Of my personal creative work, print-making and illustration are probably the closest to what I used to do professionally as a graphic design and branding guy.

But while some of the tools and technology are the same, or similar, the focus and subject matter are of my choosing and these works are created for no other reason than to make myself, or the people I care for, happy.

Having learned the printing arts (which I needed for my past studio and agency work) from printers themselves, rather than graphic design teachers, I’ve always had a fascination with the mechanics of offset and letterpress printing. Going back to early manual letterpress tools, making negatives and plates, and hand-mixing and rolling ink is a centuries-old art.

I’ve also experimented on and off translating my hand drawing styles to digital tools with stylus and tablet. These experiments led to me writing and illustrating an entire children’s fairy tale–style book as a wedding gift for my husband, and working with the Portland-area book arts mavens at Hinged Strung Stitched to design and fabricate a commemorative custom presentation box. The story is an alternative fable—a same-sex spin on the stereotypical “princess gets the handsome prince” storyline—which wraps the story of our meeting and relationship in a creative and amusing motif.

Inspirations: Book arts, print shows, travel and nature, art and craft of other cultures, children’s book illustrations. This, that, and the other thing.