Pages 6/6/12

It's been a busy few weeks! I'm posting a few pics of what I've been working on in the evenings after work. Three of these are designs for a round robin journal swap I am in right now. A  couple of them aren't quite done yet. I'll post the finished pieces when they are done. The canvases are primed and ready for me to add a painting or collage. The top journal pages utilizes some of the lino block stamps I made a few months ago. It was fun to use them because they fit PERFECTLY in this journal.

That's about it! I'm so tired I don't have much more to say today! Enjoy the pics and ignore my boring words today. lol.

Pages 4/28/12

Here are the test prints colorized with Prismacolor Markers. It's pretty cool testing out different color palettes. With the stamps, you can print alot, play alot and not worry about screwing something up. It helps push you outside of your color comfort zone. These are alos ATC size, so I can make these tests into ATC trades.

Pages 4/27/12

Carved this face out of soft kut linoleum last night. I had a small peice on my art table forever and since I wanted to busy my hands, I carved this. I'm trying to do more thinner lines that print black. I find it really hard to not just cut out the 'outline' and go with that instead of cutting out the negative space. I'm a lazy carver. ;-)

Pages 3/30/12

This is another altered book spread I've been working on for a 'Dark Art' round robin I am in. The book's theme is 'Malice in Wonderland' and it examines the word 'Malice'. I found a cool quote by the writer Taylor Caldwell, "I have been the victim of heartless malice".

I began by prepping the background with a variety of acrylic paints. and then scratched down to the undercoat layer. I went back in with other colors, and pens and gold paints. The illustration on the left is a hand colored lino stamp. If you look back on older posts you can see the original stamp. I collaged some french words around the image. Then I used my trusty dymo plastic label maker to punch out the words. I'll seal it before sending.

Pages 3/26/12

I wanted to share with you some of the things I've been doing with those linoleum block stamps I've been carving over the past couple of weeks. Once you carve and stamp one of these, the options are endless. I played around with portfolio pastels, craft paints, sakura pens, and sharpie poster paint pens.

In some samples (like the skull prints) I painted a background and then applied the stamp on top. I also used one of the stamps in an altered book spread. So many options, and I can use them over and over again.

Pages 3/22/12

Carved another stamp last night. These lino block stamps are certainly addicting to make. I can't stop carving. There's something relaxing about guiding that carving tool along the block. The excitement of the first test print. Artsy geekery bliss.

Pages 3/18/12

Been making carved stamps today. I've used soft cut Lino blocks and speedball cutters to make these. Then I used a StazOn ink pad to test the prints. This way I can check how they print and make any additional fixes to the block. These are pretty addicting.