Tomorrow is set-up for the show. Puh! I did not manage to get everything done, but I at least wanted to get one of the boxes ready for the show ^_^…
Shadow Box, Detail – Work in Progress
Shadow Box – Work in Progress
New Zealand Art Show 2010 – Work in Progress, Part 3
I am slowly getting there … ^_^… this is one of the Acrylic Painting in progress.
Work in Progress, Acrylic Painting, ‘Fragile Shadow’ Preview
Work in Progress, Acrylic Painting, ‘Fragile Shadow’ Preview
Failure and Achievement*)
Failure
I failed… actually I failed quite a lot in the last months. I tried a thousand things and only a couple turned out the ‘right way’.
Achievement
I achieved something … between all the failure some things turned so well that I think: ‘I made this? Erm… can’t be somebody else must have made that one!’
Creativity
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk ‘On Nurturing Creativity’.
I am blessed – and cursed – with a ‘creative genius’ in form of a capricious, evil spirited night demon with a plural personality in form of a self-deceiving, day-time will-o’-the-wisp. I do not complain, they fit.
Calling
My artwork is a response to an inner calling in a very literal sense, all these creatures live in my head and call to be put on paper. They want their stories told. If I fail, I fail them. They come back and complain: ‘Nope that is not me. I do not look like this. I do not feel like this. Nope, THIS IS NOT SAYING ANYTHING!’ Believe me, they know how to speak in capital letters.
Thank you
Why do I write this post? I am not sure, I have things to do and make, but I wanted to say ‘thank you’ to my little demon for the ‘Badger’ print. He is very happy with his portrait and there is one call less in my head.
Thank you.
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*) I never needed a footnote on a header before ^_^… I was thinking about naming this article ‘Failure and Success’, but in today’s western society you can’t talk about ‘failure’ or ‘success’. Like failure is non-existent or just happens to other people. I will use the word failure. I like the sound.
The word ‘success’ on the other hand is so bound to monetary success, that I refuse to use it. The thesaurus offered achievement (noun): something completed successfully, a goal reached. Sounds about right.
New Zealand Art Show 2010 – Work in Progress, Part 2
Afternoon Tea – The Badger, Preview
Next to the ‘Fragile Shadow’ works, new ‘Afternoon Tea’ prints will be part of my wall at the New Zealand Art Show 2010 as well. This one is the badger and my favorite so far ^_^…
Afternoon Tea – The Badger, Preview Detail
New Zealand Art Show 2010 – Work in Progress
Note a couple of weeks later: These totally did not work the way I imagined them. They look totally wrong to me. I will work on the idea, but these will go in the bin ^_^. See my little note on ‘Failure and Achievement ‘.
Stitch. Stitch.. Stitch… Stitch….
I am busy and a bit frantic to get my artwork ready for the show.
Work in Progress – mixed media artwork – Drypoint etching and stitching.
Work in Progress – mixed media artwork – Drypoint etching and stitching.
Stitch. Stitch.. Stitch… Stitch….
I think you get the picture ^_^…
Craft 2.0, June 12th: Thank You – Again!
And again a big thank you to all the lovely people who came to visit me at my stall on Saturday. You totally made my day. I was alone at my stall this time and even though the fair was packed, it never got frantic or hectic. So thank you for all your patience, all your praise, for supporting minu and making this a really special day… and I even won a prize for my stall ^_^!
Special thanks to:
- awesome Alix for helping me out the night before the fair (again)
- for Sue’s helper who got me a lifesaving coffee
- to my nice stall neighbours
- and to Sue Taylor, her team, and the TheNewDowse for making craft 2.0 better and better.
It will be hard to top this one guys.
More images of the fair thanks to David Brebner sharing his set on flickr and thanks to Peta Mazey on her blog.
I almost had a nervous breakdown on Friday night while trying to get my stuff ready (and was saved by Alix). I coursed and swore never to do any craft fair ever again. And I came home on Saturday really, really tired but absolutely energised by all your lovely comments and feedback and can’t wait for the next one.
What would I do without all you lovely people?
So – again – many thanks for all your support.
The Visitor’s Friend
The Visitor’s Friend (working title) – first proof
She accompanied me to the print studio today. She said she wanted a portrait with her best friend. I said: ‘Fine, where is he?’ She said: ‘Why, he is standing behind me!’…
A Visitor at Midnight
I am a bit stuck with my artwork of the NZ Art Show – only 7 weeks to go – and to be honest I start to panic… which in the end is part of my creative process. My work tents to dry once they are hanging on the wall ^_^…
The work usually evolves along a undefined story line, almost like a conceptual narration… that part always comes easy to me. Its not the ‘what do you want to tell’ its the how, which media, on what materials, stroke, lines, fill, background, textures…
Luckily this little girl popped up in my sketchbook at midnight to point me in a possible direction ^_^…
Somehow I think she will be around to help me out!
