no veggie is safe

potato star stamp & stamped
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

xacto blade + potato + paper towel + paper + paint + prismacolor = too much fun for one person.

working on a design for the print club's Carnegie proposal for 2009. spud carvings seem just as good as traditional printmaking to meeee. =D

i've been asked to design some very special invitations to a landmark birthday party. that's right, my sister has actually requested my services as a paid artist. it's a glorious day when a family member of an artist recognizes art as a valued service, nay a necessary beautiful process. 16th birthday invites. rock on.

zines, zines, ziiiiiiines!

do not bend - action shot
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

zines for sale, zines for sale, lots of yummy zines for sale!
http://anongrrl.etsy.com/

ye olde etsy shop has been updated, listed up with sets of all my favorite little zines. papery goodness with photocopy love. in the various little books in the shop, you can find anything from a tutorial on making paper beads to stories about life in a library, to photography assignments. there's even a set available of all the various zines in one big ol' package. need some pre holiday reading material? check it out!

... and now back to the regularly scheduled ritual of trying to find the surface of my desk through the piles of art stuff...

queen of hearts chunky page

queen of hearts chunky page
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

i'm trying something a little different for a chunky book swap over on atcsforall in a heart shaped chunky book swap. this is pushing the guidelines a bit, but we'll see if the cool factor overrides the 'follow directions better, nicci' factor.

the little paper and watercolor queen is 3.5 inches(ish) with long embellishment made of waxed thread, buttons, a charm that says 'believe', and some handmade paper beads.

all media are as follows: watercolor paper, ink, pen, tape, handmade paper beads, buttons, watercolor, waxed thread, charm & glue.

i'm working on 3 more of these queens and another little duel heart shaped painted one. will post more images as they're finished. =)

hmmm. i wonder if people would spring for these as one of a kind scrapbook embellishments or journal embellishments...

exhibition - sept 4

40yearsofalumni_nku
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

come hang out with some cool people and rockin' art!

northern kentucky university
fine arts building
nunn drive
highland heights, kentucky
41011

thurs sept 4, 2008.
5-8p.

i carry your heart with me

queen of hearts II
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

ee cummings

work, travel, and a little trifold promo love

left behind - detail
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

the image you see here is a detail of a piece called Left Behind, one of those new lil drawings i have been working on. it's a catalogue of snippets of thoughts, memories, and images that remind me of my father.

things are pretty quiet on this end. job apps, working in the studio, playing with the kitties and pup, a little web design, a little reading. staying up too late, thusly getting up late. glue, india ink, watercolor, tape, and pencils are my current media of choice. all on heavy paper coated in many, many layers of gesso.

no word yet on the fellowship. waiting, waiting.

i leave for a weekend in Paducah tomorrow morning. southeastern kentucky, beware.

in other news: the announcements/invite for the NKU Alumni show came in the mail today. 50 whopping tri-folds chock full of details cropped so close i can only tell who a few of the pieces belong to. my lil zines are right on the front cover. muah ah ah. so is my face, on the cover of one of said zines. amuse. i watch you!

i am sending some out postal mail, but mostly i'll be slapping down the e-invite in the blog(s) and email when it's sent to me.

printmaking: collographs

saturday the print club held a collaborative collograph printing day @ nku. a small group was in attendance (8-ish), and everyone brought at least 1 plate to print with.

collographs are pretty sweet, and the plate making is low tech and fairly intuitive. for directions on how to do this, see the print club blog. you will need a press, too. ;)

below are a few images of plates, prints, and stuff from the day. we made a huge mess, but it was fun. all prints displayed have a printed area of 11x15 inches.



note: for collographs you need thinned down, soupy ink. you use very little, and thin with oil. it really doesn't take much ink at all. print love.

nicci's journal - july 08

nicci's journal - july 08
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

Severance Package was pretty funny, but you can completely tell the author is a comic dude who has seen too many slasher flicks. if you're a pacifist, don't read this book. srsly. if dark humor tickles you, check it out.

i work a little bit in this sketchbook every night. it's getting supremely heavy and thick. anyone know where to buy larger bindings for spiral notebooks? yeesh.

currently reading: Taking the LEAP: Building a Career as a Visual Artist by Cay Lang. (suggested by mcdc3s.)

http://sketchbookswap.blogspot.com/

spoils of a collage workshop

the collage workshop over @ NKU was a success. Randel led it, an provided plenty of materials and surfaces for collage, as well as some instruction and a movie, which was pretty cool (even though i was subtitled!) called The Gleaners and I by Agnes Varda.

