tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45055182483176422902024-03-05T18:47:32.033+00:00Curiously DrawnAN ONLINE COMPENDIUM OF MY ANIMATION, DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS, PRINTS AND WORK IN PROGRESS, WITH INSPIRATIONAL IMAGES & QUOTES BY ILLUSTRATORS AND ARTISTS OF THE PAST.Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-84511270883420346212012-06-22T11:32:00.002+01:002012-06-22T11:33:27.555+01:00Building up my Portfolio on Behance<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A quick post to let everyone know I'm uploading a lot of my past and present illustration and character design projects to Behance, a great FREE portfolio hosting site.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's the link to </span><a href="http://www.behance.net/MAMason"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">my portfolio</span></a>.<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There'll probably be a lot of my work on there that very few people have seen. I hope you like it.</span>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-91321846182127449912011-06-14T10:10:00.006+01:002011-07-19T09:10:49.043+01:00Japanese Relief Print Ready to Ship<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgswkAN61YtX_POSAsCxYzzCIeqgujUJMXSR3YokkRjd0pqCWYFN4AXe2lhacAEoncAtaTo266jjHw4YIuUwxWBGADnf7ejpn4WsppzrVqakwrGqyH8buKHkzM7V3IbmHP7afoB4tPhu9lG/s1600/shaken+blossoms.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 276px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgswkAN61YtX_POSAsCxYzzCIeqgujUJMXSR3YokkRjd0pqCWYFN4AXe2lhacAEoncAtaTo266jjHw4YIuUwxWBGADnf7ejpn4WsppzrVqakwrGqyH8buKHkzM7V3IbmHP7afoB4tPhu9lG/s400/shaken+blossoms.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630972687868835922" /></a><br /><div><div align="justify"><span >It's been a bit of a rush, and working with paper I'm not used to, which has caused it's own problems, but at last I've got my prints completed, dried, and ready to ship.</span></div><div align="justify"><span >With more time I would have corrected a few things, but generally I'm happy with how it turned out.</span></div><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; ">As I mentioned in my previous post, I've used 4 blocks, but with a second impression on the light grey block in a few areas to create some shading: on the bottom edge of the lighter branch on the left, and on the blossoms.</span><div align="justify"><span >I was using paper I'd never tried before for this print, and despite plenty of proofing I was finding it hard to get a smooth, even spread of colour in some places. It was much more textured than I'm used to.</span></div><span ></span><div align="justify"><span >If you look closely at the black branch, you will find the Kanji characters for 3rd Month (March) and 11th Day hidden in the design, the date of the 9.0 earthquake. The blossom pattern matches the seismic data map for the 12th March of Japan. To me, the sparrow represents the strength of character of the Japanese people in the face of such a terrible event.</span></div><div align="justify"></div></div></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-67730649395873897932011-05-27T15:41:00.007+01:002011-05-27T16:35:48.397+01:00Japanese Earthquake Relief Print<div><div align="justify"><font face="verdana">It's been a while since my last post;</font> <font face="verdana"> 'Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans' John Lennon wrote, and Blogging is what doesn't happen when life does. </font></div><div align="justify"><font face="Verdana">I had to post something about the first of 2 international print projects I'm involved with this year. </font></div><div align="justify"><font face="Verdana">The first is known by 2 names, <a href="http://barenforum.org/japan/index.html">'Inspired by Japan'</a> and <a href="http://www.mercycorps.org/events/2011/04/22/24438">'Relief in Relief'</a>. Click on the links for related web pages.</font></div><div align="justify"><font face="Verdana">Over 60 woodblock printmakers from around the world are submitting prints to raise funds for relief efforts in Japan following the earthquakes and tsunami in March this year.</font></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRqjr6xCfvgnuyeKmbo-_UAZjpQfGVqNCI21UKobm7ohjWqepXSb_fdFYCaQLcizZanf1nuRF8EJrhRKSfJYukDu_Brz0-SFDnYQQ8OUzM4XD0FAtVKjj2FOcLEltXtg37IldWFTBMtS0k/s1600/SBmidgrey.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 400px; height: 300px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611411073616470690" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRqjr6xCfvgnuyeKmbo-_UAZjpQfGVqNCI21UKobm7ohjWqepXSb_fdFYCaQLcizZanf1nuRF8EJrhRKSfJYukDu_Brz0-SFDnYQQ8OUzM4XD0FAtVKjj2FOcLEltXtg37IldWFTBMtS0k/s400/SBmidgrey.jpg" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnlAqPAh_wmAxxSDJH_Bofi4kBLbHtj7XORUVfH96sMeDJp6ZkY-nqJNocy4hkLt4MtGndyJi9qvvI5MAEPZYaHAZkCAFagYlFWfxup1BHbYn7ASxZa2HeE6r8sXenlz4_1gfRhp-LHZ1E/s1600/SBblack.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 400px; height: 300px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611411068226925074" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnlAqPAh_wmAxxSDJH_Bofi4kBLbHtj7XORUVfH96sMeDJp6ZkY-nqJNocy4hkLt4MtGndyJi9qvvI5MAEPZYaHAZkCAFagYlFWfxup1BHbYn7ASxZa2HeE6r8sXenlz4_1gfRhp-LHZ1E/s400/SBblack.jpg" /></a><div align="justify"><font face="Verdana">Here are the blocks for my print, 4 in all, black,mid grey, light grey and pink.</font></div><div align="justify"><font face="Verdana"> </font></div><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIYeNNHx3H6spRn1OaZmUuglCzD34Tgf8v5VesfN5gS1m8FA4QXs4HuMpSviWvBa9MaEWrAW7JoeUAZwBvIWqaMMnUi8ONpX97NNN8i1gAa9Jt-ZbGaBcnW8VomTzXdEn7w0A3XTSdwdgO/s1600/SBlightgrey.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 400px; height: 300px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611411780483774466" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIYeNNHx3H6spRn1OaZmUuglCzD34Tgf8v5VesfN5gS1m8FA4QXs4HuMpSviWvBa9MaEWrAW7JoeUAZwBvIWqaMMnUi8ONpX97NNN8i1gAa9Jt-ZbGaBcnW8VomTzXdEn7w0A3XTSdwdgO/s400/SBlightgrey.jpg" /></a></p><p> </p><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk1bR4-OzQrwnLQJu21LbXKi69Bqp6UyJEcAsxnnV8oF9Q9LMuQJdWNDF5nhLv8X__UdMhkW5BL3m_EZ-27xsRS2YbQMRwMl48mysD27nsS7JCgUInKJP7XXab44bXGbhd7iIq5g1QzFo8/s1600/SBpink.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 400px; height: 300px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611410112235648802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk1bR4-OzQrwnLQJu21LbXKi69Bqp6UyJEcAsxnnV8oF9Q9LMuQJdWNDF5nhLv8X__UdMhkW5BL3m_EZ-27xsRS2YbQMRwMl48mysD27nsS7JCgUInKJP7XXab44bXGbhd7iIq5g1QzFo8/s400/SBpink.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify"><font face="Verdana">The image is inspired by traditional Japanese motifs: sumi painting, nature, cherry blossom etc, and a seismic map I spotted online which showed all the earthquakes and aftershocks in the couple of days after the 9.0 quake.</font></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5cH945i0pZhlanr4Xxs26dwBzp4-J9AXcVlU02faxdyr89H-4aBPRT9SD-Km24vxPODE1J7i29qkaMVmZgqgwwBIv6e64O_vTHAaJwDcmlC3DccO3asfjtVANf6Xfep0IU7dO83pKTZBv/s1600/japan-eq-map.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 400px; height: 293px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611417831747592658" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5cH945i0pZhlanr4Xxs26dwBzp4-J9AXcVlU02faxdyr89H-4aBPRT9SD-Km24vxPODE1J7i29qkaMVmZgqgwwBIv6e64O_vTHAaJwDcmlC3DccO3asfjtVANf6Xfep0IU7dO83pKTZBv/s400/japan-eq-map.jpg" /></a></div><div> </div><div>I need to proof and print my blocks next week in order to hit the deadline, so I'll post some progress reports as I go.</div></div></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-39051777452660845772010-04-22T16:30:00.004+01:002010-04-22T16:41:10.145+01:00'Original Print. How can that be?'<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I'm sometimes asked why I refer to my prints as 'Original Woodblock Prints'. How can a print be original? </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Here's a great little explanation from <a href="http://www.londonprintfair.com/index.html">The London Original Print Fair </a>website.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#666666;"><strong>What is an original Print?</strong><br /><em>An original print is an image produced from a surface on which the artist has worked, such as a stone or wood block or a copper plate. This surface is intended by the artist to be a stage in the creation of the artwork. Thus the original work of art in this case is the print itself rather than the block or plate, from which it is printed.