where things begin

Last night I had a show at the Octopus Ink Gallery in downtown Anchorage. We took a few iPhone photos of the crowd:


I sent some photos of my prints to the Anchorage Press and hooray! they put one in the paper.

Caught & Free linocut prints

Last week I finished some new linocut prints. I wanted to make some larger-scale salmon (other salmon in prints I've made have been small-ish) and I thought salmon in a next would be fun.
Here is my initial sketch.
The carving process.
The carving, all finished.
Without the net- I'm calling this one "Free".
And "Caught". I like the print with and without the net, so I think I'll be printing some of each and seeing which people buy more of.

Anchorage From Above

Here is the print I made for the People Mover First Friday show. The bus was parked on G Street and had transportation-themed art inside it, and people walked through it and voted for their favorite. I don't know who won yet but I'm guessing maybe not mine since it didn't have anything bus-related in it and there were some entries that did. But we'll see.

I also made some other color variations of this print. I really do like the light blue with deep blue on top, but this light blue looks funky since I put blue ink over my linoleum that still was covered with white ink.

new linocut peek

I'm working on a few linocut print for a transportation themed show next Friday, that happens to be taking place in a bus! It is going to be 2 colors and this is just the bottom image- a map of Anchorage. The top image should really make things dynamic.
This turquoise wall is my print-drying spot.

revamped chairs!

I can't take credit for this awesome upholstery work, but I did pick the fabric! I lived with those orange cushions for 3 years, and I'm quite sure that they were original to the chairs. Through work I have access to every fabric manufacturer known to man, and I felt like I searched through all of them... I narrowed my choices down to 4 and finally decided to go with this one- the brightest and loudest of them all.
I was a little bit afraid to see the finished products because I thought they might be too much. I'm sure they would be too much for some people, but I think they are just perfect! I think the fabric perfectly compliments the chair design.
Something is going to happen to that coffee table, and soon. I'm thinking that I'll paint the base yellow and refinish the top, maybe walnut? Though, I dream of a rustic round coffee table with turned legs, you know, so my house doesn't look exclusively 50s-60s modern.
I designed the X lamp in the background. Can you find the cat butt in this picture?

from Marilyn Manson to... Iron and Wine?

My musical tastes have certainly toned down and moved to something a little more subtle and my design aesthetic has as well. Take for example this cabinet, which my dad and I made when I was in highschool (before any of those design classes!). While I still just love those X cut-outs and textured acrylic panels inside, that crackle finish was killing me! I had actually never used paint stripper before this project, and boy is it toxic! Anyway, I decided to strip that mess off this cabinet. And duh, change out those overbearing pulls. AND add some casters because I've been thinking this cabinet needed legs for a long time.
(Excuse the top cabinet doors not quite lining up) I love the result! It definitely feels more mellow and understated... And surprise, you actually can appreciate those cool cut-outs now!
After going to design school, now I would never cover my form with something so distracting to it as that crackle finish. I think crackle finish has a place, just maybe not in my house anymore!
I don't know... Maybe this cabinet has become more Wilco?

paint stripping

I've been working on stripping the paint off of the first piece of furniture I ever made (my dad helped). I made it in highschool when my taste was very black with neon and Marilyn Manson, ha. Black and red crackle paint totally doesn't go with my style anymore! (The above photo shows globs of paint stripper on the side of the cabinet.)

I can't believe that this pretty wood has been under all of that paint all of those years! All of the drawers and doors will be natural, and I think I will paint the cabinet body charcoal gray. And I'll be adding casters to the bottom of the cabinet, and of course new pulls.