Thanksgiving Trip to Oregon

  

I don't know why, but I've always dreamed of going to Oregon. I love trees and fog, and Oregon seems to a place full of foggy trees. My husband and I are spending this Thanksgiving just north of the California border in Ashland, Oregon. It's a 6 hour drive from San Francisco, so here are pictures from the passenger's side of the car and our rainy arrival in Ashland. Not wanting to wait until we had Internet, some of these photos were shared on Instragram; if you want 'real time' updates you can find me there: ninaevezeininger

 

This was the view from a gas station parking lot in Red Bluff, CA.

 

In Redding, CA we got sandwiches at the San Francisco Deli. The food was good but it didn't remind me that much of San Francisco.

 

On I-5 we passed a nature preserve that was teaming with birds.

 There was a stretch of I-5 that looked an awful lot like Colorado.

 Yum!

Views from The Black Sheep Pub & Restaurant in Ashland, OR 

 This guy was outside our window this morning

Thanksgiving dinner in progress: draining cabbage 

Whipped Cream

Hand-beaten whipped cream for the pot de crèmes at last night's PhotoAlliance lecture.

Lino Printing At Home

I'm ready to print!

In case I haven't said it before, I really love printmaking. I find the physicality involved in so many aspects of making a print really rewarding. The only problem is I don't have a press at home and I love making things at home. 

laying out the paper

I've been doing printmaking off and on for years, but I decided I wanted to hone my knowledge so I'm taking an introductory level printmaking course at City College of San Francisco. While my sketches are amateur, I'm loving it and yesterday we went over lino carving. Being mainly a letterpress printer, I have a particular fondness for relief printing, plus, you can carve lino blocks and print them by hand at home.

pressing the plate

I decided I just had to try it today. So, after I finished studying for my French test, I set to work carving a 4x6 inch block based on a photo I had taken of my birthday cake. After about two hours of carving (hey, I'm new at this) I had a block that was ready to print. 

Luckily, I had some water soluble (aka super easy to clean) block printing ink at home from a previous lino carving endeavour (which ended when I put a carving tool through my finger), and one of those bamboo covered pads similar to what they use in traditional Japanese block printing. 

3 semi-successful test prints

I quickly realized that humans are not presses, getting good, even pressure is not easy. After 3 partially successful prints on thicker paper stock, I switched to the trusty, text weight Mohawk Superfine and finally got a good print.

yay, a good print!

While my drawing skills may still need some more work, I have to say, I am thrilled with this new process and quite proud of my work!

ink roller and plate

September Issue Project

project supplies

I'm not quite sure why, but, every September I feel compelled to purchase the September issue of Vogue. I think it's partly because of the spectacle of it, partly because of the ridiculous-ness and partly because there are occasionally good photographs inside. Anyway, every year the volume sits around forever, I cut up parts of it for collaging and then recycle most of it. This year I wanted it to be different, so I set myself up on what is turning out to be a project as large as the magazine.

I decided to make postcards utilizing every page of the issue, cutting them up, collaging them and seeing the magic, and craziness that happens when components of the magazine are taken out of context. 

Each postcard has the title of the project image transferred on the back and all postcards are numbered.

To be honest, I haven't even reached the Table of Contents yet, but by Thursday I had quite a large stack so I mailed some. Below is a sampling of the postcards that I sent.

Would you like a postcard in your mailbox? Send your snail mail address to me at ninaevezeininger@gmail.com.

me, ready to head to the corner mailbox in the rain

An Adventure in Screenprinting

Film outline

I have wanted to learn screenprinting for almost ever and a few months back the Studio Manager at Mission Grafica invited me over to learn.

This past Thursday I finally made it over for my first lesson and had an amazing time. First, I outlined my drawing, then cut ruby lith for inside the outlines. 

Outline exposed on screen

After spreading emulsion, burning, rinsing and drying, it was time for the actual printing.

A print!

My drawing skills are by no means sophisticated but I think they translate pretty well in this medium.