PotionsPress

I've wanted to have my own handmade business ever since I was little. My daydreams have always been about making things, and I come from a family of inventors, builders, cooks, artists, and crafters.

At first I thought I might be a jeweler. Then in high school I fell in love with painting and for a while afterwards I tried to make it as a painter. Putting a price on one of a kind artworks and then finding a buyer who could actually afford them was frustrating and took a lot of the fun out of painting for me. So as an experiment, I hosted a five dollar art sale. I spent a summer making as many small artworks as I could with the intention of selling them all for five dollars at the end, just to see what would happen. I found that many people were excited to find affordable handmade art pieces, and I loved connecting with people over cheap art sales.

Of course selling one of a kind artworks for $5 is not a sustainable business model, but I did want to figure out a way to continue making affordable art. So I settled on block printing. Block prints are made by carving an image into a flat surface (I use linoleum or rubber but you can also use wood or stone), and then that surface is inked and pressed onto paper. The result is a handmade artwork that is also easily reproducible.

Block prints are often black and white, but color has always been central to my artwork. So I started out with printing black ink on colorful paper, and have since learned techniques such as multi-block, reduction, and hand-tinting to make prints that are as colorful as my paintings. I really love developing my skill in this medium and seeing what is possible with such simple technology.

My prints are inspired by time spent in nature, time spent in meditation, and time spent working. I often pair images with words which are intended to serve as gentle reminders. I try to keep my art positive while also being as honest as possible.

Thank you so much for visiting my shop! :)