Friday, March 30, 2012

La Calaca Press print exchange

  A whole year has passed since I submitted my print for the La Calaca International Print exchange. The Day of the Dead theme is fantastic and I love sketching out ideas for it. I created a few ideas that I will re-work into other mediums but the image below will be my submission for the exchange.


Mmmm......Brains
Edition of 15
Linocut on mulberry

  The deadline for this years exchange is May 15th so you still have a little bit of time to throw one together. Details are here.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Working on...trace monotypes


 Here's a peek at some trace monotypes I did the other day. I haven't done the technique in so long and there really is a particular process for it. Belinda Del Pesco has some fantastic photos of the trace monotype process that she does.

 I found that I had to be careful not to roll too much ink onto the plate and I really had to make sure to keep my pencil straight up and down. With the position of the pen and the plate as it was, I found my hand getting easily tired. I think I will try doing them again but with the plate upright and on an angle while standing up.
The trace monotype allows you to use pre-prepared detailed drawings that you then "trace" onto your paper that has been laid down on an inked plate. However, I find that my best drawings are ones that I do free-hand even though I may have to re-do them a couple times. 

I'm thinking of adding color to some of these with watercolor or pencil crayon.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Cute cat art Two and one-quarter inch pocket mirror Curled up and cute - $5.00

I've created twelve different pocket mirrors dedicated to making sure you always look fantastic.



This image is from my original ink drawing "Curled up and cute" .



Size: 2 1/4" diam.

Image: Curled up and cute



The mirror will carefully be shipped in a protective mailer with plenty of cushioning. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.


Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

Friday, March 16, 2012

A flower birthday cake for an eight yr. old

 Another year has passed and another birthday party is done for my oldest. That means I got to create another birthday cake. For this year's cake my daughter requested a flower again but this time she wanted a butterfly on top. I just used a cardboard template as a guide to cut from two circular 8" cakes as I didn't have a mold for the flower. For the butterfly I used instructions from my book Hello, Cupcake! by Karen Tack. I made numerous butterflies and they were super easy to make. I suggest using the Wilton candy melting wafers rather than just melted chocolate as I did for the brown. I couldn't get any blue wafers so I just colored some white ones with a touch of food coloring.

Another cake made to add to the collection.

I think if you made a whole bunch of these butterflies as toppers on cupcakes the display would be amazing. What do you think? Would flower cupcakes with butterflies not make a great display for a garden wedding?


Monday, March 12, 2012

Rejection - Bring it on

Trace monotype


  I got another rejection notice the other day. I don't really like rejection when it comes to my art but I'm printing off each one as proof of my efforts and determination. In the past I would take the rejection personally, as though it was a comment not only about my skill but as a rejection of my soul. It hurt a lot. This is what I feel like I was born to do, what do you mean you're not interested in what I have to offer?

  The more I keep trying to put myself out there the less importance the rejections take. I'm not going to stop creating, hurt or not, but I think I'm finally starting to get a thicker skin when it comes to showing my work publicly. I can't say that I'm not discouraged and it certainly feels as though I'm due for positive reinforcement but I will get back up and try again.

What about you? What keeps you trying after being rejected?


Friday, March 9, 2012

Small hand pulled Drypoint print Sleeping with the stars - $30.00

Reach for the moon and you might catch some stars......



This hand-pulled print is an original drypoint done on plastic. I've started using Ikea bin lids for plates which make wonderful drypoints but yield a very small edition. This print was handpulled onto archival paper with the press I keep at home. Watercolor was later added by hand for the colors.



Image size: 2" x 2.75"...

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Hand-pulled original linocut print Flower 6x8 - $40.00

This is an original hand-pulled, small editioned print. This is not a reproduction. The print was hand rubbed onto an archival speckled mulberry paper which is strong yet quite thin.
I really love the graphic nature of linocuts and this is as about graphic as you can get. I enjoy how the lines of the leaves slightly vibrate when ...

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Just pluggin' away

We're into March now and I feel myself getting discouraged again. Everyday I work on my Etsy shop and continue with my projects. I keep telling myself that creating is my job and learning new ways to create is important. On the days that Money demands attention (it was just rent day) I feel that I should be spending all my time finding ways to bring in more money. Then I feel guilty for wanting to create all the time. I have wished many times to be able to shut my brain off to for 40 hours a week and just do a job that pays the bills. To want nothing more. I haven't figured out how yet and I find myself going loopy after 15 hours a week. Yup, I haven't had a full time paying job for well over ten years. Ask me how many hours I could spend in the studio a day. I could easily do 10-12 hours a day, no problem. There I get to use my brain. Too bad it doesn't bring in an income. Yet.

Below are some things I have been working on with my tablet, Photoshop and Corel paint.   There's still quite a learning curve I'm trying to overcome with Photoshop but it's been good for creating studies for finished pieces. The skeleton pieces are studies for linocuts, the cat is just me trying out some fur brushes I downloaded and I'm using the mermaid sketch to learn layers.


How about you? Do you find yourself in conflict with creating and money?