Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Afternoon Conversations

Right now I am really happy. This is because in the past couple weeks I made my first two sales on my etsy shop (one of which happened tonight!) So, in the name of celebration, I decided it was time to post more prints on my etsy shop, and at the same time post one of those prints on here. All the while I will be drinking a white russian in celebratory form (well, it's not really a white russian, as there is no half and half in the house right now, so I substituted almond milk in place of cream: delicious!)

Below is a letterpress print I made for a show of work by me and my talented co-workers at the Book Arts Program, which showed at Signed & Numbered in 2009. The title is "Afternoon Conversations." It is of a giraffe and crocodile conversing. Conversing about what, I can't say. They might be talking about the current state of the jungle, the weather, or how fond they are of their mutual friend, Gerald. I often like to depict two animals that wouldn't normally interact in the "real world" in order to create a sort of whimsical land in which these animals might reside and interact in a way unfamiliar to us. It's an unusual image for me, in that it's nearly completely lacking any color. The only color used (other than black and white) is a very subtle tan used in the sun and a bit in the animals. I put it in the animals to represent a common life force shared with the sun. The size of the animals, and how they are rendered was inspired by an old book cover I found at the J. Willard Marriott Library. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the book, and I'm very sorry for that, as I'd like to give it credit here. It's additionally unfortunate that I may not be able to find the book again, because I returned it, and because I check out so many weird books from the Marriott Library keeping track of them would be near impossible (or boring, requiring work-like charts and tables.)



Sunday, December 5, 2010

Mystère et boule de gomme

It's that time of year again: the 12th annual Miniprint sale! Prints made by students, faculty and alumni (that's me!) from the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Utah. All sales go to assisting printmaking students attend the Southern Graphics Council National Printmaking Conference in St. Louis, MO. The prints will be on sale at the Gittins Gallery from Dec. 7 through Dec. 9th, from 10 am to 6 pm. This was my contribution to the cause. The blue I used for the words is quite subtle, but it's even more subtle photographed. So, I guess you gotta see it in person for reals.