Tag: #wip

Studio Update

~ Janet Davis ~ Leave a comment

Smudge Herring: Just Keep Swimming is already swimming out the door to adorn new walls! The edition of 25 + 3 Trial Proofs and 1 Bon a Tirér are matted and available in the online shop. The weather has been too grey to take their picture since finishing them up- as soon as I see the sun, there will be new pictures on the website!

Smudge Herring: Just Keep Swimming on the press.

My trusty Studio Assistant, Taylor, and I are in the midst of #printapalooza again- printing cards, mini-prints, and bookmarks in our regular line-up of colours and designs. So far, we’ve finished red, red-blue, and we’re back in black today. We’d love for you to stop by to show you a little printmaking in action!

#printapalooza is what I call a big print run of Norton’s Cove Cards, Mini-Prints, and Bookmarks in each of the standard colours (red, red-yellow, orange, red-blue, blue, blue-green, green, black, and grey) and all the 30-something different designs! We’ll be printing a thousand or so pieces in the next couple of weeks!

Norton’s Cove Studio is open
10am – 6pm Wednesday through Saturday
10am – 3pm Sunday

The online shop is open 24/7 of course,
and you can choose to have your items shipped to you,
or you can ‘pick-up in-store’

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Studio Update

~ Janet Davis ~ Leave a comment
This Trial Proof shows how the ink picks up on all the carved background area.

While today will be filled with some merchandising and a lot of paperwork that I need to catch up on, yesterday held some excitement for me, as I spent some time proofing my brand new linocut plate of smudge herring.

Here is the printing plate with the fish inked up, but not the background. To be able to do that, I cut each fish out of the linoleum, inked them separately, and then placed them back in the clean background, ready to print.
Here is the result of that separate inking process- you’ll notice that the background texture still shows, but the ink is only on the fish.
This one is my favourite so far- green and gold, printing to look very blue/green in this image.
A close up of the fish from that last Trial Proof.

Norton’s Cove Studio is open
10am – 6pm Wednesday through Saturday
10am – 3pm Sunday

The online shop is open 24/7 of course,
and you can choose to have your items shipped to you,
or you can ‘pick-up in-store’.

Studio Update

~ Janet Davis ~ Leave a comment
First Experimental Proof is on the drying rack, and I’m getting ready for the next one!

I’m a bit groggy today after a shivery/hot night, a side-effect of my second vaccine- yay! I can’t wait to get back to normal. I saw my first out-of-province visitors yesterday, from Quebec, and it made my day to see that ‘Je Me Souviens’ license plate! It’s pretty exciting to see real life returning.

Norton’s Cove Studio is open
10am – 6pm Wednesday through Saturday
10am – 3pm Sunday

The online shop is open 24/7 of course,
and you can choose to have your items shipped to you,
or you can ‘pick-up in-store’.

This Week at Norton’s Cove Studio

~ Janet Davis ~ 1 Comment
Work-in-progress: this Smudge Herring lino-cut plate was started last year, and was put aside to make space for other work. I started working on this again yesterday, and am happy with how it’s looking so far- see next image…
I’m planning to print these fishies a couple of different ways- as a regular edition of prints, but also as an installation piece (printed on silk panels) for a gallery exhibit that I am going to propose called UNDERNEATH.
I finally finished my #printapalooza printing sessions this week, and already I am running low on some colours/designs with the increase in traffic that I’m starting to see here at the studio. So that means that a new print-run will be starting again soon! And I’ve made a little change to my cards this year: I have a new stamp for the backs which I think looks much better than the sticker and is more environmentally friendly. So the next time you see a Norton’s Cove Card, flip it to check the back!

Norton’s Cove Studio is open
10am – 6pm Wednesday through Saturday
10am – 3pm Sunday

The online shop is open 24/7 of course,
and you can choose to have your items shipped to you,
or you can ‘pick-up in-store’.

Studio Update

~ Janet Davis ~ 1 Comment
  • Duke’s rope creations are still being produced- you’ll find them for sale at the Café’s gift-shop!
  • Changing up some display areas to show off new frames
  • Linocut WIP
  • Tara’s icebergs
  • Happy to have this lovely book for sale at the studio, co-authored by my buddy Christine LeGrow!
  • My good friend, Tara Bryan, who I have had the pleasure of creating this art book with, is very ill at present. Sending positive thoughts of love her way…
  • Another of Tara’s Icebergs

While studio work is still coming along beautifully, and my life is blessed in so many ways, there is one shadow hanging over me right now- one of my best friends is gravely ill. I cannot go visit Tara due to COVID-19 restrictions at the hospital, and a phone call is impossible right now. She knows that I love her, and in response to her own incredibly positive attitude towards her struggle with a deadly disease, I too will remain as positive as possible. My fingers, eyes, and toes are crossed that she comes out of this dark hour with that sparkle of a laugh that I am so accustomed to hearing.

UNDERNEATH

~ Janet Davis ~ Leave a comment

I’m working on a new painting today, and I find that it really helps to take a picture of the work in progress instead of just standing back to look at it every now and again. For some reason, it looks very different to me that way. Sometimes I wonder if I’m really seeing what’s in front of me, or if the image in my head is more prevalent.

This is another Ship Island under the ice image, abstract as it seems. I think it’s about half way there…

Work in Progress

~ Janet Davis ~ 2 Comments

I started working on a new linocut piece a few weeks ago, based on an old photograph of the wharves in Wesleyville. I’ve been doing a bit a research and sizing up where exactly the picture was taken, and my amateur historian guess is that this is the area where the ‘pound’ is at the Wesleyville Marine Service Centre looking to the right of that at around 1900.

From The Sea, Our Life-Blood by the Ocean View Senior Citizens
First, I drew the image onto a piece of linoleum using a Sharpie. The image has to be mirrored in order to print correctly onto paper.
I carved the image using v and u shaped blades.
I have an awful habit of doubting my ability with every image I make, and earlier today I was suggesting to Duke that the whole thing might not work out and that perhaps I was just wasting my time with the carving this close to the Craft Fair (main sales event of the year for me). He scoffed at the idea. But my confidence is still pretty shaky, despite being a professional artist for 27 years already.
And so here is the carved plate, ready to be washed, inked, and proofed tonight. If you’d like to see some printmaking in action, please do stop by and keep me company! Let’s see if this image turns out to be a treasure or trash!

UPDATE:

Later the same night… the inked lino on the press bed
The first proof fresh off the press
And with a bit of watercolour added to really get an idea of what it’ll look like finished.

So now that I have my first proof pulled, I can see that there are a couple of areas that I need to change with the carving. Once that’s done, I’ll cut all my paper to size, about 50 sheets, tidy up the studio (have to sweep up Jack hair before laying out ink!), and away I go! I’ll be editioning very soon- please feel free to drop in to see how it’s done in person!

I’m pretty happy with the image at first look- what do you think? Treasure or trash?