Why are you like that?

I don't know. There is only so much "nurture" can do. I have been thinking a lot about which traits people are just born with and what can happen when a wild extrovert is born into a family of quiet people. What do you do if your child is just so completely different? It is a real surprise, I guess. This inspired me to make my new gocco print in celebration of being different.

Spring Is Coming!

I have tried for many years to find a way to color my ink drawings that I really liked. Finally, I found gocco printing! I am so pleased with how the technique looks.

The newest print is about waiting for spring to come. I used two screens and registration was successful! And I don't even have the pg-11 - I feel like a genius for working this out in a very low-tech fashion.

FREE SHIPPING Sale

I am offering free shipping until March 1st - It is my I-can't-wait-until-spring-free-shipping-sale. Delivery confirmation is included - visit my shop at amantha.etsy.com

Printmaking Gone CRAZY

I am on a wild printing spree and thought it would be fun to see if I could learn some new tricks. I borrowed from my local library a mind-bending printmaking book from 1976. Holy Cow! It suggests engraving a large soda bottle with a tight styrofoam wrapper with a ball point pen to make a plate. I have not seen any of those bottles in a million years! There is also the adorable peanut shell prints and the old stand-by of vegetable prints and potato prints. I am really amazed. It make me yearn for oak tag and macaroni pictures. Spray it all gold and get me some juice and graham crackers.

Maybe I am dismissing it out of hand. Maybe I should press a nice avocado and draw a little beastie peeking out of the middle where the stone would be.

When Toddlers Art Direct

In a play on the idea of "my kid could do that", I wondered what would happen if - instead of painting or drawing - I allowed my kid to art direct some projects. Given that the child in question was only 17 months old during the sketch phase of the project, communication was difficult at times. I was working for a client with a very limited vocabulary. She bellowed the requirements of the illustration: "Star!", "Bear!", "Glasses!". The final sketch was such a hit, I made a gocco print of it as notecards.

The next project involves "WOOF!", "Hat!" and "Oh!!". I will probably be up all night trying to meet the next deadline. It was a fun exercise because I entered a very sunny and silly world that my work does not usually inhabit. How fun to giggle instead of cackling while drawing.

Glam Bear will be debuting on in my etsy shop amantha.etsy.com. Do visit.

Big and Bad

That wolf was big and bad.
I never know if something is spooky enough or too spooky. I especially enjoyed creating the etching with grandma's arm hanging out from under the pillow - tell me about the dismembered arm: too much?