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Teaching At An Elementary School Art Class: Finally… REAL Super Heroes!

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Art teacher at Mossville Elementary, Brian Du Pont, invited me to lead on an art project for his art class. Because I worked on a bunch of superhero illustrations recently and Brian publishes his own superhero comic Pecos Bill, I came up with the idea to have his students create their own superhero symbols. The guidelines to create their artwork were:

1. Combine two elements in the symbol: One thing that scares you + One thing that you like or enjoy doing.

2. Illustrate your symbol using watercolor & ink.

The project was inspired by Batman, my favorite superhero. When Bruce Wayne became Batman, he chose a symbol. Bruce Wayne is disturbed by bats because he fell down a well full of bats as a child. He uses the bat as his symbol to conquer his fear in the processes. He projects this fear to become Batman and fight crime.

Brian had his students sketch out their symbols and draw the final art on watercolor paper. And the day I came to visit, I showed them a couple techniques they could use with watercolor and ink to paint their symbols.

It was so awesome seeing in person what the students came up with for their symbols. They worked with their own ideas and caught on to the painting techniques immediately! And I am not surprised, because they are, after all, real superheroes. This was their works in progress:

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Brian even took the project a couple steps further by having his students write a statement and frame their art:

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Since all these super heroes are revealing their fears, it’s only fair that I reveal my own. It’s kind of embarrassing and makes no sense to me: I get social anxiety sometimes. That literally translates to “being afraid of people,” even though I love people. But just like with Batman, it probably has to do with things I’ve had to deal with in my childhood.

I’ve created different versions of my Razorberries logo over the years, but the elements within it have always been the same. Razor and berries.

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Adventures in Screen Printing as a Newbie

There’s something magical and inspiring about being a complete newbie at something. And when I say magical and inspiring, what I really mean is awkward and terrifying. And that can be a good thing.

 

The Beginnings

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At age 9, the only English word I knew was “Yesterday” thanks to The Beatles and my dad playing and singing their songs with his guitar. Today, I know more English words than Russian words (my native language) and naturally think in English.

At age baby, I drew stick figures wearing stick capes and imitated my parents’ cursive handwriting by drawing squiggly lines. Today, I like to think that I’ve become slightly better at the drawing and writing thing than I was back then.

I’ve learned that you’ll never learn something new unless you practice. And that you still won’t learn something new if you compare yourself to others.

While seeing lots of screen prints in the past few years by some of my favorite artists, such as James Flames, I became curious about the screen printing process. When I learned about the screen printing classes at Lillstreet, I took one.

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The Teachers

This is Matthew, the screen printing teacher:

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It may look like he’s pondering deeply about the great impact he’s making on the world by teaching people new skills, but something’s telling me he’s probably pondering deeply about the ingredients that would make the perfect beef sandwich for lunch. Not sure how I know this. Just a hunch, I guess.

This is Nora, the screen printing teaching assistant:

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When she’s not teaching her own 2,483 different printmaking and textile classes, she assists other teachers, like Matt, and other screen printing newbies, like me.

She also likes the sky. Which is great, because the sky is awesome. Nora is running a project called Blue is the Sky, where everyday she, or another participant somewhere in the world, holds up a paint swatch that matches the color of the sky at that moment, and then takes a photo of it. In addition, she currently has a flag installation at the rooftop of Lillstreet called Interactions of the Sky.

The Lessons

This screen printing class helped me better understand printmaking and layering of colors. Plus, it helped me experience that vulnerability of feeling completely clueless about how to do something. Each of us are good at something, but only doing what we are good at can cause us to think narrowly. Those moments when we feel like we’re out of our comfort zone are an important part of personal growth.

At moments, I felt angry when I couldn’t remember the proper steps of the process. But I had to let that anger go and think about what I’m doing and try to remember, or ask for guidance, and keep going. Here’s a bunch of pictures from the various steps it took to create both of my prints:

And of course… The Mistakes

As a screen printing newbie, I made plenty of mistakes. It seemed like it was just unavoidable! As mentioned above, I kept forgetting the steps. Sometimes, it was the most simple things.

My favorite one is when I was getting ready to burn my screen for my “Shiptini” print, and used a fellow classmate’s screen by mistake. I didn’t realize my screen got moved and I didn’t think to check the name on it. So, for the remainder for the classes, I was known as Jonathan and he was Tanya.

The Results!

This is KLOUDZ, my first ever screen print using 3 colors:

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And this is Shiptini (Or shipteeny), my second ever screen print, using 3 colors (which should have been 4 colors but I ran out of time for all of them)! Color-mixing assistance and title, courtesy of Nora.

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My classmates created awesome prints, as well. Each of us were from different personal and professional backgrounds, and with different interests. It was a great experience to come together to learn this same screen printing process, and for each person to learn their own lessons and end up with their own results.

A Lesson On Improvement and Improvisation From A Flower

“Improve-isation” is an illustration I created in 2009, while living in Peoria Heights, IL. A couple days ago, I saw this little sunflower growing on a highway in Milwaukee, WI, while on the way to the Paul McCartney concert.

When I created the artwork, I was inspired by the nature preserve I lived next to, where I went hiking in the trails nearly every morning. This real sunflower is very persistent on growing, even in the asphalt, because that’s what sunflowers do!

Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? This is great example that sometimes all a little seed needs is a little dirt and a little water to create something beautiful in the most unexpected place. Go on to bigger and better things, little sunflower!

The Making of “Brainstorm” Illustration

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Brainstorm – 11×14 Watercolor & Ink for IllustrArticles 3 Easy Steps To Total Mind Control

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain” – Vivian Greene

This might be one of my favorite illustrations I’ve done because of the spontaneity behind it. Most of my “brainstorming” happened subconsciously! It was created for IllustrArticles “3 Easy Steps to Total Mind Control.” The idea for the illustration came from a mix of a million things, such as:

– A thunderstorm that unexpectedly drenched me as I was walking down the street one day
– An apocalyptic dream I had, in which it was very windy on a field near a beach (similar to the one I live next to) and the sky was changing colors every few seconds (probably prompted by walking into that thunderstorm the day before).
– The Stepford Wives movie I watched
– I’ve been noticing cloud formations for about 2 weeks straight.
– Stress I’ve been dealing with around that time

I pretty much saw the gist of it the image in my mind before I even started doodling it, and kept making small changes as I went along. See if you notice them. These are some of the thumbnails and sketches I did, first:

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And then I scanned them and arranged them in Photoshop, and traced my computer screen on tracing paper. This is the tracing paper line art and the finished art:

tracing paper lineart & finished illustration

I should have photographed this step, but I forgot! Basically, after that, I attached the tracing paper line art to the back of a blank watercolor paper sheet, and placed them on top of a lightbox. From there, I went straight to inking with a brush. Then, I used watercolor for color. Last, I scanned the finished illustration and corrected the colors in Photoshop so that it looked on screen just like the original.

FaceOff Gallery Show Opening

Recently, I attended the FaceOff Gallery Show opening at the International Museum of Surgical Science, co-curated by Noah Scalin of Skull-A-Day and Vanessa Ruiz of Street Anatomy. It was the first time I’ve been at the museum and saying that the entire event was amazing would be an understatement.

FaceOff includes various artworks depicting the human skull and face-to-face skull connections.

Here are a few of my favorites:

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Melissa Murillo (Meyoko) x Ali Glec
Giclee print on archival matte paper – 19.75 x 27.5 inches

 

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Joshua Harker
3D printed polyamide sculptures – 3.6 x 4.5 x 5 inches

 

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Life-size white-chocolate skull by Annabel de Vetten from Conjurer’s Kitchen. Later, it was smashed so that everyone could eat it. It was delicious!

Since I’ve never been to the museum before, I took the opportunity to wander around. It includes tons of medical artifacts from different centuries and importance of fine craft and illustration are highly evident. Each tool was intricately decorated and detailed for its own specialized use:

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Individual memories that each viewer carries with them paint the final picture on top of the reality in front of them. No matter what we do, we see things through our own personal filter.

For me, a part of me felt like I was in my dad’s old metal workshop (he was an airgun inventor). Another part of me remembered the medical adventures in my childhood while living in Ukraine. And the entire time, I was filled with pure curiosity and appreciation of the human anatomy, evolution of the tools, and their artistry. (Plus, appreciation for today’s existence of anesthesia.)

Of course, the evening was also filled with music, beer & wine, and great people. I even got to participate in drawing a skull:

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The FaceOff Art Show is gong on until August 25, 2013 so be sure to make time for it and the museum. If you’re unable to make it, you can check out the photos of the art here.

Brrrds Chillin in Chicago

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Oh, snow!

It snowed again. A whopping 3 inches. With all the reports raving about the WINTER STORM HEADING FOR CHICAGO, I mildly pondered if I should have shopped for the groceries I’ve been neglecting to go get for the past week, before the snow comes. But then I fell asleep.

