Getting into summer mode

Everything is now wrapped up for the 2022/23 school season. We (Year 1 & 2) met with the auditor/examiner yesterday afternoon. That was the last thing on our calendar.

I've received my feedback from both professors and got the "Pass" for year one (this is a Pass/Fail program.) Now I have to wait for the provisional mark to be confirmed before I can enrol for year two. I can't get my Canada Student Loan application completed until I am enrolled so now I get to wait.

I've been working on getting all the things I need to start using my new printing press at home. This week my felt mats arrived. The printer supplier I ordered them from listed them as suitable for A3 printing (which is what my press size is) - well, I got three sets of three out of what arrived! So that should last the rest of my life.

I've got a nice supply of inks - sample sizes in a "student" brand in around 22 colours, and larger jars in a good quality brand in the process colours + black, white and transparent, as I like mixing!

I also ordered a gelli printing kit from a craft club - I was looking as retain gelli plates as I want to try it, and this kit cost about the same as one plate retail! Granted the plate may be small, but for trying our the technique it is a great option - everything you need is in the kit.

I've also been collecting more flowers and plant parts to press/dry for printing and mixed media projects. I sorted out all previously dried material into an organizer box, labelling each container so I don't have to keep carefully shifting through stacks of paper and card!

I'm deciding what to start with - should I continue with monoprinting or play around with linocutting? I want to make Christmas cards based on designs I made back in 2018 and sold as a fundraiser for my volunteer trip to South Africa - I think linocuts would suit the style of those.

I unframed most of my work from the year-end show and stored some of the frames for next year, then put some of my art collection (my work and friends') in the others and hung them up in my room. I still have a little space left to put up other works that I want to look at daily. I'm not fussy when I hang things up - I just eyeball it (which is getting more difficult, I have to admit!)

Not all of that is my work. And that isn't everything that's up.

In August I'll be in the Print Studio on campus - going to be doing some A1 prints on the offset press. Will be a challenge I think!

I've joined some groups for visually impaired artists and hope to make some connections over the summer. I've got an equipment demonstration booked for July 11th - visual aids and the like. This should have happened a lot earlier but we had to reschedule several times.

I plan to make progress on my research into art making while visually impaired, check out resources and talk to people who have managed to adapt/change how they work to accommodate their loss of vision. 

I'm also checking out places to display and sell my work locally (aside from my fused glass which is sold through Serendipity Glass Design,)