Thursday, December 4, 2008

Self-Teachings Notes (CLR Print)




  • Pre-cut more paper than needed. You will most likely end up using the extras.


  • Make sure when you do "time management" for your projects, you schedule extra time for days when you will be too tired to work; count in time for mistakes that will have you starting the project all over again.


  • Mistakes are good. Don't stress out. Mistakes make you a better artist. Try again. Take note on how your project has changed and evolved from your prior mistake.


  • Pandora Music is good for background while working.


  • Your final product will most likely not be how you first envisioned. The spirit of it is still there. It's a better version of how you thought it would look like.


  • Make sure you have the appropriate tools. When working with such a small size, I realized I could not be as detailed as I would have liked, with the etching style that is trademark of me. I needed smaller nibs, bigger canvas space.


  • When working such a small size, make lines as simple as possible. Have extra nibs on hand. I broke one in the middle of the night the morning before the project should have been finished.


  • Carving into lino blocks for hours is tiring.


  • Take a printmaking class: Learn different methods, instead of the DIY style you know.


  • Frames and matting are a saving grace for the aesthetics of the prints.


  • My bench hook and bone folder rules.


  • Allow yourself to leave your working space and go outside, be with friends, have a drink, take a breath of fresh air. Take a walk.


  • Step back, take another look. Proceed.



Print Created for Community Legal Resources


Community Legal Resources connects lawyers and communities by fostering pro bono legal representation for unfulfilled legal needs of nonprofit community organizations in Michigan that serve low-income individuals and communities, with an emphasis on community economic development activities.

In honor of CLR's 10th Anniversary they had commissioned me to create prints to be awarded to the law firms and lawyers who volunteered their services to make a better Detroit. Thus, my first time (since I've been back in Michigan) that I will be known as a Detroit local artist.

Documentation of work in progress to the final presentation of my print below:

1
Pre-cutting 6 1/2" X 9" pieces of paper.


2
Creating the final sketch.

3
I had to scan the final sketch and the text for the print to make an inverted copy before drawing the design on the block.

4

5
Hours and hours of carving with a hand that has arthritis, only to find out...


6
...that my first try on this block didn't work out and I made the "g" in the CLR logo backwards.

7
Starting all over on a new block, more clean.

8

9
Ready to print.

10

Testing the print.

11
Making "Space 311" into a printing factory.

12
Hanging to dry.


13
Signed and numbered.

14
Framing and adding business cards.


15
Finished.

16
Packing up.

17
Ready to go.

18
Some of the aftermath.



19
The 32nd floor of the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit.

20
My prints being awarded to law firms and lawyers. [Blurry, but documented.]

21 22

23 24

25 26

A lawyer sits back at one of the tables with his award on his lap at the end of the night.

27 28

29



Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Conceptual Sketches for CLR, Take 2...


...they want a more "neighborhood"/community kind of feel.

I hope one of these works out:











Monday, November 24, 2008

Works In Progress: Living Space/Working Space


Both living space and work space is very important for me to be able to rest and create. I have the right to be nit picky about the space I will be producing art work in, coming up with ideas, and where I
escape to have some solitude.

Not finished yet. But I've come a long way in almost three months, from this:






[click link for more BEFORE pictures]


to this...



Surrounded by my favorite books and comics to keep me inspired or for reference. In the closet I have my coats and shoes and camera bags, electronics stuff, recordings stuff, etc. All packed away nice and neat.





I'm currently borrowing my father's laptop. Eventually this desk will be thrown away. This desk annoys me actually and the bottom shelf of it always hits my legs. I need it for now so I can work on a project that should be finished before the end of this week. My own computer will eventually be hooked up to the Internet. Which will be good so I can work on website stuff. Also, my friend Emily is sending me a bamboo mat and pen! I will have so much working with this on my computer!




Eventually I am going to panel this blank wall with a large bamboo blind/curtain. My friend Jen has this all over her apartment and it looks wonderful and so natural. The boxes of stuff in front of the filing cabinet will eventually be filed and it will be nice to have that part of the room cleared off and free of clutter. Also, I need to organized the office supplies and such in this area.



Yummy art supplies and yummy Internet.



The blue canvas bin in the middle holds at least 5 years worth of in progress art projects, notes, and ideas... to be sorted out and worked on in 2009. The plant clippings you see in the vase was given to me from my friend Jen. She has them growing all over her apartment. There is a ceiling hook in front of my window in this room. When the roots grow out enough I am going to plant it in soil and hang the plant. I would like to think that this plant symbolizes the friendships I made in Chicago and how I would like for then to keep growing. I am so bad lately with keeping in touch. But I'm currently reading Van Gogh's letters and that is very inspiring.


When I get rid of this desk, I'm moving the t.v. over and placing my art/drafting table where the t.v. is. On the wall I plan to put a cork board where I can thumbtack notes, clippings, and images for inspiration, etc. I prefer not to tape these things to the wall.


I am also taking away this ugly, white, lacy curtain and replacing it with bamboo window blinds.









BEDROOM:




Against this wall I plan to buy this from etsy.com:





A reminder of all things Henri, who used to sleep at the foot of my bed. Appropriately title "Come Back, Welsh Corgi."



Free of clutter, more space, less distraction. Where I plan to only read my books and SLEEP. How appropriate, and Van Gogh piece to look at every time I wake up in the morning.







I have artwork I bought from local artists in San Francisco and in New Orleans. I want to keep this tradition going every time I visit a new city.

I need to get a bed skirt for my bed and a little night stand for that corner near the window at the edge of the bed. My room holds the cable modems/wireless connections and such. So I need to somehow hide all those ugly wires and also have a place to put my tissue box and lotion and such.

Eventually, I will have to get rid of those pink walls.

To Buy List:



  • new laundry basket

  • bed skirt

  • picture hangers/nails

  • light shade of bamboo blinds (measure windows)

  • darker shade of bamboo blinds (measure west wall)

  • art/drafting table desk

  • plant hanger/plant pot

  • new trash can

  • night stand

  • welsh corgi art print

  • cork board


Some Conceptual Sketches...


...that I'm playing around with for a project: