Merry Christmas

My mom commissioned me to make a piece for one of their Christmas Eve services at church so I made a cut-out.

Tiny Books

I've been working on a lot of stuff lately, mostly books. Tiny books. Ranging from 2" to 6". My work area has been looking like this recently.

Here are two sneak peeks of a project that I've finished but can't yet post.

Here is my tiniest book thus far.

My second tiny book, 4 x 3"

Cutting Inspiration

As I mentioned earlier, Nikki McClure was a big inspiration for me to start cutting paper. Then I somehow managed to go on an epic bunny trail of paper cutting and book sculpture last night. It started with an image search of the phrase "book sculpture" soon I was reading about the San Francisco Center for the Book and watching a TED talk by Beatrice Coron. My world has opened up and I wanted to share these beautiful things. First and foremost, the lady that started it all: Nikki McClure. I saw her work at the Portland Museum of Contemporary Craft and I was completely blown away.

As I mentioned, I started an image search for "book sculpture" last night and I was amazed at all the things that I found. Here is the work of Jacqueline Rush Lee. She doesn't have a proper website so if you are interested in more of her work Google is your best bet.

I also found Su Blackwell who I am momentarily infatuated with.

The work of Georgia Russell is also wonderful but in a less fantastic (as in fantasy) way and more of a dark brooding sort of wonderful.

As I mentioned earlier, I watched a TED talk by Béatrice Coron. Here is her work and that talk.

The cutter that I ended the night with was Elsa Mora whose work reminds me of Frieda Kahlo to a degree.

There are lots and lots of book sculptors and paper cutters out there and this is the tip of the iceberg, but some of my favourites to be sure.

Thank You

Inspired by Nikki McClure I tried my hand at paper cutting. Thank you cards are a nice way to try out a new method of making. By the fifth one I was getting the hang of it.

Sea Rabbit

Ink on bristol board, coloured in Photoshop.

Sketches & Mistakes

The other day I came across an unfinished illustration I was working on and started working on it again. I was getting very close to the end when I needed more blue. As I started squirting it out it splurged out onto my paper. Initially I was frustrated, then I decided to work with it.



Character sketch ideas. Next order: what does a Sea Rabbit look like?



A mixed birthday CD I made for a friend.

Immoveable, Unloveable Monty

Graphic Page

This is based on a sketch I did while I was in school.



Ink on bristol paper.

Digitalis

I've been trying my hand at Adobe Illustrator (and my new Wacom tablet) using a combination of YouTube videos and trial and error. This is my first try at converting a pencil sketch into something colourful. I started with the text, moved to the robot and finished with alien companion animal. This is the cover that I'm working with for an album that I'm putting into a care package for a friend.

The Octopus Sailor

Ink and gouache on watercolour paper.

Happy Fathers Day

A quick jelly for Joel's dad.



A not-so-quick sea bear for my dad.



Playing with posters, this was a show a friend of mine did a couple months ago and I'm just messing around with it for now, more to come hopefully.

Diptychs

Playing with contrast and pattern.





And a happy mother's day to you!

Washes

I've started to learn about using washes in gouache.

Try 1



Try 2



Try 3 [Unfinished]



This particular piece came before considering washes as a method of creating space. This is a different kind of Space.



Dead space.



A card and envelope I made for a friend, creating space.

The Neighbor's House

This is the view from my kitchen window. It is also my second attempt at an all gouache painting.


Gouache on cardstock. 2011

Testing . 1 . 2

I have started painting again which is nice, after a year long hiatus. I started on acrylics since that was what I had on hand. I painted two small images from a blog that I immensely enjoy ( http://needled.wordpress.com ) and gave the first one (Bruce) to Clara for her birthday. I sent the other one in a letter to a friend.


"Bruce"
Acrylic on cardstock.


Acrylic on cardstock

Then I decided to purchase some gouache after seeing its matte qualities in use on Bruce the black lab. I did one painting based on an image from the Sartorialist and thought the learning curve awfully steep. Then I did another painting based on a photo from the Sartorialist with less yellow.



And after being frustrated with the yellow and red not drying and staying shiny I realized that, like an imbecile, I had mistakenly purchased a deep yellow and an alizarin crimson tube of watercolor paint. Not gouache. Sad sad sad. So until I have the time to go back to the art store I am stuck with a cold yellow and a cold red. But what better to depict in this predicament but: Cold Space.