Posts Tagged ‘screen printing’
Screen-printed Panels
Lately it seems that I can’t keep up with the demand for these smaller panels (this one is 24 x 12 in). In fact, last weekend I stocked up and pre-cut about 32 different small-to-medium-sized panels, so that I can work on them in batches. Working in batches is actually ideal, since each panel requires a certain amount of waiting time in between printing, painting, and varnishing. I’ve found that the screen-printing ink is much blacker and cleaner than using a marker, which I did for the first series of larger panels. Since I have many of the designs already burned onto screens for my shirts, I can easily reprint them onto wood to create new compositions. This year I want to take this a step farther. I’m now using sketches to create elements that can be mix-n-matched on different panels to create multiple and complex new compositions. I can’t wait to see how far I can push them.
Forest and Fin Tees on Sale at Vivo Boutique
I am pleased to announce that Forest and Fin hand-printed tees are now on sale at Vivo Boutique in downtown Annapolis. Womens’ osprey shirts and mens’ sea turtle designs can be purchased there in an assortment of colors for $28. Vivo is a cute little boutique that features “regional artists, emerging independent designers, and products by companies committed to making the world a better place.”
We believe that life is better off the beaten path, that finding one’s own voice is preferred to following the crowd, and that being different is not such a bad thing. With clothing and gifts for infants through adults, home decor, jewelry, and so much more, it’s hard to leave empty-handed. It’s even harder to leave without a smile on your face!”If you are in the area, please stop by and check out it out. You will not be disappointed!
Vivo! 6 Fleet St. Annapolis, MD 21401 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Time to Move on
south that is. Now that I am officially out of my studio (and it’s actually getting cold), I’m devoting my attention and labors towards the boat to help Brian get her ready to sail again. Right now, he is still sanding and painting the deck, but once that is done, we will need to put all the hardware back on, get the mainsail repaired, get the engine running smoothly, clean, and get organized. We’ll be heading to Hilton Head Island in a few weeks, where we will be able to get hauled out for a few last projects (such as replacing the sea cocks and installing a holding tank – fun right? – and having a mounting system built for the wind generator and solar panel). And then, once that is all finished, we will set sail and begin the great adventure of navigating our way to the FL Keys and on to Central America.
In the meantime, I have an announcement to make: I just delivered my wood panels and t-shirts for exhibition at the Filling Station Gallery in Bluffton, SC. Unfortunately, I don’t have a link for the gallery right now as they are currently revamping their website, but if you are living on or visiting Hilton Head Island please pop in and check it out. The gallery is located on Calhoun Street, and if you make it over there this weekend, you might even catch the Christmas parade. You can check out the last two panels I finished up before I moved out of the studio last weekend. They are pictured below and are already up on the gallery page. I literally finished the big one the last night in between trips to load the car.
I also spent several days printing t-shirts before I left my press and ink supplies at my parents’ house in VA over Thanksgiving. The Young family “sweatshop” helped me iron and take inventory in Hilton Head this week. 
I’m contemplating selling some of them through the blog to help fund the trip. Anyone interested in buying a one-of-a-kind, hand-printed, Forest & Fin tee? The mens’ sea turtle design is printed on various color tees (but mainly blue and gray), and the womens’ osprey design is printed on two colors, black and teal fitted tees (designs pictured below). Please leave a comment or contact me if you are interested in purchasing one; if there is enough interest, I will look into setting something up. Also, here are some pictures of the most recent panels and current boat project.
A Successful Night
Thanks to all who came to my open studio event. We had a great turnout, in fact it was pretty crowded, and Chuck and Andrew put on a great performance. Thank you guys! I also had help from a couple of my other friends, Sarah and Katherine. Thanks to Sarah for helping me hang the show and for hand-making the title tags for my work, and thanks to Katherine for helping me make the food selections and setting up the food and wine. I really had a wonderful time, and it was great to get so much positive feedback on the new work, especially as I prepare to send out graduate school applications. I also sold some t-shirts, prints, drawings, and a wood panel, and now have the opportunity to hang my panels in a gallery in Bluffton while Brian and I are sailing to Central America.
