Sunset at Regan Beach During the Rim Fire

I havent made any prints since I graduated college in 2011, so when I was approached by a friend of mine to TA for her printmaking class at LTCC this quarter I jumped on the opportunity. Printmakers and painters are age old frenemies. Printmakers work and think backwards, always with the end result in mind. There are a myriad of steps to take to make a print that range from working the surface (in my case wood or MDF), choosing paper, ink, bases, press pressure...the list goes on. For a painter like me, who can easily change a painting in half an hour, to work in a medium that requires so much patience and attention to detail is a stretch. In college I often loathed the printing process until I learned a processes that worked for me, namely monotype, woodcut and dry-point/intaglio copper etching.

PIctured above is a monotyped woodblock print. First I hand-painted the woodblock with printmaking ink, making sure to press the ink into the cuts. I printed this woodblock multiple times without adding more ink to create a more subtle ghost image. Then I washed off the woodblock and rolled-up a deep purplish black, registered my paper, and printed that over my ghost. The result is a pale wash of color underneath with a darker pop on top. Im pretty pleased with the results :) Back to the printshop today to try my hand at some more color variation!

What do you think?

Heres a shot of the woodblock I am hand painting before I print it. 

A detail of the woodblock after I printed it. 

Feeling Blue: Ferdinand Hodler

Being home in Tahoe has really mellowed me out since this summer. I work at The BoatHouse, a lakefront bar  and restaurant right on the Timber Cove pier. All day I gaze at the lake, mountains and sky. I love the calm, morning water that reflects Mt. Tallac in its bright blues and greens. I love pale pink and lavender sunsets on clear evenings and the neon oranges and fushia clouds of the sunsets after a storm. I love the full moon on cold, clear nights in winter.

Recently, I've begun a new landscape art series I'm calling "Feeling Blue" as a follow-up to my portraiture show, "Seeing Red". I am so inspired and impressed by swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler. I know I blogged about him before after I saw his M A S S I V E paintings in Zürich and now again, I cant get enough. Check him out:

Sonne is Shining in Schlachtensee!

Today was the fourth consecutive day of not-a-cloud-in-the-sky sunshine and I am loving it.

I met up with Natalie in Schlachtensee, a neighborhood in western Berlin known for expensive houses, old people and an icy lake.

Everyone was out for their daily dose of vitamin D. 

 We found some rope swings. I bet this place really pops off in the summer.

After our walk around the lake we picked up baby Johann from daycare. 

 Loving this architecture.

 We also picked up Johann's older sisters, Greta and Louisa, from kindergarten and made our way back to the house. Natalie has been an aupair for this sweet family in Schlachtensee since August 2012 :)

Baby booger kisses.

Afternoon snack ;)

Coolest bed ever! Greta is one lucky five year old. 

 Im also really digging the color palette of this house with the cool grays and purples and light, sage greens. Something to thing about for my Mama's place in Tahoe that we will remodel this summer.

Musica

Summer is starting to come to an end (NOOO!!!) and I finally have a day off to roll around on the beach and eat ice cream and read Vouge, but I am lying in bed, wistfully hooked on this song/video by Washed Out....ahhh...

Tuesday Morning

My friends are so cool. Especially when they let me draw them on their days off. Thanks y'all.

The drawing: