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...

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.

Projects update and Nibblefest for May

I started carving an image of a vintage ink brayer on a woodblock when I was struck down by a nasty infection.  This is as far as I got but now that my energy is starting to come back and I've finished posting my entries for May Nibblefest Art Contest, I can pick this back up and finish it and maybe even print some proofs before month's end...

May 2015 Nibblefest Entries

Theme: Freak Show

I've decided to try and tie my nibblefest entries to tarot cards that fit within the theme.  I will try to do two ACEOs and one large painting using the substrates that I made by laminating layers packing.

  

Strength: an original ACEO created using Inktense watercolor pencils and sharpie markers (right). It's inspired by a vintage circus poster and the major arcana tarot card Strength. Click the following link to go to the ebay listing: 

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/231568592431?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

The Eight of Swords original ACEO created using Inktense watercolor pencils and sharpie markers (right). It's inspired by the tarot card and a vintage circus photograph. Click the following link to go to the ebay auction listing:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231568589429?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

The Magician is an original 7.5" x 10.5" acrylic painting on upcycled food packaging (right). It's inspired by a vintage circus poster and the Major Arcana tarot card the Magician and the Aces... Click the following link to go to the ebay auction listing:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231568572469?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

April Nibblefest Entries; theme was Space, Planets, Stars

 

Image on the left is The Star ACEO (2.5" x 3.5") miniature acrylic painting on 4 layers of re-purposed food packaging laminated and sealed with gesso.  The image on the right is the traditional tarot card that inspired it.

 

 Image on the left is The Moon ACEO (2.5" x 3.5") miniature acrylic painting on 4 layers of re-purposed food packaging laminated and sealed with gesso.  The image on the right is the traditional tarot card that inspired it.

 

Image on the left is The Sun 7.5" x 10" acrylic painting on 4 layers of re-purposed food packaging laminated and sealed with gesso.  The image on the right is the traditional tarot card that inspired it.

Upcycling Cereal Boxes and Other Food Packaging

One of my projects was to trim various food packages that I've been saving laminate 3-4 layers of same sized pieces together with gesso.  I did this to create illustration board like substrates for small acrylic paintings. Tea boxes I trimmed to ACEO size (2.5" x 3.5") then laminated three layers thick. Cereal boxes I laminated three thick. Acrylic paint, gesso and medium neutral the ph of papers they're applied to; making archival substrates of cheap materials! 

Recent Projects and CloseOut of Marketing Venues

This is one of my daily news drawings. It was inspired by a photo in the Washington Post on 4/1/2015. It was drawn on April 1st using Inktense water color pencils and water. The substrate is a page in a 5x7" Mixed Media sketchbook.

Chillin' mixed media collage ACEO

available this week on ebay: 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231521685042?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

I used the the previous sketch to create a mixed media collage ACEO format artwork.  I used decorative papers, acrylic matte medium, permanent markers and Inktense water color pencils.

Froggy With a Chance of Rain

mixed media collage ACEO

available this week on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231521692834?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Inspired by the theme I did another ACEO using the same substrate and mediums as the previous one.

Other projects I've been putting time into this week... 

I'm updateing my CV and resume to update applications for adjunct teaching positions I posted in the California Community College teaching register and with local colleges.

And I've been saving records of artworks I've offered for sale within several internet art marketing websites.  I'm doing this because I'll be closing accounts in two of the sites I've placed my work in.  Both the sites charge a hundred dollars or more a year just for the privilege of selling my work within their sites.  My website does just as much for me and it's a third of the price! Now the money would have been worth it if the sites did more than simply let me sell through them, some occasional marketing on my behalf would have justified the expense. But these sites require that I do all the work and for their lack of effort if my poor marketing skills happen to incur a sale via the site I get to pay them a percentage of the sale! And I've had zero sales from either of the sites in two years...so for two years I've paid a more than two hundred bucks to two websites that have had absolutely no return on the expense...Time to cut off the dead weight!!! SSssoooooo...

Abstract 32007

one of the artworks that can be purchased at 50% off

Get 50% off 

anything and everything in my Artfire storefront by typing CLOSEOUT into the coupon code on checkout!

I'm eliminating dead weight from my marketing venues...by that I mean all marketing venues that have shown no return for the costs involved. My ArtFire account is the first internet storefront that I'm closing. There are only a few weeks left in my ArtFire account so I'm offering a closeout sale on everything in my Artfire studio; everything will be offered for 50% off from today until the date the account closes (I believe it's on April 20th but it may be sooner).

