Mina Braun

Fruitmarket Gallery Kiosk- this weekend!

2012-01-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

After a little winter-break, here a post to let you know about my stall at the Fruitmarket Gallery this weekend!
If you are free to pop by, check out the book-sale of selected pieces in the amazing and well-stocked Fruitmarket Bookshop, which is accompanied by a stall with my work.

Sketchbook

2011-10-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

Frankfurt

2011-10-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

Poster for current exhibition of the Icelandic artist Erro at the Schirn in Frankfurt and great stencil nearby.

Impressions from Frankfurt Bookfair

2011-10-18T14:16:00.001-07:00

Just got back from Frankfurt Book Fair. Really liked these wooden characters I saw at some second hand book stalls.

my new website

2011-10-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

Finally also some developments on my cargo website...have a wee look here!

Wall Drawing

2011-09-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

This is my friends' hallway, currently being renovated. Great opportunity to go mad with pencil doodling!

Strolling About

2011-09-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

This week Maggie and Jakub have posted a wee article about my work on their lovely blog Strolling About, so please take a look!
You will also find lots of great shots of Edinburgh, documenting the lifestyle of Scotland's capital.
Have a good weekend Maggie and Jakub!!

2011-09-01T03:45:00.000-07:00

Edinburgh Printmakers Multiples Market

2011-09-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Edinburgh Printmakers had it's first craft fair upstairs in the gallery. Hugely enjoyed it due to the great company of fellow artists Eleni Kalorkoti, Robbie Porter, Louise Smurthwaite, Rosie Walters and my fellow stall holder Catherine Hiley.
Best part: EP prepared limited edition cupcakes, which were extremely tasty.

Bicycle Ride

2011-08-31T09:50:00.000-07:00

Here one of my latest screen prints about a boy and his companion cycling through the woods. Cycling through the woods makes me think of summer at home and the idea for the print was born in a moment of cursing this rainy summer, looking forward to sunnier days.

The Paper Cinema and Kora presents: King Pest

2011-08-31T09:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the chance to watch the amazing Paper Cinema at the Summerhall venue in Edinburgh, as they performed some work in progress for their interpretation of the Odyssey. I cant think of any other live act being anything like the Paper Cinema, as they combine some of my favourite things: drawing, moving images, music and storytelling. The concept of their performances is so simple and at the same time so genius, and I absolutely love watching their beautifully detailed black and white drawings move to the music, making my mind wonder off with the narrative of the play. If you ever have the chance to see them live, don't hesitate!

Circus Lion

2011-08-25T05:08:00.000-07:00

Summer Updates- Spirituality? Peace?

2011-08-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

This month I was part of an exhibition called Indelible Imprints the Edinburgh Printmakers had organised with the Festival of Spirituality and Peace.
This experience made me realise that spirituality and peace don't necessarily always come together. Despite the fact that we are part of their festival programme , it felt that I spent most part of the day I was invigilating the show to defend to the administration of the church hall why I had to be there in the first place. This got pretty well summed up by their question (quote): "Did you bring a good book with you? Good, cause you'll be sitting here all day doing absolutely nothing!" To be fair, I had a great book with me ( Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami), but was it not my mission to represent an arts institution and talk to people about printmaking? Was the purpose of our exhibition not to make the connection between a spiritual attitude and being creative? And did they as our hosts not support us in that? This slight uncomfortable feeling I had about being there finally got confirmed when I was then asked to instantaneously leave the building (or shall I say spontaneously evaporate into thin air?) by a couple of meditation tutors. Somehow ( and my guess is that this was the moment where I was expected to have achieved infinite wisdom...) their class was booked to take place in the same space at the same time and geee, I gotta start with meditation! I always wanted to learn more about it, but it went right past me that you have to get verbally aggressive, totally unreasonable and pretty rude just before you then start meditating. I guess it helps you to relax to work yourself up to exhaustion beforehand... however, is it not the purpose of meditation to achieve a more peaceful relationship to yourself and therefore to other human beings? God knows,eh?

Summer Updates- Swedish Forest

2011-08-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

Summer Updates- Swedish Houses

2011-08-24T06:28:00.001-07:00

This is my first time at a Swedish house auction, but I hope not the last time . Every single item (including the houses) was for sale! Unfortunately the rather ludicrous Ryan Air luggage restrictions wouldn't have allowed me to buy as much as a tea cup, but I enjoyed the time journey into rural Swedish life style and tried to picture myself in one of the Astrid Lindgren stories I grew up with. And Swedish people certainly got the hang of how to make an auction fun, sitting in the sunshine all day, eating hot dogs and drinking coffee and buying all these beautiful things at the same time!

Summer Updates- Designmarket

2011-08-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

Here a few captions from the stall I shared with Karoline Rerrie and Catherine Hiley at the Fruitmarket Gallery in July with some of my new prints, cards and tote bags (more pictures will follow). Hoping the Fruitmarket will organise another Christmas fair this year, so watch this space!

Little Goytre

2011-08-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

This week my work has been featured by Anna on her wonderful blog Little Goytre! Check out her site here, there are a lot of interesting things to see!

Interview with Oh Comely blog

2011-08-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

I have recently been interviewed by the blog of the wonderful Oh Comely magazine about my exhibition, life and the rest; you can read the interview here. I have also managed to get some good photographs of the exhibited work done, so here are some detailed images of The Friendly Lion, Uplifting Thoughts, In the Woods and The Happy Village.

Fruitmarket Gallery Design Market

2011-07-13T03:10:00.000-07:00

If you have no plans yet for the weekend, pop by the Edinburgh Fruitmarket Gallery for it's Design Market and visit my stall. Just preparing lots of new prints, such as the Happy Cat!

It's Time to Wonder...

2011-07-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

I have been out of the loop for a while, but for a good reason. Recently I have been working towards my first solo exhibition, Time to Wonder, at the wonderful Red Door Gallery in Edinburgh.
Time to Wonder shows a series of original screen prints, a window display as well as a hand-printed window-installation. With my artwork I wanted to depict moments where the borders between dream and reality become fuzzy. Each piece plays with repetitive imagery of trees,leaves or birds and captures a collection of characters, flying and floating in a dream like state.
The exhibition opened last night and will be running until the 28th of July. If you are in Edinburgh over the next month, please pop by. More photos will follow soon!
I also want to post a big thank you to a number of people for all their help and support:
To Rachel and the excellent team of the Red Door Gallery for organising this exhibition: Nicky, Kerstin, Kathryn and Jason. You are all stars! To all the staff members and fellow screen printers at Edinburgh Printmakers, where I was able to print my work with a lot of helpful support and with many relaxing tea-breaks in very good company! To Richard Strachan for his beautiful framing work, to Naomi Hare for making stacks of badges for me over night and to Towera Ridley for helping me with printing tote bags. Check out all their sites!

Time to Wonder opening night

2011-07-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

Here some photos from yesterday's opening night for the Time to Wonder exhibition. Guys, thank you all for coming!!!

A Tree is born

2011-07-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

For the window-installation for my Time to Wonder exhibition I have been printing lots of trees onto beermats. Lots!

Sleep Tight

2011-05-17T03:23:00.000-07:00

This is the first of two screen prints for the Magic Exhibition at Solihull Arts Complex. I chose the theme Fairy Tales for my artwork and loosely based my images on the narrative of Little Red Riding Hood.

Six Red Riding Hoods

2011-05-17T03:20:00.000-07:00

This is the second print, inspired by the tale of Red Riding Hood.

2011-05-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

A sunny studio-day!

Bottled

2011-04-20T03:11:00.000-07:00

This image is inspired by last week's Illustration Friday theme "Bottled".

Cristina Sitja Rubio

2011-04-20T02:19:00.000-07:00

I received this beautiful calendar from artist Cristina Sitja Rubio. Loving the detailed pencil drawings! Check out her website and blog.

Sketches

2011-04-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

BOLOGNA!

2011-04-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

Last week I visited theBologna Children's Book Fair together with fellow artist Nekocherry and here some visual impressions of my visit...

Bologna Children's Book Fair 2011

2011-04-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Philip Giordano

2011-04-04T14:36:00.001-07:00

Italian illustrator Philip Giordano was the winner of the international award for illustration at the 2010 Bologna Book Fair. All you can do is stare in awe at all the amazing details...

