monoprints on tuesday

In the print studio yesterday, the illustrators group worked with monoprinting, a basic yet challenging technique. It took me the better part a the morning and several cups of coffee (becuase it turned out to be decaf!) to come up with the flying bus image. I really like it and am happy with the colors and fuzzy quality of the lines. It's a start anyhow! We'll be in the studio again next week so stay tuned.

For links to the other illustrator's websites, see our blog: liverpoolillustrators.blogspot.com

a little something

I wanted to post something....so I decided on this sketch that I did today while sitting in Oomoo Cafe. That plant is amazing and I really enjoyed drawing it. It's funny, I seem to have a thing with drawing in cafes, it just works for me. And this is a particularly nice cafe, too!

private view at editions gallery

Here are a couple of photos from the private view last Friday. The place was packed! Thanks to everone who braved the horrible rain and wind and made it there! 

the magnificent seven

I am exhibiting my newest work at the Editions gallery in Liverpool, July 9-30th. It is a group show, consisting of seven Liverpool based illustrators who have spent the last few months working side by side in the Bluecoat print studio. 

The reception party will be at the gallery on the 17th of July, 6-8pm. (Good fun and good art!)

Be there or be square.

the book!

The Birthday is a children's story that was written by Jill Tomasetti and illustrated by myself. Above are photographs of the digitally printed version of the handmade book. I made an edition of 4 digital and 4 original versions.

Below are images of the book made from original etchings. The cover is printed using drypoint card. This version is larger than the digital ones and the pages are Fabriano Rosaspina printmaking paper.

I will be exhibiting these books at Editions Gallery in Liverpool from July 9th. They will be a part of a show I am in, Magnificent Seven, with six other illustrators based in Liverpool. We formed as a group during a residency in the Bluecoat's print studio this Spring.

Thanks to Andy and Hannah for lending me their camera. Thanks to Emma for teaching me how to print, I will always be in debt to you for it. Thanks to Jesse, for so much.

 And of course, thank you Jill for writing this story. 

the birthday

I have been very busy lately, with traveling to Dublin, getting over a cold, changing flat bike tires, and making books! This book business has been a successful project and I am almost finished with it. My good friend, Miss Jill Tomasetti, has written a story for me and I have illustrated it using my newly aquired printmaking skills. This is the first story that I have illustrated from beginning to end and I chose to make them etchings, which is a techinque that suits my style really well. The line quality is amazing! 

The story is called The Birthday and is about a girl who goes to the park on her birthday. It is a unique and simple story that I made seven illustrations for.

"What do you think, Isis?" she said to the small bird under her bed.

The plan: I decided to make eight books, four of which will be the original prints on printmaking paper and four inkjet copies on high quality paper. So far I have made two of each, and hope to construct the rest this weekend. 

"Her feet soon led her to the park, where a friendly little dog noticed her crown and wished her many happy returns of the day."

This past weekend was the second Liverpool Artists' Book Fair, where I shared a table with my friend Jo Moore. I showed my books there and get very good feedback from the visitors and other book artists. I also made cards with my illustrations on them and brought the bookmarks that I made last year, both of which sold well and it was encouraging. The weekend was fun and I was inspired, so I plan to get involved with the book arts fair in Manchester this fall. 

Go books!

 I promise to post photos of the books as soon as I get my hands on a digital camera. They really must be seen to be understood, words just won't do. Jill's story is wonderful and I'm going to send much simpler versions of the book to children's book publishers. Why not?

forever

A very good friend of mine is getting married and commissioned me to design her wedding invitations. This is the 'Save the Date' card without the text. The couple bicycle a lot and I thought it was fitting to draw in a cute three speed!

Here is the invitation: two bicycles, a tall tree, birds, leaves on the tree... all good things. The couple are going to add text to this one as well. It will be folded three times and put into square envelopes. I can't wait to get one in the mail! Unfortunetly, Jesse and I won't be able to go to the wedding because we're living in England. It will be wonderful I know! I'm also creating a marraige contract for them, which all their guests will sign. It's a lovely Quaker tradition and I am so glad that I am able to be a part of it.

i really like these owls that i've got going here

These are two more owl prints. In total there are around 12 and I plan to make several more in various colors. I've been mixing ink and making greens, browns and blues. When they are printed the colors are subtle and look really nice on the cream paper. I gave the one with the crowns to a friend of mine for his birthday! The blue one went to a charity exhibition, called Go Pink&Blue, which is raising money to fight female and male related cancers. The private view is tonight! The exhibition will be up until mid July.

http://www.gopinkandblue.com/

I am also part of a group exhibition in July, showing with the illustrators group from the print studio. Our show is at Editions gallery in Liverpool and will begin July 9th, lasting three weeks.

Check it out if you are in the area and looking to see some really nice work!

http://www.editionsltd.net

joan

These are my first silk-screen stencil prints! Using paper stencils, and I have to say that I am proud of my first attempt. The uneven color and the off register shapes are all so interesting. 

