favorite bears

favorite bear, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

I haven't written in a little while! I do apologize. Because I am not on my computer constantly at work, I haven't been very inspired to pick it up at all. My telephone has been serving as my computer, and I have yet to find a good app to post to my blog from my telephone. Do you know one?

Anyway, I have been drawing a lot of bears. Here is another one:



Its not a very good picture, but I do enjoy the bears.

I also painted a lot of little guys on tiles:



I think I am going to cover them with resin!

i am making rain

i am making rain, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

I haven't written in a little while, but this is because I have been very very busy!

This is my latest letterpress project. It is not going very well yet but I like the idea of it. I am taking / symbols (slashes) and randomly scattering them. Its very challenging to put in leading and to get it even remotely close to locking up. The plan is to print this in a few colors on kitakata paper, and then use that paper to chine-colle on bigger prints.

I WILL figure it out!! :)

red bird

red bird, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

So here is my final little bird!!! The other colors are so subtle and I really enjoy it.

Here it is with the contrast boosted way up, so you can actually see the other colors:




I start my new/old job tomorrow, and I am very very excited about it! Except, I have come down with an evil sinus infection and sore throat. I will be very upset if I have to call into work on my FIRST DAY!

it left a bad taste

it left a bad taste, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

This is a silkscreen and woodcut. I made it for the Print Zero exchange. I am finally participating in it after being asked to for 3 years in a row!
This piece is a little darker than my usual work. I am not entirely sure what its about. Maybe about something that you used to like that now reminds you of something bad. Or maybe something as innocent as forgetting to brush you teeth in the morning.

By the way, I quit my job and now I have a new job! Hooray!

bird wing

bird wing, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

In the Continuing Letterpress class that I am taking at Pratt (taught by the wonderfully amazing Miss Lisa Hasegawa), we learned about proper justification of type with this exercise - create a shape out of type.
I had high hopes and big dreams for this - my original setup took me several classes to set - 8pt Spartan type with a multitude of facts telling you all about birds.
But, we are nearing the end of class. Next week is our last class, and I was falling behind. So I scrapped it and made this guy out of 20 different faces/sizes, and I am way happier with it than I was with the original.
I decided to go with the shape on the left. What do you think?

letterpress/anniversary

letterpress, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

I don't have much to say right now, except I am going away for the weekend with my benjamin, for our ONE YEAR wedding anniversary. What! Geez! I can't believe its been a year already!

So I am making us a little present, some buisness cards that we can hand out as a duo, on "hello my name is" stickers. Since they come in sets of two and all. Each one has our different information, but our joined website on the bottom. When we become more awesome than we are now and start to actually update that website, it will be very handy, i'm sure!

Bobmas!

Bobmas!, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

Yay! I gathered a few dear friends who knit to celebrate Bobmas, the founding of Ravelry on April 11th! Hooray! We had cupcakes and knitted.



I made tiny baby socks...


and Keren made mutant booties.


Hollie did a very good job at her first re-learning knitting project! (She has since frogged it all and reknitted it)


I finished one of my baby socks after we had eaten dinner. Baby feet are tiny! Here it is compared to Tater:


Happy Bobmas!

Alpacapalooza!

Alpacapalooza!, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

Alpacapalooza was AMAZING. Last Saturday, we all met up and enjoyed a full day of adorable, amazing, beautiful animals! (We all being me, Ben, Liz, Astrid, Caley, Bre, Brian, Julia and Harper!)

Ben and I are planning on living in a green house and having alpacas one day, as illustrated in this picture:


While we didn't get to roll around in the pen with them this year, it was still a wonderful time. We had a picnic lunch, looked at all the booths, and watched the judging in the show ring too. We even saw little kids leading their alpacas through an obstacle course! Jumping over hurdles! Be still, my heart.

If you would like to see the whole Flickr set, this link will take you there!

Close up of Resin City - In Progress

Close up of Resin City - In Progress, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

So, although you probably don't know me, you may have gathered from this blog that I like doing a lot of things. I like painting (watercolors, acrylics, gouache, encaustic...), I like knitting (with fancy, beautiful yarns), I like printmaking (letterpress, silkscreen, woodcuts...) I like embroidery (preferably my own designs), I like sewing (blouses mostly), I like cooking (with fresh vegetables)....

Because of this, I have a hard time concentrating on any one project. I will usually dedicate myself to one project per week, and switch between them. I recently finished my cloud embroidery project, I am almost done with my blouse, and I am working on a knitting project (blanket pieces) while I watch movies at home. These little paintings have sat neglected for a month now.
They are acrylic and resin on panel, with many layers of paint and resin. I am really, really pleased with them, but the layering on this piece is especially lovely and unexpected.

So tonight I am going to work on these, and save my other projects for the weekend. But on Saturday, I will be celebrating Bobmas and knitting all afternoon :)

Scarves 1-20

Scarves 1-20, originally uploaded by willpowergraphics.

This is a photograph that my dear friend Will took. I taught him how to knit last year, and this is his amazing assortment of beautiful scarves that he has made since. I am in love with his color sense! YAY WILL!

Knitting WIP

DSCN5479, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

After cleaning my studio in an effort to make room for many many silkscreened envelopes, I realized that I have, like, 15 or 16 WIP pieces in my knitting stash. what.

its a building! yes it is

its a building! yes it is, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

I have been making more prints lately. I carved valentines, and sent out freshly printed cards to a few friends.
This print is from a show that I was in 2 years ago. 2 years ago! I can't believe its been that long! I need to show my art somewhere again. Its such a thrill to prepare for a show.

Liz and I have our studio almost all fixed up!!

A whole lotta prints

A whole lotta prints, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

I am going to put quite a few of these in my Etsy store soon, me thinks!

Lettering

sketchbook, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

Lately I have seen a lot of write ups, blog posts, and general hubbub about hand lettering. I've been playing with hand lettering a lot lately, but I don't think I am very good at it. I do like my "me or you" at the top of this sketchbook page though.

Zink

zink7, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

Captain Watermelon

Captain Watermelon, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

This guy was sitting to my left at Bauhaus the other day. He had a very big furry russian hat on. I don't know why I named him captain watermelon.
He wasn't really listening to a walkman, I made that part up.

In other news, I am almost all moved in to my NEW STUDIO! YAY!!!!!!!! I am so excited to have a big place to spread out and work! I feel so, so good about it.

Bye Craft Magazine

Craft Magazine's last print issue was this past one, Volume 10.

I love you Craft magazine! I'll miss you very much! Even though you will be online, the print version was such a treat.

Encaustic in Progress

In 2006, I won a little R&F encaustic paint set from Daniel Smith, for meeting a sales goal. Yay! Because encaustic paint is REALLY expensive! So, I decided to start painting.
This is the biggest encaustic painting I have ever done. The biggest painting, actually, I have ever done in any medium! I have made big prints, but never a big painting. This one is on 16x24 panel. It wasn't really intended to be a landscape, but then it quickly became that. I wonder what it will turn into next?

Here is my encaustic set up right now, in my tiny closet sized studio:



I use a pancake griddle, kid sized muffin tins, hog brushes, hake brushes, and a paint stripper to paint with. I learned most of the techniques from Joanne Mattera's book The Art of Encaustic Painting, which I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in painting this way.

Little Resin Tags

Studio Time, originally uploaded by maybeemily.

While I had been drawing in sketchbooks and making prints and working in resin for a long time before, I had never really tried to express my ideas through paint. I was so pleased with the results of these little tags!
My favorite is on the far left. The title is "A Chaste Landscape." I had read that exposed arms were symbolic of chastity in a book I had of Christian symbolism in art. (After learning about the hidden symbolism in old master's paintings and prints, I became a little obsessed with finding the hidden meanings in EVERYTHING!)
The tags have several layers of paint and resin on them, and are a little less than 1/8" thick. I love the way the resin creates a warm depth to the images. I wish I could make it a little less unruly, however - the backs have lots of drips and dribbles on them!

In Progress

I am working on several paintings right now. I don't usually think of myself as a painter, but as a printmaker. I find that my paintings are very detailed sketches for future prints and other projects - I never really think of them as the final product.