Showing posts with label demo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label demo. Show all posts

Monday, September 19, 2011

Kitchen Lithography - Viral Printmaking

I've seen this now through Printsy, Facebook, Twitter, Printeresting, and a few other sources, so I just had to share.


Lithographie maison — Kitchen Lithographie — Lithography
Uploaded by emilivideo on 8 September 2011

How exciting!  Now, I just have to be able to find time & energy to get back into the studio!  

OK, so that leads to Mommy Update: we're all doing well, thank you.  Kate is now 15 months (yikes!) and not quite walking everywhere but just about, with lots of proto-words and a lot of smiles & giggles.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Computer Stuff

Yesterday, I spent searching the internet for calls for printmaking exhibitions, and updated that thread on Wet Canvas.

Today, I worked for hours updating some of my Squidoo lenses on printmaking. The two I spent the most time on were:

Printmaking Resources - listing suppliers of general printmaking stuff, art papers, inks (for all different printmaking techniques, including litho, etching, relief, etc.), press manufacturers, printmaking equipment (e.g. brayers, levigators) and printing materials (e.g. Resingrave, solarplate)

and

Printmaking Workshops - an international listing of print studios, print arts groups, printmaking workshops, print ateliers and galleries specializing in print arts, as well as letterpress printmakers and some online printmaking references.

I also updated my Printmaking Artists lens, but didn't spend as much time on that.

These Squidoo lenses were originally created as a centralized resource for myself, but I've been finding them really useful to refer to for other people when they ask about suppliers or printmaking groups around the globe on the Wet Canvas printmaking forum.

Speaking of the forum, we just started up a new monthly challenge for 2009. Check that out here; it's just added, so you'll have to keep looking in to see how the progress is going over the month from all the members who participate.

I am back at editing the Printsy blog, too; check that out on Monday after I've posted the next interview. I'm too tired to do it tonight; there's actually a fair amount of work involved to post the interview, with getting the images set up properly (including the titles and correcting the hyperlinks). Sometimes I have to do a little editing on the interview itself, too, but usually not too much. It's fun, though, because I get to be the first one to read the interviews!

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get my Etsy shop reopened after letting it lapse (by accident!) back in October - I didn't even notice it until December, which lets you know how successfully it was doing. That's what happens when you're not adding new work, Etsy stores kind of slide off the radar. This year, I'll start off slow, and try to consistently add stuff on a regular basis, rather than uploading everything at once (I understand that's a pretty common newbie mistake). I'll have to spend a little time on the Etsy forum to read up on successful business practices there.

I also need to work on my art inventory again. Being inactive and not creating anything for the last few months has meant that my bookkeeping has slid down hill, and I need to catch up on some recording. I am hoping to eventually develop a database for all my prints (it's only in spreadsheet format right now, and I need a little more depth to it than a spreadsheet can provide); that will take some more thinking time, though, before I get any further, so I'll have to devote at least another day later to that.

Oh, yeah, then I have to do work this week to make some money to pay for all these leisure time activities!

On a non-computer note, I am supposed to be doing a printmaking without a press demo tomorrow night for the South Delta Arists' Guild, but we are smack in the middle of another snow storm, and it's a real drive from here to there. I'll see what the roads are like tomorrow, but I probably will have to postpone to another meeting, unfortunately. What a bummer, because I left the studio behind specifically to get to it this week. Well, we'll see.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Intro to Relief


I had a very pleasant session with a lady from the Port Moody Art Association as a result of my demo in November. She had signed up for a relief course through Emily Carr to start this month, but apparently there weren't enough people who had registered so the class was canceled. She was wondering if I'd mind giving her a one-on-one class; would I?! That's my favourite kind! Well, actually, I just like teaching generally, but I definitely enjoy one-on-one. So we had a three hour introduction to relief printmaking. She managed to carve a good portion of her block, enough to be able to proof it and get an idea of what it looked like. I think she enjoyed herself. She also does beautiful, fluid, life sketches from models; apparently there's a group she belongs to in Coquitlam that meet weekly for life drawing. Anyway, I gave her a piece of high-density blue foam insulation to take to her next life drawing session to draw directly into that with a hard pen/pencil/dowel, then print that, and she was most intrigued. I hope that she comes back for some further help; I really enjoyed it, and I've got lots left to explain!!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Group Exhibitions "Firsts"

I cordially invite you to attend any one of three group shows that I am in for the first time.

The first, hosted by the Printmakers Only Group, will be at the Chemainus Festival Inn (Chemainus is between Victoria & Nanaimo on Vancouver Island), on Saturday, December 1 and Sunday, December 2, from 10 am to 5 pm each day. There will be a number of framed and unframed prints available, and we'll have one gallery that showcases our theme for this year. There will be members demonstrating their techniques during the show.

The second, held at the Federation of Canadian Artists gallery, on Granville Island, is the Spilsbury Medal Show (this link will also update to display the Spilsbury once the current exhibit, which I'm also in, changes), which is open only to signature status members of the Federation. As I became an Associate member as of this spring, this is the first time I have qualified to enter, and I am very honoured to have been juried to participate, because there are not many AFCA members represented at this particular show. The opening is on Thursday, December 6, from 4-6 pm. The show runs until December 23.

The third, held at the Malaspina Printmakers Society gallery, also on Granville Island, opens on Thursday, December 6, from 7-9 pm. The show probably runs until December 23. As I just became a member of Malaspina this year, this is my first member show that I've been able to participate in.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Demo-tainment

Last night I held a demonstration of relief printmaking at the Federation of Canadian Artists on Granville Island. While the turnout was pretty small (four), it did mean that everyone got to try their hand at carving. The ink was playing up (atmosphere too dry?) so I couldn't really give them an opportunity to roll up, but I think they had fun nonetheless. Everyone said they learned something, and were keen to try when they got home (apparently, all had their own lino cutter tools, ink and brayers). The most common problem that they'd had was way too much ink blobbed onto the plate, and loss of detail. Now that they've witnessed such fine inking finesse on my part (hint - that's pretty heavy irony; I'll discuss the ink disaster shortly), they have a better idea of how to tackle it again.

Showing how to carve the Safety Kut block

Participants try their hand at carving

First roll up with Speedball water soluble ink

Transferring print to paper by burnishing

The reveal - demonstrating (on purpose!) too little ink

Creating crab prints for participants, using Graphic Chemical ink
(too little ink, this time not on purpose!)


So, the ink fiasco. I had been warned that Speedball inks are finicky in certain environmental conditions (well, you just have to search the Wet Canvas! printmakers forum for "Speedball" to get an idea of the opinion there!), and while I'd had experienced it to a certain degree at home, I'd never had a complete lack of any functionality whatsoever. I definitely had that happen last night! The ink dried almost as soon as I rolled it onto the Plexiglas plate. I think that the atmosphere was just too dry, but I'm not positive what the reason was. I did have a fan blowing down on me, so that might have been the problem. Anyway, I had to switch to the Graphic Chemical ink, but I'm not yet able to get a very dark print using it with the Safety Kut blocks. I have yet to try on linoleum to see if it makes a difference, but perhaps I just have to keep layering. It's really difficult, because I am so used to Speedball that I think I must have a ridiculous quantity of ink on my block, yet it isn't dark enough. I'll have to keep experimenting.