I caught up on completing some of my Afternoon Tea editions. The last of the beavers are now printed and available in red and two in green ^_^…
Printmaking Friday
March 23rd, 2012 | Add your Feedback (0)
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Mumble, grumble, mumble … *)
Rabbit No. 4 now drying in studio ^_^…
I finally have a couple of prints from all current editions and can start on something new!
Hmmm, maybe some more copper sulphate etchings?
Will see…
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*) the Artist would like to express her annoyance with the treacherous Fates of printmaking, but
a) she does not want to bore you
b) she actually is afraid said Fates might be listening…
… shhh!
Printing Paper, a Crisis and Help from Christchurch.
February 17th, 2012 | Add your Feedback (0)
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Puh! What a relief. It took almost three month to replace my old, for-some-reason-not-available-any-more @#$%^&, printing paper. After I had tried every other paper available in Wellington, wasting an obscene amount of time and money, I sent a sample to Fine Art Paper in Christchurch, and encountered friendly, even exceptional, helpfulness! Small samples were sent, selections made, bigger samples were sent, proofs printed, paper ordered, paper sent, and finally today: a paper-stress-free day in the print studio!
The kind of darkness…, etching by minu
For copper sulphate etchings, I’ll use Tiepolo, made in Italy. It has a warm white colour, a smooth surface, and withstands rigorous pressures. It is mould-made out of 100% acid-free cotton.
For the Afternoon Tea series – and most other drypoint on Perspex or PET series – I’ll use the new Revere paper, because of its slightly whiter colour. The 100% cotton paper is made in Italy by Magnani, with a nice ecological touch ^_^ using hydro energy and no chlorine.
I can highly recommend both papers for all intaglio printmaking techniques.
All is good that ends good.
Many thanks again to Fine Arts Paper.
Experiments with Copper Sulphate on Aluminium
November 12th, 2011 | Add your Feedback (0)
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After a chat with Basia Smolnicki at Inverlochy about copper sulphat etching, I googled the topic and found this sentence on nontoxicprint.com:
“The characteristic of aluminum is the crystalline structure within the metal, which is revealed by the copper sulfate’s action. This means there is no need for aquatinting to get solid color or lighter tints of any hue.”
In short: no more messing around with powdered resin or spray colour! I had to try this!
Last week I had all the materials together and started on a test etch. It works! So I went on and etched my first aluminium sheet. Now, I won’t tell you how I did it… seeing that I did everything wrong ^_^; however, it still worked (kind of).
I’ll do it the right way next time and take some pictures of the process ^_^…
Exciting!
Sneak Peak – New Art Toys
October 25th, 2011 | Add your Feedback (0)
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I am working on artwork for a group exhibition in a couple of weeks. I usually hate these fake photo effects, however, in this case it supports the story.
It took me weeks of trial and error to find a way to turn the “Afternoon Tea” prints into toys. This is the first one that kind of works, I still need way more practice with the joints… the raccoon is my first “traditionally joined” toy, meaning you can turn the head and move the arms. I am still not 100% happy with the toy. But after spending countless hours in the studio – and loads of money on parts and fabric – and wanting to give up around 1000 times in the last 3 weeks I feel like this could go somewhere nice…
… and it would be boring to do things one actually knows how to do anyway…
would it not?
Hey there! Not so short! Ouch…
September 29th, 2011 | Add your Feedback (0)
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Manicure for a new Viech ^_^… You should not have pity with them, but with me. I always get an earful from the little monsters… and I wont get into the details of dental work!
I started to prewash the plush fabric. Since the manufacture changed a year ago the cotton pile is denser, softer and “fluffier”. I can see that other toymaker might prefer this but it doses not work with the Schlaf, the Viech or the Bear. With the pre-washing the fabric is back its old slight scruffy look and feel! One worry less ^_^…
New Work in Progress
February 3rd, 2011 | Add your Feedback (0)
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Time to get back to some printmaking ^_^…
… First proof on brown paper …
… Woodcut plate in progress …
… The sketch …
Head On Show – Work in Progress, Part 2
August 16th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0)
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Monday was Set-up day… some of us did not get much sleep in the days before the show ^_^…
That was the first time I actually saw the bear standing up… The foot claws and the leaves were still in the making.
The bear is growing up …
The little shadow box in the making…
Head On Show – Work in Progress, Part 1
August 11th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (1)
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This is work for the Head on group show. I am a bit frantic because I am seriously running out of time, but in between panic attacks it is actually fun. For this show I pick up the ‘awoke’ series. This is ‘The Bringer of Dreams’. I am working on one of the little boxes I did for the NZ Art Show and a 2.2m installation.
Awoke: The Bringer of Dreams, Box, Work in Progress
Awoke: The Bringer of Dreams, Box, Work in Progress
Awoke: The Bringer of Dreams, Installation, Work in Progress
Keep the fingers crossed for me that this is actually going to work out all right!
New Zealand Art Show 2010 – Work in Progress, Part 4
July 26th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0)
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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
July 22nd, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0)
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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*)
July 21st, 2010 | Add your Feedback (2)
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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.
