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.