Oooh, paper rocks! I really want to make a joke about scissors, but I won’t. This lovely piece is the work of California based printmaker Mark Johnsen. I wonder how long I would stand in front of this work, titled “The Rocks”, if given the opportunity. Monotypes, etchings, stone lithographs … oh so many textures, lines, details. Sigh. Here are a few words on where Mark draws inspiration:

“… from childhood fishing trips to the Eastern Sierras and is fascinated by the intersection of natural elements. By using the Monotype process he works reductively to scratch or wipe away extra information to reveal a clearer image. Much like his memories, the process caters to the images that are produced.” 

How much do I love these drunk cats on matchboxes? [   T H I S  M U C H  ! ! !  ] These hilarious little block prints are a collaboration between Ravi Zupa & Arna Miller. Some of them are showing at Arna’s current show at Abstract Denver. You can also buy them online right here or here. Happy Friday!

Screenprints? Oh my word… I’m dizzy from the fantasticness. This is the work of Paris based artist Cyril Galmiche. I may have to sit down for a moment (and then I’m going to go find my Spirograph kit) ♥

… and the THREE winners are… DREW AUSTIN, SHANDRA SMITH, and COCO SPADONI! Thanks to everyone who entered, and if wanna pick one up anyway, this beauty is only $24 Canadian and you can BUY it right here. Thanks to Jp King for being so generous with this give-away! xo

Well, it would not feel like December if I didn’t have a gorgeous, sustainably-produced, Risograph calendar from Paper Pusher to give away! Jp King is the artist behind this annual beauty, and he’s done it again {actually, I should have him on the podcast}. Anyway, leave a comment below and on Monday December 11th I’ll draw three, yes THREE, names and each of those people will be able to spend their 2018 looking at these gorgeous artworks … good luck!

ps. If you don’t wanna take your chances with the draw, this beauty is only $24 Canadian. Just sayin.

Plants, patterns and gorgeous linocuts … LOVE. These botanical beauties are the work of British printmaker Kerry Day. I used to do a lot of lino prints back in my student days, and whenever I see it out in the world I instantly want to start again… granted, I might need a bit of ‘registration’ advice from Kerry {mine never lined up quite so!}. Her color choices and compositions are lovely, as are her words about the way she works:

“I can lose myself in the intensity and precision of the lino cut process and the recognition that the piece is not finished until I cut that final line.”

Amen.

Oh my monotype! These gorgeous monotypes on paper are the work of Vancouver based artist Renée Gouin. I can’t decide which I love more … her gorgeous dusty/pastel palette or the way she crops her subjects. Um, hm… TIE! Here are her words about this fashion inspired series:

“I’m inspired by an array of aesthetics including the spare flatness of Japanese woodblock prints and the reductive visual vocabulary of Morandi. My most recent work is influenced by the color palettes and ambiguous spacial effects found in fashion photography. By emphasizing these flat abstract forms, I embrace the playful antics of cubism. I make monotype prints that strive to celebrate women’s relationship with clothes. My interest is to bring an awareness to the daily ritual of dressing and accessorizing, while pursuing my delight in form and color.”

{via Miss Moss}

Ahhh, yes. I love linocut prints oh so very much… enter the elegant work of UK based artist Ellen Von Wiegand. I am completely smitten with her color choices, her lovely lines, and her very precise registration {fyi: I minored in printmaking and loved linocuts, but my registration did NOT look like this.} I love getting a sneak peek into an artist’s process… doesn’t seeing those chunks of lino, scraped and carved away make you marvel at those gorgeous final works even more? {although, I have to admit, I’d totally hang a few of those lino ladies on my wall too!}

ps. Ellen has some of these original prints available on her site.

I was madly in love the second I laid eyes on these “Dolly Totems” by American artist Kate Sweeney {in collaboration with master printer Elizabeth Tapper}. Strange shapes, gorgeous colors, each beautiful hand-etched image in exactly the right spot playing its part in the narrative… but what is the narrative? To be honest, I stared at these beauties for quite a while trying to guess, and then I found this:

“The Dolly Totems are about states of doubt surrounding the creative urge. Innocent childlike forms have a sinister relationship with the dark side of creation and willful destruction.”

A-ha! No wonder I was drawn to them immediately.

{These pieces are available via Zinc Contemporary, Seattle.}

PAPER. Each of these are just one piece of PAPER. My mind is officially blown. This is the elegant, meticulous, beautifully cut work of Toronto based artist Annyen Lam. Not only is she a paper-cutting artist, she’s also a printmaker. In fact, these pieces are a combination of those skills… “Lithograph, hand-cut paper, one sheet”. Mind blown. Again.

ps. so excited to say that Annyen is one of the Canadian artists who’s participating in “That Night In Toronto”, a show I curated to honor Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip. The show opens on July 8th at Mayberry Fine Art in Toronto. Put it in your calendars!

Be still my design loving heart! The portfolio of Netherlands based artist Sigrid Calon is absolutely FULL of beautiful, creative, interesting work, but it was this series of limited edition Risograph prints that jumped out and grabbed me {it may or may not have been that neon pink ink. Ok, that was it.} Dizzying compositions, her electric color palette, and the final grouping of oh so many Risographs on one big white wall! LOVE.

{Some of this work is available in her shop … ps. thanks to Melinda from LA’s Good Eye Gallery for pointing me to Sigrid’s work.}