Autumn Storms Make the Best Art / by Illume System Studio

As the weather cools down, I am regrouping in the basement studio with the paintings I started in the Garden Shed over the summer. NOw the leaves are changing color, so I am digging deep to pull out colors of my own. 

Moved back into the basement workshop for winter.

Moved back into the basement workshop for winter.

Sometimes I need to shake the trees to get my thoughts in order to make new work. This time my tree shaking came in the form of signing myself up for an Art Class at the local college. My friend has been talking up a printmaking class she'd been really enjoying, so I decided to sign up for it.

I had taken an intro to printmaking class several years ago at the now closed Sev Shoon in Ballard. I remembered how much I enjoyed it, but I just didn't have the mental time and space to put into in. Printmaking requires a lot of dedicated time. There is a lot of set up before the art happens. 

So I signed up with Kelda Martensen for the 121 Printmaking class at North Seattle College. 

So far it's been such a whirlwind of creativity for me. It is also the kind of creativity that spills over into getting me into my own studio plotting and painting in addition to trekking to the print studio to put my 12-14 hours in a week.

a selection of some monotypes

a selection of some monotypes

Currently my assignments have led me from Monoprints to Linocut Printing. I am loving these processes. Unlike lino-blocks I made in the past, these are actually done on thin lino and it runs through the press. I post regularly on my Instagram page, so if you use IG then definitely follow me to see imagery as I work through this new series of paintings and my printmaking adventure.

beginnings of a linocut

beginnings of a linocut

Source: http://www.nicolund.com/nicolund-blog/