Linoleum Block Printing!

Good afternoon everyone!

It's been a busy and physically demanding day for me as I have been moving furniture around.... by myself ^__________^

After I married and moved out, my sister now has my room and has been in it for the past year-ish. Although it is her room now, all my stuff is there. SO! I figured since I have time, and back in town, I ought to clear out my stuff and make space for my sister. I'm suppose to wait for my husband to help me move the heavy stuff, but I got too excited and decided to start alone. I know, bad idea. I will most likely be sore tomorrow. I moved everything, except the bed, which is super duper heavy! That's a 2+ person job and I shall not break my back trying to move it.

On another note, I went to my first football game on Sunday and it was AMAZING! It was definitely a good game to attend, since the Seahawks beat the Cowboys :) We spent the morning coloring our hair and painting our faces. When we were looking for parking, we drove through the area where people have been tailgating all day and got high-fives and handshakes all around because we were decked out in Seahawks gear and super colorful. What a great time! Although, we were surrounded by Cowboys fans and they were good sports-- except for the lady right next to me; she was screaming bloody murder even when it wasn't the right time, and other Cowboys fans even turned around wondering what was going on. Crazy! When the Seahawks scored the 2nd touchdown, I was scared that she would punch me in the face @_@ I am happy she didn't.

So, on with the star of today's post! I wanted to share with you all some block prints I did a while back. All of these prints are linoleum block printing, with the exception of "Tennis" (left). When I made "Tennis" there were no more linoleum left in the class, so what I did was I took two pieces of mat board paper, glued them together and then carved on that. I think I cut myself doing that because it was really hard since I was carving on cardboard paper. After I finished carving, I covered it all in this layer of something that I can't remember the name of (this was 2006 so it's been a while). It was to make it water proof for when I washed the plate. This was my first print, and it was of my favorite sport, so I was pretty excited. I think I included 12 or 13 in this series.

The following summer (it should be summer of 2006) I made another print called "Ballerina" (above left image, top left). It was for one of my best friend's birthday (I think it was her 17th or 18th birthday). This time I used actual linoleum block. I think I included 6 in the series.

The year after (2007), for IB art year 2, I made another print using linoleum. This one was called "Let's Dance" (Above center is the plate and above right is image of a print). The cool thing about this was that I printed on wood paper. I experimented with other surfaces but my favorite was this light wood paper. I remember that it had a specific name, but once again, I've forgotten it.

I hope you enjoyed learning about my experiments with linoleum block printing! Until next time,

<3 Kara

Dragon Boat Painting

Here's my caption for the piece:

"As an immigrant in the fast paced America, it’s becoming harder and harder to stay connected to the Khmer culture. That’s why it’s so important for Khmers to come together and help each other keep the connection strong. Similar to the dragon boat needing all of it’s paddlers to move together to race for the goal, our culture needs every Khmer to stay dedicated to preserving our culture."

During the 2009 Khmer New Year celebration, I heard an announcement looking for artists to paint something about our Khmer culture because the municipality is having an APA Heritage Month Exhibit from late April to late May, and there was a segment about Khmer and Cambodia. SO! I jumped right to it. Although I got really short notice, I finished it in 3 days, which shows through because there are many things that I could improve on. In any case, I was able to get it in on time, and it was up in the 3rd floor lobby of the Seattle Municipal Tower for about 2 or 3 weeks. I was HAPPY!!!  This is the first time my art has gone up any where outside of school!! I submitted a short bio of myself and the piece and everything! Sadly, I was unable to attend the reception because of class, but my piece on a public exhibit is pretty darn cool! Also, I submitted this piece for a publication in my university called the Matrix. The issue's theme was "Identity & Culture" so I thought this was perfect!

I need to take a moment to say a special thank you to my high school art teacher, Ms. D! She's so amazing! She hasn't been my art teacher since high school (which at the time of this painting was 2 years past), but she was still very willing to help me with my art when I needed it!! Also, thanks to my friends for all the support and encouragement in those 3 stressful days! They had to deal a lot with my crankiness and frustrations.

All in all, this was an exciting piece for me. I was very passionate about dragon boat racing, so the subject matter was very personal. In addition, this was the first time my piece was shown outside of a school environment. However, I do wish I had more time with it to work on hand studies, body proportions, siting poses, etc. Plus, it would be nice if the people on the boat had life jackets! >_<

I hope you enjoyed reading about this painting. Until next time!!

<3 Kara