COFFEE CUPS:

I'm back in Bergen, and spending most of my time in the art academy. Doing research and tests, preparing for assessment in a couple of weeks.

WANNA PLAY?

My first lino in 7 years or something.

CREATIVE BLOCK:

I have the worst creative block ever, and on top of that I'm homesick! It makes it really hard to get any work done, but at least I've managed to teach myself how to make gif's. And finally got to finish this little stop-motion that I've had in the back of my head a couple of years. (And why did I not do it before, like in iMovie or something, you say? My iMovie stopped working, and I'm not able to fix it!)

NOTION:

A collaboration with Tora Endestad Bjørkheim, during Project Week at WdKA.

MY FIRST LITHO:

From sketch to drawing on the stone - not exactly what I wanted it to look like, since I hardly ever draw anymore.


From test prints to nearly finished print - at this point I was so worn out from rolling the ink over and over again, that I just had to call it a day.

THUMB'S UP FOR LITHOGRAPHY:

Lithography is seriously HARD WORK! My muscles ache, I have a blister on my thumb and all that for 3 prints that are just O.K..
Good work-out at least!

DIGITAL SKETCHING:

Next up in printmaking is lithography - a technique where you draw or paint on a stone. I prepared my stone today, grinding it for over an hour. So I'm a bit anxious to draw on it, knowing that once I start it is impossible to erase it! At least I made a half decent sketch in photoshop, so we'll see how it goes..

PRINTMAKING:

I'm finally here! In Rotterdam, for my exchange at Willem de Kooning Academy. For my minor I'm doing printmaking, which basically means I have one day a week where I get to learn all the printing techniques I want. I started off with silkscreening, since that is something I know - but screenprinting on paper is quite different from printing on textiles. The best thing is, you can get much more detailed images and it is much quicker! Here is my first print:

FINALLY:

After being without my macbook for 11 days, I finally got it back to day! So here comes some photos from the exhibition, at last. All my prints up on the wall, ready for the opening:





The opening was a big success! Thanks to all of you who came, and for all the nice feedback we got.
And for those who still haven't seen it, you can drop by Norsk Trikotasjemuseum (an old knitting-factory!), it will be there until September. And don't forget to take a tour around the museum as well, it's very interesting to see!

FAR OUT ODDITY:

Exhibition with textile, sculpture and installation, by six young artists.
Opening on Friday 28th of May, 5pm
at Norsk Trikotasjemuseum, Salhus, outside of Bergen, Norway.

Hope to see you there!

8 PRINTS:

Finally, 8 prints done! Just need to trim the edges, before they are finished and ready to exhibit!

PREVIEW:

Just a little taste of what I will show at our exhibition. Textile poster, silkscreen printed by hand on linen.
Far Out Oddity opening on Friday 28th of May - An exhibition with textile, sculpture and installation by six young artists!

TEXTILE MEMORIES:

I'm part of a group exhibition called Far Out Oddity, opening on the 28th of May.
So there's lots of things to do! Planning the exhibition, sending out invitations and most importantly - making something to exhibit! This is what I'm working on at the moment, a series of "portraits" showing garments worn by strong women from my own family. I want to use surface patterns that are easy to relate to, in order to connect with the viewer and create new stories.

Just sketches so far!

UPDATE:

I finally got around to updating my website. The "sketchbook"-part is now up and running, so all that remains to finish is the shop. Stay tuned! (although, it might take some time..)

BOOK:

I have applied to go on exchange next semester! Reykjavik, Rotterdam, Groningen and Dublin are the places I might end up going to. The art academy in Reykjavik is number one on my wish-list, and I sent them a printed version of my portfolio. I had been meaning to try out book-binding for quite some time , and decided to give it ago. The portfolio is cut with a great big machine we have in printmaking. It cuts through the entire book at once, saving me a loads of work and time! Then the book is simply glued together in the spine. Easy, and gives an almost perfect result!

CONCRETE:

The course I'm taking now is called Graphic Concrete. It's so different from what I usually do, which is great! We work in groups, and are going to make proposals for outdoor art pieces. If we are lucky, it might even be realized in the end. Anyhow, this is the first test my group made for one of our ideas - the intention is to have the image digitally printed onto glass, before we cast it into concrete blocks and integrate them at the site.

MRS. PETCH:

On Friday we had an open day at the art academy, and I decided to make some prints just for fun! You might remember these sketches that I did during xmas, now I finally got the photo silkscreened onto fabric. I used two screens, one for the rasterized photo and another one for the plain colours. Still, this is just a test-print, not at all the result I'm aiming for.

MY LITTLE PONY:

Just wanted to share this iPod case that I made in December. I silkscreen printed "My little pony" in three layers (one for each colour) on white felt, and made a few of these for xmas presents.

REMEMBER THESE?

Bags by Petch are now for sale again, in one of Bergen's nicest cafés - "Muffin & Hekkel", in Skostredet.
The bags are still only 250 NOK each - made from secondhand fabrics, all one of a kind and handemade with love!

NEW LOOK:

Finally, my BY PETCH blog has a new layout!
Clean, simple and with room for bigger images - hope you enjoy it!

(I'm too lazy to edit all the posts from way back, so if you have a look
through the archive please excuse the small and misplaced photos.)

I'M BACK, STILL SKETCHING:

I'm finally back with a new post! The last weeks of the semester was very busy, I practically lived in the workshop. Now I'm ready to start another semester, and I'm still working on the portrait of my great grandmother Julie. Before xmas I got to do loads of testing, but there is still plenty to research and develop before I know where the project is going.

Sometimes it's really important to take a break from what you are working with, then come back to it and see it with new eyes. That's why I also have several other projects at the same time, like the one you see here. This is a sketch for something I might want to silkscreen print in layers. It's a different way of using photography in my work, by combining elements from several images to one composition.