New Stuff

Haven't had time to update my professional website but here's a few images from the past 3 or 4 months.  It's been great.  More images to come.

And.... back to a little bitta printmaking! 

new stuff

wow... been a looong time since i posted anything.  that's not to say i haven't been busy working!  here's a few pictures from the past few months.  also spent a lot of time working on my website, which is now up and running at www.marenmunoz.com.

studio shot... clean and reorganized for much better use

valentine card (by John Hitchcock!) for a sale of homemade valentines   

print for a folio.  one of the first folios i've done in awhile.  edition size of 10... that's why!

in the rack.  there's something so satisfying about seeing them all together like that.

this is a new body of work.  paper mache and various other things.  

had to go back a rip some stuff off.  backtracking is hard but necessary sometimes.  already glad that i did it.

new nose, eyes, mouth thing.  

about 6 weeks until the show so i need to kick it into overdrive.  i'm pretty happy with where i am but some long days are in order from here on out. exciting!

Random stuffs

Big snow in Madison

i took etching this semester and it was completely uncharted territory.  i think it made it more fun though. it was no pressure, so i was just able to have fun with it.  Here i'm gradually painting the stop out fluid onto the aquatinted plate.

kind of hard to see but this is the final etched plate ready for printing.  it will essentially look just like this as a print.  LOVE this process.

Some new cuts... before being cut

Oranges on the stem... i just think this is the most amazing picture... 

Happy Holidays

Having so much fun celebrating the holidays this year!  And i think i made a big breakthrough on work, which is great news for me.  

where did all these beer cans come from, you ask....?

.... just a regular Saturday night here in Wisconsin :) 

i've been messing around with sculpture and paper mache and i'm loving the result.  i created a donut hole for our 2nd annual art grad food themed gift exchange (this year we did donuts, last year was hotdogs) and i am pumped to start my next paper mache piece.

the final product.  LOVE the big sprinkles. i rolled them all while we were watching TV.  

the real deal

The past month in pictures

Just going to post a bunch of pictures that i've been taking over the past month or so but haven't had time to sit down and post.  There are a few human interest pictures sprinkled in.  May need to throw captions on a few of them just to clarify.  Just looked at my last post.... it has been awhile!

why buy expensive printmaking paper when graph paper looks so cool?!  it is so much fun to buy art supplies but i am always trying to think of ways to use the TONS of supplies that i already have.

celebrating Halloween!  googly eyes!

going to art school definitely has its perks - got this lamp in a trade from an amazing artist in my program named Brad Corso.  would love to get another piece from him at some point.

pretty ink sunset shmear

went to an opening at the salon MUSE here in Madison for our friend Jordan Anderson http://jordanranderson.com/home.html - loved the way they put these sinks to good use.

my first real etching!  this is a big step for me (i am definitely a relief girl through and through) but i am truly enjoying this process and i have a wonderful teacher. there is so much detail and this photo is just not capturing any of it. 

curtains!

go pack go!  

happy thanksgiving

fall and the printing rolls on!

Wow, i have been making a lot of prints!  i'm having a lot of fun with it but i really need to actually put it down and try to work on other things.  i've established that my day in the studio tomorrow is a strictly "no printing" day!  Need to work on, and experiment with, other stuff that i'm interested in.  i am really happy with this print i just finished though. Happy Halloween!

i did a few variations, but this is the official final print.  Purple face!  i printed the black (it's really a very dark purple) layer today and i mixed up the most incredible ink.  Don't really know what was so special, but it was the most perfect consistency and made the most perfect final layer.  i was in awe of the ink. Velvety goodness. it is what i will aspire to in the future.

This was a few steps back in the process. Testing out some different shades of purple....  He looks funny with no ears!

As usual, i was thoroughly disgruntled at this point in the print.  Without that key it just feels so odd and off.  

This is the print without the purple face.  i got antsy and printed a few before the purple layer.  They look good like this with just the black and yellow but i made a commitment to the purple so i had to follow through.

Certain areas were printing that i didn't want, so i used bits of newpaper to mask them off.  Looks like a ghost!  There are much more efficient and professional ways to do mask off certain areas, but i have my own ways and i make it work.

halloween inspired print

Getting prepped for a new print.  i've already caught the halloween bug.  i love halloween! it's an excuse for everything to be bright and making a funny face and looking kind of weird and scary.  that's essentially exactly what my work is, so it's a pretty good holiday for me.  

Carving out the block...  The face was red just so i could block some lines out while i was drawing but i actually love the way it looks.  Maybe i will try to emulate that with the ink.  

i carved out the block completely, exactly the way that i want the last (darkest) layer to look.  then i transfer that image (and the registration marks) to two other blocks so that i can use a bunch of different colors of ink.  there will be a warm and a cool block.  one block kind of limits the colors that you can use.

also, i was all about using the drill today.  going around just trying to find things to drill into.  

skinny prints!

i find that in printmaking, because you have to tear down paper, you always end up with a bunch of 2ish by 20ish inch strips of perfectly good paper that becomes totally useless and you have to just throw it out.  Feels like such a waste.  i also end up a lot of strips of wood and linoleum when i cut down a block to a specific size.  Because i hate to throw these things away (potential hoarder red alert) i have amassed both long skinny paper and long skinny relief material.... and now i have finally come up with a way to use them up!  skinny prints!  took me long enough to think of this.  

Will hopefully start printing on these next week and i will be able to skip the trauma of preparing paper :)  skinny prints are the greatest!