Medieval tower bookmark

My new creation are these unique bookmarks depicting the old town hall tower of Sibiu, in Transylvania, Romania. Available in my other Etsy store, the Transylvanian Trove. A shop that wishes to promote the creativity and talent of fellow Transylvanians, past and present.
Entirely handmade linocut prints, several combinations of colors available (in both typographic ink and paper). If you have any preference based on item photos, let me know and I will do my best to accommodate (depending on already sold items). Otherwise, I shall randomly choose.

Medieval tower bookmark, hand-pulled linocut print, colorful book accessory, old tower, art gift for readers, writers, book lovers, reading

Dimensions: 14 x 5.5 cm.
The price refers to one bookmark.
Ready to send, ready to use.

See more bookmarks here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TransylvanianTrove?ref=seller-platform-mcnav§ion_id=20828284
See my entire shop: www.etsy.com/shop/TransylvanianTrove

Golden apple etchings

I have just listed in my Transylvanian Trove Etsy shop two wonderful etchings created by artist Lojze Kalinsek of Slovenia. These original prints depicting a golden apple come in two color variants: RED - gold and silver apple embossed against a red background and VIOLET - gold apple against a dark violet background (see variations). 

Original etching by Lojze Kalinsek, 2006

 
The depiction can be interpreted symbolically as a reference to the Original Sin / Fruit of Knowledge from Adam and Eve's biblical story, or as an antique element in the mythological episode of the Judgement of Paris. It can be equally viewed as a decorative, modern element, devoid of deeper meaning.

The price refers to one etching, as they can be displayed together as a pair of artworks, or independently, as singular prints.
Very decorative, high quality craftsmanship.
Excellent decoration for either home or office, classy art gift.
The artworks are sent unframed and you can have them mounted and framed according to your taste and budged. They can also be displayed as they are, due to the thick paper they can be propped up on a mantelpiece, for example.
Dimensions (paper): ca. 20 x 22.5 cm.

Golden apple, original etching and gold foil, fine art print, unique artwork, red / violet artwork, symbolic engraving, Original Sin

 

New linocut by Goddess Gruia

Check out this new item in my Etsy shop, the Goddess Gruia https://www.etsy.com/listing/576488657/linocut-print-on-handmade-paper-medieval.

It is part of a small series of three unique linocut prints on handmade paper, depicting medieval houses on Buda Hill, in Budapest. Each print is singular through the combination of colors, as each ink is applied by finger and roller in various combinations, the ink have different consistency and texture, and some parts of the lino plate are second prints. The uncut edges of the paper contribute to the antiquated look of these unique prints. Entirely hand pulled.
Fell free to check my brand new Instagram profile as well: https://www.instagram.com/ana_maria_gruia/?hl=en

Medieval Houses on Buda Hill

Detail of linocut print

Detail of the above

 

Small series of linocut prints, before signature.

Variant 1 - available on Etsy

Variant 2

Variant 3

These works best reflect the description of my shop and style:

I am a weekend painter and it gives me great joy to go to the studio [aka Goddess Gruia's holy place, her Sancta Sanctorum] for the benefit of all, mostly myself.
My job is a great source of inspiration - working with historical artifacts and depictions allows me to research past techniques and the effects of time and patina. My profession is another advantage, as an art historian's eye is always receptive to aesthetic compositions and surfaces, even in everyday life.

Linocut mounting and framing

I usually write about my art projects while they are still fresh in the studio, so I rarely get to follow up to the final, mounted works. I have recently recovered a mounted and framed linocut work from 2015, part of the Nurnberg project, from an art gallery and re-discovered the series. The print rendered below now hands in my home.

Unlike with other prints, for this larger work I chose a strong, colorful passepartout and a copper-colored frame, not of the thin, simple kind usually employed for graphics. It is like approaching prints like "proper" oil and acrylic paintings, thus making it more "serious" and "respectable".

See the Nurnberg linocut project HERE.

"Nurnberg" linocut by Ana-Maria Gruia

 

linocut project in the making by Ana-Maria Gruia

Tiny houses linocut

I have just added one of my favorite linocut pieces to my Etsy shop, the Goddess Gruia - a tiny print entitled "Extra muros" depicting tiny houses and monuments from Transylvania. It can be framed and displayed as a picture or used as a card (using the blank back side for writing).

