Summer Drawing

I have been drawing on paper to practice some skills. It really is such a change from working on stone and I feel a little out of practice!   I love using pen and ink, copic pens (why do they make so many colors!!!!) and working with thick, rich papers.  The door in the picture is taken from one of the hundred doors that I photographed when I was away last year. The turquiose door was on the beautiful and colorful island of Procida.

Working = Learning

Hi Everyone,

I have been working on many projects throughout this winter and spring.

I've made lots of letterpress cards at the print studio, set up my ArtRocks Press Etsy shop

and completed lots of custom orders.

Special orders are always a treat for many reasons. I get to challenge myself by going out of my comfort zone on certain projects. These types of orders have me working closely with a customer of which the collaboration inevitably inspires  me in other projects!

Above is one of the hundreds of pet portraits that I have done over 17 years. I do not do very many of these any more because of time constraints, but I always love creating a portrait for a gift or for an owner of a beautiful animal. Our companimals are such a huge part of our lives! 

I have made rock "favours" for wedding guests, specialized birthday stones and memorial stones. Teacher gifts and graduation gifts with beautiful sentiments inscribed on the back are a favourite. Another very unique project was working on a "bowl of stones" for a customer who wanted her favourite quotes on stones to inspire her daily.

Thank you to all my wonderful customers for thinking of me when they want a gift for someone special in their lives or for themselves. It really is a remarkable part of what I get to do 😀

Karen

ArtRocks Press is here!

I am so happy to announce the opening of my new ArtRocks Press Etsy store! The store will carry my line of letterpress and screen printed cards, and I can hardly contain my excitement!

As I have said before in other blog posts, I have loved cards forever. Giving and receiving cards are big in our culture but our family were especially obsessed! I spent hours reading cards in Eaton's with my mom and making hundreds of homemade cards for friends and family since I was wee.

I originally began my card business about 6 years ago. This encompassed having my original artwork carefully reproduced by an excellent commercial printer. 
But it was after taking a letter press course two years ago that a whole new world opened up to me (I am hooked)!

So here is a little about the process:

I rent space at a printmaking studio to have access to printing presses and screen printing equipment. For letter press, I use authentic vintage type (which, yes, I have started collecting) and/or a polymer plate made from my drawings. Each card is individually printed and hand cranked on vintage presses. So much fun!

For screen printing, I use my original designs, make a special screen and print each card by hand. I have sourced out some beautiful papers to print on and plan to find more and more recycled papers to add to the list.

Cards can say things for us that are hard to say, EXACTLY what we were thinking, or express an inside joke from friend to friend. They can become mementos that you treasure in years to come.
I hope to make cards that share joy, love and laughs and convey a special feeling that a lovingly handmade card can.

Please click on the button to the left of the blog post which will link to the ArtRocks Press shop.

Also check out my ArtRocksPress on Instagram for weekly designs!

Karen xo

etsy.com/shop/artrockspress

instagram.com/artrockspress

Designs, Doodles and Deadlines!

A couple of times a year, I gather up drawings and ideas that I've jotted down in sketch pads over the months and work on new designs for my paper line. I love this change in creative outlets because I get to play with paper and inks and think a little differently than when working on my stones.

I leave my at home studio to do my printmaking and rent space a month at a time. Thus this means more than ever that I have to organize myself with a specific deadline to get everything ready so when I get to the studio I am printing to the max. 

Getting ready involves deciding on designs and making final "perfect" drawings, deciding on paper colors and numbers and getting letterpress plates made.

Well, I am just about to head into the studio and the drawings are done, plates are ordered and the paper is on its way. Phew! That month flew by!  You all know what I mean about that fleeting time thing :)

Here's some pictures of the process. Next purchase: a bus pass to take me to the studio everyday! Yay!