... and some close-ups

This is how some of the "post-it" screen prints turned out. To clarify; the yellow/pink post-it notes are screen printed as well ... In this post from October you can see what it looked like when I was playing around with the post-it notes (that time I had just screen printed laughing faces on post-it notes and was moving them around).

I know it sounds a bit complicated ... and yes, it has been a bit complex.

test-mounting

I managed to get the same print repeated in a diagonal, but I didn't notice until I saw the wall on this photo. The feeling is so very different when you stand there - in reality - next to all those prints. You notice other things.

playing around

there are som many possible combinations. I was thinking this way of working could be perfect for a commission for a preschool. I would love to make something that's not supposed to be outside. You can make so much more for the same amount of money and you don't have to think about vandalism in the same way - or the weather...

showing size

I've been trying out different ways of showing the size of my art pieces when taking photos (or in the case of the upper photo; the size of the hand tufted Christmas tree I made for home - which is not an art piece). For me the size is obvious, of course, but not to others. For example I recently found one of my big drawings (1 x 1,5 m) pinned on Pinterest with the comment that it was from my sketchbook. And of course it could have been that small. Many times it doesn't even help to write the size - people don't look or they just assume. Like with my huge watercolour paintings; I've been offered to exhibit those paintings in really small places because they just assumed they were small - even though I had stated the sizes ...

Anyhow, it doesn't always look effortless or natural when you try to add something - like yourself (and being the photographer at the same time it is just guessing and many trials before getting it right).

documenting

Last Friday I had a little photo session in the studio documenting everything I tufted last year and the screen prints I made in December.  This time I had properly prepared by filling all the holes on the wall and by re-painting it. Last minutes I got the impulse to paint a bit of the the floor too, something which turned out to be a good decision! I was also very happy about the the white but totally darkening blinders I nowadays have in all 4 windows in my studio - so easy to just pull them down for a photo session. 

Step by step I might be getting there; the perfect studio.

Summing up 2014; part 2

2014 was also the year when I learned many new techniques/materials; welding and metal construction, textil printing, hand tufting rugs and laser cutting. I find it very good to try new materials when I feel stuck with my art, but that was not the only reason I learned these things.

summing up 2014: part 1

It's almost the middle of January 2015 already, but in order to properly be able to start the new year I have to leave the old one behind - and what better way to do that than summing it up?

2014 started out as a very hard year for me with my own art. I had saved up some money (through commissions/teaching art) and had the time for concentrated work in my studio ... but everything felt utterly pointless. I was even considering giving up art, something I can admit now when it has passed. It wasn't until the middle of May that I really felt creative happiness and purpose again. I had decided to stop painting - which was very traumatic for me as I've always considered myself to be first of all a painter - and started concentrating on the process of drawing and erasing. Still working with laughter, but focusing more on the ephemeral part of it.

I then continued to work with the creative process and the making of art itself - as something that make up an important part of the art piece - with post-its. It felt great - I was getting so much into my work again. I finished the year by screen printing a series of post-it laughters. 

I'm still in that good place and looking forward to continue my work.