Visit my Artfire page:

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/home/Phare-Camp

If you desire any of the artworks in my Artfire shop simply type the coupon code CLOSEOUT into the coupon code field upon checkout and all items in your cart will discounted.

A few other examples of the offerings within this site:

Another Print in the "Printmaking Tools" Series

This is a photo of the next print in progress.  This is the printing plate carved into 10x10 inch plywood.  The image is of a Maru Bake, a brush used in the Japanese Hanga technique of printmaking.

The first edition of prints from this plate will be on 7.5x10 inch paper for a BarenForum.org print exchange.  I will, of course, print only a portion of the plate and I will be printing it using the Japanese Hanga technique.

This is what I estimate the print will look something like...probably a little lighter.  I fiddled with the contrast, color and brightness in the above cropped photo of the printing plate.  I haven't printed it yet...I'm still carving.

This is an underpainting of an 8.5 x 11 inch acrylic painting on water color paper.  I did this painting a year ago while interning in Mick Sheldon's color theory class at American River College.  I wrote about the project in this blog post: 

http://phare-camp.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-ive-been-up-to.html

This is the finished painting.

I so enjoyed making those painting of the tools I love to use that I decided to do a series of printmaking tools.  I'll do 6 woodcuts of tools based on the sketches I did for the color theory studies.

I then plan on using the carved plates as substrates to make encaustic paintings of the tools.  Who knows...if I haven't gotten sick of the project after that I may go on to make giant paintings of the images...

Last year I did a moka hanga woodcut of a baren...a tool used to burnish the paper during the printing process.  I wrote about it in the following blog post:

http://phare-camp.blogspot.com/2014/04/barenforem-exchange-60-prints.html

BarenForem Exchange 60 prints.

This weekend I printed an edition of block prints for a barenforum.org print exchange.  I'll be exchanging block prints with 30 other artists from throughout the world.  I try to participate in at least one exchange per year.  On a cold rainy day when I print indoors I set up on kitchen counter.  The counter's at just the right height to stand up and print. 

this is my test proof using Graphic Chemical water soluble ink on resume quality bond paper.  The lines were crisp and sharp and would have printed beautifully on the Reeves BFK light paper that I had planned to use.  But the ink would have taken too long to dry in the rainy weather we had this weekend.  So I decided to print them using the Japanese Hanga Technique.

This is result printing Japanese Hanga style.  I used Createx Burnt Sienna pure pigment mixed with rice paste and printed atop Black Ink's unbleached mulberry block printing paper.  I don't think this paper was sized so even on the smooth side the medium was absorbed into the paper, blurring the lines.

What I've Been Up To...

This semester I've been volunteering in a color theory class as a teaching assistant for Mick Sheldon at American River College. Painted a lot of charts in the very cool workbook Mick created for the class.  That's because he want me to do the class work as well as help out.  Mostly I try to pay attention to what he's doing when he demo's technique so I can observe good color theory teaching techniques.  Now I'm working on the last class project where we create 10 paintings of objects using the color theory learned in class to solve specific problems.   The first thing I did was to do 7 sketched underpaintings.  I used Conte and charcoal then used a brush and water to blend it.  I only did 7 sketches because we're allowed to do 3 of the illustration in the computer so I took some photos to play with Warholizing...  Below are the 7 sketches. Later I'll post the Warholized photos.

CALL TO ARTISTS: Altares del Mundo 2013

Call to Artists Altares 2013

  

October 12 - November 2, 2013

The Brickhouse Gallery

2837 36th Street, Sacramento, CA

The 20th Annual Altares del Mundo Art Exhibit opens on October 12th 2013 during the Second Saturday Art Walk at the Brickhouse Gallery in Sacramento from 6:00 - 9:00 pm.

The exhibition is free and will run from October 12 through November 2nd with docent staffing each Saturday and Sunday, 12:00-4:00 pm. 

The Altares del Mundo Art Exhibit is a Sacramento tradition organized by a grassroots community of artists. The exhibition presents modern interpretations of remembrance loosely-based on the “Day of the Dead.” Altars express artistic and personal views on subjects as varied as family members, friends, pets, celebrities, social trends, environmental issues, political statements, tragedy, misfortune & war.

Altares del Mundo offers free teacher resources which can be downloaded from the Altares web site and free docent-lead tours for school groups. Tours are by appointment only and can be scheduled Wednesday through Friday.

For more information email: