So I was thinking...

Little Red Riding Hood and other stories:the making of a picture book

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:58:00 +0000

Hi everyone! I thought I would tell you about a show I'm going to participate in this summer. A while back I took an illustration course at Emily Carr University for picture book illustration with Lisa Cinar. One of the assignments in the course was to illustrate parts of Little Red Riding Hood. I've always wanted to illustrate a classic children's story but it can be tricky to come up with something fresh for a story that's been illustrated so many times. I suppose that was probably the point of the exercise.

On June 15th-June 29th you can view how many different ways good old Red can be depicted by current and previous students of the Picture Book Illustrating course. The opening reception will be on Jun. 15th at 2:00pm at the Granville Island campus.

Below are the two pieces that I will be showing. They are both digital "linocuts". Yup, that's what I'm calling them. I've been creating digital works recently using the same reductive methods that I use in printmaking. There's the huge advantage of the "undo" button though and that's why a well cut and printed traditional linocut will carry more weight with me. What do you think about the merging of the technologies?

A fairy found

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Tue, 28 May 2013 19:52:00 +0000

Shhhhhhhh......I found this little fairy sleeping in my studio. I'm sure you're going to see her again but I wanted to give you a peek.

Rest well little one.

Sneak peek

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:00:00 +0000

A quick post and a peek into what I've been working on. I'm planning couple submissions for some print exchanges and some other promotional stuff. Below is the drypoint plate I'm working on for the ArtSpace Original Print Exchange and Exhibit. This is a mini-print exhibit and you can find the details here.

The second exchange I'm working on is for the annual La Calaca print exchange. I haven't figured out what method I will use or even my image yet but it's always a fun subject to do. If you're interested in submitting to that one, you can find it here.

The Art of Motherhood

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:33:00 +0000

Mother's Day is this Sunday and I wish all the moms out there a relaxing day. Let's hope that it's the one day that you don't have to clean the kitchen. I know otherwise though.
I will be working a double-shift that day so I can't say that I'm looking forward to Mother's Day but I'm hoping for a restful Monday.

If you don't have anything planned yet for Mother's Day you might want to take in the Art of Motherhood exhibition and tea being held at the Fort Langley Centennial Museum 2-4pm. I have my Restful Dream monotype in the show and it will be auctioned off with numerous other mother themed work to help raise funds for the Langley Memorial Hospital's maternity ward. The actual auction will take place on July 20th so you will have plenty of time to place a reserving bid.

How the Crafty Affaire Show went

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:27:00 +0000

I just finished participating in this spring's Crafty Affaire on May 4th. It's been a while since I've done a spring show but I wanted to make more of local presence this year. I had hoped to do a show every couple months but when you work in the restaurant industry you have to always work when the craft shows are on. I will have to pick and choose carefully which shows I'm willing to risk tips and wages on.

My new magic wallets that I wanted to show you in action but YouTube refused to co-operate.

For this show I created a couple of cake stands with thrift store finds and I think they turned out great. I used one to showcase a hand painted cake I did along with some sugar paste cake toppers. The goal was to get the word out about my custom cakes and gauge the interest of handmade cake toppers. I got a luke warm response. Oh we'll, lesson learned.

Hand-painted gluten-free cake with a collection of sugar paste cake toppers

Like anything I guess, I find it takes practice to do a craft show well.I felt out of practice. I didn't do horribly but the attendance of the show was pretty low so it wasn't as busy as I had hoped. It was hard compete with how gorgeous and sunny the day was.

Silkscreened napkin sets.

Now it's time to get ready for the Steveston Salmon Festival on July 1st. See you there?

Little Bird Magic Wallet by DeanDymentStudios

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Fri, 03 May 2013 23:57:00 +0000

This is going to be a super quick post because I'm headed out the door for work. I just wanted to remind you that I will be doing the Crafty Affaire at Elgin Hall in White Rock tomorrow. The sun is supposed to be out so it will be a great day for buying some handmade wares.

I posted a video on You Tube of some magic wallets that I made just for the show. I silkscreened them with a little birdie I drew. Put a bird on it!

I'm inspired by....Rebecca Green

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:20:00 +0000

Today's post is on one of my latest inspirations and art crushes. I recently discovered the art of Rebecca Green and I am so smitten.

Rebecca Green

via Rebecca Green Blog

I love the muted colours, the strong drawing skills, the sweep of the lines, the paint quality, the subject matter and overall melancholy and quiet character of the work. Love, love, love! Please check out Rebecca's website for more of her work and I'm sure you'll be inspired too.

Crafty Affaire - May 4th Mark it on your calendars

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:56:00 +0000

Spring is in the air and the craft show season has started. I had planned that this year I would participate in a bunch of shows to boost my local presence but it doesn't look like that will happen. Most of the art and craft shows happen on the weekends and that conflicts with my new job's work schedule. I'm already booked for A Crafty Affaire though

which will happen on May 4th 10-4. Shall I see you there?

Can you see my little dolls in the promo?

Did you hear? I've started a new blog.

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:07:00 +0000

I guess I've been a little quiet on this blog lately. It's not because I haven't been busy but rather that I've had to split my time up a bit and away from my studio. If you hadn't seen already, I've started up a new blog that will feature all my cake decorating adventures. Custom Cakes by Lori will show process photos, final pics, tips I've learned and links that I think are helpful for the cake decorating hobbyist.

Vegan vanilla cake

I hope you join me over there and we indulge our virtual sweet tooth together.

The Artist in the Window at Bird on a Wire Creations

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 22:26:00 +0000

The birds are out and singing, the flowers are starting to bloom and you can feel that spring is just around the corner. This weekend looks like it's going to be sunny and beautiful which makes for the best kind of long weekend. If you happen to be wandering around Vancouver's Main St. on Saturday March 30, be sure to pop in to Bird on a Wire and say hello to me. I will be in working away at some watercolors and cutting some linocuts so I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have about my processes.

See you on Saturday?

Filled with handmade and local items, Bird on a Wire is a fantastic source for a truly unique gift item. I have to say that I'm pretty thrilled to have them carry my work. Hooray for handmade!

Working away....digitally with Procreate and Art Rage

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:46:00 +0000

So I haven't been putting too much new stuff into my Etsy shop lately. I have created so many prints that my studio can't really store too much more. How do I get around this storage problem? I started to create things digitally. Now I just have to worry about storing file sizes but if I want to sell something through my Etsy shop I have to have the piece printed and ready. The cost of printing a quality archival print deters me from doing that. So while I feel guilty for not posting fresh work in my shop, I know that I'm still learning and creating in the studio.

Lately I've been mostly using my iPad with a couple drawing programs I got for it. Porcreate is a very versatile program that has me working in "oils", "pastel", "pencil" and "chalks". I have found myself sketching in this program more than in my sketchbook. The other program that I've been using is Art Rage which I find has a better set of watercolor functions than the Procreate. The painting brushes are pretty good too but my main complaint about this program is that it's cumbersome to adjust the qualities of the brushes and I prefer the sliders in the Procreate program.

Below are a couple trial sketches with each application. Try them out for yourself and tell me what you think.

Sketch using Procreate for a monotype

Watercolor trial using Art Rage

Another creative way to gift money as a birthday gift

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:16:00 +0000

A while back one of my daughters was invited to a birthday party where the birthday girl asked for money that she could donate to a cause of her choosing. Rather than just sticking some bills in a birthday card we created a unique paper puppet with the money. You can see a blogpost about here.
Recently the same daughter was invited to another birthday party where the birthday girls are twins who wanted to get only money as gifts so that they could buy accessories for dolls at the dollar store. Hmmmm......do I create some more puppets? Instead I folded up their money gifts as shirts and pinned them to some pretty ribbon so that they would look like doll clothes on the laundry line. $15 each thank you. The second picture is of an origami shirt I tried with a tie. Nice silver accent don't you think?

