My own art? Say WHAT!?!

I've been a busy lady lately! But I have been really enjoying my observations of two local high schools. I mean a lot. But one thing I've noticed from hanging out with these awesomely creative students is that I've let my own artwork slip a little over these past couple of years. I've done a couple watercolors, done a few of paying design gigs, designed a few things for my personal use, and developed TONS of art projects for my students, but developing my personal artwork? Hmmmm....not so much! I mean, if someone asked me to actually prove I was an artist, I might be scrambling to prove it!

And I am in some serious need of some ME time...so, today, I got out a few printmaking supplies and actually did a project! yep, right in the middle of the day with all my kids swarming around me putting their fingers in the ink! So proud of myself!

So here it is...it's a self portrait that combines digital photography, Photoshop, and printmaking. It isn't groundbreaking and could actually be seen as a test for a project I plan to do in the future, but this may be a baby step towards figuring out where I want to go next.

How I did this:
It's pretty simple, actually. I took a picture of myself, brought it into Photoshop, changed it to grayscale and then posterized the image to be three colors.

Then I printed the photo out to the size of a piece of foam I had from the grocery store. I transferred the white areas of the image to the foam and used a pencil to "carve" them away. I then used a medium blue to print the image on white paper.

I rinsed off the plate and used the printout and pencil to carve the gray areas of the foam tray away. I printed what was left with black ink.

On the left os my final printing plate after MANY prints.
This one shows the black portions left.
I also got a tiny bit overzealous with the black ink and got
some ink on the face area. Oh well, learning curve!

I think it actually looks like me! I like the designerly quality the printmaking has (that speaks to my design and illustration background). I'm thinking of starting off doing a series of my family with this technique. I also want to experiment with linocuts. We'll see where it goes from there.

Some of the prints I made--I thought the more the merrier!
Who knows what I'll do with all of the images of me!
(Send them to my friends for Valentine's Day?) ;-)

So what art have you done for YOU lately?