I happened to have experienced the Snowpocalypse of 2011 when I’d been living in Chicago for just 4 months at the time. I had just gotten a new job, and even though every place was closed, somehow my mind tried to convince me, “Where is your dedication to your job?! You still have to show up!” So when I couldn’t access my car or public transportation to get to work, I tried calling the store (no one picked up) and I panicked my way through the day, hoping I won’t get fired. By the next day I had to work, most of the streets have been cleaned and, of course, it was just a regular day. I found out that the day of the Snowpocalypse, the store was closed because no employees could make it in. And there was no one at the store to take calls for people calling off work! Duh. I’d been panicking for no reason.

Ah, those were the good, old, anxiety-ridden days. Since identifying as an introvert and reading a little here and there about introversion, I learned that anxiety is just a part of the personality. Well, no wonder, since introversion is looked upon as a weakness! A weakness deemed by who? Extroverts? SOME extroverts? Introphobes?

Whatever. Introverts know themselves better than anyone else does.  Some things are not worth getting worked up about. Most introverts are chill and stay true-blue, like these Brrrds of a feather who chill together 🙂

Glow

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What better day to reveal this new piece than Valentine’s Day. It may have been labeled as a Hallmark holiday, but to me, it’s a day that celebrates love & passions.

I created this in watercolor & ink and it’s 20×30 inches, largest I’ve painted so far. I even changed the title a few times, deciding to stick with “Glow,” because it rhymes with the word ‘go’. A big painting with a little reminder that you are the light at the end of the tunnel.

You may have heard the quotes, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” And, “The light at the end of the tunnel.” And then, Aerosmith said, “There’s something wrong with the world today, the light bulb is getting dim.”

Imagine that we, the humanity as a whole, are that light bulb. Each one of us is a little ball of energy contributing to the brightness. Each one wants something to happen.

But hoping, wishing, waiting, talking, and thinking about what we want doesn’t make anything happen. Any change that we want to happen begins within ourselves first. The only way the light bulb can be brighter is if each one of us becomes a little brighter. It’s a lifelong process.

The best part of all is that you get to decide what all of this means and you get to decide what works for you.

Season’s Greetings! A (gross) greeting card for you.

(But that’s snot how you’re supposed to deck the halls.)

For the past few years, I’ve created a holiday card for you to print and share. This year is no different. Just a little gross.

‘Tis the season to take extra good care of yourself to stay clear of colds or the flu. But if you still really like sharing gross stuff with your family and friends, “Gross Greeting” is available as an easy DIY greeting card:

https://razorberries.com/storage/2012/12/GrossGreeting_Card.pdf

Instructions:
1. Print
2. Cut & fold
3. Write a message
4. Try really hard to make sure that the only type of grossness you might be giving to your loved ones this season is just in the form of this card.

Too busy for DIY?
You can get these cards already made. Order them at RedBubble. Discount of 30% on every order of 16+ cards:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/razorberries/works/9672052-gross-greeting?p=greeting-card

I hope your holidays are happy and healthy!

My 2-year Chicago Anniversary and New Clarity Print

Today marks 2 years since I moved to Chicago and I’d like to celebrate by releasing a new print.


“Clarity”

You’ll find signed prints in my Etsy shop. For unsigned prints, framed prints, Tshirts, hoodies, iPhone cases/skins, totebags, and more check out my shop at Society6.

Moving somewhere may not sound like too big of a deal, but it is to me. It’s part of life’s process and progress. I’ve been trying to move here to Chicago since our plane landed at O’Hare in 1994 and we immigrated from Ukraine to America. I’ve lived in Wisconsin Dells, Galesburg, and Peoria before finally getting here. I love Chicago and so glad to be here. Chicago really feels more like home, a feeling I’ve been missing since moving away from the city I was born in, Kiev.

A lot of things happen in our lives that allow us to realize different types of clarity. Even in just the last 2 years , I’ve really had my share of it, but I’ll save that for other posts. For now, I’d just like to celebrate 🙂

RedBubble!

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of getting together with Martin Hosking, Laurie Briggs, and Peter Tomassi from RedBubble, along with some of the Chicago RedBubble artists. RedBubble is the main website which produces and sell my prints along with thousands of other artists.

And, they came bearing RedBubble swag with my work on it:

Currently, I don’t have any t-shirts on the site, but “Every Bone” looks great on a shirt so I may have to add the t-shirt option there soon.

RedBubble does great work on the products. In addition, their brand colors and their new RB logo naturally fit just right with Razorberries. Awesome coincidence.

After our get together, I went home feeling energized with new ideas. Or, to put it more accurately, my brain was doing the happy dance.