Christmas Experiments - Round 1

I tackled some new Christmas print ideas today and ended up with a few cute images. Next weekend is going to be dedicated to baking gingerbread cookies (and ornaments) and setting up my Christmas tree, so I knew I needed to get down to business today.


I started out with nine images and ended up carving five. The snowflakes took forever to carve (and produced the most disappointing prints), so I've pretty much had it with them.


The tiny penguin and reindeer stamps ended up being the most fun to work with. The photos below are of the rough test prints, so please disregard the little marks and ink smudges.




Here's the best of the snowflake prints. I might try to work with these stamps again to see if I can make a more polished design, but for now they're officially banned from my printmaking activities.


There are some other print patterns too, although I didn't take pictures of them. I'm glad I finally have a range of stamps to work with so that I can present interested parties with a range of options for their Christmas cards.

Future Plans

I’ve been thinking more broadly about Sonnet & Mayhem and what kinds of projects I want to start working towards in the future. I’ll be starting the Open Studio printmaking workshop in less than two weeks and I’m going to hold off on starting any major new projects until I see what sorts of ideas and inspiration the classes bring (besides the Christmas cards, of course. I must make the Christmas cards!).

Lately, I’ve been tempted to temporarily shelve my stamping work so that I can focus on some new ink drawings and writing projects, but I also feel torn about neglecting the main goals of my whole blog/etsy shop endeavour – mainly, I want to create works that I can reproduce and sell. I’m hoping that the new printmaking techniques I learn will finally enable me to translate my ink drawings (or etchings) into reproducible prints. Once I have that ability, there are so many projects that I want try.

I’ve also started drafting a list of artistic goals for 2010. Writing out and sharing my goals on this blog has been an incredibly motivating force for me and I’m hoping to increase my productivity by upping the level of shame and laziness I will feel if I don’t keep working on the ideas I’ve developed and posted about. (Plus, I love a good list!). I truly value the readership of this blog (especially your comments) and even though it’s not huge, just knowing that a few other creative minds are interested in what I’m doing is enough to make me keep trying to produce interesting work.

My latest thought on the goals list is to write 365 entries and see how many I can get done in a year. Obviously, some goals will have to be smaller and easier than others, but overall I want to capture as many of my little dreamed up experiments as possible.

If you're interested in becoming an official member of the 'shame Victoria's lack of productivity' insult squad, please feel free leave a sample scolding in the comments section.

Penguins

I carved and tested the baby penguin tonight. The print is definitely cute, if a bit flawed. I opted for clean lines instead of trying to replicate the fuzzy baby penguin fur and I'm glad I went with the simple look. However, I don't think the stamp is good enough yet for formal Christmas cards.




My new plan is to carve another version of this stamp at about a quarter of the size of this one. Smaller stamps are so much easier to print with and it would be fun to produce some more intricate patterns with this image.

Also, I should note that the beautiful homemade angel food cake in my previous post was made by my lovely sister. Thanks again, T.J.! My best friend sweetened the pot with a cheese cake as well. Two birthday cakes - definitely a good way to celebrate one's birthday!

Birthday Fun!

Today is my birthday, so I’m in a celebratory and happily reflective mood. Mondays don’t really make for the best birthdays, but after an incredible weekend spent with the people I love, I feel very blessed indeed.


My absence here is due in equal parts to the stunning weather we had this weekend, visits from my family, and my wonderful husband who planned a big surprise birthday party for me on Saturday night. T is already in the upper percentile of sweet, brilliant, loving, hilarious men, so adding ‘surprise party planner’ to the list makes him pretty much the most amazing human being in the world (no bias, I swear). It was great to see so many of my friends and family together in one spot. Lots and lots of love!

The party and sunshine translated into a Sunday full of long walks, fresh air, introspection (and the season finale of Mad Men… wow!). All that walking meant that my little penguin remains uncarved and my stack of Christmas cards unprinted, but I plan to get back to business this week and get some projects done. Stay tuned!

Water, also AWOL

As promised, here is a picture of the little penguin stamp I'm working on.


I didn't get around to carving it this evening because T and I came home from the gym tonight to discover that the water had been turned off in our building. Nothing like thirst and body odour to curb one's creative energies. Thankfully, the water is now back on and I am squeaky clean.

The bad news is that I don't think I'm going to have a chance to do any carving until this weekend. I've got lovely dining and drinks plans for tomorrow night and Friday evening will be dedicated to my eternal quest for the perfect pair of winter boots!

My Camera is AWOL

I was working on an adorable little baby penguin stamp tonight, but then discovered that T has taken our camera to work.

Therefore, instead of baby penguins, I'm posting a few of the photos that we're currently considering for a new living room art arrangement. I've been dreaming of creating a perfect square of nine 12 x 12 inch photos for a while now, but I think budget constraints might necessitate a six photo pattern in more a more traditional 8 x 10 size. Either way, I've got a bunch of black and white photos that I've taken over the last few years and I might as well do something productive with them.

Our question right now is should we go all modern city shots, all natural country shots, or a funky mix of the two. Thoughts?

Before and After

No costumes for me this Halloween. Just some serious house work.