macha green

Work in progress.... I'm designing a new image for a woodblock print and so here are some snippets of how it's progressing. I'm fixated on macha green at the moment. Macha is the finely ground up green tea from Japan used for tea ceremony. It has this wonderful colour I'm always seeking to recreate. My moku hanga teacher in Japan actually used macha tea powder to make ink for printing so that it would be authentic in colour: tea ink!

The Melbourne Design Market was on today and it was jam packed with people and had a great vibe. The Bamakko stall looked amazing! A huge thank you to Ben from Bamakko and also Lara (lara cameron design) and Tim (tu wit tu woo) who staffed the stall all day in that crowd.

circling in red

I've been printing with my lino block winter trees again and I must admit it's been fun experimenting. The winter light is quite poor today so that explains why this photo is a bit dark. But it's fitting really, don't you think, with a winter tree image?

Something interesting from the International Printing Center New York (IPCNY). They're calling for new prints for their Autumn show (that's autumn in the northern hemisphere of course). All the details about the kind of prints allowed and deadlines are here. I feel quite happy to say I even know where the IPCNY is as I searched it out in Chelsea last month when I was visiting New York. It's located in the back of an amazing rabbit warren of a building in the art gallery precinct. It's not easy to find but I did get the sense that they're doing really nice things for artists on a really low/non-existent budget.

And if you're in Melbourne this weekend come along to the Melbourne Design Market and Projekta 57. They're going to be a great events.

melbourne design festival happenings

I'm starting to get some of my prints ready to participate in the Bamakko stall on the 20th July at the Melbourne Design Market. It's part of the fabulous Melbourne International Design Festival happening from 17-27th July this year. Each year a lot of really exciting designers, crafters and artisans get together to show and sell their work at this market. Being part of the Bamakko stall is especially exciting because they do so much to promote handmade local products and art in this lovely city. Bamakko's regular shop in North Melbourne (358 Victoria St, North Melbourne) is also going to be part of a fun thing called Projekta 57 during the festival. On 2 Saturdays (19th and 26th July) you can jump on the inner north-west number 57 tram and hop off and visit a whole lot of shops showcasing art, fashion, homewares, furniture etc and meet and talk with some of the people who make the stuff. How cool is that?