Dreams

• July 26th, 2006 • 0 Comments • meandering •

I had the best dream last night.

I was visiting my old printmaking prof Justin in some bizarre art school somewhere. (Justin had managed to grow some odd sprout of hair where his hairline should’ve been.) I was watching a critique some new litho students were doing. My husband waited with me for Justin to finish the class. After the critique, Justin was all “Hey! How’re you doing?” He then proceeded to lead me upstairs to the printmaking area, so I could make some new prints. I was so happy! Finally! Getting to make prints after such a long hiatus…

And then my phone rang.

Some people feel letdown after sex dreams. Me, I was outright ROBBED of making some new art.

Allieviation

• July 9th, 2006 • 0 Comments • how-to, screen printing •

While combatting the mystery injury, I’ve been working on new t-shirt stencils and experimenting with screen printing some more. I found a delightfully lame piece of clip art with some 80s guy proclaiming “Paint it!” While I typically strive to create my own t-shirt art, a copyright free image that just screams to be put on a t-shirt must be obeyed. After making some modifications, I cut the stencil out on some good ol’ freezer paper and rather than use a sponge (so passé!) I liquified some brown and orange fabric paints and airbrushed the mixture onto a royal blue shirt was procured down at Wally World for $3.00 . (This worked horribly well as compared to a sponge.) After everything was dried and heat-set, I stuffed the shirt into a bleach solution and let it soak. End result? A soft, worn, thrift-store-worthy shirt with an ultra-lame design. Huzzah!

In other news, I found a delightful solvent for the screen fillers I’ve been using. Rubbing alcohol! The trauma of scrubbing and scrubbing to clean screens: gone! This method worked beautifully as an “eraser” for a screen I was working on. Just pick up a Microbrush, dip it in alcohol, gently rub both sides of the screen and poof! Mistakes can be fixed. (Though probably not so well for incredibly fine line work.) Another t-shirt surfaced while I was experimenting with alcohol and screen filler, though I do not have a picture of it yet.

Speaking of pictures, thanks to the generosity of a relative, I am now able to upgrade to a digital SLR. Kick ass!

Pain and Anguish!

• July 2nd, 2006 • 0 Comments • meandering, studio 4A •

The studio is almost cleared out, save items which I am going to store in the garage of a generous friend. I am dragging my feet getting the whole thing over with: 1) this whole ordeal is depressing me more than it should and 2) I have a mysterious back injury which prevents me from picking things up.

Figuring I’m only in my mid-20s, this back problem thing falls into the very “not good” category. It surfaced the morning before I had an enormous face-painting job at a convention in Dallas. A slew of doctors’ visits and drugs have followed, seriously putting me in the mood for doing nothing but lying down on the couch feeling sorry for myself.

I did, however make a spiffy-cool stencil and put it on a t-shirt, which has inspired a number of tutorials and write-ups I hope to do. The guest bathroom has been reformatted into a tiny studio I work out of much to the discomfort of my husband’s friends! No doubt an obituary for Studio 4A complete with photos will be posted as soon as I find some persons to help me bulldoze out the remainder of the garage, as the August deadline grows uncomfortably close.

I could really do without the inconvenience of a painful mystery injury right now.