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New Zealand Art Show 2010 – Work in Progress

July 6th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (1) share on twitter share on facebook ^_^...

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….

NZArtShow - Work in Progress

I am busy and a bit frantic to get my artwork ready for the show.

NZArtShow - Work in Progress

Work in Progress – mixed media artwork – Drypoint etching and stitching.

NZArtShow - Work in Progress

Work in Progress – mixed media artwork – Drypoint etching and stitching.

Stitch. Stitch.. Stitch… Stitch….

I think you get the picture ^_^…

The Visitor’s Friend

June 11th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0) share on twitter share on facebook ^_^...

First proof - Detail
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

June 10th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (1) share on twitter share on facebook ^_^...

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 ^_^…

Witching Hour Visitor

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

June 4th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0) share on twitter share on facebook ^_^...


‘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.

Monday Printstudio – More Drypoint Etchings

May 10th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0) share on twitter share on facebook ^_^...

miyu 2010

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.

miyu 2010

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

March 11th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0) share on twitter share on facebook ^_^...

'the bear' first prototype.

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!

Der Hase, das Viech und der Bär.

Minu Studio at the Toi Pōneke Arts Centre in Wellington

March 9th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0) share on twitter share on facebook ^_^...

minu workshop - Toi Pōneke Arts Centre

I can’t believe that it is already one week since I moved into my studio at Toi Pōneke. I am still setting up. Everything is a bit chaotic, but I love it. I still need to built a nice display for my things, but I am getting there ^_^. I am a creative night owl, so I especially like the view at night.

minu workshop - Toi Pōneke Arts Centre

Pick up and direct sales will be available shortly. I am thinking about having one fixed afternoon every week for people to just come over and buy something, otherwise times could be arranged.

Studio 18 – Toi Pōneke
61-69 Abel Smith St
Wellington, Wellington 6011
New Zealand

mobile 021 027 25 170 (land line and voicemail will be available soon)

Nightshift with Water Colours

February 19th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0) share on twitter share on facebook ^_^...

Nightshift with Water Colours

I finally managed to get back to some more work on the ‘awoke’ series. I plan a series of water colour paintings. For now I work on getting the colour pallet right (trying out tea and coffee ^_^) and experiment with the ink outlines… It is very different from the acrylics on wood.

Rather than using traditional water colour paper I use 100% rag heavy weight German etching paper. I like the smooth surface and the sheer thickness. I still have this heavyweight acid free recycling paper (like brown paper), I need to test the lightfastness though… and I consider getting some veneer…

Nightshift with Water Colours

I like the techniques, very intuitive, fast and without any hassle. All you need is paper and a small set of colours. There is not much room for mistakes though.

The sketch on the right is actually from January 2009. Its a bit frightening, how few things I actually managed to get done last year…

Reusing, Recycling, Avoiding Waste

February 5th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0) share on twitter share on facebook ^_^...

When I started minu, one of my aims was to be sustainable – in a economical and ecological sense. I always look at ways to improve the manufacture of my little toys. Since the wool stuffing did not turn out to be feasible, I turned to the common polyester stuffing. It is washable, keeps ‘in shape’, and is easy the get and use. However it is still quite expensive and not easy to recycle.

Reusing Fabric Scraps for Filling

Using your Leftovers

While cutting out parts for soft toys, a big heap of fabric scraps is left over. So rather than throwing these away (and adding to the mountains of waste), I cut the leftovers into really small pieces using a rotary cutter. These small pieces are mixed with the Polyfill and tada… Less new material, waste is recycled, money is saved!

The mixture has other advantages as well. The filling is stiffer, stays in better shape. A little weight is added as well so that the Bouses are even more cuddly and durable.

How To: Drypoint on Perspex (Plexi-glass)

November 24th, 2009 | Add your Feedback (9) share on twitter share on facebook ^_^...

There a million different approaches to drypoint printmaking. This post describes one approach. There are different schools and different characters. Rumor has it that you can’t print with water based colours and a book press. Actually I can ^_^…

This post was first published on The Lighthouse Kepper’s Cat (my general musings) on January 15th, 2009.

Background: Relief and intaglio printmaking

Traditional printmaking techniques like drypoint or etching enables an artist or print maker to print a certain amount of prints (edition) from a handmade plate. The plates are inked and the ink is transfered from either the surface (relief printmaking e.g. woodcut or linocut) or the incised lines (intaglio printmaking e.g. etching or drypoint) onto paper using a printing press.

In drypoint printmaking an image is incised into a plate with a hard-pointed “needle”. Traditionally the plate was copper, but today plexi-glass is commonly used.

#8 Ink Setup

Advantages of using Perspex or Plexiglas

  • The Material is cheaper than copper or zinc plates.
  • The plates are easily cut into the right size.
  • You can see your sketch through the plate.
  • You can see the inked areas through the plate.

Three Steps

Intaglio printmaking processes follows three steps.

  • #1 ‘Transferring’ the artwork onto the plate
  • #2 Inking and wiping
  • #3 Printing the artwork onto paper

Materials needed

For step#1 Transferring…

  • Your Sketch :-)
  • 2mm clear Perspex or Plexiglas
  • Ruler and cutting knife
  • Sandpaper or a file
  • Marker (fine line)
  • Etching needle

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Getting Inspired, Going to the Zoo

March 16th, 2009 | Add your Feedback (0) share on twitter share on facebook ^_^...

One of the questions I often get asked is “where do you get your ideas or what inspires you?”. Usually my answer is “Every thing and everywhere ^_^ …”. I thought it might be a good idea to start the blog with an example.

at home ^_^...
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