Blog

Share it!

Bit by bit

Process drawings for "Veil of Knowledge" letterpress broadside by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

It’s that time again—Jessica and I are hard at work on the next Dead Feminist broadside. Actually, we’ve been hard at work on this piece for months already. I think it’s safe to say that this piece has the most research and labor behind it than any we’ve done so far.

Process drawings for "Veil of Knowledge" letterpress broadside by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

There’s a lot at stake this time, and we want to get things right. And besides—as you can see, the piece is chock full of teeny tiny bits, and the registration is going to be tight. So we’re doubling down on the proofreading skills and triple-checking every detail.

Now the design is done, I just sent out the finished files for the plates, and we’ll be on press starting this week. More soon!

Process drawings for "Veil of Knowledge" letterpress broadside by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

Share it!

Sweet surprise

Ice cream photo by Chandler O'Leary; "Just Desserts" postcard by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

At long last, Tacoma has a real ice cream parlor—I can’t tell you how many years we’ve waited for this. Today I stood in line for the best coffee ice cream I’ve had in years, and while I waited my turn to pay, I noticed something familiar behind the counter!

Detail of "Just Desserts" letterpress broadside by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

It was our Just Desserts postcard! Jessica and I couldn’t be more proud. So to the new shop, Ice Cream Social: welcome to Tacoma, and thank you for making us a part of the decor!

Share it!

Summer sampler

Detail of "Mnemonic Sampler" artist book abecedary by Chandler O'Leary

I stopped by the Collins Memorial Library this week to see the new Puget Sound Book Artists exhibition, and look what’s in the show! If you haven’t had a chance to see my Mnemonic Sampler abecedary in person yet, the PSBA folks have it beautifully displayed in one of the wall cases. (The display is definitely better than my low-light cell phone photo of it…sigh.)

Detail of Puget Sound Book Artists 2014 exhibition flyer

And they were even kind enough to include a snippet of it in the exhibition poster—can you spot it?

Catch the show now through July 31!

Detail of "Mnemonic Sampler" artist book abecedary by Chandler O'Leary

Share it!

Words to live by

Hand-painted lettering by Chandler O'Leary

I’ve done a lot of lettering commissions in my day, but this was something new for me. When my client approached me about this project, she told me she had spent the past few years working on her personal practice as a writer—as a fellow creative whose work has also been changing lately, I was immediately intrigued. She had come up with a “motto” for each year, which reflected the self-work she had been doing and her thoughts on her writing process.

Hand-painted lettering by Chandler O'Leary

So she asked me to create a hand-painted lettering design for each year motto,

Hand-painted lettering by Chandler O'Leary

with a different style of lettering in each one that would reflect how her ideas and process has changed over time.

Hand-painted lettering by Chandler O'Leary

I’m really happy with how these turned out (and I hope she is, too!)—and even better, it’s got the wheels turning for me. Who knows—maybe I’ll try something like this for myself someday. Hmm… I wonder what my own mottos might be…

Share it!

Letter up

Hand-painted lettering by Chandler O'Leary

I’ve been working on a super-fun lettering commission lately, which has been giving my paintbrush plenty of exercise.

Hand-painted lettering by Chandler O'Leary

My client gets to see the finished paintings first, but once she does, I’ll post them here.

Hand-painted lettering by Chandler O'Leary

More soon!

Hand-painted lettering by Chandler O'Leary

Share it!

Water off a goose’s back

Tacoma Wayzgoose photo by Chandler O'Leary

Don’t be distracted by Ric’s smile—see the puddles everywhere? See the winter gear people are wearing? Sunday was the craziest Wayzgoose yet, hands down. That’s because we had both the biggest crowd ever and the worst weather imaginable. So that smile is one of triumph: getting a decent steamroller print that day required beating some serious odds.

Tacoma Wayzgoose photo by Chandler O'Leary

It rained sideways while Jessica inked.

Linoleum block for "Park Place" steamroller print by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

It hailed while we lined up our block.

Tacoma Wayzgoose

Photo by Dr. Jamie Brooks

It froze while we peeled our prints up.

Detail of "Park Place" steamroller print by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

Photo by Dr. Jamie Brooks

It blew a gale while I painted.

"Park Place" steamroller print by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

Still, despite the mishaps, I think it turned out alright. Jessica and I are calling our print “Park Place”—created in gratitude over the passage of a bond that would fund our city park system. The map in the center shows most of Tacoma’s parks, with twelve of our favorites called out like properties on a Monopoly board.

Tacoma Wayzgoose photo by Chandler O'Leary

We even took a snippet of the illustration and sent it over to the talented screenprinting booth folks, who turned it into a t-shirt design during the event (you can just see a peek of it in the upper left corner).

Steamroller prints from the Tacoma Wayzgoose in the Woolworth Windows

Since the rain and wind prevented us from hanging the finished prints outside during Wayzgoose, most of the people who came that day didn’t get to see anybody’s finished print. So today Ric, Jessica and I remedied that.

Steamroller prints from the Tacoma Wayzgoose in the Woolworth Windows

Thanks to Spaceworks Tacoma, all of this year’s steamroller prints are on exhibit in the Woolworth Windows downtown…

Steamroller prints from the Tacoma Wayzgoose in the Woolworth Windows

…where you can see them—in fair weather or foul—now through August 21.

Thanks to everyone who visited or volunteered at Wayzgoose this year, and to King’s Books and the Tacoma Arts Commission for making it all happen!

Share it!

All a-quiver

"All A-quiver" pattern collection by Chandler O'Leary

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with creating pattern repeats. Surface design (illustrating for textiles and other things that use repeat patterns) is something that has interested me for years and years, but I haven’t had much of a chance to create repeats of my own until now. I’ve been taking an online class since last year that deals with surface design and creating pattern collections. So I applied what I learned to the playing around I did last week. I have no idea where this is all going, but the journey has been a whole lot of fun so far!

Share it!

On the same wavelength

Shirley Chisholm postage stamps with "Keep the Change" broadside by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

I just picked up a sheet of the new Shirley Chisholm postage stamps—not just because Shirley is awesome, but also because the color scheme matches our Shirley broadside perfectly! (Great minds think alike?)