New Personalized Notecards!

Just designed these personalized notecards today. I don't know what it is about men fighting, wrestling or boxing, but there seems to be an awful lot of 19th century illustrations depicting it. Much to my delight.

Gocco and other Odd New Cards

So this is the final print of my first gocco run. I'm really happy with it and have already created a second design, but haven't had time to actually scan everything together and print it.



These other two pieces are cards that I added color to and am having made into magnets. The "She Troubled Him Deeply" one I've had in card form and sold a lot of (apparently a lot of people can relate to it -- which is scary), and the other one is a card I just designed and liked a lot. I should have them in a week's time and be able to put them in my etsy store.

I've recently noticed that I've been designing more bizarre cards and cards that just make me laugh, and then am surprised when someone actually buys one. "I can't believe someone bought that?!" often is heard in my studio. Now, it's not like it's not a great card, but sometimes it's hard to believe that someone else has wanted to own a card with a giant chicken with laser eyes trained on vintage fighters.

I got my gocco!

Today I finally got my gocco from Japan. I probably mentioned before that I really wanted to try screenprinting, and I bought all the equipment, took a class, and actually screen printed a few tote bags and a couple of shirts. Unfortunately, screenprinting is not very well suited for a two bedroom apartment. The screens are large and when you wash out one covered with red ink in the shower, it looks like something out of Psycho.


So I found out about gocco printing on etsy, which is screenprinting, but on a much smaller scale. The gocco I got only prints 3.5 x 5.5 inch paper. You can actually print on larger paper, but your image will only be that size. This is the image I designed to use on my first try.

I was really worried because there's always a learning curve with any new process, and especially with me.

But believe it or not, it actually worked the first time I tried it! Okay, I may have had to watch the etsy video on how to gocco print more than a couple of times, but it was easier than trying to read the directions that came with it. Though there were really nice illustrations, somehow I just couldn't pick up enough of the Japanese language for them to be of any help.
The print turned out exactly as I'd hoped, and I managed to print 50 copies with only adding a little extra ink toward the end. Here are photos of me using the gocco and of all my prints drying on the kitchen table. Tomorrow night I'll post a finished print on my blog.

333 Art Show at Cactus Gallery

My friends and co-workers Lisa Yuan and Tom Vaillancort came out to Cactus Gallery last Saturday night for the artists' reception. There were food, drinks, music and tons of art lovers. We stayed until 10 p.m., and the party was still going strong. Alas, I did not sell any art that night, except in the form of greeting cards. The next show at Cactus during the month of April will be featuring art made from found objects, and I'm currently working on a piece for that show.

As we speak.

Really.

I'm not waiting until the night before.

Again.

Featured on Art Knowledge News

Sandra from Cactus Gallery sent me an e-mail saying that they were featuring me on their website in regards to their show. This is the piece they used and here's the link to Art Knowledge News. It's pretty exciting and I'm really looking forward to the opening tomorrow night.

333 Art Show at Cactus Gallery

This is the painting I finished this past Saturday to submit to the 333 show that Cactus Gallery is having with the opening being this Saturday, March 8, from 7-10. They are also having an artist reception on Saturday, March 15, from 7-10 with food, drink and music. The Mincing Mockingbird and I will probably show up both nights since the gallery's not that far from us. I also have the three chimp pieces showing. Mincy took three fabulous bird paintings on wood panels on Sunday and when he stopped by to pick up the postcards for the show today, she had already sold one of them. So he ran out and bought another panel which he'll paint sometime in the next few days for the show's opening Saturday.

Below is the postcard invitation for the show.

Arbitrary Art Curiosity #3

This is one of my new favorite pieces, by my fiance, The Mincing Mockingbird. He's been selling like crazy and recently was featured on the blog Decor8. He also was interviewed by Birder's World for their blog Field of View. Needless to say he's been working 24/7 to paint new pieces. And since I'm close at hand, I've been doing the prints, shipping pieces, and making sure he remembers to eat and sleep. I love his new work with the birds with bugs or berries in their mouths, but I still want a crow eating a french fry or nosing into a Burger King bag.