In My Head I Call This One Something Like "carried Away By The Bluebird Of Happiness" But That Is A Bitch

in my head I call this one something like "carried away by the bluebird of happiness" but that is a bitch and a half to write on an edition of 36. so I titled it Joy.

if you turn your head you will note that it works in every possible orientation of the paper. but this is printmaking, and bitches need titles, edition numbers, and signatures. so Christine picked this orientation and I went with it.

it was created for a print exchange and exhibition put together by a classmate of mine, in conjunction with other students and alums of WWU and UW's printmaking programs. I was asked to not participate by my professor because he was worried that I would slap together something horrible and messy at the last minute and disgrace him and his printmaking program. considering my track record, a not unreasonable concern.

luckily for me, I had already paid my money to Drew, and started work on my print before Ben decided I would be a liability, so I felt I had to do my best to show him I was capable of putting together something that would  show my capabilities and my worth as a printmaker.

of course, I then decided to hand color the whole edition.

I didn't color three that I used with my exclusively black and white works in my BFA show. one of which is shown here. carving printing and coloring this edition took around two weeks in total. which admittedly involved a lot of drying time.

I like hand coloring. it's easier for me to control than multi-block processes and if I use an oil based ink and a water based paint on high quality paper the color stays between the lines with water tension. but, it introduces inconsistencies to an edition. which is a cardinal sin in printmaking. so I painted every one of them in layers, using one batch of paint at a time on all of them one by one, so they would look exactly the same.

it's still considered a lazy and unprintmakerly technique.

of course another friend of mine got flak for doing a no-color black lino cut. and of course, after we got the packet back with everyone's prints in it, UW had done a bunch of sloppy abstract bullshit anyway and the best stuff was done by WWU alumni who I assume didn't even get yelled at a little.

storal of this mory being that you can't win against other people's anxiety problems.

and if you want 25 near-perfect prints, start with 40.

5"by 7" scratchboard.this is just some practice scribbles from copying off wikipedia.

I want to draw a majestic animal, and I end up with Moon Moon. story of my life.

The thing about making art is:

If you're good enough to be able to see what you want, you can make the image/object itself out of pretty much anything.

Right now I'm working on sewing some color onto a print I made. most of its fraternal twins are on paper, it's not exactly an edition. I made more than I needed off the block and then burned it into a screen using a print on oiled newsprint and then printed more, two of which are on canvas. at the time I figured I needed bases for mixed media projects outside of school. turns out I was right and I wish I'd made more when I could. but yeah, I made a lot of these because the image itself pleases me. I didn't edition them, so I could color them in by hand and not have to deal with Printmaker Judgement, which is what one gets from other printmakers when the edition is inconsistent (or nonexistent).

I'm doing a very normal version of the colors I usually put on this, only difference is that it's fiber art and it's taking forever to finish because it's painstaking and I keep stabbing myself in the left hand.

last bit of that is normal for my process I guess. almost as much as inspiration striking me exclusively at 2am.

but yeah, mom wanted to go to the JoAnne's in Federal Way tonight. they were out of the glow-in-the-dark embroidery floss so I just picked up some more colors that aren't the variegated stuff I've been working with, and some pieces of felt to make things with.

brought the in-progress canvas scrap in to check it against the colors they had in the store, got complimented by the cashier on it being beautiful. so that kinda made my night.

anyways, I guess this is another picture of my tool-box. I will post the progress shots in victory when I finish the beast.

second patch for today. I used a little bit of this paisley quilting fabric in the middle, otherwise it's felt and embroidery thread..

if I was a sincereist, this is probably the heart I would be wearing on my sleeve. working small has been fun, but I should plan out something nice and complicated tomorrow.

Pisces, edition of 16

I finally carved this super cool clear linoleum sample that Nick gave me and printed on one sheet of BFK which I ripped into 16 bits. (which would be funnier if this was pixel art, but alas)

Damn I love the clear linoleum so much. it is beautymus.

image is drawn after these little soy sauce bottles I have. Done to do something silly. Start to finish a couple of hours out of today put to good use.

Today I made a Christmas ornament. (and also did muh nails)

it is a snowflake made out of felt. I stuffed it with the little scrappy bits of felt that I had leftover so it's a bit of a little pillow. it looks good and is now hanging on my tree.

Yes, I copied the design off something I found on pinterest. because I am a hack. you'll note I didn't do as good of a job of it as Jody Bishel does, so I don't feel too bad about it.