"2011: The Pre-Occupied Horsemen"

This graffiti mural is by Chris de Souza Jensen, one of my patrons, who lives in Malta:

Hello, my name is Amie R...

... and I'm addicted to Etsy Treasuries and Tumblr. Oh dear.

Check out my Treasuries on Etsy, and my new Tumblr blog, where I post mostly interesting finds from Etsy (not surprisingly, many printmakers and specifically Printsy members).

Here's my most recent Treasury:



Sigh. Like I don't have better things to do with my time. Like sleep (read: I have a 7 1/2 month old daughter that has decided she doesn't like to stay asleep when we finally get her there... so why am I wasting time on the internet when she is asleep? Dunno. Must be insane).

101 Prints - Malaspina Printmakers

I have donated one of the "Exposed" edition to Malaspina Printmakers' 101 Prints fundraiser:

Get your tickets now! $300 guarantees you a fabulous print worth at least $300, and all proceeds go towards Malaspina Printmakers. Find out more information on Malaspina's site.

Leftovers Print Exchange

Do you have lots of bits and pieces of paper kicking around from various editions? How about old blocks or plates that would combine in an interesting new way? Or do you have leftover prints lying around that you could funk up a bit? Well, then, step right up for the second annual Leftovers Print Exchange! Delivery deadline is March 15, 2011. Join the over 124 (!) participants from around the world and get your special printers' dozen in the mail.

Details
Prints: 14 (twelve for the exchange, one for the exhibition, one for donation to raise funds for a local charity)
Process: That's up to you! (No inkjet though, please)
Size: Up to 5" x 7" - can be smaller, but NO larger please!
Cost: $12.00
Due Date: March 15, 2011

Please advise by return email [amyen at mac dot com] if you wish to participate.

And please invite other printmakers to join us!

Printmaking around the Web

Thought I'd share some neat printmaking stuff that I've run across recently on the internet:

One of my all-time favourite internet printmaking buddies, Sherrie York, has a wonderful little film about her work:

PPLD Off the Wall: February 2011 from PPLD TV on Vimeo.

Congrats, Sherrie, it's a great film, you do a wonderful job of explaining your work, and I love the pieces chosen.

Another favourite printmaker that I've met online is Annie Bissett, and she's just announced that one of her pieces has been accepted into the 1st International Moku Hanga Conference in Japan in June. Congrats, Annie! Your work is brilliant, and deserves the international attention that it gets.

Finally, a funky little print project from a couple of years ago titled "Just in Time" by Xavier Antin. My husband found this on his blog reading, and I thought I'd share with my printmaking buddies. Enjoy!

That's it from me; still not been in the studio, still hoping to get there sometime soon... eventually!

The Artist's Way - a hiatus

Well, it was a good idea, but bad timing. Yes, I'm sure that those of you who've been through this workshop would argue that any timing is potentially bad, and that I should stick with it. I just don't have the psychological strength or physical fortitude left after looking after our little girl. I'm pretty sure that I'll have more time and energy eventually (hopefully soon) to pick this up again. I made it through weeks three and four (four was interesting: no reading! I managed to not read almost, and I tried to avoid TV and computer as well, mostly), but then burnt out. I did discover on the couple of days I was able to manage the morning pages first thing in the morning that it really does make a difference what time of day they get written; it was much more productive first thing in the morning.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get some more art done sometime soonish. I did a quick sketch outdoors the other day with Kate strapped to my front; if I get to the scanner any time soon, I shall include it in the blog. For now, though, I think that any spare time and energy is going to be devoted to sleep, and just coping with being mom :)

Hope everyone is having a creative and fulfilling new year thus far! I sure miss being a part of the online printmaking community right now, I look forward to catching up with you all again sometime soon.

The Artist's Way - Week Two - Recovering a Sense of Identity

This week was a bit of a write off for this project (but not entirely). We travelled over to the Mainland, and while looking after Kate is a full time job at the best of times, it just about triples when we have to travel. I was able to make time for the morning pages at some point during the day (sometimes not until just before bed late at night), but missed a couple of days altogether. I don't know how the pages are "working", but it is good for me to follow a routine, although I'm not sure it'll be a routine I'll want to continue. But we'll see after twelve weeks of doing them! Another artist acquaintance admitted that she also had a bit of difficulty working the three written pages, so she turned her morning pages into three drawing pages, which I thought was a great idea. But I do understand the value of spewing out your thoughts in longhand. Maybe a combination ... we'll see.

