Joel and I like to get out once in a while to do some plein air drawing (translation: drawing outdoors). This summer has been good for that so far because we’re finding lots of things we want to draw in the Westport area. Below are a few of my (Chantal) drawings.
Stewart Park in Perth, ON, one of the most beautiful parks I’ve ever seen with mature willow trees and a creek running through it.
Westport is a hotspot for boats in the summer. This is a funny little “gas station” at the Westport marina.
Joel and I are also fortunate to have been able to join a lifedrawing session here in Westport. After teaching lifedrawing for 5 semesters at Cambrian College in Sudbury, it’s nice to be able to concentrate on doing your own thing rather than teaching others how to do it (although I did enjoy that, Students, don’t worry!). Teaching lifedrawing definitely helped me with my own lifedrawing skills; I guess if you drill it enough in others you listen to your own advice!
Lifedrawing, approx. 2 hrs.
Lifedrawing, 25 minutes.
This last one is the last watercolour painting I’ve done, and it’s mighty ambitious if I do say so myself. The reference for this is a photo of a piece of ice in Iceland (har har) taken by my mother a few years ago. The challenge was making the ice look translucent but also incorporating all the interesting colours in the ice. I’m not aiming for high realism and like everything I do, it has a graphic element to it. I am quite happy with the result.
This was a fun postcard printed for our illustrator friend Pete Ryan for use as a holiday promo. Pete uses a lot of textures in his illustrations so we weren’t sure how this much halftone would turn out in letterpress, but it turned out great and reflected his style well. If you want to see some very clever illustrations like the one below, you might want to check out his website.
Printed on 300 gsm Lettra, pearl white, 2/0 inks, 4×6″.
We’re very pleased that Joel’s popular Troublemakers series made it on Crane & Co. Top 5 of 2011 list! Joel originally illustrated these cards to be used as a promo run to art directors, but they were so fantastic that we turned them into a Papillon Press illustrated set, which you can buy here.
Joel's original promo run of the Troublemakers series
Yes, we were finally discovered in our hometown! The National Post discovered us first but hey, who’s keeping track 😉 This article appeared in the Sudbury Star and, although a fine article, features one of the most unflattering photos of Chantal ever taken (she’s writing this wondering where her chin went).
Could this mean we finally get a Sudbury client? Not yet, but you never know!
These four Troublemakers were illustrated by Joel to accompany some of his favorite words. Printed in black and a cool cerulean blue, the Troublemakers illustrations also include a description of each of the words. The figures themselves were inspired by Depression era characters.
Joel initially printed the cards to use as a limited edition of promotional cards for his illustration work. Thankfully for everyone else, the cards are also available in our shop as one of our illustrated letterpress packs (other sets include Tea Time and Seasons – more to come!).
Skullduggery : Crafty deception or trickery or an instance of it
Whippersnapper : An insignificant but pretentious or cheeky person
You can also watch a video to see how Joel’s original Troublemakers promotional cards were printed. From the ink mixing to trimming and assembly, watch our press in action!
We received an email a few months ago from Ashley, a bride who wanted to draw her own wedding invitations and have them letterpress printed. She mentioned that she had approached several letterpress printers who turned down her project because, not being a graphic designer, she was not entirely sure of how to get her design to letterpress-ready format. We offered to help, since we convert our drawings to letterpress-ready format on a daily basis.
The other letterpress printers also recommended that Ashley to “keep the design simple”. Since one of our unofficial mottos here is “More is more and less is boring”, we recommended she draw her heart out!
Here is the lovely result. Illustrated by Ashley, printed by us on 300 gsm Crane Lettra in ecru white.
This week’s Cuts & Caps is a beautiful engraving of a church, a tree and some clouds. We have two or three engravings of churches and one of them (coming soon) was one of the first things we printed on our press when we reassembled it and brought it back to working order almost 2 years ago.
We have some new and exciting things to show you soon, so check back here or follow us on Twitter (@papillonpress) and Facebook.
Today marks the 2 year anniversary since Chantal and I moved back to our home and native land of Canada. We were living in a one-bedroom apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn before heading back up north.
This lovely cut was part of the collection included with our purchase of our press. You’ll notice that the image of Canada is backwards – that’s so when we print with this, it will be correct. This would be a nice graphic for a Canada Day party invitation or note cards. Who doesn’t need note cards?
In other news, we were interviewed for an article in the Northern Life in Sudbury, Ontario. You can read the article here. Thanks to the Northern Life for the feature!
We’re happy to have our first bilingual (français, english) invitation under our belt! This is a custom invitation we designed for Sarah and Charles, a fun bilingual couple. The one-colour modern design is complemented by a fun envelope liner with a custom monogram.
Printed on 300 gsm Lettra in ecru, 6.5×6.5″. Liner printed digitally.
Hot off the press are this year’s letterpress holiday cards! We have four new illustrated cards this year available individually or in 6-packs.
Each card is 4.5″ x 6.25″, they are blank on the inside and come with colorful matching envelopes.
Why not buy a handmade card this Christmas for your friends and family. Each card is printed with our own artwork, fed through the press once for each color and again to score and fold the cards. With four new cards to choose from (and two from last Christmas) you can get all your Christmas card shopping done at Papillon Press!
Papillon Press 