Print Zero Exchange

Well, it finally came. My Print Zero Exchange finally made it into my hands. I had done the above print for this international exchange based in Seattle back in May of this year. As this was my first international exchange, I was very excited to see what I would get in return. Well I waited, and waited, and waited and waited some more. I had almost lost all hope after hearing that some printmakers had received theirs. It looks as one thing after another delayed the mail-outs which was coupled with the fact that they had almost double the amount of entries as they did last year. Nearly 400 editions! I can imagine organizing that many entries was quite an undertaking.

As this exchange was an open call and not juried, all levels of printmaking expertise were present. Each printmaker was asked to complete and edition of 15 to exchange. In the edition that I received there were quite a few prints that looked as though they were beginner editions. Below are a couple of prints that found to be the best in the selection. I can't accredit the artists because most of the prints just have signatures without names or contact info on them. This is something I'll be sure to include in my next exchange because I would have loved to be able to see more of these artists' work. A complete list of artists will be set up on print Zero's Flickr page.

Although I found this exchange to be rather frustrating, I have faith that Print Zero Studio will be able to redeem themselves with future projects and exchanges. I would love another opportunity to visually connect with other printmakers from around the world. Next planned exchange: Year of the Tiger 2010.

Wordless Wednesday (Halloween Edition)

Benconservato

Twisted Sister Arts

Bebito

Jill Penney

Mushrooms

Here on the west coast, the rainy season has started. As I live in a rainforest, you can imagine how I get to see the rain and clouds almost everyday. The upside to all of those drizzly days is that they produce a wonderful variety of mushrooms. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know which mushroom is edible or poisonous but I do know that those people who do, keep their mushroom finds to themselves to ensure the fungi are not over-picked. These foragers make sure they hold their mushroom harvest in open net bags so that the spores can be knocked off and onto the forest floor to hopefully be spread for harvesting in following years. Perhaps one day I will take a mushroom foraging course and then I will know which fresh mushroom would go great in a risotto when I see it. Yum.

On a recent excursion with the kids, I came across a whole bunch of different mushrooms. As they have been a source of visual inspiration for me lately, I had to take a few pictures. Perhaps there are a few of you out there that know the names of these.

Wordless Wednesday

Jennifer Gibbs

Hisss

Stepping Stones

Two Seaside Babies

Illustrators of Inspiration

For me, I imagine my that my dream job would be to illustrate a children's picture book. How great would it be to draw fairy tales, children and animals all day long? It's from the first picture books of my childhood that spurred my desire to be an artist. I would spend hours copying pictures from my favorite books. Still in love with the genre, I collect children's picture books just for the illustrators.

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite illustrators, starting from the first books of inspiration of my youth to some of the books I currently pour over.

This vintage Peter Pan is one of the first books to fascinate me. I remember copying this cover quite a few times. I was fortunate enough to find a copy of this book through Malfie on Artfire and was thrilled to find her located in the same city as me. In less than two days Malfie had supplied me with a small but significant piece of my childhood. Thanks . Now if she can only scout out a Wayne Anderson book for me. I would provide an image but most are protected from copying. Looking at his work, I can see that he has had a significant and early impression on my own work.

As for current illustrators...the list is so huge. Here's a very small portion of them. See if you can find a theme or look that has attracted me to them.

Lane Smith

Wayne Anderson

Mark Ryden

Ryan Heshka

Johnson and Fancher

Vlasta Van Kempen

Wordless Wednesday (One-of-a-Kind Show)

Emily Cooper

Santa Morgie

Popo Ponchos

Little Red Caboose

Wordless Wednesday

Oh Boy Cat Toy

Bunny Logic

Yacs Pocket

Elsita

Sweetie Bees

A little while ago I had featured an Etsy seller on my Wordless Wednesday. I saw this adorable looking girl in a cute pink summer dress and thought it would make a great addition to the rest of my picks. Well Jen Howard of Sweetie Bees was very flattered that I had picked her shop and asked me if I had any children and if I would be interested in having my girls pose in exchange for clothes. I love photographing my daughters and they love pretending to be "super models" so I asked my girls and they said, "Sure!".

After a couple different photo shoots, I had enough for Jen to use in her listings for her fall collection. I must say that I was very impressed with the quality of fabric and the level of craftsmanship that Jen has used on her pieces. Top drawer!

Do take a look around Jen's shop and I'm sure you'll find some fantastic and unique pieces for a little girl you might know. My girls favorite was the autumn colored patchwork skirt.

So thank you Jen for letting me do this fun exchange and it's left me with a really positive feeling about all the great people I've met since going online. Cheers to you.