN... or the attempt to swosh winter away and invite the Spring in!

I actually did it.. I printed the Lithopattern in GREEN on the Mailaender offset press.. I don't think I have used the color green itself in print for anything in probably 2 years or so... maybe longer. But here it is, and I kind of love it, I mostly printed this edition of 20 doublesided ricepaper sheets for some variation of greeting cards for my etsy shop. As soon as I produced the first set of green cards I'll let you know ;) so you can run and buy it really quickly... maybe it'll work and it'll shoo winter away!





Rob assisted me during printing. It cuts working time into about 1/3rd of what it would take me when printing by myself. It's really nice to have an Assistant on this press.

hmmmmmm green!

I sponge with a bit of Tannic Acid in my water which helps the place stay stable and not fill in with ink everywhere. Since the inking rollers are quite heavy that is always a concern on this press.

Rob putting a new sheet of paper onto the paperbed and securing it with bits of tape, the ricepaper is tricky it sometimes gets sucked into the inking rollers or can even get stuck on the blanket.

Sponging, usually people let others assist them with sponging... no way, I rather do that myself (it's the easiest to screw up!)

printing.


more sponging.

New Item for sale!

each is one of a kind... check it out!