Getting Ready to Make Some Greeting Cards

I pulled out my watercolor and travel arting roller bags to gather up supplies for making holiday cards this year. 

 

My travel arting bag contains: cutting mat, work gloves, water color paper, watercolor pan, travel watercolor pallet, watercolor pencils, brushes, brush pen, woodcut block with drawing on it ready for carving, honing block with honing compound and power cut wood carving tools.

 

My travel watercolor bag contains: watercolor paper block, water color paper sheets, paper towels, wash brush, watercolor brushes, water container, ftisket, watercolor color paint tubes, spray fixative, watercolor pencils and of course my lovely pallet...

 

I'm planning on making some watercolor painted cards and some mixed media collaged cards. Anyway I was so enamoured with my watercolor pallet that I had to take pictures. Now I'm ready for some arting, as soon as the precut watercolor cards I ordered from Amazon arrive...

INKTOBER 2016 DAY 8-21

My studio assistant, The Dread Pirate Roberts (Wesley for short) helps me select the right brush...

Some more Inktober 2016 drawings from day 8 to day 21; after that I haven't been able to draw because the house has been under remodeling.  Hard to keep your tools and artwork clean when there's drywall dust flying all over the house.  Oh and blocking areas off is of no avail...not only was the kitchen blocked off and the dust still eked through but dust even got on dishes in closed cabinets! Anyway here's a bunch of pictures I made before construction began...

 Day 8 Prompt Rock

 Day 9 Prompt Monkey

Day 10 Prompt Jump

 Day 11 Prompt Hand of Doom

 Day 12 Prompt Squeaky Toy

Day 13 Prompt Mammal with Reptile Features

 Day 14 Prompt BearCat

 Day 15 Prompt Harvest

Day 16 Prompt Magic Wand

 Day 17 Prompt The crystal ball glowed with an inner light

Day 18 Prompt Eyeball Tree

Day 19 Prompt Butterfly Man

 Day 20 Prompt Bones

 Day 21 Prompt Hell Beast

I found a cool website for generating drawing prompts:

http://artprompts.org/

This is where I got most of the prompts for drawing ideas.

Art On the Rocks for IF

The topic for Illustration Friday this week is "ice" I thought I'd do an illustration in ink to kill two birds with one drawing...

Art On the Rocks

Ink wash & marker on repurposed food packaging.

This is also my day 7 ink drawing for Inktober, a daily drawing in ink challenge for the month of October.

My Inktober tools

Last week's Inktober drawings

Day 1 theme "return from the dead"

 Day 2 theme "carnival creeps"

 The Dread Pirate Roberts, day 3

Hungry for a Dagwood, Day 4

 Day 6 urban legends

 Day 5, I made it a birthday card for a friend
You Look Fabulous Dawlin' 

And then I painted it on a velvet bag to enclose her gift of The Fountain Tarot

IT for IF

Today's theme for Illustration Friday is "Teeth." I think my illustrations of Stephen King's Pennywise fits the bill...

title:

Beep Beep Ritchie!

size: 12" x 12"

Mixed media collage on canvas using decorative papers, acrylic paint and sharpie.

Color pencil & crayon on tracing paper.

Woodcut using Speedball oily relief ink on mulberry paper.

Inspiration was the made for t.v.movie. Although Tim Curry was very scary he just wasn't as scary as what I pictured as I read the novel...

Illustration Friday

This week's illustration Friday theme is tool.  My "Twisted Needle" linocut fits the bill. It's 19x24" on Bienfang Marker paper. Ink is Graphic Chemical water soluble black.  Illustration Friday

Some other recent projects, two drawings, about 5x6" and a Styrofoam relief print about the same size.

Permanent marker on upcycled food packaging.

Permanent marker on upcycled food packaging.

Graphic Chemical water soluble black on scraps of various printmaking papers.

Some not so successful prints using Styrofoam take out tray for a printing plate.

Some Artworks for a Portfolio

Today I applied for a teaching position at American River College. The following artworks are submitted for a portfolio.

Little Miss Muffett

5x7" 2015

Mixed Media Collage using printed papers, permanent marker, water color pencils and acrylic paints on wood panel. This was created as a gift for my hairdresser's newborn.

