Desert (Love)
I live in the lush and vibrant Pacific Northwest. There are so many things that I love about my neck of the woods. I love the fresh water, mossy logs and picking berries in the summer. For a long time the desert was something that was so foreign to me. Enter my first trip to the southern Utah and I was taken back by the slick red rock and deep canyons. Yearly trips south filled in my interest in the raw sunset toned landscapes.
I went this month down to the desert to see the dark sky, soak in the slick rock, and celebrate a friend’s birthday. I wanted to make a party favor and decided upon on matching bandanas. For the bandana design I decided to pull three elements that I love from Utah: arches, cactus, and lizards. For the ease of printing them at home I decided upon linocut. Originally I had wanted to do a random pattern on each of of the bandanas but decided on a symmetrical pattern. I loved how the design and printing ended up. I especially liked the monochromatic color pallet as it mimics the rock coloration.
There were a few bumps along the way but very good moments for growth. I had used a iron to transfer my drawing unto the linoleum block but ended up ruining part of a block as the iron was to hot and melted it. I also failed to remember that fabric ink can take a week to cure (dry out), therefore, had to drive down to Utah with them strung up on a clothes line inside the car. Funny moments with a good opportunity to grow in my next linocut design.
