Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Christmas Window Shopping

Once again, my Christmas Wish list includes a printing press. This year, however it seems I am closer to my goal. Hopefully this time there will be more of a chance that I'll be able to afford what I want with a job and what not. I'm hoping to get a nice little table top etching press for my tiny one bedroom apartment that I share with my boyfriend.

I'm carrying around my lovely price lists from Takach, Griffin, Conrad and more. If anyone else has any suggestions for etching presses I should look into, pretty please let me know.

Last Saturday I went to a friend's gallery opening. He's tipped me off to a life drawing event held by a group of local artists that meet in various locations with a model. From what he told me of it, it sounds like it should be a pretty awesome event and hopefully he'll get me in next time it is held. It would be nice to feel involved in the local art community.
I've been working on a new woodcut lately with all the additional time I have waiting for Mike to get off work since we are sharing a car. I feel super productive.

Next post will probably involve X-mas and birthday shopping and the end result of my press hunting.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Bird Sketches.



We have a small aviary located in a our apartment complex. I decided to do a few quick little sketches while the sun was setting.


The first set are three different birds. One very adventurous bird decided that I was no threat and was kind enough to pose for me while I drew. The two birds viewed from below were less trusting and kept giving me the eye as I watched them.






Tuesday, November 2, 2010

So, after a particularly bad build up of stress I decided to relax with a little bit of sketching. One of the perks of living in my apartment complex is the aviary really close to our place. I took a sketch pad over to a bench nearby and decided to draw some of the birds. Unfortunately, it was already pretty late when I got over there so I lost a lot of otherwise good light.

However, one of the perks is that there was a cute little bird who adjusted rather quickly to my presence and let me get fairly close to him so that I could get some halfway decent sketches. Thursday is my day off so hopefully I'll be able to get in some more time to work.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Tools, studio and more.

My mother decided to clean out the entire garage and rearrange my studio space:

I have a shelf now! Exciting.


And lots of unused screen printing equipment.


My couch, my desk and my paper cutter. Those white things are my awesome drawers where I keep my ink and tools.



All my awesome tools and my desk.


Recently I have ordered a TON of tools from McClain's and the BarenForum mall. Slowly the packages have been trickling in from all over the world and each day I am excited to check and see if parts of my order have arrived.

So far my newest acquisitions are a 3mm Hangi-To knife, a 6mm bull-nose chisel, a 9mm chisel to be used with a mallet and a 6mm Hangi-To. And a deluxe mallet. Did I mention I am now the proud owner of a mallet? Both of the 6mm tools are the superior quality while my 3mm is part of my awesome professional set.
Mostly just missing my 18mm chisel which I hear is coming soon from the [Baren] Mall. Most of my excitement is reserved for the arrival of my FIRST BAREN. Go me. I went with a Murasaki Medium baren.



Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Alright so due to the demand on my twitter feed, I will do my best to get some sketches up of my comic-con experience. I'll be aiming for next week sometime.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Highlight of my day was having David Petersen the artist and writer for Mouse Guard explain to me a new printmaking technique. I was first in line to get a signature this afternoon when he headed back to his artist alley booth.

Its a shame he doesn't print much anymore but I LOVE his work.

Best. Day. Ever.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

But I like shopping!

Oh, McClains. How your siren song pulls me under with your tempting offers of delightful tools and beautiful woods. I'm currently staring at the an open website with several items in my shopping cart. I know I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to order anything to be sure I'm making the right decision but I cant help agonizing over my choices. Wood carving tools don't come cheap. There are lots of things to consider when making a purchase: quality of the blades, affordability, size. What will I use it for? How often will I use it? If I break it, is the blade replaceable or at least easy to repurchase?

I've been on a real woodblock kick for some time now. Hopefully this new project I'm embarking on will greatly benefit from the addition of a few new tools (tiny chisel, here I come) I guess once I hit a certain point, I just missed printmaking too much NOT to do it. However it is late and I have a final to get to tomorrow. Hopefully this shopping experience can be my finals victory celebration.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Completely unrelated to art.

Alright, I know I'm supposed to keep a tight grasp on my purse strings for a while but recently I've done a little bit of splurging. Its hardly a secret that I have a large appetite for books. As a matter of fact, my current bookstore job only helps to facilitate the spending of my paycheck on books. Once again my bookshelves have become overloaded and books are forming small stacks all over my floor, tables and counters. Sometimes I think they start to breed and multiply on their own.
I usually carry one or two books in my purse at any given time. I'll be the first to say that The multiple book approach can burn up a lot of space in my purse.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that the idea of an e-reader fills me both with interest and a horror at the idea that books might become outdated.
However my need for space and my curiosity eventually won out and I caved to purchasing the Nook from Barnes and Noble. I love the fact that the power lasts for days without a charge and that I can carry a virtual library in my purse at any given time. While the nook is good for casual reading, and has a huge advantage when it comes to portability, it is certainly no replacement for books overall. So far I find reading on it to go rather quickly. I like that the nook will remember what page of the book you left off on since bookmarks and purses dont exactly mix. My book choices are divided into two categories: fictional fluffy reading and big beautiful art books as well as other reference books and magazines with plenty of color images. and I am slowly starting to customize my nook. I went with a pink back cover and I will hopefully be getting my pink leather case delivered some time this week (I made sure it matched my wii remote).
Hopefully updates and pictures coming later as some of the books I look forward to are being released!

Friday, April 30, 2010

Chops


Today I was wondering around downtown San Juan Capistrano. One of my favorite places to browse is a large antique mall nearby. While looking through some of the old antique cases, I found something incredibly interesting; stone artist chops!

While I don't have a picture of the beautiful chops I found in the antique shop, I did manage to dig up this picture of the chops that are used at Crown Point Press.

Anyone out there use a chop? If so, did you make it or have it made and what material did you use?