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By the way ‘Besuch zur Geisterstude’ sounds so much nicer. I definitely need a better translation!
‘Father Bear’ revisited or how to produce high quality, but affordable, archival prints
‘Father Bear’ (first digital test print)
I just printed the first little test of ‘Father Bear’ and – for now – I am very pleased with the outcome ^_^… just have to decide on the paper. So here comes the story…
Since month (and month) I consider to produce some high quality, but affordable, archival prints from the ‘Awoke Series’. As with traditional printmaking I prefer to have control over the process, choosing different papers and playing around with colours. So I finally decided to invest some money and print myself, using a ‘professional’ printer.
The printer
Three things are really – really – important when you plan to print yourself:
- Using high quality, pigment based, light fast inks (rather than dye based)
- Being able to print on a variety of archival, high quality fine art papers.
- There is no such thing as too many different inks, the classical CMYK is not good enough.
In the end I decided to get the Canon Pro9500 Mark II, but the printer only gets you so far.
‘Father Bear’ (Aqylic on wood)
Digital Re-Production
How do you actually ‘reproduce’ an acrylic painting on paper? Usually you literally ‘reproduce’ the artwork, by either scanning or photographing the artwork in this case a painting. This somehow did not work for me, whatever I tried looked ‘artificial’.
So I let it be for a couple of month … and some more month… Yesterday night it came to my mind that actually I do not have to literally ‘reproduce’ a painting. I could produce a digital file from scratch for printing on paper.
I decided to start with ‘Father Bear’. I scanned the original sketch (ink, water colour and pencil on paper) and a selection of wood veneers.
‘Father Bear’ sketch (ink, water colour and pencil on paper)
I kept the lines and started to ‘colour in’ the drawing using a variety of Photoshop brushes and layer settings. Based on the different grains I decided on a walnut veneer, edited the colours and brightness to match the stain I used on the plywood, deciding to not go as dark as in the painting.
‘Father Bear’ digital version.
I still have to decide on the paper, I consider the ‘Hahnemühle German Etching (Ink Jet)‘, just because I use Hahnemühle papers for traditional print making and those papers are awesome…
The costs for printing will be between $10 and $15 NZ for an A4 print with a bit of white border. This is more expensive than going to a professional printer, but at least I can be sure of the quality of print, paper and ink… (trusting the promises of the manufactures ^_^…)
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Disclaimer: As always… the prodcut links are no ‘advertising’. I do not get reembursed in any way. I just share resources, because it might be of interest to other people.
How to: Multi Colour Drypoint Etching – One Plate, One Go
This is a follow up post on my tutorial about Drypoint etchings (…›‘How To: Drypoint on Perspex (Plexi-glass)’ ). This post describes how to apply different ink layers onto one plate to print various colours in one go. I use this technique in the ‘Afternoon Tea’ and ‘Miyu’ series. The plate is inked using Charbonel oil based etching inks, the plate is pulled using a professional etching press on Hahnemühle etching paper and now … the interesting bit ^_^ …
Miyu Shhh… No. 6
First colour layer
The plate is prepared like discribed in ‘#1 Transferring the artwork onto the plate’ keeping in mind that various colours will be used. For the Miyu prints all the lines should be black, so I cover the plate with black ink first, making sure that the ink reaches down into the incised lines. I carefully wipe the surface ink from the plate using gauze.
Monday Printstudio – More Drypoint Etchings
I had a quite successful day in the print studio today – after some not too successful experiments the last couple of weeks ^_^…!
I am still working on the balance between lines, colours and background tones. Other than the ‘Afternoon Tea’ prints the ‘Miyu’ prints are simplified, the colours very subtle and the background almost white.
I will remember to take my camera next Monday and take some shots, documenting how the colours are applied to the plate and carefully wiped. Both the ‘Afternoon Tea’ and the ‘Miyu’ Series are printed in one go, with up three colours applied to the plate before printing.
‘Bear’ First Prototype
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This was on my list for ages! On Monday I finally made the first prototype of the third character of the ‘der Hase, das Viech und der Bär’ …I know, all of this still needs translation ^_^, I am working on it!
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