Our newest print is by Merijn Hos. The print is called Trophy, and rather than being a trophy that is awarded for accomplishments or for finishing first, Trophy is meant to be a reminder of the many blessings that already exist in our lives. This resonates with me, as I find it very easy to wish for more, rather than taking stock and enjoying all that I already have.

15% of each print sold will be donated to Doctors Without Borders. Read our interview with Merijn here, and buy the print here.

We’re thrilled to welcome Erik Otto back to The Working Proof, with Refresh, a gorgeous limited edition of 30 screenprints. Erik’s work is always thoughtful and filled with symbolism.

Just like a snow globe that needs to be shaken up so that all the bits swirl around and land in their undetermined new places, every now and then our lives need that same shaking up. A fellow traveler explained this to a friend, my friend told me, and now I am passing on this perfect metaphor. Refresh is about moving on from past ideas and moving forward with a positive and new outlook.

We’re heading into a big change ourselves – moving from the East Village to Brooklyn, and this print is a perfect reminder that change is good! Change brings growth and new opportunities. Besides being a gorgeous pieces, I love the sentiment behind it.

15% of each print sold will be donated to 826 National, which Erik chose because Refresh is about taking a confident leap in a new direction, but without a quality education, one might not even know that there are bigger opportunities out there. Read our interview with Erik here, and buy the print here.

Back to the Garden, by Sarajo Frieden.
15% of the sale of this print goes to 826 National.

We’re thrilled to welcome Sarajo Frieden back to The Working Proof. Her first edition with us was Blue Water, a gorgeous print inspired by tiny bioluminescent phytoplankton in the ocean. Today’s print edition is also inspired by nature, this time by the great outdoors.

Back to the Garden, is a bit nostalgic in that it refers to a place or time of innocence and beauty that isn’t always easily attainable. We hear a lot about the environment under assault (and for good reason), but I think it’s also important to connect to the beauty present in nature as a reminder to keep up the good fight in protecting it.

For me, one place that represents this kind of verdant, exuberant beauty is the Osa Peninsula/Corcovado National Park area in southern Costa Rica. It encompasses 13 different ecosystems such as lowland rainforest, cloud forest, coastal marine, and mangrove swamps. The combination of ocean, river, and rainforest is heaven to me. I wasn’t thinking of any one place in particular while working on Back to the Garden, but a combined memory of places (like this one) that I’ve been fortunate to visit.

15% of each print sold will be donated to 826 National, which Sarajo chose because of their work helping kids to be come thoughtful, creative thinkers and decision makers. Read our interview with Sarajo here, and buy the print here.

Debbie Powell is an international artist with an impressive roster of clients – Penguin, Jamie Oliver, Marks & Spencer, Galison, and Simon & Schuster, among many others. We are thrilled to have her as an artist at The Working Proof.

Debbie’s print, Hello Hand, is beautiful in its simplicity – a figure, a printed textile, and a hand-shaped pin that holds the garment together. Hello Hand was inspired by some jewelry pieces that Debbie worked on with her sister and father, under the name Rah and Rah (I love that this is a family collaboration!).

15% of each print sold will be donated to The Pablove Foundation. Buy the print here, and read our interview with Debbie here.

I have been a longtime fan of Sandra Juto’s work. Her artwork conveys a sense of humor and often incorporates a colorful set of characters. On top of her artwork, Sandra crochets gorgeous Grannysquare Blankets and knits fun Wrist Worms.

Imaginary Friends is a piece about imaginary friends. Sandra recently moved to Berlin from her native Sweden, and has been pondering friendship: who is a real friend and who is imaginary? And does it matter?

Sandra chose to pair her print with The Jane Goodall Institute, feeling that their motto says everything: “Empowering people to make a difference for all living things.” Buy the print here, and read our interview with Sandra here.

I immediately loved this print, The Hollow City, by Gustavo Aimar. It is both delicate and detailed, yet  complex and layered in the way that cities are.  Gustavo really describes his print best:

The Hollow City belongs to my personal work. Lately, I’ve been making artwork in which the human figure, and even animals, are completely absent. I like representing inanimate objects. Instead of recreating a landscape, I represent objects and places that are related to human activity. A hollow city represents to me the silence – an uncertain pause – a place where nothing moves and nothing has weight, which is very disturbing. The little magazine trimmings and pictures that appear as backgrounds speak about the same thing; they are there but they are not. They are like authentic ghosts or testimonials of something that happened there before.

15% of each print sold benefits Farm Sanctuary. Read our interview with Gustavo here, and buy the print here.

Sorry for the lack of posts yesterday. We are in Seattle for a week on vacation, and I never got around to scheduling posts for Tuesday. Whoops! I guess we really are on vacation, huh?

This week’s print at The Working Proof is especially appropriate, given that we are in the Pacific Northwest, and I almost stepped on two of these bad boys today on our hike up Deception Pass today. Snail Moss is a print by Jill Bliss, a Portland-based artist and Jill-of-all-trades. Snail Moss is a print from Jill’s anima series, which is an ongoing study of native Pacific Northwest animals and the ecosystems in which they live.

It also seems appropriate that Jill’s print should benefit American Forests. As she mentions in her interview – “I love forests! And so do snails and moss!” If you love forests, support American Forests by buying Jill’s print here.

The Magician and the Owl by Sergio Membrillas is a continuation of one of Sergio’s personal projects called Beards and Trees, a project where he imagines bearded people and their union with nature. Sergio’s hopes that the prints will evoke some kind of reflection about how important nature is in our lives.

This is a digital print on acid free, Neenah uncoated matte 100lb cover paper that is 80% recycled. It was digitally signed by the artist and was numbered by The Working Proof. The Magician and the Owl is perfectly paired with American Forests, whose mission is to grow a healthier world with trees. Read our interview with Sergio here, and buy the print here.

This week we have another new print by Emily Dumas, aka Flowers in May. If you know Emily’s work, you know that she illustrates collections, and this is a collection of the objects that help us express our creativity – crayons, pantone chips, paints, erasers, t-squares…Eat, Sleep, Create is about immersing yourself in creativity and making.

Emily has chosen to continue to support Little Kids Rock, so as with her last print, 15% of each print sold will benefit the charity, an organization that brings free musical instruments and music instruction to public school children. Read our interview with Emily here, and buy the print here.

Tsilli Pines is back with a new edition for The Working Proof. Similar to her previous print for The Working Proof, Reports was a part of the body of work Tsilli created as a follow up to The Figures illustration she made for the New York Times Magazine. Created during the early part of the recession, Tsilli was responding to the mood of the day – the sense that everything was still sliding, that we had no sight of the bottom of the financial meltdown.

For the original artwork, Tsilli used pigment and pieces of an accounting book on rice paper with cotton thread. Rather than using stamps to put down the pigment, Tsilli used an ink pad directly on the paper and varied the pressure to create different areas of saturation.

This is an archival ink jet print on 100% cotton 300 gsm Moab Entrada natural paper. Each print was signed and numbered by the artist. 15% of each print sold will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières. Read our interview with Tsilli here, and buy the print here.