Filling up the Etsy Store

30 prints 30 days, LMCC Process Space, Prints, Small Print Store, Uncategorized

What a busy time it has been! I am vigorously working at my studio on Govenors Island located in the New York Harbor getting ready for Open Studio on May 28 and 29. My Dad recently visited and spent the afternoon with me carving. And while working on this projects is fun, it is also great to get some new small prints into my store.
Hilary_Lorenz_Jim_Lorenz_lmcc

I have a number of new linoleum block prints, birds, buffalo, mountain goats, reindeer, lions, all printed on some great new paper I got at the Southern Graphics International Printmaking Conference. Awagami Paper from Japan was there and I bought all the paper they would let me have and I am not using it on my prints for you!

If you hop over to my Stonetrigger Press Etsy Store, here are some of the new 5″ x 7″ prints that are available, all printed onto 8″ x 10″ paper unless otherwise noted.

Linocut Song Sparrow

Awesome_buffalo_linocut_handmade_paper_Lorenz

Detail of linocut Mountain Goat

Linocut Song Sparrow

Linocut Lion

Prowler

For Peace Bird, click- Peace Bird Linocut

For the Buffalo, click Brown Buffalo

For the Reindeer, click Reindeer

For the Song Sparrows, click Song Sparrow

For Prowler, click for the Bear

For the Mountain Goat, click mountain goat.

Right now there are 53 prints in my store and I try to keep adding them on a monthly basis. If you have a special request I love to lear from people and I am happy to try adding your favorite critter.

January 2016

30 prints 30 days, Drawing, stonetrigger press

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2016 – Cows, #30paintingsin30days

One year ago today I began my 30 prints in 30 days project, I created my Etsy store, my Stonetrigger Press FB page, and I blogged every day with a new print. That project opened up a whole new world to me of collectors, friends, subject matter and courage. I had no idea what kind of courage it takes to make something every single day and put it out publicly whether I thought it was good enough or not, time was the determining factor and I only had one day.

I got an email two days ago about the 30 paintings in 30 days that got me started last year. Because the 30 days was not about making the perfect piece or coming up with the perfect solution, it was about showing up every single day, no matter what and making something. For me it is not about creating a habit, I have plenty of discipline, plus making art is what I love to do more than anything. The challenge was about holding myself to the task of making and showing a painting or print every single day, no matter what life throws in the way and knowing it is good enough has more reward than one can know, until you do it yourself. So I encourage you, if you make drawings, paintings, whatever it may me, join me in the 30 days challenge.

And just like last year with the prints, I will offer each of these paintings on my Etsy Store. There is only one, if you want it, don’t hesitate. At the end of 30 days, I will pick my favorite 12 to make note cards.
1_hilary_Lorenz_watercolor_cows_close_up

My Daily Print Project

30 prints 30 days, Prints, Small Print Store, stonetrigger press

Bat Linouct

We are now in the middle of March and I have printed and posted 69 items to my Etsy Store, some of which are now sold out. This all started as an experiment to make one print a day, open up an Etsy store to sell inexpensive high quality hand printed linocuts. These prints reach a far wider audience and collector base than the larger and more expensive projects that are made for gallery and museum exhibitions. And quit frankly it has been far more gratifying because of my direct interaction with people. Well, my virtual interaction with people, but never the less, it is far more engaging. In the two and a half months, I had 163 transactions on Etsy, with most people buying multiple prints, some even bought the whole first month’s 30 day set. There were just over 250 prints sold. Of course I would love to double, triple, even quadruple that.

Starting this project is making a tremendous difference in ability to also work on larger pieces and to become self-sustaining. That is my real goal. You see I have lived in NYC for the past 21 yeas, teaching at Long Island University in Brooklyn and coming to Abiquiu, NM in my summers. I bought my NM house in 2010 and built the printmaking studio. It is my goal, to create a solid business where I can move out to NM permanently. So, every time you buy a print, not only are you getting a really great new original hand signed and dated artwork, you are helping me create the dream of living a simple life of making art, walking my dogs, running in the mountains, and enjoying the quiet beauty of New Mexico. Today I put three new prints to my Etsy Store. The super awesome bat, a beaver which I printed over the summer and a fox. If you like my FB page, and follow my blog you will get all the Etsy updates as well as my larger exhibition updates.

Right now my drawings prints and journals can be found at The Gallery at Pioneer Bluffs, KS, The Fuller Art Center, Los Alamos, NM, The Printmaking Center of NJ, and this summer it will be at Lake George Arts Project’s summer exhibition Art @ The Lake, NY which will be followed by a Solo Exhibition in November. And of course at my studio in NM,(until August 1) and on Etsy. Yes, it is an exciting time and I am always looking for new venues, recommendations, collaborations so please keep me in mind and please recommend my store to your friends. I really do appreciate it.

