The (mis)Adventures of Wade: New Stuff in the Works

Well hello everyone!

It's been awhile since my last post, and I've had a lot of great stuff going on here in the Quad Cities area. I've taken some art classes, checked out some stuff at the Figge, had my first life drawing experience, and have been exposed to a lot of new inspirations. This all translates into some great new ideas. And those new ideas are being materialized into new designs. So far, the new challenges have been incredible, and the results have been fantastic. I just pulled some proofs last week, and they look pretty great. They still need a little fine-tuning, but I can't wait to share them with you!

In Con We TrustStill needs some work, but it's one of the pop-art inspired prints on which I'm currently working.

I have a lot of things in the works right now, and I'm excited about all of it, but I hate to get too far ahead of myself! So first of all, thanks for those of you who have read this blog before and are reading it now. I have a lot of notes that I've been writing to myself about subjects I'd like to discuss on here, so expect new posts more frequently, and some new work as well. Second of all, if you want to stay updated on when there are new blogs coming down the line, when new artwork is on the hook, or if you're just interested in seeing the random things that run through my brain, please follow me on twitter; @CaptGam. I apologize in advance for the occasional mushy tweet between my ladyfriend and myself. I assure you, my clever and oft hilarious tweets more than make up for it. And speaking of the lovely lady, she too is a bit of an artist, so if you're in the market for some handmade jewelry (and the holidays are coming up, so I'm sure some of you are), check out her Etsy site, ClarissaThompson.etsy.com.

But I promise, I didn't just start writing this post to promote us! I also wanted to briefly talk about my creative process a little bit, because a couple people have asked me, "what were you thinking when you made that?" Well, that's a little bit of a complicated question for me, because printmaking is a long process. I spend a lot of time brainstorming a design, making a lot of doodles and quick sketches before even really sitting down and trying to work on a serious design. The process of finalizing a design can take me up to eight hours. Then I transfer it to the block, and the carving takes at least a few hours as well. I usually have fifteen to twenty hours of work in a print before ink is even brought into the process! I'm sure a lot of printers work faster, but everyone's process is a bit different. Anyway, my point is that it's incredibly difficult for me to narrow down "what I was thinking" while making a print. My thoughts on a design evolve while I'm working on it and what it means by the time it becomes a finished print can be completely different than what I was thinking when I started! For those of you who know me, my brain can move a mile a minute, so I think about a lot of things while I'm working, or sometimes it helps me clear my head and I think about nothing. That's part of why I love printmaking.

My process isn't always a neat and clean one. Actually, it never is.

What do you do that's creative, and what kind of process do you have? I'd love to hear about it, so please feel free to leave me a comment. If you like what you read, and you know anyone that you think would also enjoy it, I would appreciate it if you shared my blog with them. And don't forget to check me out on twitter @CaptGam.

Thanks for checking out my blog today everybody. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you're having a great week. See you next time!