</em><br /></span></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-91881968374353852572010-04-22T16:07:00.009+01:002010-04-22T16:18:55.307+01:00Grace Prints up on Etsy<div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I've got my 4 Grace prints up on Etsy at last. Here they are...</span></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhdg4MittwP7lHcnEyOx1D0wN-OkEnr1WV6xxY3oyic4p1aqwkvrKxRVCzk6muKApM2bk_pvDdIYpGPzNdtauNw2P4hdBR91FFB_3JIVYnAuNLx7i-2fhXTuY0DjHfV1n0Tpc-BdcIHEge/s1600/gpmeadow.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 289px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462980234871649186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhdg4MittwP7lHcnEyOx1D0wN-OkEnr1WV6xxY3oyic4p1aqwkvrKxRVCzk6muKApM2bk_pvDdIYpGPzNdtauNw2P4hdBR91FFB_3JIVYnAuNLx7i-2fhXTuY0DjHfV1n0Tpc-BdcIHEge/s400/gpmeadow.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmU83WpJR3Ve06K3OGp7sKtrwO-ZMcblQiHbHS8uGsY6rsvQ6GTG225ljlpJIjjLN-fdko1teSFsxxiHkW07zrmNIFF1v25aYYDpCDSg0iSpMkoF1SbgG5QCQifBCyAVckwAptNZPwuSch/s1600/gpIris.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 291px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462979978436620514" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmU83WpJR3Ve06K3OGp7sKtrwO-ZMcblQiHbHS8uGsY6rsvQ6GTG225ljlpJIjjLN-fdko1teSFsxxiHkW07zrmNIFF1v25aYYDpCDSg0iSpMkoF1SbgG5QCQifBCyAVckwAptNZPwuSch/s400/gpIris.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0TFM1ScCQbd8Z_toCrgOLp8AG95B7h93z2w1sxpC8U1il_ui2WarTsFan_LfFCINGgDlZmmzeLxQjT6C_vfSaLCk1-9UJeeL6kZs6CvIV7pluU3xcBdgsQzcukGFgWyj9c_kDVVVOicb6/s1600/gpChrys.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 296px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462979810756072562" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0TFM1ScCQbd8Z_toCrgOLp8AG95B7h93z2w1sxpC8U1il_ui2WarTsFan_LfFCINGgDlZmmzeLxQjT6C_vfSaLCk1-9UJeeL6kZs6CvIV7pluU3xcBdgsQzcukGFgWyj9c_kDVVVOicb6/s400/gpChrys.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdcQS1nNsM9qcX0bSRH8lAzbloAZQgkIcFj24sJkphMNcKmjYW7qMaSlLno3E6wBtiWx1DqLg3dc3Ka9IQy3hTUkmb9QtmcqAH1y94tz0hW_ViKutTWir178q3gpwM5a-9johgTqb5jtop/s1600/gpBlossms.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 290px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462979637735025010" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdcQS1nNsM9qcX0bSRH8lAzbloAZQgkIcFj24sJkphMNcKmjYW7qMaSlLno3E6wBtiWx1DqLg3dc3Ka9IQy3hTUkmb9QtmcqAH1y94tz0hW_ViKutTWir178q3gpwM5a-9johgTqb5jtop/s400/gpBlossms.jpg" /></a> </div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">For more info, check out my </span><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/MarkMason"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Etsy Shop</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">.</span></div></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-28445176666208824752010-02-11T16:58:00.011+00:002010-02-12T11:42:32.744+00:00New Print completed<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZA9djpj7BwYMWzOlMgVyD4mk-aBxy-vxTmrsjETVdwVc-AJCxsbUUNLMbHz8HxB5aeKAdwcW9O50-RtKMRAlwxEDhv8ZAgTk-8pc94P2N4c-kP9ukp-3FlAvTnK0nP-2SjhBg0WyXU6hS/s1600-h/Sparrow+and+Camillia.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 166px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437311138786162818" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZA9djpj7BwYMWzOlMgVyD4mk-aBxy-vxTmrsjETVdwVc-AJCxsbUUNLMbHz8HxB5aeKAdwcW9O50-RtKMRAlwxEDhv8ZAgTk-8pc94P2N4c-kP9ukp-3FlAvTnK0nP-2SjhBg0WyXU6hS/s400/Sparrow+and+Camillia.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm just about to start trimming and packaging my next print.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">It's based on a simple Hiroshige print I came across in a book I have, which I reduced down and played around with in Photoshop before pasting it onto the blocks to carve. On the original print, the sparrow was printed the same red colour as the flower petals. I've changed it to something a little more 'sparrowy'.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">There are 4 magnolia blocks in this print, the black key block, red, grey and one block which had the brown and deep red seal. The black and grey block are both printed with sumi ink.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">The image is approx. 6x16cms (2.5x6 inches) and is one of my smallest, but most finely detailed prints to date. The edition will be around 50 or 60.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm pleased with the result as this was a real learning exercise for me. I wanted to do some tight, detailed work and get a really even finish to the printing of the colours. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">This print has taken me some way up that very long and interesting path.</span></div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'll be doing more prints which are based on Japanese images in the future (how better to learn the process than by following the experts?) but for now, I want to create some new designs based on the landscape and wildlife around my home town in the Ribble Valley. The public response I've got from prints based on my own designs as opposed to 're-creations' of old images has given me the confidence to work on my own ideas. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">My re-working of existing images, mainly from old Japanese woodblock print ehon (picture books) has been a kind of correspondance course across the centuries, and I'll always return to them to learn, reproduce prints and to seek out endless pleasure and inspiration. There really is nothing to compare to these humble looking little books in the West. Here, there has always been some kind of mental block to the idea of a book which is completely devoid of words. It's an alien concept to most people, sadly.</span></div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm sure the Japanese influence will still be visible in my new prints too though. As other European and American printmakers and artists discovered towards the end of the 19th and start of the 20th Century, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">once you've exposed yourself to the amazing breadth, vibrancy, energy and quality of Japanese woodblock print images it's impossible to see the world around you in the same way again. A bit like looking at the sun too long, but it a really good way.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Before that though, I need to print up my <a href="http://curiouslydrawn.blogspot.com/2009/11/grace-prints-proofing.html">Grace Prints</a>. The blocks are waiting, the proofs are done. I just need to set aside a day or two to print the edition.</span></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-6721775487449712172009-11-13T11:19:00.003+00:002009-11-13T11:30:14.007+00:00What's all this stuff?<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Regular visitors to my blog may have noticed a few Amazon gadgets appearing. I hope you don't mind.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've decided to add these to help all the people who email me to ask about what animation or woodblock printing reference books I would recommend.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">At the top of the page are a range of really good and easily available books on woodblocks, and at the botton of the page is a slideshow of animation books, DVDs and CDs which I'd recommend to anyone wanting to learn how to animate. These are all items which I own personally and feel should be a part of any animator's or woodblock printmaker's library.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">There are also more obscure, and out of print books which I would also recommend, but the ones I've highlighted are a great start.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'll be updating my choices as new books appear, so keep checking in.</span></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-79975988363410112712009-11-13T11:12:00.002+00:002009-11-13T11:19:12.024+00:00Ribble Valley Art Open Exhibition UpdateJust a quick one.<br />The framed copy of my 'Ribble Valley Winter View' sold on the opening day of the exhibition!<br />I'm very pleased, and I hope the purchaser will be too. I'm selling unframed copies of the print in the Gallery/Museum shop.Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-32210111689422972022009-11-13T10:34:00.008+00:002009-11-13T11:12:16.430+00:00Grace Prints - Proofing<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiT40rvuMjOi8c1F_hbeUWI0E4iZ_Nm9IqI51t4YfgHmhBFVoxJsNSEwE6J3X69EuGWb7Kzjsjf8LBJGrwG_oG4CWdpYyeCsJrF3GecRU-wQ3hFKyIwA6TMQgaNW8NweBlqmp3D6FzrxTC/s1600-h/GracePinkandBlueProof01.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 278px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403541887945131346" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiT40rvuMjOi8c1F_hbeUWI0E4iZ_Nm9IqI51t4YfgHmhBFVoxJsNSEwE6J3X69EuGWb7Kzjsjf8LBJGrwG_oG4CWdpYyeCsJrF3GecRU-wQ3hFKyIwA6TMQgaNW8NweBlqmp3D6FzrxTC/s400/GracePinkandBlueProof01.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div align="justify">I've just completed a day of proofing on my next set of prints, prior to final printing.</div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinSKJHEFZALt0JxFWmWc8apW61lHd-8np5kTtCmiNxaYAcywm9CSnwSH58Api2iIVAP0lDCM6SEz-7gGndyGxzFO-ic7Vfi7kjvHKRu2YM8fFeLakNVEZifyG8rEBttxFn3PCADnQ-d5tQ/s1600-h/GracePinkProof01.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403542147929096770" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinSKJHEFZALt0JxFWmWc8apW61lHd-8np5kTtCmiNxaYAcywm9CSnwSH58Api2iIVAP0lDCM6SEz-7gGndyGxzFO-ic7Vfi7kjvHKRu2YM8fFeLakNVEZifyG8rEBttxFn3PCADnQ-d5tQ/s400/GracePinkProof01.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div align="justify">The images here are of all the blocks printed together to check registration, but I've also printed proofs of all the colours separately to make sure there are no stray areas of block which are catching the paper and leaving ink marks. So it's been a case of print a little, then knives out and clear a little.</div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCLOZ_kD6Fq86GmTNrjGgw_-KG9HVfaRTeUqwWvHvKka2v4MCnstJVpFFp6UZScik9jkTJgh02Vn3GeKxeL5qSuQj-KlCYT00WjfYwb3r781XzGGGzN-YgPBeDTtMSlFwpDHGPM95UPrN0/s1600-h/GraceBlueProof02.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403542642868534162" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCLOZ_kD6Fq86GmTNrjGgw_-KG9HVfaRTeUqwWvHvKka2v4MCnstJVpFFp6UZScik9jkTJgh02Vn3GeKxeL5qSuQj-KlCYT00WjfYwb3r781XzGGGzN-YgPBeDTtMSlFwpDHGPM95UPrN0/s400/GraceBlueProof02.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><div align="justify">Because the images are very clear and open (even simple, in a way) I've had to do more proofing than I've done on other prints. A mistake on such an airy image would really stand out, and I want to keep rejected prints to an absolute minimum, so proofing is time well spent.</div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjiuPEcARqHinoB7O2vXW0JReVEv1V8eBcddvJberM9TULn8o6zmJCHaHEBdEsk76fdiZpvIg9RJEuGNhmpJ3OPPkZzMCH8zO_-D089Fhq3_IRSm6BO5itAViQDCTIKrt_EyiveDTUcRY/s1600-h/GraceBlueProof01.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403542496457308050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjiuPEcARqHinoB7O2vXW0JReVEv1V8eBcddvJberM9TULn8o6zmJCHaHEBdEsk76fdiZpvIg9RJEuGNhmpJ3OPPkZzMCH8zO_-D089Fhq3_IRSm6BO5itAViQDCTIKrt_EyiveDTUcRY/s400/GraceBlueProof01.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><div align="justify">I'm only using 2 colours and black for all these prints. The 2 tones of Ultramarine and Cadmium Red are being mixed directly on the blocks prior to each print. The lighter tones use much less pigment, but it's coming from exactly the same paint bowl as the darker tone. On previous prints I would have pre-mixed 2 shades of each colour in my paint bowls for each block.</div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge4rFvJrgBHtfNR3y8yy1U_SPCzOhcxzSG1uAmxa5wlTvsif31Qp0kJji7aX7Vc_HZSL1UjsJWb7ZTRXfmoUclBWCQZirCtSNSfdMHfNIvv22PFTxSMNt1RycK8yqMdffeoFrO8YDL5tJr/s1600-h/GracePinkProof02.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403542317148563778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge4rFvJrgBHtfNR3y8yy1U_SPCzOhcxzSG1uAmxa5wlTvsif31Qp0kJji7aX7Vc_HZSL1UjsJWb7ZTRXfmoUclBWCQZirCtSNSfdMHfNIvv22PFTxSMNt1RycK8yqMdffeoFrO8YDL5tJr/s400/GracePinkProof02.jpg" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><div align="justify">The reason for this change in technique is thanks to David Bull's new eBook on woodblock printing, <a href="http://mokuhankan.com/catalogue/0057.shtml">'My First Print'</a>. Don't be mislead by the title though. Even if you're long since passed your first print, there is a wealth of information on woodblock printing techniques for printmakers of all levels, and especially those who, like me, have learnt all they know so far only from books and the internet.</div><br /><br /><div align="justify">Dave's eBook contains video demonstrations and audio files, as well as written info and images, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this field, collector or printmaker.</div><br /><br /><div align="justify">I've realised I need to undo some bad techniques I've developed by not having a tutor to guide my learning.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div align="justify">I also had the honour to collaborate with Dave in a small way by creating some illustrations for the eBook using a cartoon version of Boots the Print Studio Cat which I designed for him.</div><br /><div>More of that in another post.</div></div></div></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-19463632589838814082009-10-20T20:55:00.004+01:002009-10-20T21:50:11.885+01:00Print and Sculpture in Exhibition<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Recently I submitted a couple of woodblock prints and a sculpture for selection in the first Ribble Valley Open Exhibition. The exhibition is open to all artists of any media, the only criteria being that the artist be resident in the Ribble Valley area. (You'd be surprised how many there are!)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I received notification about a month ago that one of my prints, <a href="http://curiouslydrawn.blogspot.com/2008/12/christmas-print.html">'Ribble Valley Winter View'</a>, which some of you out there received as my Christmas print last year, and my sculpture 'Resting Figure' had both been selected for exhibiting.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">My winter view print has been doing very well for itself, and is now in it's second edition of 60 prints. (I'm not a big fan of artificially limiting my prints to force the price up. Prints are a democratic medium, and as such, should be printed and priced with the same philosophy.)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I was asked if it could be featured in an article in the English language Japanese magazine, 'Japan Close Up' . They wanted to do a piece on foreign artists who were inspired by Japanese art, and found me on Etsy!</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Susan Ashworth, of the Lancashire Museums Organisation (co-curators of the Ribble Valley Open)which manage all the museums and art galleries which fall within Lancashire County Council's responsibility called me a couple of weeks ago to ask if they could buy a copy of the print for the Lancashire Museums' permanent collection, which was great. I now have one of my prints in the collection of Lancashire's art gallery archives. I'm happy to admit it quite made my day! When Susan arrived to collect the print, she also bought one for herself, and mentioned that they're considering printing a postcard or Christmas card of the image at some time in the future.</span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijFomtDR2yhXxF-FBAedT3H40ZdNLT6Bg0ic9S3FuH0kvp0X5sVF0iuBLkuvZaqPRd2tI9TkqdNFnEESGRn7ndisPijpXr1mBz3MP-64dqCQtdhRJJaOZeW_nXlBDjOjZv3QrXPMyuAzYs/s1600-h/Inspiredleafletfront.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 291px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394773900733205682" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijFomtDR2yhXxF-FBAedT3H40ZdNLT6Bg0ic9S3FuH0kvp0X5sVF0iuBLkuvZaqPRd2tI9TkqdNFnEESGRn7ndisPijpXr1mBz3MP-64dqCQtdhRJJaOZeW_nXlBDjOjZv3QrXPMyuAzYs/s400/Inspiredleafletfront.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicYP9rcsD2QOPGKroZqEnlkBwUHpnSjyztRzPXhPPBEbkvglUO_rnd3S6jDBsJoMLWH-E_c-COIgbot2ZS8hFuescbwJMhV33elRezI7Fn70oehZV8rJXW3Smhf-3IPTmQ9z-jgKK9N4LH/s1600-h/Inspiredleafletback.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 284px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394773692706921890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicYP9rcsD2QOPGKroZqEnlkBwUHpnSjyztRzPXhPPBEbkvglUO_rnd3S6jDBsJoMLWH-E_c-COIgbot2ZS8hFuescbwJMhV33elRezI7Fn70oehZV8rJXW3Smhf-3IPTmQ9z-jgKK9N4LH/s400/Inspiredleafletback.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've included a copy of the back and front of the poster/leaflet for the exhibition. The sculpture in the image is mine. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">It's made from cast concrete (about 12 inches high and very heavy) and patinated to look like bronze. The sculpture was originally created in clay, from which a 2 piece plaster mould was created. The clay was scooped out, and the mould cleaned, before very carefully pouring a finely mixed concrete into it. When the concrete has dried, the plaster mould is very carefully chipped away to free the cast sculpture which is cleaned and finished.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">The technique results in only one sculpture from the waste mould, and the clay original is also destroyed during the process which makes the finished sculpture a unique one off.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I have one framed copy of the print in the exhibition for sale, and 50 unframed woodblock prints from the same edition packaged for sale in the Museum/Gallery shop. The exhibition runs all the way through until the 10th of January next year, so I'm hoping some of the visitors would like the print as a little Christmas stocking filler.</span></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-45964872290422247332009-09-30T19:58:00.009+01:002009-10-01T11:18:33.413+01:00Key Blocks Completed for New Prints<div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've just finished cutting the key blocks for my next set of prints.</span> </div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigWJTHJX_bYq9E9v3u3Fi_cDpCRgwxaPlDUuNDLvzdDK1vvXJGIEYUjzjxB7z55y3XyBi0haH43ac_EcJKe40TgQw-Yxq2x2oLYukuKf2mgHhrsun9OoiXumOkAaNC0BmTmvjXLITvTO8Z/s1600-h/GraceBlock02.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387571917138087858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigWJTHJX_bYq9E9v3u3Fi_cDpCRgwxaPlDUuNDLvzdDK1vvXJGIEYUjzjxB7z55y3XyBi0haH43ac_EcJKe40TgQw-Yxq2x2oLYukuKf2mgHhrsun9OoiXumOkAaNC0BmTmvjXLITvTO8Z/s400/GraceBlock02.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've decided, for personal family reasons to call them 'The Grace Quartet' and they're closely based on images I found on the internet from an 1860's Japanese woodblock print book of pictures attributed to Hiroshige. The images are certainly in his style, but whether they were actually by him, I'm not sure.</span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1nrAx6CtuG5q49wNmYAUlrPg3R9VagIIGNwCEJTs7bjpkVVQziTwF0J5UFutQtb_ZULD4ipz9kKlkx1_g6n3M8jiV0trVJ6ksVkEGbdiTOYQVPdQVZBE_NjUszGbFCmUhGGIEVER-cyb/s1600-h/GraceBlock01.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387571658240699442" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1nrAx6CtuG5q49wNmYAUlrPg3R9VagIIGNwCEJTs7bjpkVVQziTwF0J5UFutQtb_ZULD4ipz9kKlkx1_g6n3M8jiV0trVJ6ksVkEGbdiTOYQVPdQVZBE_NjUszGbFCmUhGGIEVER-cyb/s400/GraceBlock01.jpg" /></a> <div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">As you'll be able to see from the photo of the colour blocks, which I'm now starting to clear, the images are fairly monochrome, either blue or peach. The blue irises will have a large graduated tone in the background.</span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiUE-uAociscuUoQJRjnkvRtB1ViYBbY1_NYsuYXy3nYP0zFmGMLhUQ9x7Mvd1NR3pxrM06GSGivTzur81B5vLt_2TxJxjUMwtDdQpI0QDQdufSe3qkjaCUp3RusdCEBnP2HdD5Yd4c-z4/s1600-h/GraceBlock03.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387572073906404882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiUE-uAociscuUoQJRjnkvRtB1ViYBbY1_NYsuYXy3nYP0zFmGMLhUQ9x7Mvd1NR3pxrM06GSGivTzur81B5vLt_2TxJxjUMwtDdQpI0QDQdufSe3qkjaCUp3RusdCEBnP2HdD5Yd4c-z4/s400/GraceBlock03.jpg" /></a> <div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Each of the 4 prints are approx 5 x 7 inches, and as you can see, I'll be printing 2 images at once, something which I do quite often as it's a good economical use of materials and time. It was also common practice in Japan where a block could contain a number of individual prints which would be cut down later.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Spare time has been thin on the ground this year for printmaking, but I'm hoping to get this set completed in the next month or so. Then it's on to my annual Christmas/Winter print. I'll post some really good news about my 2008 Christmas print in the next few days.</span></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-25735125196036361262009-09-10T12:02:00.007+01:002009-10-02T22:12:49.162+01:00Grandad's Japanese Painting<span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqbQWJv91hgR8Iy5E1AJHfTJybKQJoEDrOH1tmN75PHq_giGCq01oxL31FKWvInZo41KDx-6J6JrEgfuo9Wq0MMLWTr9JI40rhQ9L3OdtCsF6IXyZBQ7tQHqN0WdU_TjnBlDvx4Hzs4oKj/s1600-h/GrandadsJapanesePainting02.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379797899985035042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqbQWJv91hgR8Iy5E1AJHfTJybKQJoEDrOH1tmN75PHq_giGCq01oxL31FKWvInZo41KDx-6J6JrEgfuo9Wq0MMLWTr9JI40rhQ9L3OdtCsF6IXyZBQ7tQHqN0WdU_TjnBlDvx4Hzs4oKj/s400/GrandadsJapanesePainting02.jpg" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">I think I mentioned in an earlier post that my late Grandad, Stanley Mason had an interest in Japanese art. I didn't really know about this until recently when I was talking to my Dad about him, and the pictures I remembered hanging in his house. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">One of those was one which I was suprised to hear he had painted himself in the late 1950's. It's now owned by my Cousin, but she was kind enough to email me a copy, which you can see here.</span></div><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimm0w56Solienx-iTNXJ0Vp8TP0cy5hFPqatPcht3GsGKZ2Exu_KeXSTKw_ZrM9-nw78o97EHSC-4twF-vILRrQcvKZuPUW90R-Hkq9T8gftivDqPCa03VgnORcKCUC6VyJE8Mpc8GxmcI/s1600-h/GrandadsJapanesePainting01.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379795055374057346" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimm0w56Solienx-iTNXJ0Vp8TP0cy5hFPqatPcht3GsGKZ2Exu_KeXSTKw_ZrM9-nw78o97EHSC-4twF-vILRrQcvKZuPUW90R-Hkq9T8gftivDqPCa03VgnORcKCUC6VyJE8Mpc8GxmcI/s400/GrandadsJapanesePainting01.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />I've been told he was friends with a Japanese gentleman he knew in Liverpool at the time (I wish I could trace him) who helped him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">He also took a lot of landscape photos, mainly in the Lake District and wanted his compositions to have a Japanese style to them (most probably Hiroshige) and as such never wanted people to be looking into the camera, but rather looking into and responding to the landscape around them. Much to the annoyance of my Granny, apparently.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So, the question arises, is there any connection between my Grandad's interest in Japanese art and mine? Is it just a coincidence? Lot's of people who aren't related to me obviously like it; but is there, perhaps, something in the way my Grandad's brain and mine that made us almost predisposed to be attracted to Japanese art and prints, and for us both to want to create our own art based on it?</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I don't know. I have a vague, unformed theory of something I call Hereditary Memory. Memories or feelings, which, like physical and mental attributes are perhaps passed through the generations. The reason why some people feel inexplicably called to the sea or the countryside because our ancestors were probably either farmers or fishermen. My Grandad's father was a printer and print compositor as well.</span></p><span style="font-family:verdana;">My Grandad was a fascinating man. While living in Liverpool he was very closely involved with the Folk music clubs and, so I have been told, played a part in Paul Simon's first UK visit as a young unknown singer songwriter. My cousin has a set of old reel to reel recordings of Paul Simon's performances in the Folk clubs which I've never heard.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">In Paul Simon's song, 'Homeward Bound' (which he wrote while sitting at Widnes Railway Station during that first UK tour) are the lines '...every step is carefully planned for a poet and a one-man band...' and I like to think he's refering to my Grandad there. It's also slightly amusing to think that my Grandad played a part in making Paul Simon miserable enough to write that song!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Curiously, here's a print from a Japanese woodblock print book I saw online recently which looks just like my Grandad.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYPl6-Hv1jVjubEe7BrbaxYKR8YLRuRj7Ood5YdESrsNcixRtFn-Sm9mF7MhWntDwX6OkhlztR7nDdOU1__w_KRRWS0XBc_yGNgxRK5n9J9ETKlYkurbGb7n47FxPC4jJmXce4JATCNwpn/s1600-h/293965767_o.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 297px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379804690254509170" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYPl6-Hv1jVjubEe7BrbaxYKR8YLRuRj7Ood5YdESrsNcixRtFn-Sm9mF7MhWntDwX6OkhlztR7nDdOU1__w_KRRWS0XBc_yGNgxRK5n9J9ETKlYkurbGb7n47FxPC4jJmXce4JATCNwpn/s400/293965767_o.jpg" /></a><br /><p></p>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-39426103510471010732009-09-10T11:16:00.003+01:002009-09-10T12:02:03.947+01:00Woodblock Print Cost Calculator<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">One of the biggest questions for anyone produces artwork is 'how much do I charge?'</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">With animation the answer is always, 'How long is a piece of string?'</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">There are a myriad of things which can alter the cost of animation: complexity of design or action, illustration style and deadlines are just really the tip of the iceberg. You need as much information from the client as possible in order to calculate the cost.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">With woodblock printing it's a little different. You have the materials, your time and what you consider your artistic worth.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So, how much do you charge for a print? What is the break even point where, even if you don't make a profit, you can cover the cost of materials and your time?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I wanted to work this out in a way that I can apply to all the prints I've produced to date, and the ones in the pipeline, and so I've put together an Excel spreadsheet 'Woodblock Print Calculator'.</span><br /><br /><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0suHG_qqyMzwqq11nQDG4JPJsUvO0NYiNqbY9jXRUiTuQZEmvQo7R38nqz29t_SHbr_v3HgtiVTEKcL7aWKzXuvKdmPRRz3zCR4F9GAWYcVp_IM3nnBVw7AoF6oAdK1PF67lZuCsXSZ6/s1600-h/Calc+grab.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 356px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379784083954315618" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0suHG_qqyMzwqq11nQDG4JPJsUvO0NYiNqbY9jXRUiTuQZEmvQo7R38nqz29t_SHbr_v3HgtiVTEKcL7aWKzXuvKdmPRRz3zCR4F9GAWYcVp_IM3nnBVw7AoF6oAdK1PF67lZuCsXSZ6/s400/Calc+grab.jpg" /></a> <div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Here's a screen grab of part of the first page.</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I've tailored it to work the way I work, which I've standardised to make the packaging and shipping of prints easier. At the moment my prints either fit A4 or A5 cello bags, although the actual print size may vary.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">As you can see, I can enter the title of the print, how many prints I intend to produce, how many blocks I will use, and how many colours (or impressions) there will be.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">An 'A5 Twin' is my name for 2 prints cut on the same set of blocks, which cost less to produce than 2 A5 prints on separate blocks.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Based on this information and prices of blocks, paper and other materials which I've added, the spreadsheet works out the actual cost of materials to produce an edition, and a single print. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">It will also work out my packaging costs, and my labour costs (based on any yearly income and hours you input) for the whole process from design to slipping the finished print into the cello bag.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">It's taken a while to work out the formulas in Excel which run in the background, but I can now accurately cost every print I produce, even down to adding a % profit mark-up and including VAT.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The good thing is that I can continue to add new materials to include in the calculations and update any changes in material costs with one click, and the spreadsheet will recalculate all the totals.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I've also added a 'Reprint?' button, which, if you enter 'y' (yes) will remove any of the materials and labour costs related to design, cutting blocks, creating hanshita etc.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Sheet 2 of the calculator is a 1 page summary of all the total calculations which you can print off as a handy reference.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I'm pretty confident that I've got all my calculations right, and the Woodblock Calculator does work for me. I suppose this is Version 1.0 and in the future I'll add extra bits. I'm sure any woodblock printer with basic knowledge of Excel (or a friend of a printer!) could tailor it to suit their work practices too.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">If you'd like a copy, let me know and I'll email the Excel file.</span></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-84815829535037004422009-04-27T13:07:00.004+01:002009-04-27T14:17:34.348+01:00Save Kids TV<span style="font-family:verdana;">Please have a look at this...</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><p align="center"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QQUu3A3gAjE&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QQUu3A3gAjE&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></p><p align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;">...and then spend a little time at <a href="http://www.savekidstv.org.uk/">Save Kids TV</a></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Production of children's TV in the UK has been going through a rough time recently, and the muddy grey cloud of economic gloom hasn't helped either. Look closely at a lot of the shows around at the moment, are they really UK produced shows? There are a lot of obviously imported shows from the US and abroad, but there are a lot of kids shows that may look like they come from the UK, but are actually produced abroad. Just because the voices sound like they come from the UK, don't assume that all the animation or the animation production company comes from the UK. </span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Where are the UK made children's programmes and animation that ooze and smell of the UK? I'm ashamed to say that you won't find many, or any on the UK tv channels.</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I love animation, and I love creating stories for our children. In the past UK TV company executives had the confidence to let creative programme makers get on with what they were good at. There was trust, and there was a feeling that it was important to reflect our little UK world to our children to make them feel more like a part of it. The daft things, the eccentricities of life on our little island, the weird little things we do here that no-one else in the world does. Not the big bland pan global beige stuff that saturate our screens.</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Culturally significant children's animation shows are much more important to developing a sense of connection and belonging to your home country than most people realise.</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Our view of the world and how we fit in is shaped by the things we're exposed to as a child, even more so now with today's children and the broadcast media they're exposed to. There's nothing wrong with viewing the big wide world, but it matters that a child knows the feel and smell of it's own doorstep. Children's TV in the UK should be the secure home doorstep from which they can look out on the world. UK Children's TV made wholly by UK programme makers is vital to our children's understanding of who they are.</span></p>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-41065089191708345002009-04-27T13:00:00.003+01:002009-04-27T13:07:35.111+01:00Children's TV Campaign<p align="center"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kaZ3tL09TGA&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kaZ3tL09TGA&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">This is a recent</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">film to highlight the problem faced by programme makers by the Government's change of policy regarding advertising around children's television, and how children's TV, and in particular animation, has been affected by it. </span></p>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-28093274376162843342009-02-06T21:24:00.014+00:002009-02-06T22:13:34.916+00:00Elmer Fudd & Bugs Bunny's ancestors<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><u><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#810081;"></span></u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisOuOgphzA3hiWR1AnBxy-NXuFJKm-Ya7ROms0JmY8vbuIszBw4Ol_tKiV_zyRF3ukMPffdiHdgEV5d3DF1YLMf7X8wqI2QyhgGQ-bxOi0oZqsz62mLgrmGEEb99be5akUfLJt9zhidWd6/s1600-h/strewlcover.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299799202934239810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 307px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisOuOgphzA3hiWR1AnBxy-NXuFJKm-Ya7ROms0JmY8vbuIszBw4Ol_tKiV_zyRF3ukMPffdiHdgEV5d3DF1YLMf7X8wqI2QyhgGQ-bxOi0oZqsz62mLgrmGEEb99be5akUfLJt9zhidWd6/s400/strewlcover.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">If you ever get the chance to read a copy of STRUWWELPETER by Heinrich Hoffmann you will be richly rewarded. Not only are the cautionary tales, originally written and illustrated in 1844 by Hoffmann for his 3 yr old son, amusing in themselves, but it becomes quickly apparent how much they have influenced popular culture ever since. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlIhBFX2dpWK9mHFtw9KE7gLDtG-Eu_AxopI2BZCNp28NLTDkQ_FGf69I4H8bWoG0WIM9uoEjnPDb1HOuvcqi4bzrw5p5v49q58KsOgaYzpmF_Iu91LEGF8cR2AEWIyCMBkcFp-DIW4_fb/s1600-h/strewlbugs01.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299798702293757250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlIhBFX2dpWK9mHFtw9KE7gLDtG-Eu_AxopI2BZCNp28NLTDkQ_FGf69I4H8bWoG0WIM9uoEjnPDb1HOuvcqi4bzrw5p5v49q58KsOgaYzpmF_Iu91LEGF8cR2AEWIyCMBkcFp-DIW4_fb/s400/strewlbugs01.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Where would Tim Burton be if it wasn't for Shock Headed Peter with his wild hair and long twig-like finger nails and Conrad, the boy who wouldn't stop sucking his thumbs and had them chopped off by "the great, long, red legged scissor-man"? (What Hoffmann's 3yr old son thought of that, history does not recall.)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihFYw64I791iw5XHn_MuZtqSDBhLJO9qQOeje4u0Q6gd_ilvv-_knI3NuINwcHZraDPfAeF36pY9hH016uPBz76eZOOxH-NEU2sLTGktQhc5A_7rHfSJiNZ5-e4KXr-KQwga5F3gXeuTRI/s1600-h/strewlbugs02.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299798803710856338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 226px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihFYw64I791iw5XHn_MuZtqSDBhLJO9qQOeje4u0Q6gd_ilvv-_knI3NuINwcHZraDPfAeF36pY9hH016uPBz76eZOOxH-NEU2sLTGktQhc5A_7rHfSJiNZ5-e4KXr-KQwga5F3gXeuTRI/s400/strewlbugs02.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">But most interesting for me is the story of the wabbit... sorry, rabbit... who turns the tables on the hunter, a theme harking back to the Middle Ages and forward directly to the emergence of the Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny partnership in the late 1930's and early 1940's.</span><br /><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqD57Z1D-kJzxsnNuijT0SDEMxcqFPnBpHATgemTweSkoGdWe-4gjElJkEcUakU8BHdr5R9CojhevhOyMZ3FTkPvPXBi_siOhW2D_ewmcLBkNQQSNkWyFKmwLaTXFXdI1qmtIiTeCjScu/s1600-h/OldElmer.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299798994655855394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqD57Z1D-kJzxsnNuijT0SDEMxcqFPnBpHATgemTweSkoGdWe-4gjElJkEcUakU8BHdr5R9CojhevhOyMZ3FTkPvPXBi_siOhW2D_ewmcLBkNQQSNkWyFKmwLaTXFXdI1qmtIiTeCjScu/s400/OldElmer.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Struwwelpeter would have been a well known children's book by the Warner animators as it was translated into many languages, and not forgetting the large number of German immigrants who's children may have carried their favourite book across the Atlantic with them.</span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZtrq89h4Q9-lQC08LoCs8IUR_J1BOg60bAoZcfv5ZYoKrSuSgajgf2mhuAp7uQICX0w4ZzvoZmBaM0rJ48dsk0H1uP8FJGkHxlZaDQZHJXmWta7IDKGN19qe2a1YuO8BBUadN57tTbXDg/s1600-h/strewlbugs03.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299798894916492642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZtrq89h4Q9-lQC08LoCs8IUR_J1BOg60bAoZcfv5ZYoKrSuSgajgf2mhuAp7uQICX0w4ZzvoZmBaM0rJ48dsk0H1uP8FJGkHxlZaDQZHJXmWta7IDKGN19qe2a1YuO8BBUadN57tTbXDg/s400/strewlbugs03.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Like the <a href="http://curiouslydrawn.blogspot.com/2007/10/900-year-old-animal-caricatures-by-toba.html">Animal Frolic Toba Scrolls </a>from 11th century Japan and the illustrations of Heinrich Kley (who I'll post about soon), humorous drawings of anthropomorphic animals say so much more about the human condition, satirising mankind's desires, weaknesses, irritations, injustices and foibles than a 12 page essay or pious sermon could ever do.</span></div><div align="justify"> </div></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-54887655425675138442009-02-06T21:08:00.005+00:002009-02-06T21:23:22.105+00:00Year of the Ox Prints<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ6Qjc7gJvl5RrPy7Alu_BxX_jwhOkRD5gtINGuBsv8yuK-R54jISyLeZ6EsBcoz1nNXWFSCK4Qo_4nLUI0iIC0h4tmVMNmSje_Khs7bpz1xtYTJtK4r1IQI8xBrsj0zI2gMNKuDLMT9Dh/s1600-h/oxprint01.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299794379743801314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 394px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ6Qjc7gJvl5RrPy7Alu_BxX_jwhOkRD5gtINGuBsv8yuK-R54jISyLeZ6EsBcoz1nNXWFSCK4Qo_4nLUI0iIC0h4tmVMNmSje_Khs7bpz1xtYTJtK4r1IQI8xBrsj0zI2gMNKuDLMT9Dh/s400/oxprint01.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I finished my Year of the Ox woodblock Postcard prints a couple of weeks ago, and here they are. </span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The finished edition size is about 25. My previous post on the design of the Ox postcard is <a href="http://curiouslydrawn.blogspot.com/2009/01/year-of-ox-postcard-print-underway.html">HERE</a>.</span></div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I overprinted the green background with a bokashi graduation effect from the bottom of the print, and a second doughnut shaped bokashi effect on the ox.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKclQ_5VYzI2CKDJxbHU6EWvKyxlXyJAXsicYK7uEE-7vFh_jmolvoF84SdBuUICXStQPwzIlSgyqN75SoSGGNRzsUQnuBel70FdRcj84frt_Xt9L5aVXO6WsV3l4FD5_gw1-lqK2mvCI/s1600-h/oxprint02.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299794468061361986" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKclQ_5VYzI2CKDJxbHU6EWvKyxlXyJAXsicYK7uEE-7vFh_jmolvoF84SdBuUICXStQPwzIlSgyqN75SoSGGNRzsUQnuBel70FdRcj84frt_Xt9L5aVXO6WsV3l4FD5_gw1-lqK2mvCI/s400/oxprint02.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">When my wife, Sally, saw the finished print for the first time she said it looked like a baby on a space hopper. Job done. </span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The prints were made using Hydrus Pigment Watercolours and printed onto blank Japanese postcards.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-6682473343055552102009-01-20T13:04:00.005+00:002009-01-20T13:16:41.656+00:00Park Post Christmas Animation<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxcbaFZilR4dJMI90vkuy3FCurnjoaTizidNnRUjZdgchsPp82e8i18VnbkAI6aXB5rcL-ey21sDzdvz8jMHA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">As promised, here's the Park Post Christmas animation, it's hugely compressed, but I hope you can see it well enough. The live action was shot and edited by Julian Kronfli (see my links in the sidebar) and the animation was produced mainly on paper (with a little extra in Flash) and scanned into Digicel's Flipbook for painting.</span></p><p align="justify"> </p>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-34211399172773003502009-01-20T12:18:00.007+00:002009-01-20T13:01:52.338+00:00Year of the Ox Postcard Print underway...<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xVlKkj-leF3zTZMGXbpcNPRmWUpWrITCb6Xdz2Uqyt_dIuZuQInW8wXGd9N-90FkXLkIYPGD0siq6-6NJ6gEqd1gV2w2IhOdBHN9847aoCUUILoveldWOto1f1HkQLFJl4pGwSaOLjmB/s1600-h/ox+cu.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293349348777833202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xVlKkj-leF3zTZMGXbpcNPRmWUpWrITCb6Xdz2Uqyt_dIuZuQInW8wXGd9N-90FkXLkIYPGD0siq6-6NJ6gEqd1gV2w2IhOdBHN9847aoCUUILoveldWOto1f1HkQLFJl4pGwSaOLjmB/s400/ox+cu.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:verdana;">I know I'm starting a little late on this small print with the Chinese New Year only a week away, but better late than never. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">My <a href="http://curiouslydrawn.blogspot.com/2008/01/year-of-rat-print.html">Year of the Rat postcard </a>prints sold very well on <a href="http://markmason.etsy.com/">Etsy</a> throughout most of the year with people buying them as gift cards for babies born last year and for older people who's birthday's fall in previous years of the rat.</span></div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">My Ox print is a little different from other prints I've produced in that there is no key block, no linework holding the image together. It's closer in style to a lot of images produced by modern woodblock printmakers in the 1960's and 70's and has slight echoes of that period by transforming the ox into a "Spacehopper" (a rubber balloon toy which was very popular during my childhood.)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I never owned one but remember being really disappointed when I had a go on a friend's spacehopper. I'd imagined that you could really bounce on them, that you'd be propelled by the bounce, but in reality you had to do all the work with your legs. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The spacehopper was just a big orange rubber bag of air that was more hinderance than help. Life lesson number 17, age 6.</span></div><div align="justify"></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwB-3Ey96AoNHCBve0e8Hz5UwLGfmtmZajTflGjNoQSe1FSWh4vaJzQZCMIheMy9Y4O6xsGzt0hyphenhyphenAbMxVZE3nPvVt4jgsIBhkWSJNa2EgzsG2foMHITyiX48Y4u0AHQwwIR_biprrWs5go/s1600-h/oxblocks.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293349519712643266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 355px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwB-3Ey96AoNHCBve0e8Hz5UwLGfmtmZajTflGjNoQSe1FSWh4vaJzQZCMIheMy9Y4O6xsGzt0hyphenhyphenAbMxVZE3nPvVt4jgsIBhkWSJNa2EgzsG2foMHITyiX48Y4u0AHQwwIR_biprrWs5go/s400/oxblocks.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Back to the print... What you see here is the rough image, coloured in Photoshop, printed out (in reverse) and pasted onto the blocks. I'll be using 2 shina ply blocks with 2 impressions on each, green, light brown/pink, flesh and dark brown/black with a little overprinting here and there to create other tones.</span></div><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'll be getting the blocks cut while I wait for an animation client to decide what he wants and hopefully get printing by the end of the week.</p><div align="justify"><br /></span></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-51243948453854611602009-01-20T11:40:00.007+00:002009-01-20T12:06:11.646+00:00Seal carver to recommend - Harmonyunion<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE4yRz-gu2xn0m1JTRzVKvFOKitJPUcoIl7opNX8jvbrsbelOYJ9A8UO6hPdpb0AJjOw4cF-x9Xisy0F56lHfZ3H0nKpx7jAKiwBz0ZWkATgMqRCyo_Nw6jk7Ow82A-fon12szOAu4Br00/s1600-h/sealset.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293340232594755394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 384px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE4yRz-gu2xn0m1JTRzVKvFOKitJPUcoIl7opNX8jvbrsbelOYJ9A8UO6hPdpb0AJjOw4cF-x9Xisy0F56lHfZ3H0nKpx7jAKiwBz0ZWkATgMqRCyo_Nw6jk7Ow82A-fon12szOAu4Br00/s400/sealset.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've just recieved this beautiful seal set, custom made for me by Liwen Deng in China. He has an <a href="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/harmonyunion-seal_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsxQ3asstQQtZkm">eBay shop </a>from where he sells his own carved seals and custom designed seals.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I asked if he could carve my name using Kanji (or original Chinese symbols), but he also carves words in other languages (or a mixture of both) as well as images or any other designs. If you can design it, Deng can carve it.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ0sA1VcVYWhyphenhyphenLE7SkreRitR9zbFOTWlKly31vstuG3md1mZaPmnai_trPC7nQTECnVmA_IwhzWtDxvwe_eC1g-YzOD2kRW4N1jtDpY45tQqaYu4C6XkdBOOLzdyGkiNVL3cNKWnq8duk7/s1600-h/sealcu.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293340068655076690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 364px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ0sA1VcVYWhyphenhyphenLE7SkreRitR9zbFOTWlKly31vstuG3md1mZaPmnai_trPC7nQTECnVmA_IwhzWtDxvwe_eC1g-YzOD2kRW4N1jtDpY45tQqaYu4C6XkdBOOLzdyGkiNVL3cNKWnq8duk7/s400/sealcu.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">As you can see, the seal is made up of 4 symbols which read phonetically as Mark Mason. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Each word meaning is: Ma--a horse, Ke- overcome, Mei-plum flower, Sen-forest.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I wanted something humourous to reflect my work as a cartoon animator, and a horse overcome by a forest of plum blossoms is quite fun.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5KbX1b765cv5Pj2A94rjsnDK3FUMiaP-5nz1AHoNPpgIjC3o4ePiLCAPLaHeFex8MqtmM9R_b9E7MvKflI0Fe-L_Dvd69IZoOdXifwDI3iyS_CJfM1Je8DaIrqiy2dbOVeuBagWL_XQmA/s1600-h/sealimprintcu.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293340157218548050" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 227px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 302px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5KbX1b765cv5Pj2A94rjsnDK3FUMiaP-5nz1AHoNPpgIjC3o4ePiLCAPLaHeFex8MqtmM9R_b9E7MvKflI0Fe-L_Dvd69IZoOdXifwDI3iyS_CJfM1Je8DaIrqiy2dbOVeuBagWL_XQmA/s400/sealimprintcu.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">What is so good about Deng's service is the quality of the materials he works with and his skill as a carver, added to which, he supplied the seal in a beautiful little case with a small tin of seal paste, and all for $15.00 and around $7.00 shipping from China to the UK.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I have a couple of designs of my initials which I use on my prints which I'm going to ask Deng to carve as seals.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Please have a look at <a href="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/harmonyunion-seal_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsxQ3asstQQtZkm">Deng's eBay shop "Harmonyunion"</a> and support a great hardworking craftsman.</span> </div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-31259434226215407462008-12-09T10:31:00.006+00:002008-12-10T17:25:35.448+00:00Original Artwork on Sale at Etsy... NOW<div align="center"><span style="color:#000000;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNjLarco58hdEI1lARz7AH9Sa_yw_L_b5lslWYWBb9cSo2PypG5swwzitzl9ycLlmrCq-Sln2IyajJ-uZuTEXpLAwjFaeHEig_PVEdXNC9T37Nq41y768AxE38X4OPAeKNY7K9V_D0ntc/s1600-h/WS+set001+compilation+low.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277741894170812210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNjLarco58hdEI1lARz7AH9Sa_yw_L_b5lslWYWBb9cSo2PypG5swwzitzl9ycLlmrCq-Sln2IyajJ-uZuTEXpLAwjFaeHEig_PVEdXNC9T37Nq41y768AxE38X4OPAeKNY7K9V_D0ntc/s400/WS+set001+compilation+low.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#663366;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Winter Scenes Set 1</span><br /></span><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">In the next couple of days I'm going to be listing a small pile of original ACEO/ATC sized (2.5x3.5 inches) artwork in <a href="http://markmason.etsy.com/">"Mark Mason's Curiously Drawn Print Shop"</a> over at Etsy. ACEO stands for <em>Art Cards, Editions and Originals </em>and ATC stands for <em>Artists Trading Cards.</em></span></div><div align="justify"><em><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></em></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Miniature pieces of original art and limited edition prints have become very popular over the last few years and I've decided to respond to requests for artwork by producing my own. There will be more to follow.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">In total there are 53 original pieces, and I'll also be listing a VERY small Limited Edition Print run of the images.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I've divided the artwork into Series and Sets. Each set in a series comprises of only 5 images and 1 title card. I've kept the sets small because if people want a complete set, they only have to buy a total of 6 cards. I really dislike the seemingly never ending series, I think it's dishonest to genuine collectors, and especially at a time when we're all watching our money.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So, in this initial collection of original illustrated cards I've got 9 sets:</span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Winter Scenes 2008 Set 1</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Winter Scenes 2008 Set 2</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Animal Portrait Studio Set 1</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Animal Portrait Studio Set 2</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Hokusai Artists Set 1</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Hokusai Artists Set 2</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Japanese Lanterns Set 1</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Kanji Animals Set 1</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Kanji Animals Set 2</span></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Here's an image of the Japanese Lanterns Set 1</span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGujM0WzNilzhXL4So1A4H7NUm5BrZLsLPqrqMnWdFelrS5QVcF48pB3Zv8j0ZTZGqGOFMZG8T8L0swoNAg2R3m0IRiPi-7bamV2RcmeE9I-IP421-2lu-Ysi8lB4tSuGb2Z_0mUc8C3d_/s1600-h/JL+set001+comp+low.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277742518605405650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGujM0WzNilzhXL4So1A4H7NUm5BrZLsLPqrqMnWdFelrS5QVcF48pB3Zv8j0ZTZGqGOFMZG8T8L0swoNAg2R3m0IRiPi-7bamV2RcmeE9I-IP421-2lu-Ysi8lB4tSuGb2Z_0mUc8C3d_/s400/JL+set001+comp+low.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">All the images are produced on heavy stock acid free watercolour paper</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">using quality watercolour paints, pastels and coloured pencils. The Winter Scene title cards are edged in silver leaf, and the Hokusai Artists sets are highlighted in gold leaf.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">All the artwork will be either initialled or stamped with my personal seal, depending on the style of the image, and the reverse will be signed, dated and contain all the details about the image and the set that it relates too.</span></div><p><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color:#000000;"></span></p><div align="justify"><br /><br /></div></span><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><br /><br /></div><div align="center"></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-27931292295130789942008-12-09T09:57:00.004+00:002008-12-09T10:30:24.203+00:00Christmas Print<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_kY5R5TdXs5yFIjsn_G-_d4m3VycWNh6rfQiKB_3A6tkbKbpXRvB3hz3pzTlQHTLQFjumJNsit5jdD7JLB1Y4UcbLnTOKERbjE-TVTqpHV281ZcMUXO-mgGVl632HsQVyj9-3L6e7Jum/s1600-h/card+cu.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277728182339926626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_kY5R5TdXs5yFIjsn_G-_d4m3VycWNh6rfQiKB_3A6tkbKbpXRvB3hz3pzTlQHTLQFjumJNsit5jdD7JLB1Y4UcbLnTOKERbjE-TVTqpHV281ZcMUXO-mgGVl632HsQVyj9-3L6e7Jum/s400/card+cu.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It's been a very busy year, with one thing and another, but I found the time to get a small 5x7 inch seasonal print produced which I'll be sending out photomounted to a card this Christmas. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The colour and style is inspired by woodblock sketchbooks by Hiroshige who produced some amazing images with just a couple of blocks. A real inspiration.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The main challenge I gave myself on this print was the cutting and printing of the black lines. In every print I've produced I've wanted to get the linework finer and although I've a long way to go, I'm pleased with the result.</span></div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">It's called "Sally, George and a view of the Valley" and depicts a slightly stylised rendering of a view of Pendle Hill, the small town of Clitheroe, where we live and Clitheroe Castle. (No little English town is complete without it's own castle, and Clitheroe can boast to having the second smallest Keep in the UK.)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Pendle Hill dominates the landscape around here, and looks different every day. In an odd way it's my Mount Fuji, and I'd like, at some time, to produce a series of images in a similar vein to Hokusai's 36 Views. </span></div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhekqHeo4ou9-ppYjnSQAdqjdRTF8cKeRfxemXpdtJL6vjAi_RhB4duvkRuOlBC_ujHlrPgQNUGO09FGnRUO7HQ7AO3YSLG4MamtJNCZJBlYf9FnzVjFMwR9YlmdoqNR1ASbMmOC3J30MtP/s1600-h/card+stages.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277728078508049090" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhekqHeo4ou9-ppYjnSQAdqjdRTF8cKeRfxemXpdtJL6vjAi_RhB4duvkRuOlBC_ujHlrPgQNUGO09FGnRUO7HQ7AO3YSLG4MamtJNCZJBlYf9FnzVjFMwR9YlmdoqNR1ASbMmOC3J30MtP/s400/card+stages.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I used 2 Magnolia blocks, one key block and one blue which I printed 2 impressions from. The first was a pale blue, and the second was a Bokashi effect in a darker blue at the top of the sky and over the figures in the foreground.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The seal in the top corner reads (so I'm reliably informed) "Let your heart fill with wonder".</span><br /><br /></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ9pLeNgZWddhDk0P3BWxXc7vBghACP9phiu1YHSuax06-foav8BQ7K3AuACjWGxNAgTLstayMMoLaexwU6wJmWykVdGxGL7GUWwKgdVkFPq3NLcrTNmwPKr0pN_8nRvQVqdmEhgEucgt5/s1600-h/cards.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277727958603657458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ9pLeNgZWddhDk0P3BWxXc7vBghACP9phiu1YHSuax06-foav8BQ7K3AuACjWGxNAgTLstayMMoLaexwU6wJmWykVdGxGL7GUWwKgdVkFPq3NLcrTNmwPKr0pN_8nRvQVqdmEhgEucgt5/s400/cards.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">All the prints (around 45) were trimmed and photmounted onto slightly silvery matte cardstock and will be posted out over the next few days. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-54397397786929206562008-12-09T09:43:00.002+00:002008-12-09T09:57:23.285+00:00It's that PARK time of year again...<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">A quick note to look out for the latest Park Christmas adverts. The little pink fairy is up to her usual tricks in the pre Christmas campaign which is currently on air, to be followed by a much more slapstick post Christmas ad which, surprise surprise, will be on our screens after Christmas.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">As usual, the commercials were produced by my old friends at Kronfli-Duliba Productions, and I supplied all the character animation, some of the special effects and keyed out (in 2D) the CGI elements.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Once the post Christmas ad is out, I'll upload a copy of it to view. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">It's really good fun, a lot more physical humour. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The poor little fairy gets...</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">You'll have to wait. I can't say anything yet, but keep your eyes peeled.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-64083135361546944102008-07-26T15:00:00.001+01:002008-12-10T10:49:57.498+00:00Monkey Magic. Journey to the West<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvnBYSbX1DwnhTlvBnQVDuww5-jGBBWxzq7HbUohsXoThfmAkEf4qsllJOwwJn5TSl7j7Compd4RkkJOv3y_tzvX4bRHMd0ubV-R7cr9EEdhLN_-sR_ku8kopL1seFr_MJ64ISVceFlQU/s1600-h/egg-the-opera.gif"></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">A quick mention of the new website for the fantastic Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett opera </span><a href="http://www.monkeyjourneytothewest.com/"><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Monkey: Journey to the West". </span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">I was fortunate to catch the opera, filled with acrobatics and sword skills during it's premiere performances in Manchester in 2007, and have been waiting ever since for the music to be released on CD, which it is just about to be.</span><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Listen to 3 tracks <a href="http://www.monkeyjourneytothewest.com/the-album/">HERE</a>.</span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">If you get a chance to see Monkey, don't let it slip by. The character designs, costumes, music and performances are great. I hope they've improved the subtitling design since the Manchester shows.</span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'd loved to have had the chance to work on the animated sequences too.</span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Speaking of which, the BBC has commissioned the Monkey team to produce animated idents for their Olympic coverage. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/monkey/default.stm">View it here</a>. It's lovely to see some quality 2D animation fronting such a big event.</span></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4505518248317642290.post-74363312784624854142008-05-27T10:15:00.000+01:002008-12-10T10:49:57.668+00:00New Etsy Shop<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTfKnB5wME6WT6Bh9pnle0A4wvPj_9VRCGdpyOrTMuiFVfEXHT2Mxelg0AXlBwxVZ_x9FWhst8JeFDFgvGhGgB1Rs4MvqtmqtVkjMkg98Cxvgo3qdNqLXCnvH-Ks0wiXide9uVDc_kfZTo/s1600-h/Etsylogo001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204986174171472434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTfKnB5wME6WT6Bh9pnle0A4wvPj_9VRCGdpyOrTMuiFVfEXHT2Mxelg0AXlBwxVZ_x9FWhst8JeFDFgvGhGgB1Rs4MvqtmqtVkjMkg98Cxvgo3qdNqLXCnvH-Ks0wiXide9uVDc_kfZTo/s400/Etsylogo001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've opened a new Etsy shop to try and help those people who know me better when I'm wearing my animator's hat.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I've had contact from people who couldn't find me on Etsy because they'd been searching for my name.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">My new Etsy shop address is <a href="http://markmason.etsy.com/">http://markmason.etsy.com/</a> </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">CuriouslyDrawn will remain open for the time being to help redirect visitors to the new shop.</span></div>Mark Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00277550210371225937noreply@blogger.com0