some of the attendees had never collage before, some were artists, some teachers. i was half asleep through almost the whole thing, thusly less social than normal. not a morning person, as you may recall. also, staying up until 5 puts a bit of a dent in getting up at 8 to drive to Kentucky.

despite the hardship of only about half of my brain going, i made some stuff i like, and got re connected with gluing anything and everything down, and also learned a new method of image transfer involving toner printed to tracing paper.


i pulled out the bottle of acrylic water resistant ink and did some detail with it--edges and elements within the collages. the plus side is it looks great with organic lines... and this time it didn't explode on me when i opened it. that was nice.

tissue paper is my favorite collage element. nice colors, easy.



i have a few more images i'll post later. off to lunch with my sister! (Tink)

collage stars - detail

collage stars - detail
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

tomorrow, well, actually in about 6 hours, i'm going to a workshop over @ NKU given by an artist friend, Randel. (we're in a printmaking group together). it's a collage workshop, so today i did a little work in the sketchbook that is my half of the swap with maralena. i'm also taking it tomorrow to add more... i need several projects at once because i hate waiting for things to dry.

i made this mistake of indulging in a glass of coke earlier, so i will probably be awake for a while. i'm going to be wiped out tomorrow at the workshop. i am not a morning person. this thing starts at 9am. it's a 25-30 minute drive. oh boy. it goes until 4p.

sooooo not. a. morning. person.

it's a good thing collage doesn't have to involve sharp implements.



a view of my busy desk on 28 june 08.
pieced together of 3 images to form a faux panoramic view.

sometimes a little glue, paint, gesso, ink, or glitter gets on my laptop because i keep it on when i work.

you never know when inspiration will strike, or you'll need to google something in reference to your work!

the sketchbook to the left is my journal from the sketchbook swap i am doing with Maralena. here you can see i'm adding some color with tissue.

sketchbookswap.blogspot.com/
nicci.livejournal.com
evematrix.com

shrimp sushi

shrimp sushi
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

today i made sushi for the first time. i have never seen it made, so it was an adventure! it took a bit longer than expected, but ended up being more or less pretty, if a little lopsided. it tasted yummy, which is the important part! the symmetrical stuff comes later. =>

yum!

sketching collaboratively

there's an update to the collaborative sketchbook project that maralena and i are working on over on sketchbook swap. you can see some recent work in both sketchbooks, always a work in progress.

i favor watercolor, and maralena favors acrylic. it's pretty fun when our work gets together and mingles. recently, we've both been dabbling in spray paint. you can check out maralena's blog for some of her other work. (the chair she just altered is pretty sweet!)

composition book

composition book
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

gesso, paste, cut, tear, draw, watercolor, color, shade, watercolor, paste, gesso, etc.

pea pods and stars, found papers layered over a gesso covered composition book from the grocery store... these are the things late nights are made of.

this is a little notebook for the storing of ideas for a couple of text based games i play on. plot ideas. interactive storytelling rocks.

tattoo hearts

nj_19_nicci_1detail
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

recent invasion into the sketchbook swap blog of the journals maralena and i are trading--tattoo type hearts. i have been thinking about tattoos a lot.

FarmBoy's brother opened a shop with 2 friends, and the newly blue-haired FarmBoy works as the shop boi on weekends. he's also going to begin apprenticing there, i think. so i draw, and i ponder.

lots more new work:
http://sketchbookswap.blogspot.com/

layers + teamwork

nj_05_nicci_1detail1
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

my favorite thing about collaborative journals is the building up of layers. you can, of course, do this on your own, without another person, but there is less surprise involved--less challenge when you're playing art with yourself. it's like visual chess, almost, except one person doesn't beat the other person--you just strive for a kind of aesthetic resonance.

more @ the messy art sketchbook swap blog.

ceramic hearts

ceramic hearts
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

semi anatomical ceramic hearts. the ones in the back have been fired--it's a stoneware clay (#153). i'm not so fond of this naked body, so i am going to paint and collage them instead of glazing since they are so sculptural. i have ze PLANS!

the grey ones in the front are greenware. three of them are in the kiln. the one standing up needs a hole drilled into it first (oops). someone, who shall remain nameless, broke off one of the valves =b. i have to 'sand' it down with a sponge and fix it before it can be fired.

preview! =) i'll post them again when they're finished.

photography, how i missed you

danielle_2008_02_29_winterb
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

tonight is danielle's winter ball at her high school. her friends came down with her, after the ritual primping, for the ritual photographing.

the picture i included her is my favorite. it's more my style. it's also amusing to me that i haven' t photographer her in a couple of years, but in some ways she hasn't changed at all.