What about you? What creative ways have you given money as a gift?

Cake pops for a 9 yr. olds birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 15:10:00 +0000

Today I've got a couple photos of the birthday cake pops I made for my daughter's 9th birthday. I have never done cake pops before so it was a perfect reason to learn. I had planned to use half of the cake batter for the pops and the other half for a decorated cake that would hold the pops. Unfortunately the base cake was too thin to hold the cake pops and they had to be served separately. How do you serve your cake pops? I've seen some unique displays but I ran out of time and just brought them to the birthday party poked into my drying block.

For the ears on the cat I used chocolate chips and the ears on the dogs are made from chewy caramels. Noses were made from cut mini-M&Ms and shaped Starburst pieces. I got to use my edible pen for the eyes and faces.

So what kind of cake pops have you made? Do you have any tricks to share?

New monotype demo video (kitty cameo)

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:17:00 +0000

Whoa! It's been a little while since I've posted anything here. Today I've got another video for you. I have a show I'm preparing for in the fall and I have plans to do a bunch of new monotypes for it. Here's the first print in the series I've planned. Stay tuned for more.

If you watch until about the 4:20 mark you'll see my cat making an appearance. I dubbed music over the video so you don't hear me talking to the cat trying to persuade her not to jump up on my ink pallet. Instead she fell asleep on my press while waiting for some attention. I had to kick her off when I wanted to print but she was persistent. I hope you enjoy it.

Here's my new iPad tri-pod mount I made. The other one fell apart. This one works way better and it's made from a metal letter holder I already had. I just had to make a screw-hole in the centre of it to attach it to the tri-pod.

My submission to this year's Wingtip Press Leftovers

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 18:23:00 +0000

I just sent off this little linocut dragon to this years Wingtip Press's Leftovers. This has been a great fundraiser for hunger relief and I've participated in it for the past three years. Do take a look at previous entries.

Two trial proof's are available in the shop.

This image has been floating around in my sketchbook and computer for a little while now and I was happy to finally get it out and onto paper. I cut it into thin lino and printed it with my press. I used to hand-burnish all my linos onto thin paper because they were always mounted on blocks but it's been so much easier to use the press.You can see a short video I did of proofing the print on my press here.

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:54:00 +0000

What do you think of my Valentine's for this year? I did this one for the kids classroom exchange. I wasn't able to get cards done for the shop though. She's cute though, don't you think?

Still on the hunt.

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 21:59:00 +0000

Sorry I haven't posted that frequently but I've been feeling a little bummed and I've been limiting my time online. The bad mood is thanks to my financial situation. Again. We've been fortunate that where we live, the economy hasn't been as bad as many places. Unfortunately, now we're starting to see the down-turn and the little restaurant I work at is hurting. I've had my hours cut and seen my sales totals go down. I've been looking for new work closer to home but I haven't had any luck. Because I'm much older than most applicants I'm at a pretty big disadvantage. Although I can sell more and provide better service than a newer server, I can't work double shifts, work until 2 am, be on-call at a moments notice and fit into an itty-bitty black dress. I know I've had this rant before.

Pillows

Now I don't love serving work and I've always wished to be out of it and making a living at my art but now I'm scared that I can't depend on it. I have so many skills but I don't know whereto apply them so that I can pay the bills. What other ways can I bring in some money? I've been offering cakes out of my home, trying to sell on Etsy, trying to sell locally at shows and shops, and putting things for sale on eBay. Getting hired by someone and getting a paycheque would take a lot of the pressure off of trying to sell my art. So fellow artists.....where have you found work that uses your visual skills? I'm all ears.

Illustration Friday: Wheel

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:26:00 +0000

So what do you think of my goofy little sketch for this week's Illustration Friday:Wheel?

