How to make a Lino Cut

 1. Draw out your image on tracing paper.  Remember that your image will be flipped when printed.

 2. Transfer you drawing on the the lino block.  Keep in mind that your image will be flipped when printed.  That is very important- especially when working with text.

 3. Start carving out the parts that you don't want printed.  For large parts I like to outline the shape to try and preserve my line quality.

 4. Keep carving.  Keep in mind the direction of your marks because you often will have directional marks in your final print so make use of them.

 5. If you are having a hard time figuring out what will be inked, fill in the inked part with pencil.

 6. Keep carving

7. Roll out your ink.  Make sure it is nice and even.

 8.  Ink up your block

9. Print

10. Let dry

Things I'm selling at the Vernassage

At the end of our quarter, all the students show off their work that they have done the quarter in an art show called the Vernassage.

Currently I am in a mass panic, along with the rest of the campus, trying to get ready for it.

"It'll Be Ok"
 Lino Cut and Paper collage

For this piece I was inspired by the total gloom of everyone during our finals.  Everywhere I looked people were having complete breakdowns.  I've never seen so many people this stressed out over finals before.  I was one of them as well.  Every time I started stressing out my friends would tell me that It'll be ok, we'll get though this.  Everyone here supported each other no matter how stressed out they were themselves.  It seemed to be a stress reliever to everyone to help each other.

"You'll Be In My Heart"
Lino Cut and Watercolor

I originally created this piece for Ken for Valentines day... but I made the mistake of leaving it out on the drying rack in the print room and my professor saw it and insisted I make more prints for Vernassage...  The faces in the hair are the silhouettes of Ken and me.

 My Paris map.  I was inspired by our class trip to Paris

"My Little Friend"
Lino Cut

I was inspired for this piece while driving through the provincial country side and seeing all the horse out in the pasture.  

People in Place Project for Travel portfolio

These are my people and place drawings.  I tried to focus more on my style and I tried to make the characters fit more into their surroundings.  The photographs are where I got my inspiration for my drawings.  I really want to go and work more into them but every time I ask for suggestions everyone keeps telling me that I'm nuts and that they look done, but I'm not sure.  I have a tendency to overwork everything and I think that that's afraid what I'm going to do if I keep working on them.

Paris Project for Travel portfolio

This is the map I created for my travel portfolio class.  I drew a scene from most of the places I went while we were in Paris and put myself in each of them.  I did them in watercolor, highlighter, pencil, and colored pencil.

Pairs Day 5- Pont des Arts Bridge, Getting lost, going back to Lacoste and an amazing Discovery!

Last day in Paris!  So much to do and not enough time to do it all!

I went out on my own today to explore.  The very first thing I did was go to the Pont des Arts bridge.  This bridge is considered the most romantic place in Paris and couples from all over the world come here to place what are called love locks on it.  Before Ken left, we made a love lock together for me to put on the bridge when I got to Paris.  The tradition is that when two people write their names on a lock and lock it to the bridge, they take the key and throw it into the Sein river and the only way that their love can ever be broken is if one of them can find their key and unlock their lock from the bridge.  A nice lady from Miami was nice enough to video tape me putting our lock on the bridge so I can send it to Ken.  I was so happy that she did that!  

Our lock <3

Palace of Justice

After the bridge I just wandered the city looking at things.  At one point I even got followed!  I realized this after I went around a block in a circle and he was still following me.  He was so surprised when I turned around and asked him if he wanted to die!  I may not look that dangerous, but I do know a lot of martial arts and I can definitely hold my own in a fight if it came down to that.  I got to see a lot of Paris that way and I'm glad I did that, although I would have loved to have some company as well.

Saint Jacque 

Guy playing accordion 

I finally made it to the train station after my walk of Paris.  The amazing thing that I just found out was that one of the other girls here and I are actually related!  We were talking and found out that we are cousins related through my great grandfather!  I think that that is amazing!  Going all the way to France to find family from the states.  I am so happy about this and I can't wait to get to know my new Cousin Perry better.  She is quite awesome.

Me and My New Cousin Perry

Notre Dame

Paris- Day 4- The Catacombs, Natural History Museum, Zoo, Sacre Cour, Moulin Rouge, and The Eiffel Tower

Today was another great day!  Jammed packed with wonderful things.  We started out by going to the Catacombes.  The bones of 6 million Parisians are buried there.  What really hit us was that that's how many Jews were murdered during the Hollocast.  These bones were collected over about 3 centuries and that's how many people the Nazi's killed in a little under 10 years.  It just really put so much into perspective for us.

Next we went to the Natural history Museum.  I wish we had more time to spend there because there were so many wonderful skeletons that I wish I could have sat down and drawn them for hours.  I took lots and lots of reference pictures though from multiple angles to draw from though and I hope that it will help me with my anatomy, I have a strong feeling that it will.


 I was so excited to find a skeleton of a Narwhal there because Ken does not believe that they are real so I now have my proof to show him that they do exist!  I can't wait to show it to him!  And to all the other people who have doubted their existence.

After we left the museum we were all feeling like we really needed to see something to cheer us up after seeing all those bones.  Luckily, right across the path from us was a zoo!  We could see all those animals that we had just seen skeletons of alive!  It was just what we needed. I had the best time there running from animal to animal in utter amazement at what I was seeing.  Most of these animals I had never seen before, except for the Guinea Pigs... which were kinda odd to find in a zoo- but they were cute so we didn't care.  My favorite though was the Red Panda.  I have always wanted to see one and now was finally my chance.  They were so cute and fluffy!  That made me so happy.

We after we rushed to meet up with our group that was heading up to Sacre Cour.  Unfortunately it was cloudy so the view from on top of the hill wasn't very good.  The church its self was beautiful, yet it did not top that of Notre Dame.
We wondered around up there for a while then we went by the Moulin Rouge to take a few pictures.  It was quite beautiful lit up and covered in neon.  We did not see a show there (thank goodness) we just wanted to see what it looked like.

Afterwards we went to dinner.  Finally we tried traditional french food and I had my first taste of escargot.  I was a little nervous about it because it's snail but it was delicious!  I'm very glad I got to try it.

Finally, we ended our day at the Eiffel tower.  We got there just in time to see it sparkle.  It was so much bigger then any of us expected it to be!  It was such a great thing to end such a wonderful day with.
I am so exhausted after today and I need to get to bed because tomorrow is our last day here and I want to make the most of it!
 Goodnight Y'all!