you can go see the see the actual group photo on my flickr.

i also did some black and white shots, and the best of those is a candid, of course. leftover christmas decorations on the mantle, ftw!

i missed you, photography.

nifty collaborative work

detail003
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

http://sketchbookswap.blogspot.com/

mj_03_nicci_2.jpg

mj_03_nicci_2.jpg
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

it was a good mail day today. i received several sets of valentines, and a huge package from maralena containing our journal swap. the picture with this entry is one of my sets of beginning pages in her journal. you can see more @ my flickr or our little blog for our journals: http://sketchbookswap.blogspot.com/

it's been a good art week. general creative vibes are flowing, even if i have to kick them in the pants sometimes. hope all is well with you!

blue hair pink hair

blue hair pink hair
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

portrait ATCs : watercolor + sharpie + silver pen on gesso and board. edged with aluminum.

i have an affection for oddly colored hair. i'm particularly fond of blue and pink, as you can see from these two ATCs. i think blue is my favorite. it's so sad that these sorts of dyes are highly fugitive.

i sent them out for an exchange i hosted on swap bot.

cupcake atcs

cupcake atcs
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

again, this is gesso over board with watercolor and pen on top... though in this case, i also used sharpie and gel pens. (sakura, of course--the best!)

if you look closely at the pink cupcake on the left, you may notice you can sort of see the gesso brush strokes. i like this effect. it's a very subtle texture added to the otherwise pretty flat little watercolor.

though i do have some professional grade tube watercolors, i usually prefer to paint with cheap cake style watercolors, which come in a tray and are easily portable. as you can see, you can still get vibrant colors!

my preferred brand is royal talens. i like the translucent ones.

heart - negative space

heart - negative space
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

it's ATC season again in my studio. i have been doing some with watercolors and various inks. mmm. i love the way the watercolor does down on gesso'd board.

i decided to do portraits of women together with hearts in their negative space.

the stars are because i have been feeling starry recently. i'm not sure why it's taken over as a staple in my personal symbols...

chocolate girl

chocolate girl
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

sweet candy distro's eye candy zine's winter issue is themed LOVE SUCKS. i'm playing around with some illustrations before the deadline. from eye candy's website:

Eye Candy is a compilation zine. This means without participation from you great people, Eye Candy wouldn't be half as cool. We are always accepting submissions for future issues. We accept personal essays, articles and feature interviews. We always need book, music and zine reviews. Most importantly submissions of visual arts, poetry and photography! Scroll down to read submission guidelines on submitting to Eye Candy!

Theme: Love Sucks!
Deadline: February 1, 2008

As the over rated holiday draws near; some of us think about moments in our life where love completely sucked. Maybe you still think that love sucks? We want you to share your story with us. Betrayal, cheating, lying, crying, revenge, etc….the list of stink goes on! We want to know why YOU think love sucks!

check it out often for new guidelines for upcoming issues, and also if you'd like to snag any back issues! (which are awesome!)

when unbound zines attack

when unbound zines attack
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

over 160 zines wait, in piles, to be bound.
well... cut, collated, folded, and bound.

and numbered. zoiks.

eclect ink III - NKU Printmakers

eclect ink III - NKU Printmakers
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

digital promo postcard by Gallerie Zaum.

the work of northern kentucky university printmakers (edition varies) @ Gallerie Zaum, opening Feb 1, 2008 6-9pm.

the gallery is located in Newport, KY.

finger puppets

finger puppets
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

2 finger puppets. a girl and a boy. these are the smallest buttons i could find in green! i did get some blue and black ones in the tiny size. now that they have hair, their head stitching looks like wide, demented smiles. bwahaha.

Sense of Place + Eclect Ink III

20up_senseofplace
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

we're having a show called Eclect Ink III @ Gallerie Zaum, in Kentucky. at the end of the month! here's some of the work that's in the Sense of Place show @ Eva Farris Gallery. this work will probably also be included in the show later this month.

see more:
edition varies blog
nku print club website.

her red room

her red room
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

this little print measures 5x5 inch image area, and the paper is 10x10 inches. the frame is a black 12x12 inch wooden frame.

it's for the show, a sense of place, by the NKU print club.

fish says love - chunky page

fish says love - chunky page
Originally uploaded by anongrrl

this is a 3x3 inch chunky pages embellished to be bound into a 4x4 inch chunky book with a spiral bind. the others have the goldfish painted orange like so, and the papers vary, but all were handmade with a mini paper making kit i bought in London once upon a time.

recycled handmade paper, marker, watercolor, ink, wire, beads, eyelets, and dictionary bits.

so close to being finished...