My big circus block prints and my smaller chicken series are now hanging at Serendipity San Francisco.  Serendipity is a gem of a store, located in the heart of Valencia.  It’s chock full of cards, awesome artwork from local artists, knitting supplies, and unique gifts.  If you’re in the Mission, stop in and look around– it’s the kind of cozy store you could spend hours getting lost in.

I’ll also be there on Saturday night, September 4, for a wine-and-cheese opening.  The event lasts from 6pm to 9pm, and I plan to be there for some of that time.  Hope to see you there!

Serendipity
803 Valencia Street
San Francisco, Ca 94110
between 19th st and 20th st

This is part 4 of a project walk-though that illustrates how I created large hand-made posters for San Francisco’s Mission Community Market.  Finished posters from this series are for sale on my Etsy site.

I spent some time making a variety of background colors for the farmer’s market posters.  I wanted to have a large variety of fun color combinations.  I printed about 12 or 15 posters with backgrounds in shades of blue, green, and orange.

My next step was to print the second color of the background.  I chose complimentary colors, pairing warm and cool colors.  Above is a detail of the cool texture of the prints.  Every print is absolutely different in both color and texture.

Step 3 was to add a translucent white starburst above the inside color:

Next I started adding the ear of corn.  First I printed the very bottom color, the white of the corn ear:

And next I put on the green of the husk:

I really enjoyed working with so many colors at once:

My final two steps were to print the outer lines of the corn, and then print the outer lines of the entire poster.  The final product:

What a fun project!  The entire process, from carving to printing, took me about 3 weeks.  Printing these massive 24″ x 36″ posters by hand takes a really long time… if you combined all the steps, I would estimate each one takes 3-4 (very muscle-intensive) hours to print (and that doesn’t include the time it takes me to carve all the plates)… but the results are totally worth it!

This is part 3 of a project walk-though that illustrates how I created large hand-made posters for San Francisco’s Mission Community Market.  Finished posters from this series are for sale on my Etsy site.

After inking up the plate I carefully lay down the paper, following guide lines drawn on my work surface.

With my trusty wooden spoon, I apply pressure to the back of the paper.  I rub the entire area of the block that has paint on it.  This print is too large for my hand-crank press, so I need to create it by hand-rubbing.

Action shot!  I wish I was actually this fast.  In reality, it takes me quite a while to transfer all the ink to the paper.

Voila, the first color is printed.  Next step is to continue printing this first plate using various colors.  Then on to printing the second plate!