Great News!

Many works in progress! This is my "studio." Yup, I sleep and make art here, sometimes eat too. It's actually really nice to have your work space right next to your bed. Seriously, if there was a lounge with cots in the Art Building at NIU, that would be where I'd sleep at night during undergrad. I wouldn't be the only one either.

I was talking about this with a few of the printmaking grads at Kari McDonald's Senior BFA show at Katie's Cup in Rockford. You should check out Kari's show. The space is really nice and the work is awesome!

I'm also very excited for Erika McIlnay's upcoming BFA show at Pleasant Street Gallery in DeKalb November 18th. The show is called Devouring the Innocuous. Her work is amazing. Become aquainted with her, her work because this chick is going places.

I have some really good news: IMMA GONNA TEACH PRINTMACKIN'!! Excited? Yeah.
Kari Kraus from Water Street Studios approached me about setting up dates and times for the class. Yay!! Tuesdays and Thursdays for the month of April. All about Woodcuts, baby! April's a while away but I'm so excited about it. Sign up! I'm gonna be an awesome teacher!

Above is a little sneak peak for an exchange....hmmmmmmmm!

C'est fini

Fighter of Glorious Roses

22 x 30"

Woodcut

My second Fighter of the series is finished. I started this in September and finally had the time to print it! Turned out pretty good, I'd say. While printing it, I received some good feedback and it will be put to good use on the third Fighter print. I'm not sure how many of these Fighters I will make. 

I have a bunch of ideas; however, they will be put on hold while I work thing with actual due dates. I've signed up for a bunch of print exchanges. One of them I just printed Tuesday. It's for the group, Printmaker's Unite! Ezerd has organized an exchange based on the theme of Love.

Since that's finished, I can focus on the next exchange. It's going to be tight because the due date is early December. This exchange, organized by Gene Marsh and Dumbkat Press, is based on the 1980's cult classic B-movie, Flash Gordon. I admit, I never saw Flash Gordon movie. I have however, seen the 1930's tv show. I have a soft spot of B-movies...and quickly ordered and watched the movie. Oh, it's hard trying to figure out what exactly I should do.

I've been watching and thinking and watching some more. I'm getting my block ready too. Just got a router to prepare a suicide block for this exchange. I need to figure this out fast! Did I mention I have Queen's Flash Gordon anthem seriously stuck in my head, especially in stressful times as if I'm saving the universe. That's right, one print at a time...

My Art House Co-op sketchbook is coming along, slowly but surely. I'm sticking to ball point pen drawings primarily. I'm not sure how much effort to really put into these drawings. I feel that super polished drawings defeat the purpose of a sketchbook. Sketchbooks represent, to me, a working idea that can be used to create a well-thought out piece. Though I am putting more effort into these drawings than those I put in my real sketchbooks. My real sketchbook drawings are beyond awful and look more like half hearted doodles. I probably put more effort into doodles in the margins of notebooks of non-art classes. Haha

I am also keeping busy at an internship at Water Street Studios. Been doing some bookkeeping, working during gallery hours, helped set up a wedding in the gallery floor and these past couple days, setting up the classroom areas for a Halloween party. Everyone there is nice and the gallery space is beautiful.

I'm very glad to be keeping busy with my art and related work. That's reminds me, I signed up for two weeks at Frogman's Print Workshop. I am very excited because I know I'm going to learn a ton of things, meet awesome people and I hear a ton of great things about it. Frogman's is having their 30th anniversary in 2011, not quite sure what will entail, but like I said, I'm excited.

Wooooooooooooooodcut!

This is a new woodcut I started late August. It's continuing the theme that started in Boot-Camp. These glorious fighters are so much fun. They're these midget wrestlers with over-sized bat heads and they all represent themselves with glorious objects. This one represents himself with beautiful roses. The last one I made represented himself with a glorious ribbon.

While I'm cutting this new one, I get ideas for the next ones. I'm going to have lots of ideas by the time I'm done with this. My goal is to get this done by the end of this month. Cutting the roses have been the most time consuming part, but you have to go slow to make good cuts. I'm shooting for a rose a day.

This series is still in its baby stage so I haven't decided whether this needs a big narrative overall or sticking to these related, individual narratives. What I can say at this moment is: this is fun.

Summer of Stuff

The sunshine gently warms rather than bakes, the cicadas calls fall silent, I burrito myself in a fleece blanket at night to leave the windows open.

Summer is transforming to fall and I'd have to say this has been a great summer. The alure of the outdoors and the hours logged at work have not kept me away from making stuff.

I started the summer running the trails of Nelson Lake. I saw turtles, snake frogs, the many birds and their camera ready watchers. Half the time I was running to get away from the mosquitos than for exercise. I saw a lot of dead animal stuff too. So of course I began running with my camera pausing at dried up frogs and eviscerated weasles. Each day I came back, they were a little more decomposed.

Submitted this one for the Reboot Exchange organized over Facebook. Got some pretty interesting stuff back. I'm excited about future exchanges such as the Flash Gordon exchange and Hate Breeder exchange.

Also this summer, Tessa and I went to Tom Huck's Woodcut Bootcamp. Some peeps had me worried that Huck was going to be a hard ass, but they were so wrong. Camp was a ton of fun!! Met awesome people, funny pranks, plenty o' beer (Evil Prints is sponsored by PBR) and a hose down. We campers were a group of 13 or so and surprisingly, there was no drama, we all got along.

Official: I'm a graduated Boot Camper!!

Also visited Aunt BJ and Wende in Brooklyn this summer with Mom and Kelly. We had a great time and visited MoMA and a bunch of galleries in Chelsea. I hope to go back before the end of the year. I also want to visit my cousin in San Diego. It would be nice to coordinate this with visit to my boyfriend's sister in San Francisco.

Speaking of San Francisco, I recently gave them a couple prints for the Papergirl event. Any art that can be rolled up is accepted and handed out to random people. How awesome is that?! Thanks, Jane for letting me know about that! I jammed that roll so full art that I wrote unpacking directions on the side of the tube.

New Print!

This is The Duke of Pipistrelle a 15" x 20" lithographic print and the in-progress drawings. This is for the Bandolier Press print exchange: No Name, No Slogan. I plan on giving this drawing a bit more work over the summer. Maybe a few photo plates, toner washes, some silk-screen...it's got to be done right!

Squeak Rauwr Buzz!

My BFA show is up at the Messenger Public Library in North Aurora until about the middle of May. Check it out and see my latest work! I've been focusing on bats because well, they're cool animals.

College was a blast! Definitely looking into grad school. Also on my list of things I'm doing: finding a studio space near home. There is just no place to work at my parents. Fortunately, Ashley and Barnes are letting me work in the school studio during summer.