Tools of the Trade

My "Tools of the Trade" series is a series of paintings and prints based on the various tools used in printmaking.

Baren Collagraph

18x24" 2015

Collagraph Relief Print plate made using chipboard, paper cloth, tagboard, corrugated cardboard and twine. Graphic Chemical Water Based Ink #1659 printed on Strathmore printmaking paper for an edition of 5.

Baren

7.5x10" 2014 

Edition of 30 on Mulberry paper.

Japanese Hanga Style Woodcut print using watercolor and rice paste as ink. The ink is spread by brushing the pigments over the woodblock using a Maru Bake brush; a specialized brush that looks similar to a shoe brush.

Brayers Monotype

18x24" 2015

Subtractive Monotype of my pallet printed using Graphic Chemical water based ink #1659 on Strathmore printmaking paper.

Twisted Etching Needle

19x24" 2015

Linocut Proof Print using Graphic Chemical water based ink #1659 on Bienfang 100% rag Marker Paper.

U-Gouge Chine Colle

18x24" 2015

Chine colle using PVA glue, tissue paper, gift wrap and Daniel Smith oil base relief ink printed on Rives BFK lightweight paper.

U-Gouge Relief

19x24" 2015

Plate was PVC. This is a proof printed using Gamblin Oil Based Ink on Bienfang 100% rag Marker paper.

First edition of 4 on Uhtrecht 100% rag Printmaking Paper.

Maru Bake

7.5x10" 2015 

Edition of 30 on Mulberry paper.

Japanese Hanga Style Woodcut print using watercolor and rice paste as ink. The ink is spread by brushing the pigments over the woodblock using a Maru Bake brush; a specialized brush that looks similar to a shoe brush. 

Maru Bake Monoprint

18x24" 2015

Additive Monoprint using oil paints, stand oil, Turpenoid Natural on Strathmore printmaking paper #300 for an Edition of 4.

Maru Bake

8.5x11" 2013

Acrylic Painting on Paper

Vintage Brayer

8.5x11" 2013

Acrylic Painting on Paper

Split Compliment Brayer

11x14" 2015

This is a three color print using three rubber plates.  The colors Red Violet, Yellow Green and Blue Green were mixed using Sax True Flow water soluble inks. The edition of 24 is printed on Strathmore lightweight printmaking paper.

Vintage Brayer

7.5x10" 2016

Edition of 30 on Mulberry paper.

This is a working proof Japanese Hanga Style Woodcut print. Pigments used were watercolor and rice paste as ink. The ink is spread by brushing the pigments over the woodblock using a Maru Bake brush; a specialized brush that looks similar to a shoe brush.

Palest Pink Puff

2.5x3.5" ACEO 2015

Mixed Media Watercolor on upcycled food packaging (laminated cereal boxes using acrylic gesso to neutralize ph). Created using watercolor, watercolor pencil. permanent marker and sealed with acrylic medium.

Froggy With a Chance of Rain

2.5x3.5" ACEO 2015

Mixed media collage using printed decorative papers, water color pencil, permanent marker and sealed with acrylic medium

Skull After Van Gogh

18x24" 2015

Subtractive Monoprint of my oil paint pallet on Strathmore Printmaking Paper #300

Another Skull After Van Gogh

18x24" 2015

Subtractive Monoprint of my ink pallet using Gamblin oil base ink on Rives BFK lightweight paper

Eight of Swords

2.5x3.5" ACEO 2015

Inktense watercolor pencils and sharpie markers. It's inspired by the tarot card and a vintage circus photograph

The Magician

7.5x10.5" 2015

Acrylic painting on upcycled food packaging. It's inspired by a vintage circus poster and the Major Arcana tarot card the Magician and the tarot minor arcana Aces.

The Moon

2.5x3.5" ACEO 2015

Miniature acrylic painting on 4 layers of re-purposed food packaging laminated and sealed with gesso. Inspired by tarot cards.

The Star

2.5x3.5" ACEO 2015

Mminiature acrylic painting on 4 layers of re-purposed food packaging laminated and sealed with gesso. Inspired by tarot cards.

The Sun

2.5x3.5" ACEO 2015
Acrylic painting on 4 layers of re-purposed food packaging laminated and sealed with gesso.  Inspired by tarot cards.