Projects from 2010 that didn't get blog credit until now

Rabbit skin glue experiment papers in a triptych frame

A thank you painting of a loon for my dear aunt, watercolor, color pencil and gouache on illustration board

 A collage thanksgiving postcard for a friend. The texts reads "gobble gobble" at the top and "heh heh" at the bottom.

This was the 2nd year that I've made holiday lino cut cards. The two lino cuts were carved on the same block, which made the edges more fragile than I like. The Frontier Mother and Child was inspired by a photo of women and children in Time Life: The Old West: The Women- on of my favorite sources for reference. I drew the image on the block and carved it out. The Lunar Mother and Child was carved a week or two after the frontier one. It started with a more complicated and geometric boarder, and I wanted to do something challenging and fun. Abstracting the spacesuits and lunar landing was a major highlight of the past few months art wise.

 

test runs of the blocks- I love how crisp they are in the beginning!

I sold a dozen Lunar cards to Lola Home which was very exciting. I haven't had a chance to stop by and ask if they sold well, but these are the ones I have left.

 Playing with the ink application was fun and a lot less stressful than planing a painting's color and compositions. I'm beginning to understand the thrills of printmaking, and feel more regret for not taking more print classes when I was in school.

 I love how over the time the ink stays on the block and it becomes a singular distinctive piece that creates multiples.

 I posted a few of these cards on TroubleFox, the Etsy shop Stephy and I are working on. Right now we're using this quick drawing of a fox as the profile pic.

 

 

 I've been covering this board with black masking tape salvaged from Devin DeKing's Senior show. I have two large plastic bags that have fused around the tape (14 roll's worth I think) and I like the challenge of untangling it. Devin is also one of my dearest friends- on a girl talk and a "let's get messy and make something" level. She's a solid source of inspiration and just as enthusiastic and in love with rabbit skin glue as I am. Devin and I also share the same madness for time-consuming and body effecting work. Will the work and its process make us ache, our joints stiff, dye our skin, bother the prissy and make our lazy art peers look bad? Then we will revel in it.
Devin has been teaching English to naughty and Über adorable elementary school students in Japan for most of the year. I miss her dearly, and this project has morphed into an expression of that removed excitement and missed kinship; it is slow, because it takes time and because I'm savoring it. I think eventually I will make this a canvas for a rabbit skin glue painting, because I know all the crannies and layers are begging for the ooze and sediment.

round 2 of postcards and minature portraits

I've been slow to post these postcards because I wanted to send them out first. It seems that all the postcards share a theme of animals jumping/ popping out of somewhere else which is something I'll work on more deliberately now that I've recognized the pattern. I think the 3rd one is the most humorous yet.

On a slightly more serious note, I've been working on a pen and watercolor drawing that's 3.5 x 5 inches and photo based. I want to describe the limbs a little more and the clothing, but otherwise I like the direction it is heading in.

I've been feeling a little weary lately so I haven't been making anything. I did go to the library and pick up a couple of books by Aimee Bender. Her writing is vivid and has elements of magical realism- the kind of writing that kick starts ideas- I'm looking for a dose of inspiration.

postcards

Most people know that I am done with school. Everyone asks, "what have you been up to?" and I answer, scooping ice cream (still) and a gallery internship. "Oh." they say, hiding the disappointment in my less than riveting reply. "Are you making any art?" they ask, with a hopeful tonal upswing. This is usually where I say no, but lately I've been saying postcards. Postcards aren't as exciting as they use to be I guess, unless they are covered in illicit, silly or private revelations. (like these ). But I've been making postcards because they aren't as intimidating as little paintings or drawings.
Here they are:

 

 this one's my favorite and has been sent to the east coast

Grumpy cat in a bag for all those with cabin fever

I doodled this card while listening to Au Revoir Simone, a Brooklyn band that I've just started listening to.


Step by step and bird by bird I guess. At least I can say that I've been making things. This past Sunday I went to a liquidation sale and bought around 10 wood panels of varying sizes, so once the rains stop I'll bike over to the tool lending library for a miter box, clamps and a hand saw and burn a lot of calories making panels to paint on. I'm really excited about where they could lead.