Prints Available at SXSW

Did you hear Backwords is going to be at SXSW? You should come out Wednesday night and check out the show and do some dancing with me! You can even buy this fabulous poster there :) The show will be at the Carousel Lounge, 1110 E. 52nd Street, in AUSTIN!


Other prints available during SXSW (COME FIND ME AND I'LL SELL YOU A SWEET PRINT)

i. am. a. road.

Final piece for Backwords. I hope you like it, gentlemen. I felt the "starburst" background added that Americana feel that their music encapsulates so well.

I know I won't be defeated anymore, where the buffalo still roam

I'm still alive, I swear! I've been super busy putting together the First Annual Rochester Tweed Run, which took place this weekend. We had about 30 people in attendance, not bad if I do say so myself. More official pictures on the way, but for now, here's a nice group photo of everyone looking quite dapper!

Yeah, I was pretty excited to get dressed up and ride my bike!

I got to see the fabulous gentlemen of the band Backwords again last weekend, and this is a buffalo print that I'm working on for them.

i could paint a picture with a pen

Progress on the Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) project!!! Final sketch:

Layer two of the print:

Almost finished piece for my show in December:

Out of the fountain flows gold, into a huge hand.

I've been working on the start of a circus/carnival themed show lately. I decided to do a fortune teller, as I am called a gypsy on a regular basis for how I wrap my hair. I did have a lot of fun with my photo reference:


Original sketch:

Here's the piece, in progress. I'm excited to do a multi-layer lino again, and I think I'm going to add an additional layer of the background as lino as well. It's fun to be working with lino digitally again!

Finally, another variation on the lions from last week:

Don't call me when the new age gets old enough to drink.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my good friend Shalini had given me a much needed kick in the butt to get back into linoleum block printing, which used to be all I did in undergrad. Being in a circus/carnival frame of mind, I chose a lion for my first subject to get back into printing with. First I sketched it out:

Then I redrew it, cut it out, and printed it:

Bringing it into photoshop, I was met with a really happy surprise when playing around with layers and opacities, I am really intrigued by the interplay of the interior lines here:

I was able to see my friends from the band 28 North again in Rochester last night! We had a lot of fun, even though the venue was a bit of a different feel from my old favorite, Abilene. They're on tour now, so check out their schedule to see if they are headed to a city near you! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND going to see them! Below is a collaborative sketch that my friend Kira and I did while the boys were playing:

A collaborative sketch with some of the boys in the band, me, Kira, and the girl sitting next to us (sorry, I had to edit some content to keep this blog family friendly).

It's so easy, when you know the rules.

Progress on my Thom Yorke sketch :) Making the shapes in this reminded me of a simpler time when I mapped out shapes for linoleum block prints. As if reading my mind, I got a (not so subtle) reminder from a good friend of mine that I should really start printing again. DULY NOTED! I'll be working on a new print this weekend, fear not!

In other news, the Avett Brothers just premiered their music video for "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise". I LOVE the song already, and the video is absolutely beautiful. The artist involved is Jason Ryan Mitcham, go watch the video now. Be inspired by it!!!

Finally, I had a really fantastic chat with my dear friends, Robert Ernst Marx and his lovely wife Francie the other day at Orange Glory. They were telling me about the evils of the fine art world, contracts, and having your art stolen. It reminded me how blessed I am to know them, if you haven't checked his work out already, I urge you to! He is amazing and always inspires me to work harder and get better :)

adios, holidays

As the holidays pass us by, the season comes for thank you cards. I was busy printing today, and I finally decided on my packaging for pieces sold in my show (see bag). the next dilemma... should I wrap the paintings in newspaper or solid tissue paper?

avett love

I recently fell in love with the brothers avett. For years I had never realized their full splendor, although I frequently heard their name while perusing langhorne slim online. They're so great!!!! Oh, the love surges... but wait...

A lot of the sweet album cover art and poster art is done by their very own Scott Avett. He does some amazing linoleum block printing, which I found incredibly inspiring.

davenportzzzzzzzzz and more

being in ultimate suck up holiday mode, i agreed to work on a drawing of my mom's parents when they were married. the problem with working with a photograph from the 1930's (?)
is that the resolution... isn't... well... hi res? i'm having issues getting a good likeness on blanche there... but francis' face is sculptural and fun to draw. i put another layer onto that lino i've been working on too, and then i played around with the scan of my holiday card print in photoshop. indeed.

holilollilollidays

the season is upon us. this is a composite sketch for a linoleum block printed non-denominational holiday greeting card. tomorrow it goes to lino!
and speaking of lino, here's layers 1 & 2 put together from the previous entry! two more layers to go!

i see many people coming after me

I started a new lino this week that I've had on the back burner for quite some time. As you can see, my skills are a little rusty.
This lino is a bit of a new venture for me, all cut out of one block. this will be the lightest background layer, followed by four more layers on top. I'm going to try one printed as is, but in the end, my final image will depend mainly on photoshop magic.
Oh, in other news, Reggie is seven years old today. High five!

mas penguins

i just can't get enough of these guys. the subway train gets a little lost, i think i'll work on that some more.

gordoni

business card for the bro. all lino, all the time.

flooooooooooood

dear blog,
this piece was for a digital mixed media class. our assignment was to personify a natural disaster. i chose new orleans and flooding as an excuse to draw more musicians. I also experimented more with layering in photoshop and playing around with the colors. here's a little of what my process goes like.
the first block i cut and printed looked like this:
block #2 printed:
the rest was digital magic, ladies and gentlemen.

new blog? new blog!!!

Ahoy hoy my fellow blogarians. Happy mother's day to the motherblog. The time has come for me to start blogging again. I've been doing new linoleum techniques, starting with the one that I did following my last sketch. I was pretty pleased with it, but I feel that I've come a long way since this one. On top is the mailer layout that I did (without type), and below, I used the image for a sweet sweet jazz in the square poster.