Camilla Engman and Ana Ventura

2011-04-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken at the current exhibition of Camilla Engman and Ana Ventura at Hamelin in Bologna. It was really interesting to see the artwork of two artists merged together, how their work compliments each other and how they developed the pieces together via post.
I am a big fan of Camilla Engman and her amazing work! Go and visit her blog, if you dont already know her.

Ana Ventura

2011-04-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

These are images from the current solo-exhibition of Ana Ventura at the boutique "Neirami Shop" in Bologna. I feel very lucky that I discovered her work during my visit and that I had the chance to meet her in person. The exhibition shows original screen-prints, which are the illustrations for the picture book "9 Stories of Love", published by Topipittori. You can find Ana's website here.

Confezioni Paradiso

2011-04-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

This lovely little boutique is definitely worth a visit during a visit in Bologna!
It's full of beautiful handmade design objects. I particularly fell in love with the "German Lion horoscope" handbag and the koala bear cushion by illustrator Giulia Sagramola. You can visit the shop's blog here.

Beautiful Bologna!

2011-04-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

2011-03-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

Important, if you are nearby Birmingham in the next couple of months, then put this event in your diary!

I am taking part in a group exhibition about the theme Magic, together with a whole lot of amazing illustrators, such as Gemma Correll, Karoline Rerrie and Kate Hindley.

When? April 5th until June 11th.

Where? Solihull, at the Solihull Arts and Library Complex.

For this occasion, we have also created a colour-in book! You can have a taster for this book here!

Power in Numbers

2011-03-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

This month I have contributed two screen prints to the Nucleus Gallery in L.A. Their online gallery showcase Power in Numbers presents original artwork from artists all over the world. A percentage from the sale of any art-piece sold will be contributed to a charity organisation of the artist's choice.
My pieces are titled Waterspirit and Sirens and support the WWF and UNICEF.

Magic Little Lightbox

2011-03-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

I received this wonderful suitcase miniature light-box from my friend Kittie Jones . It's so tiny.....

From my sketchbook

2011-01-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

2010-12-22T14:00:00.000-08:00

2010-12-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

Another little treat for myself!
I discovered this Portuguese picture book by Isabel Minhos Martins and Madalena Matoso in the shop of the Modern Art Gallery in Edinburgh. Really loving the very bold and colourful illustrations!

2010-12-15T14:51:00.000-08:00

Of course, the one time I get to meet an owl in the wild, its a dead one. Very sad,but what a beautiful animal!

2010-12-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

I treated myself to a picture book by the amazing Tomi Ungerer!
I love children's book illustration in the style of the 60's and 70's and I am particularly fond of this book, as it seems to be screen-printed, or made in some other kind of printmaking-technique. The story is about 3 criminals who start an orphanage, but that's what I love about children's books from that period, the stories just used to be so much more brave in content!
Anyway, if you havent heard of Tomi Ungerer yet, look him up right now, he is a legend!

New tote bags!

2010-12-15T14:06:00.001-08:00

Bookmarket at Fruitmarket Gallery

2010-12-15T13:54:00.000-08:00

Last week myself and some fellow artists shared a stall at the Bookmarket at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, which was the first of the kind and a fantastic event, which I hope will happen again in the future.
David Shrigley himself was there to give a talk about his work and I was dead excited to meet him!
Here some images of our stall, unfortunately not of David Shrigley.

More festive activity!

2010-12-15T13:45:00.000-08:00

Here some images from Out of the Blue Christmas Market, Drillhall, Edinburgh, together with Olly Paterson, Stuart Simpson, Aurora Cacciapuoti, Anna Clare Judd and Ashley Liv Jamieson ( you can find some of these artists' websites in my FRIENDS section).

2010-12-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

One of my Christmas-card designs has been chosen for the collection of Edinburgh-Printmakers, together with fellow illustrator Eleni Kalorkoti and other amazing artists.

2010-11-19T13:42:00.000-08:00

2010-11-15T02:54:00.000-08:00

I have just started screen-printing a wee calendar for 2011. Time to plan all the fun things to do next year!

