Email nikimade@gmail.com to purchase original works.
So I hear there have been some troubles commenting...and unfortunately, IT support (husband) is out of town. As far as I can see, the settings seem to allow comments, but I will have to try my giveaway another time. Until then, I just posted this on nikimade.etsy.com.
"Doll (Stretch)" is one of my three most favorite from this series. It is so nice to go back to work and remember why it mattered so.
so a girlfriend just suggested I do a giveaway, and since I am printing extra copies of all my anatomical drawings series before my boys go on a road trip and I lose IT support (husband), let's try it! Leave a comment in the comments section about your must watch Netflix show/film/special...I am ready to start Season 1 "Better Call Saul" but I also need to get through the current season of "The Americans" on FXNow. Dilemmas. I will pick a commenter by random to receive the print "Stomach" that is newly listed at nikimade.etsy.com. It is printed on archival paper with fade proof ink and fits in a standard 8.5x11 inch frame. If you have any friends that might be interested, please send them this way....I will be choosing a winner at random on on Sunday, June 12 at 9 pm and shipping the print on Monday morning.
So I just got another listing posted to nikimade.etsy.com. It has been a long but productive week of learning how to edit in Photoshop and Lightroom, printing on the giant printer, making adjustments and getting proper listings up. I'm still nervous to do most of it without IT (husband) around...I just have to remember you can't really make a mistake that you can't undo. Yesterday I even took prints and a frame over to a a friends house and got model home type context shots. I might be getting professional....
Now if only my computer had enough memory to support all this new stuff I am trying to learn and do...I see an upgrade in my future. And for sure a grant proposal.
Is up and running. I have three dolls listed from my MFA exhibition "A few small repairs." I've got half a dozen more to list and I am scanning drawing and making prints in between. Please check it out!
In Lynda Barry's book "Syllabus," she requires her students to have a book by Ivan Brunetti as a resource. It is called "Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice," and that is what arrived in my mailbox next. It is a course in cartooning in 15 weeks. The last time I tried drawing anything that wasn't observational and realistic, was when I was about 6 and decided I wanted to be a cartoonist. I didn't know there was such a thing as an artist, but I saw cartoons in the paper and knew someone made those. I had a how to book; I can still remember it, and just found a reprint on amazon.com: "Ed Emberely's Drawing Book: Make a World." It was first published in 1972 and was oriented horizontally instead of vertically. I loved this book. I took it everywhere with me, and sat and drew while we watched TV as a family.
I didn't even remember that until now. So one night while we were all watching the "Avengers" again, I pulled out the desk lamp and the book. It doesn't take long to get through it, and after a couple of evenings, I pulled out my sketchbook to start on Week 1 drawings. The first exercise was to draw a car in different time intervals with each interval getting shorter.
it is so very hard to make these drawings without any judgement....because I am terrible at them. So you just have to be terrible and move on. The second page intervals got even shorter.
And then the second exercise was to draw a page of cartoon characters from your memory, but I couldn't even remember a page's worth. The third exercise was to make a grid of 100 squares and make a five second stream of consciousness drawing for each square. I didn't make the grid and I didn't get that far. It was weird and uncomfortable and almost fun. Of course there hasn't been any time since to practice. I know it would do me some good. I think I will start with one exercise a day. And maybe practice Ed Emberley's style as well.
So a blog I love to look at is by Lisa Soloman. She in an artist, teacher, mother...person I would love to know. I was procrastinating grading 2D work earlier this semester when I read about the book Syllabus by Lynda Barry. I immediately ordered a copy. And then I fell a bit down a rabbit hole.
This is the written document of a class she teaches on cartooning, but really encompasses any kind of creative practice. There is such originality and compassion in her teaching. The work is the act of making. There is a schedule and a process and the development of a relationship to the present moment that is so lovely. And then the student work is such a delight. Every class meeting students have to make a short timed self portrait on an index card that she collects and hands back at the end of the semester. I am thinking I need to make a self portrait a day for an extended period of time and see what happens. I could let my drawing loosen up and school me a little.
I think I am so tight and guarded that I can't imagine making a playful page of drawings, but that is what she can show me. So much of her teaching style in "Syllabus" reminds me of my friend and former teacher Lee Dejasu. They both know how to get at the heart of what is true. It is on my list to read again this summer, while I have time to do the work. More on the rabbit hole in the next post.
SoI have been working on little silly figure that wasn't supposed to take me long, but did, I am making her a whole bunch of kitchen dishes and cutlery. I"m not sure why, just felt like she needed them.
The eyelashes and rain boots are my favorite part.
I am so pleased to say that I have four dolls at RISDWORKS, the RISD Museum store for the summer. The Fox, Elephant, Pig and a single sewing lady are there. My girlfriend (and former boss) was kind enough to take pictures for me a couple of weeks ago. I just noticed that the sewing lady's limbs are a little askew, so I will have to email the manager to get her rearranged. It is such an honor!