I have used silk screen printing since my years at summer camp (starting with a heart shape on a tie-dye tshirt) as well as a few times in college, but I was using a stop-out liquid. It is a very different way of working with the screen and I was unsure about the quality of my paper shapes and the fact that my work is usually so line based. The method is simple, though you need to really pay attention to the positive and negative, and the order in which you print. It was my intention to add a third color to this, but I am actually really happy with it as it is.

Thanks Jane, For giving us such a great introduction!

ps. this is Joan Baez, one of my favorite singers. I drew this from a video of a 1960s concert.

newsite

My website has been redesigned and updated, so please have a look! Cheers to Phil Marsden for helping me so much with it. 

www.marylundquist.com

And Phil's comics and illustrations are great so go to his website too!

http://www.phillipmarsden.com/index.html

mimus polyglottos

Yes, another Walt Whitman print. I have been making variations, trying different colored tissue paper and printmaking paper. This is my favorite of all, yellow and blue on cream paper. The inked lines are thin in some areas, though I like it because it's subtle and delicate. Isn't it neat how the bird is off the mark?

This is a gum arabic transfer print, made with a wax crayon and using blue ink. That's Rhonda who is in "tuesday morning illustrators" at the print studio. This technique is great for a loose and sketchy print, recording the scratchy wax drawing. 
This is a Northern Mockingbird! Looking a bit worried.

oh, walt

Two new prints. The top one is a portrait of Walt Whitman, the American poet. It's an etching with chine colle and I plan to do more with it in the future. The bottom print is a aluminium drypoint. The printmaking class is over and now we have 6 weeks to use the studio for ourselves, which I am really excited about! More prints to come...

new prints

Here are two more prints I've made in the print course. The one on top is a drypoint and I really like the way it came out. My intention was to use the strong dark lines to compress the space, making the scene seem very close, almost right up against the frame. I love how the drypoint gives you such dark values. 

The print on the bottom a soft ground etching, so the lines are softer, like vine charcoal. I drew it quickly and am happy with this print, though later I used an aqautint technique to add different shades and the result wasn't as strong as this first print. It is a sort of small homage to Shel Silvertein, one of my favorite illustrators whose work helped to shaped me in my early years. 

www.shelsilvertein.com

new type of drawing

The illustrators printmaking course which I am participating in is going very well. I'm challenged to work in ways that are backwards, complicated and unkown to me. The difficulties have produced some surprises and I am learning from it all. It seems like we've done so much, monoprints, etching, aqautints, drypoint, but I know full well that this is only scratching the surface of the possibilities of printmaking.

The thing I like the most so far is this strange distance between the time that you make marks in the plate, or card, or paper, and the point at which the print comes off the press. 

This is my first drypoint print and a very unrealistic portrait of my friend Keiron, who was sitting across from me. I like it. 

golden sea

Lately I have been slowing down, making more deliberate, planned, worked and re-worked images. This is a painting I did today from several sketches on the same theme.

I'd be glad to hear what people think of it.

etching no. one

This is my very first etching ever! I am honored to have been invited to be a part of a class of illustrators at the Bluecoat print studio. The course is lead by Emma Gregory and she is teaching seven Liverpool based illustrators how to use non-toxic intaglio printing processes. What an amazing opportunity! Today was our second meeting and printed our etchings. Last week we used monotypes and next week will be aquatints. Below is a monoprint: the original print on newsprint to right and the final print on the left.

anchor coffee co.

No, I'm not designing this for anyone except myself. And though I'd love to, I don't own a coffee company. This little sketch of a boat and anchor got me thinking about creating a packaging design for coffee beans, I'm not sure why. It was fun and I quite like it because I was able to make it look like a print. 

This logo happens to be for an actual cafe! The owners and I have been working together and this is almost the final design. I've also done the digits and the whole spanish alphabet in this font for them to use as they will. I'll post the final logo when it's done.

cafe verde

Some sketches for Cafe Verde! 

mona

This is a new painting and the sketch it was inspired by. It is interesting to see them together because each has its own unique character. It also makes obvious the things that can get lost in translation. The figure in the sketch is more expressive, which is often the case, and I am trying to bring the same amount of personality into the finish. 

The colors! They are the redeaming factor in the case for the paintings. For this peice I have taken up acrylic, which I haven't used for several months. The paint brought this little woman to life! My favorite part of this is the leafy bit on the bottom, but I am also pleased with the figure and her hair.

      This is Aladdin, though only after the fact. It is another situation where I tried to maintain the feeling of the simple pencil drawing and in this case I'm very happy with the likeness. 

farm logo

I have been commissioned to design a logo for Jesse's Aunt Betty. She has a farm in Maine and is going to begin marketing her fleeces online through Maine Fleece Coalition, so she asked me to come up with a logo! I am having a lot of fun drawing the sheep and also the coils of wool. I found references on the internet of sheep, but I drew these ones from my imagination. For the coil design I used a scarf of my own so that I could get an original shape. One of the most difficult parts of using Photoshop is that there are endless possibilities! Betty will decide which of these she likes the best and then I will refine it into a final design.

If anyone is interested in having a design or illustration done, please ask me about a commission. It would be wonderful if I could have a job like this going on all the time, or several at a time!