Dimensions: 11.5 x 17 cm (4.5 x 6.7 inches).
Original print on special beige/orange printing paper, typographic inks and pencil signature by the artist. "EA (author series) 2016, "Extra muros" (outside the walls, in Latin), linocut, AGruia (Ana-Maria Gruia)  
Celebration discount 20% OFF with coupon code HAILCEZAR!

Tiny houses linocut, original miniature print, Extra muros, street front art, small artwork, medieval architecture from Transylvania

Detail of coloring

Detail of the linocut print

See the related Happy Houses project present before HERE, HERE and HERE.

And the original project using the entire linocut plate with these houses, the "City tracks in the mud", on my Facebook Page HERE.
Fell free to check all the linocut prints available in my shop:

Linocut prints by Goddess Gruia - June 2017

 

Linocut bookmark - fish-boar symbol of the Getae

The item most recently added to the Transylvanian Trove shop on Etsy is inspired by ancient history. The original linocut bookmark is in shape of a fantastic animal,  the mythical fish-boar encountered on ancient gold artifacts of the Getae. Each item is entirely hand-made - hand printed and cut into shape. Several color variants are available.

Linocut bookmark, hand printed on paper, artist bookmark, decor boar-fish symbol of ancient Getae, designed in Transylvania, Romania

Art linocut bookmark

Original linocut bookmarks

Animal bookmarks on paper

Original linocut bookmarks on paper, design inspired by an ancient motif - the boar-fish of the Getae population inhabiting the Danube region in the 5th-1st century B.C.
Entirely hand made and hand printed.
Various natural colors (white, green, brown) on black or white paper.

Size: 14 x 4 cm (5.5 x 1.5 inches)

50% OFF contact relics of Goddess Gruia

As previously seen, a move of my art studio is planned to happen until February next year, so my Etsy Shop Goddess Gruia is having a great discount of 50% for all art work. This includes the two linocuts that are contact relics - touched by the goddess herself in her Sancta Sanctorum - aka the studio. Have these images in your home, at great prices, and enjoy all the benefits: 

you will love and accept yourself, with a touch of self-irony, naturally. You will feel peaceful and curious, creative and forgiving. You will never be able to draw a straight line, but OCD shall never touch you. You will feel like visiting history of pharmacy museum and starting small creative businesses. You will work hard for small money, but that shall not dampen your spirits. You will never be promoted, but the world will seem a happier place nonetheless. Pray to the goddess and your tile stove shall never malfunction and the world will generally seem a happier place!

Read more about the goddess HERE. 

Linocut, original print, contemporary printmaking art "Goddess Gruia in Transylvanian mandorla", contact relic

Linocut, original print, contemporary art, conceptual "Goddess Gruia - cult image", contact relic, black-and-white

Banffy palace Cluj - gilded linocut

Goddess Gruia has visited her Sancta Sanctorum, aka studio, this weekend, preparing a new gilded linocut experiment. Unlike the previous prints created in this technique, I have adapted certain elements, while other effects were unintentional. This print, rendering the Banffy Palace, currently the Art Museum in Cluj-Napoca in a decorative frame, was very static and symmetric. I thus though to liven it up a bit with the gold foil and the writing inside the frame. The accident was that the lino printed part had not completely dried and the foil also stuck in some areas, though I confess not disliking the effect.

the print before applying the gold leaf

 linocut with imperfect gilding

 a bit of asymmetry in gilding the contours of the handwriting

Handmade business cards

Business cards for artists and artisans should be expressive, with personality, easy to remember. After trying several classical variants, designer made and properly printed, I have decided to experiment with a different approach as well.

One of the variants was to use pieces of scrap cardboard employed while printmaking in my studio. The effects are unintentional and thus "different" and such a card has the benefit of being a "straight out of the studio" product, touched by the artist, that somehow makes the recipient privy to the creative processes. The only downside is that sometimes such scrap papers and too thin or with cuts or other major imperfections, so this method involves using better and more expensive scraps :)

The second variant is a bit more traditional and painstaking, in that I have employed linocut printing on colored papers. It still shows that each card was made by hand in the studio, but it lacks some of the directness of the first variant and it takes more work to cut the papers at the right dimensions and frame the printing properly.

