Night Blind Poster

I intended this blog to be about all of my hand-made art and similar pursuits, but once in a while I get to work on a really fun project that takes me back to why I took up design in the first place. This is a poster I designed for an Independent short film being produced locally. My friend Sean is the producer, so I’ve been enlisted to help with various programs and posters and whatnot in exchange for being his date to the Oscars when they get nominated in the Best Short Film category. (a girl can dream!)

International Print Exchange

A while ago my friend Jessica sent me a link to a call for submissions to an international print exchange organized by a printmaking studio in Derbyshire, UK (http://www.greendoor-printmaking.co.uk/). The deal is that I send them all of the original prints of an edition of 10, and they send me back 8 different prints submitted by other artists. All for the low price of 6 pounds. Can’t beat that for 8 pieces of original art (not including my own). The size of the paper is 5.5″ square, and the size of the print no larger than 3.9 ” square.

Finally, the very last night I’ll be able to create something to submit before the deadline, I decided to pull the trigger (procrastinator!) The prints I created are the first completed works in a series of mixed media pieces of art I’ve been thinking about for some time now. The themes revolve around using weather as a metaphor for feelings and states of mind. Partially because I see a lot of parallels there with my own emotional life, and partially because people here in the great Pacific Northwest (or the GPNW, if you like) are totally obsessed with the weather. If it strays in the summer months above 73 degrees, or in the winter below 42, people totally freak out… so interesting… I love it!

This piece is truly mixed media. Printed on Archival Fabriano printmaking paper. The first layer is a linoleum cut relief print, with a strip of handmade paper at the bottom. Then I used my Gocco printer to silkscreen a halftone screen on top of the blue, then another relief print for the house, and finally the roof of the house is a tiny piece of 22 gage Copper glued to the paper. I’m trying to marry all, (or some) of my skills together. This attempt may be a little expected… but that’s what happens when I procrastinate and have a strict deadline. One of these days I’ll be able to realize what I see in my mind’s eye on paper/canvas/etc.

polka dot ring

anatomy of a ring

Being a maker of things, I feel like while I’m pretty good at some things, really good at others, I’m just mediocre at many… And sometimes when I’m trying to make things I see how my diverse interests make me a jack of all trades and a master of none. I melted several bezels while attempting to make this ring, burned my fingers, and used more expletives than I know I should…. but the 3rd or 4th time is the charm, and I really like the way it turned out. The polka dot bit in the middle is an enameled piece of copper I made in a class a few months ago, and the rest is silver. Making this makes me want to go back and take more metal smithing classes at Pratt!