My La Calaca International Print Exchange has arrived!

My La Calaca International Print Exchange has arrived! This is one of my favourite exchanges to participate in. Below are just a selection of the prints. The only drawback is that most people just sign the prints and don't send any other info. so I'm not able to search for them online. Do you recognize any of yours in this bunch?

La Calaca Print Exchange

Yeah! This year's submission to the La Calaca International Print Exchange is done and has been mailed off. I did a linocut again this year but this time my preparatory drawing was digital. I really like this skeletal couple and I hope it brings a smile to those printmakers that will receive it. As always, I can't wait to see what I get in return because the quality of the prints have always be great. What about you? Do you have a favourite print exchange?

Some Halloween Skeletons

I've been busy on so many projects that I almost forgot to update my blog. Lately I've been working on numerous silkscreen projects and this year I finally got it together to create some Halloween themed pieces. What do you think about my funky little skeleton?

A nice sized trick-or-treat bag

Size: 6-8 yrs

Size: 24 months

Available in my shop

My La Calaca Print Exchange has arrived.

Guess what I got in the mail the other day? My selection from the La Calaca  International Print Exchange! In exchange for this linocut, I got a fantastic set of skeleton prints done by people from all over the world. This has been the second year that I've participated in this show and I've been really impressed with the quality of prints. If you would like to see a daily dose of printed skeletons you can "like" the La Calaca Press on Facebook. Very inspiring. 

This trio are my favourites from what was sent to me. The print techniques from left to right are: etching, linocut, and lithograph. What's your favourite?

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.

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?

La Calaca Press print exchange

In a previous post I showed you my submission to the La Calaca Press print exchange I did last year. Hundreds of printmakers from numerous countries submitted an edition of 15 hand-pulled prints that were exhibited in several countries. The turn-out and press for the shows looked great.

Well I finally got my set of prints and I was so pleased with what I got. Below is a shot of a few of my favorite pieces.

This one is an engraving. Look at small the lines are! Wow.

I just got an email that there has been a call for another print exchange based on the same theme of La Calaca. I haven't decided if I will be participating but I think it's worth doing some sketches for. If you would like to participate this year you can find the specifics here. 

Silkscreening at home update

For today's post I thought I'd show you some more silkscreen projects I have been working on. As you know, I have been stretching my own screens with old frames and chiffon fabric and using Mod Podge as a screen filler. The drawbacks to this method is that I'm not able to get a super fine mesh and once the Mod Podge is dry it can't be removed from the screen and I have to stretch a new screen for every new image. I have quite a few more silkscreen ideas so I thought I would spend a little money and buy myself the Speedball Silkscreen kit. I figured the mesh would be tighter and I would also get a screen filler that I can remove.

Well.....I haven't been impressed. I'm going to show you a bunch of photos of a current project where I'm trying to use the drawing fluid which is used a resist with the screen filler. The instructions say that the filler may dissolve the drawing fluid if you brush over the same spot more than once. A single swipe with a squeegee is the recommended application. I've been finding the filler so watery and inconsistent that I wish I had just carefully brushed it all on without spending time with the drawing fluid resist. I'm going to need two coats at least. When I used the Mod Podge I only need one coat with some minor touch ups. I will finish applying the filler because I hope to save the frame but so far the Speedball products don't seem worth the extra time.

Drawing fluid in blue and red screen filler. This is the second time applying both because the filler dissolved all the drawing fluid.

Here you can see how thin the filler is. There are holes everywhere.

My screen made with chiffon and Modge Podge. The negative spaces were easily filled.

I've used this screen over and over. I haven't had any of the Mod Podge come off over time.

Below are a couple pictures of a t-shirt design I did with the chiffon fabric and the Mod Podge. In the close-up you can see how the weave of the fabric obscures any pixelation created by the mesh. I'll be printing up a couple t-shirts with this design just in time for Halloween. It's creepy cute, don't ya think?

La Calaca International Print Exchange

In a past post I had shown how I was trying to adapt my studio for silkscreening. I had tried sheer curtains and the embroidery hoop frame technique but I found it wasn't as consistent as I needed. After finally adapting an Ikea RIBA frame and chiffon fabric I was able to create clear silkscreen prints.

A while back I began following printmaker Carlos Barberena and I have been continually impressed with his posts about his printmaking techniques and the courses that he teaches. Early this summer I saw that Carlos put out a call for printmakers to submit to an international print exchange with the theme La Calaca, Day of the Dead. How cool! I thought it would be a great chance to explore silkscreen again as well as give me the chance to use my Wacom tablet to work out the preliminary sketches.

As tempting as it was to go crazy with multiple colored screens and create a sugar skull, I kept my design simple and more in keeping with my own style. Below is my print "Never stop dancing". The paper size was restricted to 9"x12" for an edition of 15. I printed on Stonehenge paper . I adhered a different piece of decorative paper to each print to depict the skeleton's dress. I like how the intricate patterns mimic what you might see on a sugar skull for La Calaca.

If you look closely you're able to see the weave of the screen and while it's not as fine as any professional screen I've used, it has been a very good substitute for the home studio at a MUCH lower cost. I should note that while you see pixelation on paper that it disappears when printing on fabric. Stay tuned for future posts and I'll show you what I mean.

If you're interested in seeing other submissions to the exchange you can view them over here. You never knew skulls could look so cool.