I really couldn’t be happier. I will be posting high quality pictures of the panels in my gallery over the course of the next couple days. My friend Ben Williams of Ben Williams Photography was nice enough to photograph them before the show. For now, here are a few photos that Brian took during the show.
If you bought something at the show, I will be calling each of you to set up a time to pick it up over the course of the next few days. Thanks again for all of the support!
Announcing…
My Open Studio! Friday Nov. 6th from 6:30 – 9:30 pm at Sparks Gallery (12 Hagood Street, Charleston, SC). This is a free event with live music by Chuck Taylor and Andrew Hanson of Mad Cat in the Coffee House (check out a few of Chuck’s songs on his facebook page, my favorite is White Picket Prison). There will be wine and snacks, and possibly some of Daniel McSweeney’s ceramic sculptures on exhibit as well. If you are in the area please stop by, tell or bring your friends, and enjoy; it will be an informal affair with prices ranging from as low as $15 to $500. I will be selling paintings, drawings, screen-prints, and t-shirts (including the wood panels I have been working on, which have not been posted yet). All sales will help fund my sailing trip to Central America in December and hopefully art school next year. Exciting.
So now you know why I have been absent from the blog. Here are some projects I have been working on for the show and a sneak peek of one of my wood panels in progress.
In the Studio: An Update
Last week I spent a great deal of time in the studio, which is why I haven’t been posting as often as I’d like. To be honest, I am starting to feel a bit pressed for time. Brian and I have a month and a half before we set out on our sailing trip (if you are unaware, in November we are sailing down to the Caribbean and, if things go well, Central America). If I am going to send out some grad school applications, then I need to get on it. I have made a couple of interesting breakthroughs in my work in the last week and am eager to share them with you, but I am not quite ready. I will do a post about my new projects soon. For now, here are a few more sketchbook pages, and I apologize in advance if I seem absent from the blog over the coming weeks. Hopefully I will have quite a bit to show from it, and of course there will be plenty of boat news soon enough and a small art show to plan before we leave.
In the Studio: Week 5 (plus a few)
As you have probably noticed, I’ve gotten a little behind on my studio updates, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been productive. I’ve been managing my schedule well and have been spending about six hours a day in there. The big news is that I finished my bee painting. It came along much faster than expected. I actually finished it last week and am already in the midst of a new one that is focusing on ants. I am pushing myself a little bit farther on this new one, spending a great deal more time on the background of the painting. My goal is to work on my perspective and draw the viewer into the painting. We will see how it turns out. I like the concept and layout, but it is proving to be challenging. I’ll take it as a good sign, but expect that it will take a little bit longer than the bees.
Also, over the past few weeks, I finally modified some curtains for the boat (just in time for the weather to turn cooler) and worked on several more pages of my sketchbook. I experimented with watercolor and also worked on some portraiture. I also included some design elements, playing with patterns and shapes within my drawings. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure how these experiments would turn out at all; it had been a very long time since I worked on the human form. Generally I am pleased with the results and had a lot of fun creating them. Expect to see more in the future.
Also, I signed up for a profile on Society6, which is an online artist community that I stumbled upon recently. If you are an artist or illustrator, you should check it out. The site offers a great number of art grants, all of which sound pretty awesome (designing cd cover art, magazine spreads, art zines, etc. for companies as big as Vans and MTV, or other smaller art magazines and publishing companies). Anyway, my webpage is: www.society6.com/laraneeceart/. Most of what you’ll find on my Society6 page has already been posted at some point on the blog.
In about two weeks, I will be starting a five week batik-painting class at Redux Studios. The class only meets once a week, but I think it will be a great way for me to facilitate some creative interactions with some other people and learn a cool new skill. I figured that compared to a college course, this was pretty cheap ($160, all materials included), and I think it will compliment my screen-printing endeavors in the future. If you don’t know what batik painting is, it is a process of dying cloth using wax to create a design. It’s kind of an advanced version of tie dye. A number of saris and beach wraps have been dyed according to the batik process.