Happy New Year! A new linocut artwork before the year finishes

At the end of the year I always look through my blog posts and compare with the previous year. This year I think it was quite creative and productive for me. Because I am a self-learner, I did many experiments and learnt many things from my mistakes, and sometimes discovered new things. This is the way I like it! Life is an adventure to enjoy... Happy New Years to  you all!

This week I worked on a new linocut design. "Thursday mood" is the fifth piece of "Mood of the week days" series. I got inspired by a hashtag #TBT which indicates the first letters of "Throw back Thursday". Generally on Thursdays you share an old picture along with this hashtag. Let me tell you about the process; I did the sketch and to reverse the image I used a small Plexiglass board which comes with a light for seeing the lines easier on the back side of the paper (see pic). Afterwards, I transferred the reversed image on the lino sheet with a red ball pen, to transfer all the line art properly (see pic). Once the image was on the sheet, I went over the lines with the red ball pen, in order for all the lines to be fixed. After that, I carved the lino sheet. Once the carving is finished, I decided to check the negative image on a very thin paper with a charcoal stick. This is kind of a pre-proof stage for me. After seeing the result, I went over the lino a little bit more. I did the proof printing, and lastly, I fixed a few more details. 

Work in progress

"Thursday mood" by Birsen Ozbilge, 2016

Original limited edition handmade linocut print

(Edition of 25 only)

Paper size 6" x 8" (16 x 20 cm.)

Image size 4" x 6" (10 x 15 cm.)

Available, click on SHOP

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They must be right saying "Hard work pays off"

Hi everyone, It was another busy week at the studio with creating a new still-life painting, sharing and exchanging many ideas with other pastel and linocut artists from all around the world, filming, video editing and working on a raffle project which will give a chance people to win my artwork and finally updating my online shop on ETSY.  I worked very hard last week and couldn't have a break, even on the weekend, so I am really looking forward for this coming weekend to loosen up a little bit, and have fun with my Spanish family on our traditional Christmas dinner. 

Work in progress

Last week I worked on another festive composition, this time I used oil pastel medium to paint. Last year when we visited Istanbul, my mother gave me a few geranium cuts to take with me. I planted them on my way back and they bloomed so many times since then. Originally my grandmother, who passed away last year, used to have them. So this plant reminds of her memories and I call it grandma's geranium, too like the title. I set the plant into a brass bowl and decorated a little. I wanted to use similar tones as the flower has, so I laid two different kind of scarves to make contrast with each other and with the flower as well. I disregard the details on scarves and worked on the objects instead. One of the complementing object is a KLM's collectible miniature Dutch style house, a porcelain gin bottle, I bought it from Amsterdam 5 years ago for my husband, and yes it has gin in it! The last one is another collectible, a gift from my mother. It's a small glass snow ball with a landmark building called "Maiden's Tower" in the Bosphorus, This one reminds me of my hometown Uskudar in Istanbul. I think it's important for you to know about these objects in order to enjoy the artwork more...  I myself have more attachments with some of my paintings for that reason. 

See you until the next newsletter,  Have a great week! 

Detail

"Grandma's geranuim" by Birsen Ozbilge, 2016

Oil pastel on pastel paper, 29.7 x 21 cm ( 11.7" x 8.3")

If you are interested in to own the original artwork please contact me.

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Let's spread the spirit of Christmas!

Museum visit in Vegueta

In the last few weeks I visited several exhibitions in Las Palmas city. One of them was quite interesting, a homage exhibition to famous Grancanarian Poet Pino Ojeda (1916-2002) in San Martin Centro de Cultura Contemporánea. It was curious to find out that she was a good painter also. She painted abstract landscapes with wonderful textures and powerful abstract paintings (see pic above). There were a few portraits of her painted by other Canarian artists as well. The exhibition will be opened until 19th of February 2017. That's lot of time for planning a nice Vegueta visit. 

Work in progress

The Christmas spirit is all around the island nowadays. Streets and window displays are decorated with holiday ornaments. So, I felt like creating a festive still-life composition with soft pastels. I used Royal & Langnickel brand 48 piece soft pastel set with Rembrandt Artist's quality peach color toned pastel paper. I am using this new soft pastel set and it's pretty good and the pastel paper holds several layers of soft pastel very well, too (see pic below). Enjoy your week and don't forget to spread the spirit of Christmas...

Detail

Merry Christmas by Birsen Ozbilge, 21 x 29.7 cm, soft pastel.

Available as limited edition reproduction print.

12" x 16" on an acid-free heavy-weight matte paper made in USA.

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