Postcards for pals, part 3

Three new postcards sent to pals who live far afield from my home in Los Angeles. Linocut, screenprint, and watercolored postcard sent to Joey Behrens in Ohio:

Colored pencil and monoprint postcard sent to Paul Kaloper in South Dakota:

Linocut, monoprint, and chine colle with hand coloring sent to Miguel Aragan in Austin, TX:

RipRap, 34

Here it is, my first book cover job. Ah, so exhausting this was. I designed the imagery given the few themes that loosely unified the contributing artists and writers: that they were in California, and mostly attend(ed) California State University, Long Beach. From that, I riffed on the California flag for the bear imagery and kept the palate pretty muted, because hey, you don't hire me because you were expecting neons, do you? The anthology was made in an edition of 650, with 50 of those being part of the deluxe edition and printed on dark blue paper with gun metal grey foiling on the text. Even though it's not "deluxe" I think I prefer the regular colorway on the grey paper. If you're interested, I have some of the left over state proofs for sale here on my etsy.

And hey, look, here some unflattering pictures of me screenprinting this massive edition and all of the covers laid out to dry on my studio floor:

Postcards for pals, part 2

As part of my project to send out a printed handmade postcard to a friend for each day of April, Sent to Tommy H. in Chicago:

Sent to Colin Roe Ledbetter in Kansas:

Sent to Nate and Debbie in Salt Lake City:

And here's Sarah's postcard in its new environment:

Postcards for pals, part 1

My goal for April was to send out a single postcard for each day of the month. All postcards I handmade and I sent each one to a different friend who lives far way from me. I hope these all made it to their destinations relatively unscathed.

Linocut on found paper, sent to the artist Tim Musso

Linocut and monoprint on found paper, sent to the artist and gallery owner Stephanie Carrico

Linocut on found paper, sent to the writer Nathan C. Martin

Monoprint, watercolor, and colored pencil, sent to my pal Sarah W.

Woodcut and watercolor on found paper, sent to my pal Shawn M.

Linocut on found paper, sent to my pal David J.

Here's Shawn's, having safely arrived in Louisiana:

The Conversationalists, Part 2

Here's the second print I made for the demo I did at AR4t Gallery as part of the Dennis McNett show. I think of them as two heads having an awkward conversation.

It's linocut on paper in an edition of 200. I added a ton of Japan drier to the ink so that I wouldn't take prints that were completely wet home with me. It actually worked pretty well, and the prints were completely dry to the touch the morning after printing.

These guys are for sale on my etsy site, here.

Conversationalists, part 1

I went all the way from Los Angeles to Laguna Beach to see the Whale of Gratitude show by Dennis McNett. It was pretty amazing, which wasn't particularly surprising, but I was a little surprised and pleased when the gallery owners invited me to do an inhouse demonstration of relief printmaking during the Laguna Artwalk. Dennis McNett is a Brooklyn based artist, and so couldn't attend both receptions.

I carved two new blocks for the demo. They're both a single color linoleum block on a variety of paper stocks in an edition of 100 each and can be left flat or folded into a three dimensional little paper ball.

I had a lot of fun having a couple little kids help me crank the press, and it's wonderful when people applaud when you pull a new print off the block like it's a magic trick.

Speak and See

I attended the Southern Graphics Council International Conference in New Orleans last week, and my oh my, was it wonderful. The conference portfolios were pretty amazing, and I got to meet Katherine Polk, whose work I have long admired.

I made a special print to trade with other people for their artwork, and because I am insane, I printed an edition of 500 with four colors. I am in some ways trying to prepare myself for the book cover I'm working on right now. The book cover I will be printing in an edition of 750, but thankfully only two colors.

I made great use of the paper cutter I was gifted awhile ago.

Here's my table at the SGCI New Orleans conference. I traded this print for a few awesome prints by other people, and I gave some away, too. New Orleans was gorgeous and amazing and I wished that I could have stayed longer.

This was my second trip to NOLA. The first time I went was actually ten years ago, also to attend SGCI. I pretty much only ever travel for work, and I wonder if I should try actually going on a real vacation sometime.

Sunlight

I monitored another monoprint workshop on Saturday, and since there were so few students I had a chance to pull a print of my own. A two plate monoprint--I printed the navy blue first, and then put a layer of transparent grey over the figures. I used piles of Q-tips, but maybe I need to find a tool less wasteful.

"Apart"

Last linocut of 2011.

This print is part of the Multiverse exchange at the SGCI 2012 New Orleans conference.

I originally intended to carve this relief print out of sintra, which is what I tend to prefer, but the deadline was closer than it should have been due to my procrastination, so I opted for linoleum, which is faster and easier to carve but loses sharpness sometimes.

I'm new to hair.  To be honest, my fear of drawing hair is a little unfounded and embarrassing at this point in my career, but there it is.  I'm trying to force myself to include more hair in my pieces now, just to get over it.  Straight hair I think I have down pretty well now, but I don't know about curly hair.

This linocut is printed on a blue hemp washi, purchased from Hiromi Paper, and then chine colle-d onto Rives BFK.

LA Art Show, 2012

This is going to be my most name dropping blog post ever.

I printed up a mess of prints at the LA Art Show as part of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society. The IFPDA sponsored us to come and demonstrate printmaking to the audience of collectors and looky-loos at the Art Show. It was lots of fun, and I was lucky enough to find a purchaser for two of my large sculptural prints. And that means they take up less space in my loft and I can make more sculptures soon.

Jason and I at the premiere party

At the premiere party, I met Kim Coates (who plays Tig, the sergeant of arms) from Sons of Anarchy. He and his wife were completely charming in a way that I found surprising because I'm still such a naif that I expect actors to be somewhat like the characters they play.

David Caruso listened to my spiel and watched me print for a bit, but I didn't know what to say to him because I only know CSI: Miami from watching the Soup and when they'd film on my old campus.

Printmaker David Lefner, Shyla, and myself at the premiere party

Showing the heavy embossment to some onlookers

Plates to print

My figures, from the piece

"I don't like that, I've never liked that" on display.

Printing with the artist Dirk Hagner

Here are the three prints I made especially for the LA Art Show.

They are relief monoprints: I carved a relief silhouette, and then selectively inked it. I'm really happy with how they came out and am now printing the three plates together on a full size sheet of BFK.

The Catman and Woodcut Workshop

I have this character that is a my go-to for when I need to draw something quickly for a demonstration (see my Viscosity prints, for instance). I just finished up a woodcut workshop, and I had spent hours drawing out a beautiful bird carcass to use as the demo for the class and then I realized, an hour before the students were due to arrive, that I wouldn't have time to draw and carve the whole image and that using a really complex image would only freak out the students. So, the Catman. I drew the image minutes before the class started and was able to carve him inbetween helping the students. We used pine, which was horrid, but it was only fair that I made something with the same wood that they were using.

I printed him on white washi, a wretched Pepto pink paper as a kiss print (using the ghost ink as a gray, partially ink only a selected area), on fabric from the scrap bin, and with a little monotype overlay.