Carving Printmaking Blocks

I'm having a blast carving soft printing blocks! They are helping me to break through the "artists block" I've been having over the last few days. It's so relaxing and I can go very fast, it's very different from engraving metal and much easier on my wrists! :-)

I just finished one of tulips and I'm making some that have holiday themes for greeting cards. I'm post them for sale here and in my Etsy shop: radiantjasmin.etsy.com

Yes, the Happy New Year is backwards on purpose, it has to in reverse in order for it to print correctly. I will make some test prints with ink and see what areas need a little more carving to sharpen up the images.

I have a lot of Soft-Kut Printing Blocks, that's what have been carving (I can't find out who the manufacture is.) I have 1 each of the Speedball Speedy-Cut Carving Block and Speedy Carve Block that I will carve soon and I'll post my review of all the blocks when I'm done.

Sway

This is one of my new series of ACEO's, they are miniature works of art. ACEO stands for "Art Cards, Editions and Originals". This artwork has one basic rule - they are 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches - the size of a trading card. I just completed several and will be posting them regularly!

Sway

Fabric, pigment ink, color pencil and paper collage

Pitt Artist Big Brush Pens by Faber Castell - Update

Oh boy! I recently received 2 more colors (Light green and Pink madder lake) to add to my collection of Pitt Artist Big brush pens by Faber-Castell! They were on back-order from Dick Blick and I almost forgot they were on their way, when I saw the FedEx truck I said to myself "Hmmm, what could that be? I'm not expecting anything."

What a nice surprise it was! I'm off to try out these new colors and will also post on how the Pitt pens combine with Faber-Castels Albrecht Durer water colour pencils. I recently got the 250th anniversary set of 25 pencils, some of the pencils in this set are the same color number as the Pitt pens, I will see how close the colors match.

I used these markers in my pieces Happy Springtime, Two May Tulips and One Red Tulip.

Heads up on some of the colors if your planning on buying a set: These colors are not in the set of 48!

178 Nougat
228 Bright Magenta
278 Chrome Oxide Green
143 Cobalt Blue
157 Dark Indigo
219 Deep Scarlet Red
121 Pale Geranium Lake
270 Warm Gray I
230 Cold Gray I
250 Gold
251 Silver

I first bought the small set of 4 Classic Colors that was on clearance at a craft store, it had the black missing, so it was priced at $3.95 (a deal as they go for $2.55 Blick online and $3 plus per marker at brick and mortar  stores!), since I heard they were great markers from artist Don Colley in his video, On the Go with PITT artist pens http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI24mfsrU80&feature=channel
I figured it was good time for me to give them a try. I fell in love with the first stroke! I then bought the set of 24 and started visualizing getting what I thought were the remaining 26 colors. 

So I'll have to buy the ones I have listed above separately sometime soon, I realized these were not in the 48 set after I was done ordering from Dick Blick online, grrrr! I don't know why they don't have the Deep Scarlet Red in the sets, as the red they have, Pink Carmine 127, is a medium red and not dark enough for me, I have to make several passes with it to get a good color.

I think these extra colors may only be available from online art stores, I'll check at Blick when I go this week to pick up a fine art print order that is ready, YEAH! I'll also take a look across the street (Mass Ave. Central Square in Cambridge, MA) at Artists Craftsman Supply to see if they have these colors in open stock and I'll let y'all know what I find.

Until next time, Keep on Creating!

Dragonfly - In progress

The first time I went out in my yard this morning the largest dragonfly I've ever seen flew by me, I saw it out the corner of my eye and it was so big, at first I thought it was a small bird! It was blue and it flew around my fence a few times and then flew away.

A few moments later, a smaller brown/beige dragon fly landed on the pine tree closest to my house, I walked over to get a good close look and to say hi. It flew around a little bit and kept coming back, landing on the same branch, which was a little above my head. It was looking at me too and it's mouth was moving, but it wasn't eating anything, I feel it was saying something to me, it was telling me to finish the dragonfly drawing that I started quite a while ago when another dragonfly landed on my sketchbook. Here is the starting sketch:

Writing My Submission to the Sex Crimes Against Black Girls Anthology

Last night and early this morning I submitted my personal essay and two new comics I drew that break the taboo of talking about childhood sexual abuse (CSA) to the the Sex Crimes Against Black Girls Anthology. Go to the website to learn more about this project:



It has been quite an exploration for me, revealing a lot of my history as a childhood sexual abuse survivor and detailing my healing process. It is the first time I've written about it and at 19 pages (double spaced) it's the most I've ever written. I'm proud of myself! I got through it! I've spoken a lot publicly about it my CSA, but writing this much was a whole different process. I've had to give myself lots of self care, that's why I haven't posted anything here since early last month.

As I am planning to write an autobiography (in 2 parts) this was a good way for me to jump start that project, it's time for me to set a deadline for part 1.

I'm really enjoying drawing the comics. Drawing comics was one of my first art-forms as a little girl. There are a whole lot of ideas and themes for comics that are brewing for me. Be on the lookout, as I will be posting them as they come!

My husband Haji also submitted a personal essay to the anthology, from his point of view as a man loving a woman survivor of CSA. Now we patiently wait to see if we are selected.

Long-stemmed Hearts in Blue Vase

Color pencil on paper

15" x 11"

A Collection of Hearts

Color Pencil on paper