This one was done on my iPad very quickly. This time I was able to use a stylus that I had gotten instead of my finger which was much more comfortable. I got the cheapest stylus out there so the nib is too thick for my liking but it will have to do for now.

Run, Hamy, run!

New video of a test-print of a linocut done with a press

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 01:34:00 +0000

I did it! I actually rigged my iPad up to my tri-pod so that I can create some videos of my printing process. I had created printmaking demo videos in the past with my Flip camera which I was quite happy with until it stopped recording segments longer than 10 minutes. Even though I bought a rechargeable battery for it, the camera won't record past the 10 minutes and will delete anything recorded if battery gets depleted. With my iPad I'm hoping to record a monotype which takes me at least a couple of hours from start to finish.

So below is my latest video and the photos below that are of my iPad set up. Not too pretty to be sure but who cares if it works. As always, I would love to hear your comments.

A short video on test-printing a linocut.

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 14:48:00 +0000

Hey everyone. So I tried to rig up my iPad to film a short demo video but I just couldn't get it right. I will eventually figure it out but for now I have this short video I created on my Flip camera instead. I don't like how blurry it is and the captions need work but I think I just need some editing practice.

This video is about how I test my linocut plates before printing. Feel free to comment and share!

I now have and iPad! How to I attach it to my tri-pod?

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:11:00 +0000

So I must've been a good girl last year because I got an iPad for Christmas. I've been having lots of fun trying out all the new apps and games on it and while I've been too afraid to take it out of the house, I have been making good use of it at home.

The new iPad has a great camera lens on it and while I've already tried my hand at Instagram, I'm pretty excited to think that I have access to a HD video camera to help me create some printmaking videos. But there is a catch. How do I mount my iPad to a tri-pod? I knew I could probably order one but I thought that there might be a way to make one. Thanks to Google you can find anything.

I have two links for you. The first one is a for a video that made me realize that I should use my iPad for video. It's an informative how-to video on creating packing for Canada Post's "slot of doom". Using a Blackberry Playbook, Claire Maunsell creates a really clear video that I will be sure to visit again.

The next video is by Mike McCormick who actually creates an iPad mount for a tri-pod. While I see no links to any instructions it gave me enough visual info that I think I might try and rig up something similar. Stay tuned to see if I'm successful with this DIY.

What about you? Were you able to rig something up for your iPad? Tell me about it.

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:01:00 +0000

Illustration Friday: Edge

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 23:56:00 +0000

Here's my quick sketch for this week's Illustration Friday: Edge.

This is a digital drawing but it's a bit different in that I started it on my new iPad with the Procreate program. It's pretty cool that I can create a drawing just about anywhere and then instantly send it to my computer's Photoshop program. Ahh technology.

It will take some getting used to though because now I will have to learn how to draw really well with just my finger instead of a stylus. The bird drawing below is my very first iPad sketch. I'm pretty excited at all the possibilities with my new toy but I've been feeling the urge to reconnect with some old-fashioned paint and paper. Stay tuned.

Year of the Snake Print Exchange

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 19:56:00 +0000

Well hello there! How was your Christmas? Hectic? Fun? Relaxing? I hope you're ready for the new year because I can see it's around the corner.

For the past few years now I have contributed to an annual print exchange through PROOF Gallery and this year we'll be creating images to celebrate the Year of the Snake. Below is my submission which is a drypoint created on a plastic plate and then hand-colored with watercolors. Below that is the artist proof in straight black and white and I think I prefer that version. What do you think? Which do you prefer?

Do you ever create a drawing and then regret coloring it?

You can view all the snake print submissions from around the world at the Year of the Snake blog

Illustration Friday: Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Lori Dean Dyment) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:23:00 +0000

Why hello there! Christmas is almost here and there is still so much to do! Here's much submission for today's Illustration Friday subject: Snow. I created this little guy as a Christmas card and as a silkscreened ornament. He's cute don't you think?

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and I will see online soon. : )