Nora Aoyagi

Old friends (oils)

I recently did my first oil painting in a really long time.  (It's Nikola Tesla!)  

Someone I'm very fond of has been waiting since Christmas for me to finish this painting, but the nitpicking never ends.  Granted, it will never be perfect, so I'm leaving it here.   I'm very self-conscious about it, but also pleased that it wasn't a total disaster.  I was also grateful that old oil paint tubes almost never dry up!  

I have grand schemes of putting it in a tacky baroque frame.  Let's see what the new owner says!

Fancy Wolf Tattoo!

The talented and stylish Stefani Priewasser just got a tattoo of my Fancy Wolf print!  How cool is this?:

(also love this dress!)

"The Abyss of Time"

Yes, I've been painting.  This is my ode to Herzog and a gift for my tattoo artist:

 

acrylic gouache on illustration board

The Anatomy of a Steamroller Print

I had an awesome time this weekend at Roadworks.  I met so many cool and delightfully nerdy people.  It was really inspiring and heart warming to be among printmakers again.  Many thanks to the amazing team at The San Francisco Center For The Book and to all the good people who made their way out to the festival.  

This is what happened:

ink oversized block, then lay on the street and wipe edges clean (green printers gloves required):

lay giant dampened paper on top:

cover with sturdy blankets:

roll over with a steamroller:

remove blankets and gently peel off paper:

And VOILA!:

A special thanks to the ladies who got their hands dirty!

 

Roll Out! Roadworks This Saturday!

This Saturday is the Roadworks Street Fair, a printmaking festival put on by the good folks at The San Francisco Center for the Book.  The feature event is the printing of oversized linoleum prints by way of a steam roller!  I was honored to be one of the six artists invited to carve a 3' X 3' linoleum block for the event.  

Admittedly, it has been a while since I have done any relief printmaking, but it ended up being really fun!  My old woodcarving tools were happy to see the light again, and getting down on the floor and chiseling away for hours was curiously engrossing.  I left my studio floor strewn with little curls of linoleum and ended up tracking it all over the house.   

Please come by and visit me at my vendor table!  

Roadworks: A Steamroller Printing Festival

Saturday, September 24th, 12-5pm

San Francisco Center For the Book

300 De Haro Street

San Francisco, CA 

 

Red in the Forest- New Print Available

Prints of my new piece "Red in the Forest" are now available.  Visit my shop for details.

These look even better in person, I'm pleased to say.  I've been working to try to incorporate my favorite styles into one cohesive style.  This piece is a happy example of my silhouette work, mixed with my bony and skeptical ladies, and a looser and more painterly background.  I don't believe strongly in having to have a cohesive and overly rigid style, but consistency paired with a little innovation is something I strive for in my daily life and in my art.  I hope you like it!

 

 

New Tote Bags!

I'm crazy about these new tote bags!  And it's something I can actually (and do) use.  They're now for sale through my Etsy shop.  

Post-Renegade

Thanks to everyone who made it out! Renegade was so much fun!  There were so many irresistable handmade goods, even more than usual.  I made a few happy trades and called it a day on the shopping.  It was just too dangerous.  I picked up a awesome screenprinted shirt from Mary Ink, sweet and simple earrings from Queen's Metal, and a magnet from Fox & Owl.  See the magnet image below:

 

It kills me!

Usually I share a booth with my friend Anna, but this year she (very) generously offered to help me work my very own table.  This required a fancy new banner:

Yes, that's gold fringe.  I was really excited to have an excuse to buy it.  The banner is natural and black canvas with iron on felt letters and wolf with gold braid.  

I still have a few new products from Renegade to add to my Etsy store which I'll post soon!  

Mini Paintings

Here are a few new goodies that I'll be selling at the Renegade Craft Fair this weekend:

Mini Paintings!  These are all one-of-a-kind original acrylic paintings on reclaimed wood.  Each painting is 4"X4" and is coated with thick, glossy resin to make the colors pop.  I really wanted to make something tiny and precious, and I feel really good about how these turned out.

 

A few notable favorites:

Summer Bear

 

Carefree Fox

 

Sweet Rabbit

Stripes on everything!!

Above San Francisco Book (Kids)

Last year I did some illustrations for "Above San Francisco", written by Nina Gruener with beautiful aerial photographs by her grandfather, Robert Cameron.  It was really fun drawing "Cam" flying all over the city!

Below are a few images of the book itself:

"Above San Francisco" 2010 Cameron & Company

Available everywhere!