Fox Linocut

Beaver Linocut

Annie the Dachshund Linocut

30 prints 30 days, Prints, Small Print Store, stonetrigger press

Annie linocut on Japanese Kozo

Each time I make a dog portrait I try something different. It may be in the size of the block, a profile vs. full body, changes of paper or changes of color. Each one is very personal. I began “Annie” last week. Annie, one of the sweetest dogs I have had the pleasure of meeting, passed away a couple of months ago. After looking through a number of photos of her, I kept melting in her side looking gaze.

There were a couple of things I knew I wanted. First, I wanted to show the pink and blue blanket, though there was only a sliver of it. Two, I wanted to have a separation between her brown and black. The only way I knew I could that is in a reduction linoleum block. This block got carved and printed 4 times over, pink, blue, brown, then black. Once all four layers were printed, I printed what remained of the block, which was quite a bit, onto 300 pound buff Rives BFK paper. In total I have 18 prints. Some were thrown away for begin off register, too dark or too light. I finished with an assortment 4 color prints on very thin Japanese paper, type types of Japanese paper.

I am beat. It was a super busy week. Spring is here and I had fences to mend, a race to run, orders to fill, grants to submit and groceries to buy. For those of you in the know, grocery shopping involves a 100 mile round trip, so it is time-consuming. But these are complaints, on the contrary, I am so lucky that I am able to do so much and have so much fun. As I await the cinch bags to come in, I am starting on a 22″ x 30″ linocut. I will shoot a photo of the daily carving process. In the meantime, there are 64 items in my Etsy store, so check it out!

A custom carved linocut portrait of Sam.

30 prints 30 days, Prints, Small Print Store

Sam Linocut Custom Dog Portrait

Lisa Studier left this morning and I got into the studio to catch on a portrait that my dear friend Peggy requested. Honestly, at first I was not so sure I could do a pet portrait. But have already done one for her I welcomed the second opportunity and it was a blast.

The custom linocut dog portrait is a gift for her daughter, who also supplied the photos for me to work from. I drew “Sam” onto a 5″ x 7″ linoleum block, carved him out, and set out to print.

Carving Linocut of Sam

It was a rough day in the studio. It was very cold, colder inside than outside, some ink colors appeared almost frozen where others were way too runny. I printed and printed and got nothing. I cleaned up, came in the house, and tried again today. And it was perfect. I got a great print of Sam. In addition I made 5 folded gift/greeting cards. These cards are pretty sweet and since it is a gift Peggy can write a message to her daughter in it, plus her daughter will get 4 others she can send out. She can always get more later if she likes.

4″ x 5″ folded hand printed linocut cards with custom carving

I am going to offer to make up to 3 dog portraits a month. They can take 10 to 15 hours to make, so doing three a month would be super fun. I am beginning some big 24″ x 36″ linocuts all based on mountains, hiking, wilderness adventure in for my fall exhibition and I need to make sure I leave time for those. They take about 60 + hours to carve, but they will be amazing, just as amazing as little Sam here. You can order a custom dog portrait at my Etsy Store.

P.S. The color is the same on all of them, despite looking different here. The photos are a bit crappy because they are from my cell phone. I still need to get a new camera.

Sam, Linocut Dog custom dog portrait

Mystical Monsters and Maidens Linocut Series

30 prints 30 days, Prints, Small Print Store

Cyclops with UFO’s Linocut

That’s not a chicken. Nope, it is not. After a great 10 days with Lisa Studier at the Press working on her reduction technique Chicken Prints, she flew back to NYC, and it is back to Print of the Day Project.

Mermaid

What is new is that I swapped out my 4″ x 6″ linoleum blocks for 5″ x 7″ blocks in order to be able to make more detail and more complex prints. The great thing is, while the prints are larger they are only a couple of dollars more. I want to keep them very inexpensive so that people can feel free to collect as many as they like.

Cyclops with UFO and Mermaid 10″ x 8″ linocuts

I did a three mock ups of rooms with this new series of Monsters and Maidens.

Mermaid Linocut by Stonetrigger Press available on Etsy

Cyclops with UFO’s Linocut by Stonetrigger Press available on Etsy

There are now 59 prints and drawings available on my Etsy store. and by the end of the week I plan to make that 62 items. More mythical monsters tomorrow night.

Bearded Dragons, Linocut of the Day- Watercolor of the Day

30 prints 30 days, Drawing, Prints, Small Print Store

Original one of a kind watercolor, linocut, collage drawing

If variety is the spice of life, today is a spicy day. I have bearded dragon linocuts with red chine colle, bearded dragons linocuts with brown chine colle, bearded dragon in a watercolor desert fantasy landscape drawing. I have it all and they are each available on Etsy.