I found that the first week I had ideas pouring out of me, but this week not so much. I am surprised to find that I'm not really writing anything about historical influences (positive and negative) in the morning pages yet, but I suppose that might change, although I have been examining that with some of the exercises. I thought I'd be venting a lot more, but I don't find that I need to most days. That doesn't mean that I don't vent at all though!

I had picked a couple of things from a list of twenty that I enjoy doing, and I didn't really get around to doing either during the official week. Was this self-sabotage to pick two things that wouldn't travel well? Possibly. I did get to one of them (crocheting) finally when we got home yesterday, and I'd like to try the second (playing the mandolin) today, although I'm not sure if my injured thumb will put up with it for long, but I'll certainly try.

I managed to make it to my artist's date this week! I actually made two for myself: I got a manicure and I took time to go yarn shopping so that I could make a blanket for Kate's bed when it gets transformed into a double (she's got plenty of crib-sized quilts and blankies from friends and family).

So I'd mentioned last week about skepticism towards recognizing opportunities appearing just because you're opening yourself up to them. Well, let me tell you my story of opportunity and I'll let you decide for yourself. As I'd mentioned, Luanne Rice, an author in New York, contacted me about using one of my images to illustrate a blog post of hers. We began quite the email dialogue, and then exchanged examples of each others' work - she sent me two books, and I sent her two prints. She was thrilled with my prints and took them to a framer in Chelsea, who commented positively about my work. She also discussed my work with a friend of hers who had designed her snowy owl logo. As a result, he contacted me and purchased a couple of prints. Then last week, Luanne contacted me again and purchased three of my prints (one of which was framed)!

Thank you to those who've participated with me in this process. It's wonderful to be able to share my efforts with you, and to have your feedback and support.

The Artist's Way - Week One - Recovering a Sense of Safety

I've just started working through Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, and thought I'd use my blog to post about my weekly check in. For those of you not familiar, it's basically a twelve-week workshop to nurture your inner artist-child, and to enable your creative energies. I've been whining about not being creative, being disappointed in my work, feeling far to literal in my art, blah blah blah, so my mum pulled out her copy of the book and suggested that I might like to try the workshop.

I have managed to do the morning pages and affirmations every day of the first week, although they've not happened at the time of day recommended; when I first wake up, it's because Kate wants her food, so I've got a lot to do before I can get to the exercises, and I am not waking up before I absolutely have to. Forget it; sleep is a highly precious and rare commodity in this household, I'm not going to sacrifice it for anything other than Kate right now.

I have found working through the exercises challenging. They are meant to dredge up stuff, and they certainly do. While I resent spending the time doing these exercises, I recognize that when I'm doing them, I'm doing something, rather than doing nothing, towards supporting my artistic creativity.

This week was about visiting and exploring historic influences which thwarted or encouraged our inner creative child. I found the exercise where I wrote out the creative affirmations really tough at the beginning; my inner critic was just screaming at me the whole time. As the week progressed, these became a lot easier, and my critic less noisy. As I examined each critical reply, I recognized that they're generalized, unspecific and not actually at all accurate, yet it's amazing what a strong impact they have on stopping me from creating.

From this week, I have recognized that I am allowed to have fun, and that all my efforts at creativity are valuable and to be rewarded with a positive attitude. Even if I only spend five minutes on something creative, it's a very valuable five minutes. And just because I'm not in the studio carving or printing, doesn't mean that I'm not being creative. I'm a very creative person on many levels. For example, I'm working on a computer project that I'm very excited about. While it's not printmaking directly, it's very creative and I'm loving every minute. I really enjoy learning, and it's great working through a program to figure things out.

The second week's chapter (which I've already started) examines skepticism. As in "yeah, sure, there's some 'magical' thing out there that will make stuff happen if I believe in all this clap-trap". Well, guess what? It works! More next week...