Printmaking Workshop Part I

Posted on June 18, 2014 by lksukany

I am leaving for 10 days on a trip to Mures, Romania. I am going with a group from Grace Church to serve the orphans at Livada.

While there, I will be working as a summer camp group leader helping to create new and happy memories with the kids from the state group homes. We will be visiting the kids that are at risk of abandonment who live in the nearby Gypsy villages.

I also have an amazing opportunity to teach a printmaking – artisan card making – workshop (with the assistance of a translator) to a group of 10 girls over 16 years old. The girls often send out cards to their sponsors and to help with fundraising, so I will teach them to make their own cards!

To prepare for this trip, I ordered and packed the following supplies.

Supply List
Block Printing Supplies
14 Block Print Ink – Black (1lb) all other colors (1.25 oz) – silver, violet, turquoise blue, white, yellow, green, brown, gold, magenta, orange, blue, and red.
5 Linocutterset (comes with 2 handles and 6 cutters)
5 Soft Rubber Brayers 3inch
4 Artist Working Knife (for spreading and mixing ink)
2 Palette Pads 9×12 50 sheets
14 Mounted Linoleum Block 5×7
4 Mounted Linoleum 4×6
10 wooden spoons (for printing)
1 pack of cardstock (for printing on cards)
1 pack of envelopes
trash bags
hand cleaner – soap
small plastic cups (for water and clean up)
papertowels
working aprons (hand sewn and donated by friends in my community)
stamp letters and ink pad (for message inside the card)

Drawing and Transfer Supplies
10 Pencil Sharpeners
20 Drawing Pencils (10 of each 2 b and 6b)
2 derwent Inktense Pencil Black
10 White Plastic Erasers
5 Sharpie Black
1 Stainless Steel Ruler 18in (for taring paper)
2 Newsprint Pad 9×12 50 sheets
2 Drawing Pad 9×12 80lb 50 sheets
1 Tracing Pad 9×12 25lb 50 sheets
1 package of white card stock paper 110lbs
1 box of 6 9 envelopes

I am bringing also a sample block already carved and some print samples.

I have packed the workshop in a suitcase a little under 50 pounds.

When I return, I will blog about the specifics of the printmaking – artisan card making – workshop, and any art, music, or writing experiences I have along the journey!

Cobra Basket, Harry Potter, and Clearance Cookies from Walgreens?

Posted on May 15, 2014 by lksukany

That’s right, another art night – this one for May 2014!
The night started with Ein smelling something delicious!

Ein of course was smelling M’s delicious cooking and baking. What’s on the menu, you may ask? corn chowder soup and home made fresh-out-of-the-oven rolls.

And for dessert, from scratch chocolate chip cookies! My favorite part about these cookies is when you get a bite of a salt piece. It is delicious.

Did I mention that Ein loves chocolate chip cookies (just the bites without the chocolate chips).

As for projects – there was drawing.

There was fibers- yarn and felt.

There was photo editing.

And there was paperwork? Yes! There was paperwork.

There was also writing of stories and playing of clarinet! Also, Micah started a blog!

Some topics of the night: Harry Potter, Enneagram and other personality types, Cobra basket, working with felt, the creative process, Ein loving who she is, cookie display, turning drawings into a coloring book, potential group names (BYOA – bring your own art, Running with Scissors, Art Paper Scissors), and best most recent purchases (a bunny door stop, Moonrise Kingdom, Breyers Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream, A ticket to Seattle, Clearance Cookies – with Belgium chocolate – at Walgreens).

More photos of the night

A special thank you to Niki Zimmerman Images for taking and providing some of the pictures of the night!

Art Night for Projects

Posted on April 24, 2014 by lksukany

The Art Night for April 2014 met and I am thinking this group needs a name – like Crunch and Create, Munch and Make, or Snack and Scheme. The night serves dinner and then space and time to work on a creative project.

M made chicken and vegetable fried rice and then baked chocolate chip cookies.

Mariel was the first arrival and continued her puppet making project for the Man and Bear musical puppet show by the Damsels in Distress.

J brought a Darth Vader coat rack that she wanted to touch up paint.

M.M. brought her beautiful beads and worked on a bracelet.

K and A came together, sat together, and worked on their projects together! K worked on a felt billfold, and A worked on sewing an image for her trading card group.

I worked on printing cards to send to Lucy Luton in England. I was one of the first three to email her for a contest, and she sent me some of her cards – so I wanted to send her some of my cards.

More pictures of the night!

Art Night: Accidental Wedding Theme

Posted on March 27, 2014 by lksukany

The March 2014 Art Night group meeting rallied last night, and we were all in favor (with each other of course).

I set up the studio to fit maximum peoples and Ein looked out the window waiting for arrivals.

Once there, everyone was able to enjoy whole made bread and chicken soup (made by M), peanuts, chocolates, and hot wild raspberry hibiscus herbal tea.

Everyone was ready to get to their projects! Once we all started working, we realized that many people were working on things for or about weddings – so there was an accidental wedding theme!

A lot of people helped D with wedding decorations.

N worked on secret wedding photo edits.

K painted and collaged on canvas.

When Ein let her, V worked on editing photos.

I worked on a painting for my friend’s wedding anniversary.

Mariel has her own business – Gypy Leaf and makes beautiful stitching.

Mariel worked on a project for The Damsels in Distress upcoming puppet show “The Man and the Bear” (working title).

Fun fact: Mariel wrote to Mister Rogers and he wrote her back! How cool is that? Very cool.

So, hopefully if you are thinking of starting your own artist group, you can see how easy it is to have an “art night” with your creative friends.

Art Night

Posted on March 10, 2014 by lksukany

I started a monthly art night in October 2013. This picture is from the February 2014 meeting.

The Art Night group meets once a month and is an extremely relaxed event. No one has to RSVP to come, Everyone is welcome to bring a friend. There is not a set meeting time, but “anytime after 6” is fine to come, and can leave anytime (even after dinner). Dinner and hot tea is provided. The dinner and dishware is set out, and people can help themselves and put their dishes in the sink when done. I really wanted to encourage people to be able to to come after work, and not worry about food. M does all of the cooking so far, and even makes dessert sometimes.

Everyone is encouraged to bring something to work on. The whole point of the art night is to encourage each other to stay creative in some way in our day-to-day lives whether a professional, student, or stay-at-home person. There has been sewing, origami, coloring book and colored pencils, gouache painting, Valentines making, wedding decor crafting, oil painting, photo editing, figure sketching, and needlepoint,

Conversation naturally happens from the time of arrival to departure. We share and discuss interesting ideas, inspiring books, work stories, family stories, beliefs and spirituality, and even controversial topics. It is great to meet with these artists and to be encouraged to continue trying to understand how to live in this world as an artist.

Paper Opera

Art, music, and stories.

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