caribou and bluebirds

This post features the last spread left to share from my “I Remember You” Art House Co-op sketchbook. In 2011, when completing my “Figuring You Out” sketchbook, I was actually working on my first gocco multi-colored print, the elk and six red cardinals, seen above. While printing the final layer of black, I decided to do a proof print directly into my 2011 sketchbook and then painted it in with watercolor. On the left hand side I placed in a heart patterned paper and wrote the words “I heart gocco” in between the shapes.I have actually been working on a counterpart for this image for almost 6 months now and I luckily had all of my stencils finished in time to incorporate the new image into my 2012 sketchbook as a homage to this above page. I chose to illustrate another mega-fauna with an impressive rack to play host to a half dozen beautiful bluebirds: the caribou. Because I’m not in the screen printing stage just yet, I made a xerox copy of my black stencil and did a solvent transfer of it into my sketchbook. I then used watercolor paints to colour them in. The pattern on the left was digitally altered so that it would match the soft blues of the birds and a strip of graph patterned washi tape seals up the spine.I am looking forward to getting the actual screenprint going. These images may have inspired a new series, as I keep jotting down more and more ideas into my sketchbook based on these two pieces. Keep your eyes peeled for the caribou & bluebirds gocco screenprint in the shop, hopefully by the end of the month. Plus don’t forget that since this is the last spread of the volume left to share, I will be posting about the rebound cover and will also show you a video of me “reading” my sketchbook tomorrow!