Framed beared dragon linoccut version 2, red chine colle

Framed bearded dragon linocut version 2, red chine colle

Watercolor Drawing is over a full 10″ x 6″
Linocut Image size is 6″ x 4″
Linocut paper size: 10″ x 8″
Paper: Rives BFK 100% cotton French mould made paper

framed bearded dragon linocut version 1, brown chine colle

Tomorrow I am being treated to a post birthday (October 20) celebration by relaxing at Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs. So there will not be any posts on Thursday, because I will be sitting in a 108 degree outdoor hot spring.

Detail of watercolor drawing on Bearded Dragon

My Favorite Print Ever! “Narwhal” Print of the Day Project #40

30 prints 30 days, Prints, Small Print Store

Narwhal, 10″ x 8″ linocut available on Stonetrigger Press Etsy $20.

It is a whale? Is it a unicorn? Did a unicorn mate with a whale? It is a narwhal, over 80,000 of them live in arctic waters. The males boasts a long tusk, which is actually a tooth, they sometimes have two tusks. The tusks have over 10 million nerve cells and can be 10 feet long. These are clearly sensitive creatures!

This is print number 40! It is hard to believe, 40 prints since January 1, and it is only February 17! This, is my favorite of all the prints. It is a reduction linocut. The first layer is printed with a rainbow roll of color, then part of the block get cut away and the narwhal appears. It is then printed a second time in the press, same sheet of paper. In fact I like this print so much, I am going to being a small artist book with a story about the narwhal. Are there any writers out there who may want to collaborate?

Narwhal linocut

Check out my Facebook page to see 9 steps of the printing process. It is pretty cool and a bit elaborate.

Each print is hand printed by the artist, me, Hilary Lorenz in my studio, StoneTrigger Press in New Mexico. Every Monday through Friday I carve and print in an edition of 10 a new linocut and post it here for $20. It is my Print of the Day Project and available on Etsy.

Narwhal linocut block

Buddy, The Cockatiel, Linocut #39, Print of the Day

30 prints 30 days, Prints, Small Print Store

Detail – Cockatiel Linocut

This is a detail of Buddy of Cockatiel. “Buddy” according to the The Bird Channel is the 3rd most popular name for a Cockatiel after, “Sunny” and “Sunshine.” I thought this one looked more like a “Buddy.”

Buddy, Linocut 10″ x 8″

Buddy looks awesome in this frame, his feather color gradually moves from orangey yellow to light yellow, to yellow grey and down to grey. The image is a little over 6.3″ x 4″ wide on 10″ x 8″ Rives BFK paper.

This linoleum block was super fun to carve. In fact I carved three blocks on Sunday, getting a head start to the week. It is going to be a really spectacular print week.

Look at these sweet “Buddy” prints all lined up and drying in the studio. They will be ready to find homes tomorrow. Ten are available on Etsy, as a print of the day project and still only $20.

Cockatiel Linocut, drying on table

Oh, Possum!, print #39, Linocut of the Day

30 prints 30 days, Prints, Small Print Store

framed_linocut_possum
I know it is spelled “Opossum”, but if we were in, say, Australia, it would be “possum” so I took liberties with it’s name. It is also a slightly different animal. I like saying “Oh, Possum!”. I have a funny, or creepy, depending on how you look at it possum story. It is another kid story.

Growing in Michigan there was a line of trees between our house and the neighbors, pine trees about 10 deep. We used to hide out in the trees. One day I found a grey, dead, hairless, possum. I went home and got a brown paper bag and two sandwich bags. I put the sandwich bags on my hands, I picked up the possum by the tail and put it in the paper bag. I brought it home and my first thought I would dump it on the kitchen floor for my mom to find. I placed the dead grey possum on the kitchen floor and even as a pre-teen, I realizes that was kind of creepy, so I put it right outside the door on our step. I then called to my mom to find it, laughing my ass off when she saw it.

Possum, 10″ x 8″

I can’t remember her reaction but I can remember that it was not as strong as I had wished and I regretted not leaving it on the kitchen floor.

It was not until after this stunt that I learned about, “playing possum,” and how there was potential of the possum not being dead when I had picked it up. Since I had never seen one “play possum” I doubt that playing possum looks like a dead possum, but I laugh at the fantasy that it was alive and that when I put it on the kitchen floor it would have run around the house. Now that would be funny!

Possums are up on Etsy, sorry the pictures are not as clean as they should be. My camera finally died so I used my cell phone camera. Looks like it is time to go shopping.

Have a great weekend and Happy Valentines Day. I’ll be back on Monday with lots of great prints!

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: