Balzer Designs

Adventures in Arting Podcast: In the Lino Cave with Susana

On today's podcast I'm talking to Susana McDonnell aka @linocaveprints about her relationship with Speedball Art Supplies, her previous life as a glass blower, creating with a kid, the instagram challenge #printersolstice, and her beautiful geometric art prints! If you do not see the podcast player above, please click on this link. You can listen to a podcast anywhere and at any time. It is a recording that is available to you whenever you'd like to listen. You can stream and subscribe through Apple Music or wherever you get your podcasts. I like to listen to podcasts while I'm making... Read more →

Re-visiting a Ghost

Back in 2017, I made this monoprint: And there was enough paint on the plate to pull a ghost: I stumbled upon that ghost last week and decided that it needed a little makeover. I feel conflicted. On the one hand, the further along I get in my art-making, the more interested I am in making things that are quirky or odd -- images that force you to take a second look. On the other hand, I also find myself interested in creating simpler and more graphic images. I love some of the detail photos of this re-imagined piece, but... Read more →

Hot Pink Purposeful Print

A new Purposeful Print! And here are some details: As you can see from the first photo, I matted the print. I think the wide white border really allows the print to shine. You know, I wasn't sure about this print until I matted it. Once that wide white border was there, it really captured what I love about art: It's graphic and yet full of details. Matting makes a huge difference, in my opinion. For example, I had these prints pinned up to my painting wall: And they look great, but then I matted them: And they looked even... Read more →

A New Purposeful Print

I don't think I will ever tire of monoprinting. There are so many interesting possibilities and complexities and challenges. It's an art form that you can enjoy as a beginner, but that becomes even more fascinating as you gain skills. Here is a new monoprint I made last week and I loooooove it. It's very minimalistic for me. Not a ton of pattern everywhere and the color palette is pretty strictly primary. I'm trying to push myself to find restraint. It's a real struggle. But what's the point of doing the same thing over and over again? I always want... Read more →

I {Heart} Surface Design: Persistent Failure

As you might guess from the title of this post, today's heart was a problem from the beginning. I failed at almost every turn, and yet I think it might be my favorite of the hearts! Isn't that amazing? This tutorial is less of a tutorial and more of a tale of persistence. I had an idea. I wanted to use Color Burst Powder through a stencil. It didn't really work (you can see a video clip of the failure on my vlog), so I decided to make lemons out of lemonade and just smush the color around for a... Read more →

I {Heart} Surface Design: Collaged & Stitched Heart

We are collaging and stitching today! The first step is to pick out some papers that you like or make some new ones. This project is also great for leftover scraps. I sun printed some book pages. (Indoor sun printing is fun and easy and I've got an online class all about it!) I cut the papers into strips and taped them together (on the back): By collaging the papers in strips and keeping them relatively monochromatic, a unified appearance is easily achieved. Then once I had an arrangement I liked... ...I glued the heart to the back of the... Read more →

Art Journal Every Day: Into March 2019

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here. All of the previous posts can be found archived here. Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day! No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek. Even if you're not on social media, you can see everything (from twitter, pinterest, instagram, and facebook) that uses that hashtag here. Here are two very different art journal spreads from March 2019: I love... Read more →

#CarveDecember 2019: Days 10-17

Hey guys! I'm so pleased and proud to say that I've got another round of daily stamps to share with you. Here are days 10-17: A few thoughts: I've been concerned that I'm "only" doing rotating repeat stamps. I kept asking myself: Do I need to branch out? But then I decided it was adding more stress to think about branching out. By having limited parameters -- a small rotating repeat stamp every day -- the design time is quick and the stamp gets done. This is one of the reasons I love challenges and kits and other things that... Read more →

I Want to Try This: Mat Board Collograph

I was poking around the internet looking for information on creating fine art collograph prints without a press. During that research, I stumbled across a video that has me **obsessed** and looking around my studio for stray pieces of mat board. Watch the video and see if you're not keen to give this technique a try: Isn't that so cool?! It combines so many things I like: monoprinting, carving/hand cutting, and drawing. Definitely on my to do list! Thanks for stopping by! Read more →

#Printinktober 29-31 & a Wrap-Up

I'm spectacularly happy that #PrintInktober is over. It was a tough slog this year. Some projects are like that. And that's okay. But before I get into lessons learned and things I'm thinking about, let's take a look at the last three days of prints. Below, I'm posting the process video, embedded from instagram (if you get this blog via e-mail you may need to click on the title of the post to view the videos online) and a photo of the finished fabric: And now, here is a look back at all 31 days of fat quarters: When you... Read more →