2020 was an (insert preferred adjective here) year for everyone in the entire world, and my family and I were not exempt. Strange things happened everywhere, and affected people in countless ways, and due to various 2020 reasons, my family of six were stuck living in a brand new hotel for a year.

Literally.

One year.

Six people.

All other boring (and not so boring) details aside, during this year of misery, I was looking for ways to pass the time, while also being productive and creative. I figured this was far better than getting more and more depressed by dwelling on all of the things that were going on in the world.

So, I took several pretty good online linocut courses, got my supplies, and got to work. Since then, I’ve been pursuing printmaking. (Cyanotype printmaking may come in the future too!)

I’ve been building this website for a few months now, and unfortunately I ran into quite a few weird, large technical problems in the process which resulted in it taking about a month longer than I had anticipated. Now that it’s finally finished, hopefully I can spend more of my time with actual printmaking!

Other ventures that I currently have going are, Happy Human Design, which is focused mostly on logo creation and website design. And Plaid Oak, which is an e-commerce shop that is more graphic design oriented since I mainly create designs for products via Abobe programs. Plaid Oak is in the process of being phased out so that I can focus more of my time and energy toward Clever Penguin.

I envision this new brand, Clever Pengu.in, to be focused mainly on my hand-illustrated and handmade artwork. I’ve spent many years doing graphic design and computer generated work, and I feel a nagging desire to get back to creating more with my hands.

I’ve transferred a few of my illustration and painting designs over to Clever Pengu.in from Plaid Oak, but soon (Lord willing) Clever Pengu.in will also be full of my hand-carved and hand-printed art as well.

One of the designs that I’ve transferred from Plaid Oak is originally an illustration of a zinnia flower where I drew each petal as a bear. This design seems to be liked by many, so I’ve decided to recreate it as a linocut print, although it’s not 100% complete yet.

I’ve done a few test prints with my bear flower design, and after I’m happy with it and after it’s complete, I plan on making it a 3 color print. I’m also planning on not only printing entirely on paper–I also would like to print this and other designs onto shirts, dish cloths, and tote bags.

I’m open to other ideas if you have any good ones! I’ve even thought a lot about printing on walls, furniture and pottery. We’ll see.

I’d really appreciate hearing what you think! Please leave a comment below or send me a message!

Now that I’ve given you a bit of an introduction– Welcome to Clever Pengu.in! I hope you enjoy my new adventure into printmaking!