Printmaking at the Mall

On December 14th I went to the Carlsbad mall, not to shop, but to check out the Oceanside Museum of Art's Exploring Engagement project called "Winter Wonderland" by artist Armando de la Torre .  That day they were offering a free card and wrapping paper workshop, open to anyone who stopped by.  The space was a creative workshop in action and I enjoyed every minute.  I decided to make a card and came up with a deer head design that I cut out on a sheet of foam "paper".  One of the participating artists found me a piece of wood scrap that I used to mount (peel and stick - so easy!) the foam "stamp".  I rolled brown ink on the deer stamp and went to work.  It was fun, and the artists there were enthusiastic and encouraging. 

Here's a photo of the printed cards.  I didn't think the brown would show up that well on the navy paper, but it actually it does stand out.

They had a variety of printing inks available for people to use.  The wrapping paper project is a very cool idea using cardboard mailing tubes and foam sheet cutouts to make printing rollers.  My cards are at the bottom; at right is my mounted block with deer stamp.

I chatted with the lead artist, Armando de la Torre (below), for a bit - nice guy with a great concept: get art into the community.  What better place during this time of year, than the mall?