Hundertwasser as inspiration for linos

Continuing the gilded linocut prints experiment, I have used one of my older house front designs applying gold leaf as accents for smaller elements (door, windows, roofs, or narrow houses). The effects are completed by the color of the paper, reminding me of Hundertwasser's beautiful works, both on paper and in architecture.

 

Goddess Gruia in Transylvanian mandorla

The making of Goddess Gruia in Glory - using two matching lino plates

 

Color variants of the linoprint

Goddess Gruia is the only living goddess from the magic land of Transylvania. Read more about her in the specialized monograph HERE. This cult image shows the goddess surrounded by the cosmic symbols (moon, sun, stars) and the landmarks of her homeland: medieval architecture (mainly the fortified Saxon churches) and beautiful nature (with the typical haystacks -capita).
Buy this pieces of original art from the Etsy temple HERE . The piece of art is a contact relic (has been touched by the goddess) and you will immediately feel the benefices. You will love and accept yourself as you are, you will work hard for small money but you will enjoy your job, you will feel the urge to visit pharmacy museums, you will be peaceful and creative, though not able to draw a straight line, your stove will never malfunction, and the world will generally seem a happier place!

Architectural linos

I believe lino is a great medium for architectural topics, with its "encouragement" of straight lines and perspective effects. My latest Etsy treasury reunites several examples that I like, see the collage in the first photo, while the second photo renders the "linocut" section of my own Etsy shop Ana-Maria Gruia ART.

Historical engravings

Among the fabulous exhibits of the History of Pharmacy Collection I discovered three engraving plates for apothecary labels. Used in the nineteenth century, they are a collage of various such labels, with decorated cartouches, symbols of pharmacy, inscriptions with the name of the pharmacy they were used in (for commercial purposes, naturally) and sometimes the initials of the pharmacists themselves. The plates have been recently used to create new prints, thus revealing the details. Such labels were then cut out of the common sheet, filled in by hand with the details of the respective products, and used individually either to wrap a small number of pills or other types of solid medicine or they were glued to wooden boxes that contained larger quantities of cures.

Detail of one of the plates, with a cartouche inscribed "Apotheke der Kaiserlicher Adler" (the Imperial Eagle Apothecary) - in reference to the double-headed eagle of the Austro/Hungarian monarchy

Detail of a plate with the depiction of the imperial eagle and of pharmaceutical implements.

Preparations for the Print Day in May

As the 7th of May is fast approaching, I have started the preparations for this online feast of printmaking. The chosen lino plate is Apothecary jars from Transylvania, inspired by my daily work with museum items at the History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj-Napoca. For previous color variants of this print see my website gallery HERE. This year's prints will use newly acquired typographic inks (very excited about trying them out!) and experiments in applying them (sponge, fingers, plastic wrapping).

Ready for the Print Day in May! 

Print Day in May

I'm all in! Print Day in May sounds like a fun way to promote printmaking and tie the net of a wide community of artists and art lovers. This year, the seventh edition, has been rightfully set for the 7th of May - my printing press is ready and I am artist with a plan! Do join in, print and share on that date, join the Facebook Community, and even win printmaking products!

My studio is all prepared for the event and the printing press ready to do what is required of it :) Not sure if Cluj-Napoca / Romania is on the map for this occasion, but I'd love to add it!

 

My geometric bouquet

As I've explained in the previous post, this week's linocut project was flowers: dried ones, geometric ones, stylized, minimalist, in natural colors - to avoid the inherent "sweetness" of flower depictions. The result is a small series of works in which I have played with the typographic ink color, hues, and combinations, and with the date&title&technique&signature which is an organic part of the image. So here is the geometric bouquet, in its several variants, plus the lino and the cutting tool. The prints are available on my Etsy shop.

my favorite: overlapping colors

typographic ink applied with the sponge

stronger contrast - dark brown on white paper

different integration of text and image - and a strange pink paper

detail of the sponge-applied color

the lino block

lino block, print, and gauge tool