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DEBRA
I teach Modigliani's portraiture style every year, and when I do, I can't help but be absorbed into his alluring distortion of form. After a rough 2 weeks, I came down with the flu and distracted myself from my own misery by watching a Project Runway marathon. After 3 episodes, I could no longer curb my enthusiasm for creating, and I drew upon the Modigliani aesthetic to create this self portrait on Japanese paper. It is approximately 20x30" in acrylic.
DEBRA
I've never associated myself with the color blue until a recent trip home, spending time with my mother who wants to redecorate her living room in Aqua. Aqua - what a refreshing, earthy, vibrant, simply SPLENDID color. Makes me think "Greek Isles". So I've been doing alot of thinking about aqua, and using it in my work, including May Morning which demonstrates my current favorite color relationship of soft aqua and tangerine. delicious. I did this self-portrait out of the simple enjoyment of just wanting to lay paint on canvas. The most reliable yet challenging subject in these cases tend to be my own reflection.
SARAH
I have been away from here for awhile! But awayness = business, right? For the most part, yes. I have been printing a lot of custom stationery in the last month. A lot! I love how most of the orders are gifts for friends, mothers, daughters, & bridesmaids. They make the perfect gift because it can be so personal - choosing their favorite image to be printed in their favorite color. It shows a lot of thought.
I have been putting a lot of thought into my custom stationery "line". I have no set line of custom stationery. People usually choose one of the images I have already in print - the most popular being the peony & hyacinth. Or people request a completely new image which, if it fits well with what I am already printing, eventually becomes a part of my shop. Currently I only offer gocco custom stationery. My custom letterpress stationery is printed using my vintage wood type.
I would really like to start offering custom letterpress stationery using different images. So in the background of everything else going on I have started designing different layouts for custom letterpress stationery. I am going to include different font choices & colors - but just a few. I want to keep this manageable for me & easy for someone to pick what they would like for stationery for themselves or others.
The process of printing gocco stationery is much different than letterpress. Gocco has a much quicker turnaround because I can create the design, burn the screen, & print as many as I need in one day if need be. Letterpress designs have to be sent out for a magnesium plate to be made so there is a waiting time & it is, of course, much more expensive. But if I have a set of ready to go plates I just need to order the name to be printed. While I wait for that to come, I can print the design, which also allows for the letterpress stationery to be up to two colors.
Well, those are my thoughts on my little printing business for now. Have a lovely weekend! Hopefully I will be back here sooner rather than later.
p.s. How amazing are Deb's paintings below!? Her Landscape Elements series is gorgeous.
