Just this past week, I bought a 1984 Honda Magna VF500. I couldn’t be more happy with it, it’s a lot of fun to ride and I’m excited to get back on it and cruise around.

I took a basic motorcycle class through Ridgewater College in Hutchinson, MN last September. It was a great course and the instructors made it a very informative experience and it was totally worth it, especially since I passed and got my license. After the winter ended, the hunt was on to find a bike, and fortunately, my Dad’s friend was selling his so I swooped it up right away.

1984 Honda Magna

Very nice condition for its age

I think it was a great investment and will definitely pay off over the summer months.

With the nice weather in full swing and the arrival of the weekend, I was able to start and finish my edition of prints for the Oregon Ink Spot 2010 print exchange. The print I made is based on a drawing I did for the MAFAC Exhibit I had at the beginning of the year, yet added in some background decoration and depth. I really like the way it turned out but it’s not 100% perfect. As to be expected with the first print of the year I suppose, have to brush the dust off from the long winter season.

I tried my best to document the process so without further adieu , here are some pictures:

Printed film positive for exposure

Exposed frame ready for printing, the yellow parts are what will be printed

The 3 ink colors I mixed to match my color mockup

Two colors down, waiting to dry for the third and final color

Final color flood stroke, almost complete!

Drying the final prints. I think a total of 20 were made, 3 were duds.

Candlebeams - Edition of 15 - 2010

Finally, one of the songs from the day’s soundtrack:

Like I said, I’m very happy with how they all turned out, and how quickly I was able to print them with very little errors. If I were to do it again, I would thicken up the outline (dark blue) so that more of the fine lines would have printed better. On the screen they looked great but when printed, the ink just didn’t want to squeeze through.

Several things helped me out a ton with this print session: pressure washer, packing tape, mixing knives, and grilling. I look forward to printing a lot more this season. Also, can’t wait to see the prints I get back from this years print exchange.

The Bronx at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis, MN. Awesome. I can’t believe how much fun I had at this show and how much I want to go back and do it all over again. These guys are amazing and I’ve never laughed so hard at a show before, Matt’s hilarious and so energetic. We took several videos so below you can watch our clips of Mariachi El Bronx and The Bronx. Enjoy!

I had the amazing opportunity to go see Biffy Clyro at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis, MN with my sister and it was incredible. We made the trip specifically to see them, even though they were only opening for Manchester Orchestra, but the whole show was amazing and we were so glad we went. We also met a couple of people who made the trek all the way from Canada; glad we met them and supported Biffy Clyro! Here are some videos we took of the show:

As if Biffy Clyro weren’t enough, we saw Manchester Orchestra who were really, really great live. I didn’t know what to expect as I’ve only started listening to them fairly recently but I was really surprised, excellent songs and performance. Again, here are some videos we took:

Quicker than I thought, I managed to package up 50 postcard packs which include 4 unique postcards based on some new drawings I’ve done for my upcoming show.

The finish on them came out really well, being 100% recycled paper and soy based inks, I had no idea how it would look but I’m certainly impressed. I will be selling them at the show but soon will post them up on my Etsy shop.

"Re: Stacks"

I also received the collaborative piece that I had my friend Kasey work on. I’m super excited about it and I think it’s going to look perfect in the exhibit. Can’t wait to show people. The show goes up this Saturday so in a few days following that (after the reception) I will post all of the images in my portfolio.

Over the past few days I have been putting the final touches on my artwork for the upcoming exhibit I have at MAFAC. I’ve also decided to work on the packaging for some postcard packs that I will be selling. Each pack will contain four unique postcards based on some new drawings. I went through PsPrint.com to make use of their 100% recycled paper and soy based inks. I’m very excited to see how they turn out and start assembling the packages.

one of the many print offs for my postcard packs

Also, check out my fine art portfolio page to see images of my past exhibit at Bagels & Brew. I will work on putting up images from my other exhibit at the Whipple Art Gallery and then shortly after that the images from the new exhibit.