1 | Mixed Media Drawings
Mixed Media Drawing
8″x 10″ on paper
Don Olsen| 2018
I was trained as a printmaker. Some aspects of it’s practice never really “took” inside me. The main thing was that imagery came out of me too fast to be able to commit to one thing. I always have been interested in using plates more than once, but to make new images each time. Today, I use traditional printmaking techniques like etching, relief and monoprinting, along with loose ink-wash, drawing and painting to compose my work.
These works are freeing for me. I don’t follow traditional printmaking guidelines where every print from the set is exactly the same. Instead I use printmaking to create my “stage” and other methods to flesh out the finished work. My philosophy is to use the print as a point of departure – something to work within and fight against. When I’m cutting a new block I’m thinking about what will be fun to draw on / over later.
I think about my point of view when making these. What does it mean to look out of my eyes? How is it different to look out of your eyes? Can I assume that something that stands out to my eye, will not be passed over by yours?
More drawings…
2| Paintings
I work painting differently than I do drawings or prints. I have no end point in mind for these, they may eternally be in-progress. I play with how images are formed and deformed by distance, focus and just how paint
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3 | Lunchbox Drawings
Feel Good! I send these little drawings in my kids lunchboxes each day. I’ve been doing it as long as they’ve been going to school (over 5 years now). I make these so they can remember that I’m thinking about them and I love them. It is also a great creative exercise to do from start to finish before the coffee even kicks in.
More lunchbox drawings…