more adventures in acrylic stamping with various items (including fruit!).
fruit love edition of 22 before being mounted on the 4x4 inch black paper (size of prints shown here is about 2x2 inches.
stamped with: a lime, a pen, spiral of sponge, and a cap. six colors.
hearts are found paper scraped with color, then cut into shape and affixed.
white gel pen detailing.
hearts have been on my mind.
love. things we love, colors we love, stuff that's close to heart...
and valentines.
be mine.
=)
2009 has been a little crazy.
i've resorted to carving potatos every few weeks.
sometimes they make it to stamping, sometimes they don't.
carved potato + green acrylic + matte medium + gesso + papers + glue = yum.
on the 9th we drove out to Jungle Jim's to pick up some cisapride for Dickens made at their pharmacy. (they happen to be one of the few around who do compounding in the area.) weirdly, the power was out for a lot of route 4, meaning their entire complex had no power.
by the time we made it through the traffic to find that out, we were hungry. sooo. macaroni grill! they let you draw on the table covers with crayons there. rock.
(this is a crappy cell phone pic in low light.)
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 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!
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...
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
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
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.
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/
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
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!
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.
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/
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.
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.
