Hello paint! Long time no see.

Wow, long time since I have painted a picture. I did a lot of painting in college and really enjoyed my time in the painting studio....it was therapeutic and I think I was pretty good back then.  I've missed it, and am happy to be doing it again. My style is very graphic oriented. I grew up skateboarding and was heavily influenced by graphics on tee-shirts and skateboard decks. I've also been a graphic designer for 16 years, so logos, icons and such are ingrained in me as well. Bold graphics and icons will never die. I'm drawn to it and eat it up.

This is a first in a series of bold-colored graphic bike paintings I plan on doing. Get them in a nice frame with big white matting and I think they'll pop off of a wall. Perfect for the mountain bike enthusiast. My wife didn't go for the green tires here, and suggested I keep it simple...2 colors. She's usually right, especially about art.

I digitally enhanced it and voila, now just red and yellow. I actually want to screenprint these by hand rather than have them printed. Great....another project for the awesome basement studio! 

Soon to be featured in the Etsy shop.

Mountain Bike Block Print - 1st pull

My first in a series featuring my love for mountain biking. I'm really happy with how this turned out. Pictured is my first pull on some cheap rag paper. I'll be shopping for some nice printmaking paper this week and get these rolling. I think I'll put them in a series of 50 maybe. I'm a bit torn as to putting things in a series though. Does it make it more valuable and enticing to the shopper, or am I selling myself short of multiple sales after the edition is over? That lino block will only last so long after inking, printing and cleaning over and over. 

 

Soooo, do I set a number of prints and trash it, or print as many as possible till the thing just dies? I'm going to think about this more. Will have to ask some veteran printmakers about this for sure.  

Blue Morse Code Prints

Made some new blue ink prints on sugarcane paper cards last night. They remind me of morse code for some reason...guess it's the repetitive pattern that yearns to spell something out. My technique is improving. Need to keep my work area clean and watch those fingerprints! This is getting fun...now just need to get some up on my Etsy shop and print, print, print.

Love Love Love Asheville! - photo montage

Selling these Asheville photo montage prints. I searched Asheville for weeks finding just the right typography for this project. It was a surprise gift for my wife, and people sought me out to buy it after it was posted on a local blog.

Find them on my graphic design shop at Etsy for only $25.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/switchbackdesign

Drink coaster prints

Here's my first go at a drink coaster print that is then hand-painted. I really like these. There's some really nice coaster prints on Etsy and I hope to start my own line for the beer-drinker, wine-drinker and coffee drinker to start. Blank coasters are cheap too!

Coffee In Bed block print

Inspiration for branding of Coffee In Bed....a little rough on my lines. I heated up the lino block with a household iron too much and my lines chipped away. Learned my lesson on that one and will try again. Not bad though...you still get the point of it.

Tools of the trade

Converted my old college art box to house all my new linocut supplies. All of the supplies are relatively cheap. Blocks for $3-4, replacement cutters at $3, ink at $4, etc.

Welcome to Coffee In Bed

Greetings from Coffee In Bed!
Soooo wish I was blogging in my bed with coffee right now, but sittin here in my day-job office wishing for the weekend to start.

Coffee in Bed comes from a little thing my fiancee sang to me once on a goofy fun day...coffee iiiiinnnnnn beeeddd! Love it, and will always remember that. So, I used it as a name for my new art venture and Esty shop....it suggests a comforting and serene feeling...colors of blue, white and soft green come to mind. Lying in a cozy bed with a warm cup of coffee, windows open and drapes are moving in the cool morning wind. I want to wake up like that every day.

Coffee in Bed is my new passion. My journey into the world of printmaking and generally transferring ink from objects onto paper and fabrics. The materials are simple and the process is simple and magical in its own way. I have no formal training in this, but i'm quite obsessed with it. Looking for my creative niche and trying to scratch my creative itch, my fiancee said "hey, why don't you try block printing."  I took a class in college, but partying was way more important back then and I was always late for class, skipping and barely completing assignments....sorry Paula! (printmaking master, artist and professer). I will redeem myself.

Posted up are pics of my first prints ever. Living in Asheville doesn't take long for you to become eco-concious, eco-loving, eco-everything, bla bla bla. I will be printing on paper products that are sustainable and/or recycled and hope that others find this as important as I do. These prints are on sugarcane paper which is tree-free and biodegradable.

This print is made from champagne cork.

These prints are from traditional linoleum blocks. Need to perfect my technique obviously.