Spring Field Limited Edition of 4 Reduction Linocut Print

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It takes a whole day for me except being a "Minister of Home Affair (MHA)" to complete the print. I just got this "MHA"  new job title from my family members because of the things I do such as chauffeur everyone around to save their traffic time, design daily meal menus and take care of bills and make appointments. It sounds better than "House Wife", isn't it?

Applied the First Color

While making the print, I need constantly to look out to balance the different colored parts and white parts during cutting the lino board.

Since I cut away the color that I want to preserve after applying each color, if there is a big mistake, I cannot reverse it. The print just has to be thrown away. If nothing goes wrong, in the end, the lino board surface is almost cut away flat and all the hard work of previous cuttings are gone. That's why the reductive relief printmaking is also called "suicide printmaking".

Applied the Green Color

Applied the Dark Purple Color

This is a limited edition of 4 prints. The print measures 7 x 12"/17 x 30cm with a boarder for frame.

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I like the texture of the print. Because I use hand to push the papers to make print and that makes uneven texture of the color. I think this is the beauty of hand-pull printmaking.

Spring Field Linocut Printmaking Work In Progess

Lino Board with Drawing Done

I started a new printmaking today about the drawing that I did with my daughter in April.

Sprint Field Drawing

I had made the drawing on lino board with pencil today and started to cut out the white part.

Wild Poppies and Birds Antique Silver Tone Necklace

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I like to make necklaces. They are so adorable, This one is going to be sent for a customer tomorrow. It is made from the print Wild Poppies and Birds.

 

 

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How Silver Necklace looks with a cloth

I am planning to take some photos with a model so that it can show exactly how the necklace will look like in person.

Moonlight Owl Anitque Silver Necklace

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It is just made from the Moonlight Owl print today for a customer order.

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Can Money buy Good Quality Products?

Philips Customer Car Center with the Problem Vacuum Cleaner on the Bench

Finally I have settled down after staying in north America for a long time and be able to concentrate on some art work, but yesterday, my routine suddenly got disrupted.

I bought a SGD$500 Philips vacuum cleaner at the end of May. It was only used for about 15 days considering the long absent in between May and now.  Yesterday, while I was enjoying playing piano with my daughter and planning to do some painting after that, my maid came to told me: "Mame, the vacuum cleaner is not working". I checked the machine and hope to find that there was no problem, only that she forgot to turn on something. But after tweaking here and there, I realized that it was spoil and my whole day was ruined.

Because it is a fairly expensive machine and it was used only for such a short time, I cannot just through it away and buy a new one. I need to send it over as instructed by the customer service officer from Philips and get it repaired. It took me 3 hours to carry the heavy machine to the service center.

There are so many types of vacuum cleaners in the market from about SGD$100 to SGD$600. I thought if I buy expensive one, it will perform better. But actually I found the logic doesn't hold any more now days. Here is another example.

Silver Titus Watch With Crystal Dropped Off

I like Silver Titus watch very much. If I need a new watch for gift or for my own use,  I usually just went to City Chain and got a Silver Titus watch. But last year, I bought a about SGD$250 Silver Titus watch from City Chain and a crystal dropped off and crown became loose only after one month. I couldn't adjust time back to Singapore time after coming back from Germany. The ridiculous thing was that when I went to City Chain store the store men told me that the crystal and crown were all outside parts and they were not included in the warranty. Only after I argued with them for a long time, they agreed to send it to be repaired for free.

Now the watch has 2 more crystals came off and 3 crystals turned to black. I feel so sick to look at it and I just through it away somewhere so that I will never see it again.

It is very confusing now days as which brand is good or bad and who can be trusted. You cannot buy good products just by paying more money.

Luckily Singapore has introduced so called "Lemon Law" and will be effective by September 1. I hope by then, things will get better.

Summer II Reductive Linocut Print

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I am surprised that I have managed to make three prints after coming back from vacation. I love cutting the lino mat.

I worked till 10:30pm last night to finish this Summer II print. Once start working on a piece, I have the urge to finish it. Otherwise, it is very difficult for me to go to sleep.

This is a a long version of lotus flower. It measures 6 x 11.5" /15 x 30cm. I find that the size is very nice for printmaking.

I made four editions of this print.

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Summer Reductive Linocut Print

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I am quite pleased with the result of the prints. The deep minty green is very pretty full of life of summer.

with signature

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Summer Work in Progress

Summer is the time when Lotus are blossom and in their most beautiful moment. I love the minty green leaves with the deep purple and pink flowers.

I made four editions in these reductive lino cut prints. I managed to complete two rounds of color today before it gets too dark to work any more.

One important factor about printmaking is to get the contrast of dark and light color right. The process of making reductive print is normally to print rounds of color on the same image from light to dark. If you cut too much in the beginning, the image will have too much light color. If you didn't cut enough, the image will have too much dark color. It is important to control the cutting while applying the corresponding round of color.

Sunset Lino-cut Print

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This is a reductive lino-cut print. I made limited 2 edition. I love cutting on the lino mat and apply colors one by one. You are looking forward to to see how the image transformed from simple to rich.

First layer of color Yellow

With final black color

 I could have made four editions.  But my working table is a bit small, I am afraid it may not work well on extra editions. I shall try four next time.

Poppy and Lotus Print, North America Trip

Finally it came to the end of the long north America trip for us. I feel so relieved after a really long 20 hour flight. One thing makes me extreme happy is that the two prints Lotus Pond and Poppy were sold while I was in the planes.  I really wish I could have time to concentrate on printmaking. It is such a magical art.

I have been visiting America and Canada for almost 20 days. I have studied in US and went back for numerous business trips and vacations. Every time I went there, I learned and discovered so many new things. We met friends and visit attractions. The trip was full of fun.

One of my friends' beautiful big house.

Very touching Princeton Commencement (Empty seats waiting for the class 2012)

I have never attended a full fledged commencement. This was the first time I attended the 3 day Princeton 2012 Commencement. It was very touching and meaningful experience. I believe wherever the young people go, they will always remember and cherish the blessings from their school expressed in these commencement days.

My Samsung Galaxy Tablet

The rest of days we visit Maryland, Seattle and Vancouver. The difference of this trip from the last ones is that we made all travel arrangement in this Samsung Galaxy tablet. We book hotel, rent car and navigate through America airport, streets and places through the tablet. We no longer make phone calls or look at maps.

The great offline GPS navigating system

The driving is so much easier with GPS system in the tablet. We download a free offline GPS system called Navfree. Google Maps is normally the software for GPS. But it needs constant contact with Internet. Navfree is an offline system. It doesn't require an Internet connection which my tablet doesn't have in USA.

The Internet bookings all worked smoothly except some small hiccups. But they were also gracefully solved by the service providers. I will definitely use Internet to arrange travel next time.

Last but not least, all my shops are open now. I got some new laptop skin materials. I will try to make a new round laptop skin printing test. If everything is fine, the laptop skins will be available within few days.