2010-11-15T02:53:00.000-08:00

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2010-11-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

2010-10-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my boyfriend and I went up to the Isle of Skye here in Scotland, which was totally awesome!
We have been there quite frequently over the last years, however, I have never had a chance to hike up to the Old Man of Storr in the north of the island. This place is absolutely magic, so I am sharing this journey here with you from the bottom til the top!

2010-10-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

2010-10-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

If you are not too busy this Sunday coming, why not pop by at the Magpie-market?
http://magpiemarket.blogspot.com/

2010-10-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

The words tidy and artist's studio in one sentence may sound like a contradiction, but this is my studio after a huge tidy-up!
I'm sure tidy is debatable, but to me it's an achievement, especially after a very hectic summer. Most importantly, I feel I can go there and get my head around projects. Always with me, my dearest friend, the cuppa tea!

2010-09-20T09:49:00.001-07:00

2010-09-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

Curiouser and Curiouser

2010-09-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

This month an exciting new gallery opened up on Broughton Street in Edinburgh, called Curiouser and Curiouser. It is run by lovely Laura, who you can see in these pictures. The gallery has a really homely atmosphere and shows 2 dimensional as well as 3 dimensional work, and it is all very folk-art-based.
I am showing some of my prints as well as cards in there. I am especially pleased as the gallery also offers framing and I really like the frames they have chosen for my prints.
If you are down in the area, pop by, it is definitely worth a visit!

2010-09-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

It is time for an update from the summer!
As I mentioned before, I had been working towards the 3d2d arts and crafts fair in Edinburgh, which takes place in the Westend in Edinburgh. And the week before the fair began, I was also teaching a week of summer school in illustration. It was a pretty busy and hectic time, but also very exciting
At the fair I was lucky to be part of a really amazing group of artists, as we all shared as a collective a newly created space and had to work as a team to make it work . Overall it was a great opportunity to see how people react towards your work and to make contacts to galleries. All my work for the stall was screen-printed, which was mainly greetings-cards, mini-prints, some larger prints, brooches, badges and tote bags. I shared my space with 2 other artists and we experimented with different set-ups over the course of the 3 weeks, which was a good learning- experience, too. It was pretty exhausting, but after all you just need a nice cuppa tea to keep you going and it was certainly worth the experience!

Work process towards the 3d2d fair

2010-09-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

Friends helping with last-minute packaging, screen-printing tote bags and window-hangings.

Illustration Summer School

2010-09-20T07:42:00.001-07:00

The Stall

2010-09-20T03:25:00.000-07:00

2010-07-26T03:14:00.000-07:00

Fox in Stripey Socks, screen print
July 2010

2010-07-26T03:11:00.000-07:00

Bird in Woolly Jumper, screen print
July 2010

2010-07-26T03:08:00.000-07:00

Stripey Bird, screen print
July 2010

2010-07-26T03:04:00.000-07:00

Dancing Girl, screen print
July 2010

2010-07-26T02:59:00.000-07:00

The Little Indian, screen print
July 2010

2010-07-26T02:56:00.000-07:00

Sitting in the Clouds, screen print
July 2010

2010-07-26T02:49:00.000-07:00

Over the last months I have been getting properly back into screen-printing and I'm LOVING it!

2010-07-26T01:51:00.000-07:00

In June I went to Germany, to visit family and friends. It was great weather and I spent one very sunny day with friends in the Aue Park in Kassel. Kassel hosts the famous modern arts exhibition Documenta every 5 years, I think the next one is in 2 years time. This is the first piece they put up!
Well, I do love trees after all...

2010-07-26T01:48:00.000-07:00

Sun Girl, screen print
June 2010

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Tree-Owl, screen print
June 2010

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After taking part in the collective nouns project I joined the Hoot and Roar Collective with the Owl and Lion Gallery.
As a collective we will share a huge stall space during the 3D2D craft and design fair, which is part of the Edinburgh Festival.
As part of the work process towards the festival, every artist is presenting work in a window showcase at Owl and Lion. In the second week of June, it was mine and fellow artist Cherith's turn. Cherith presented lots of beautiful design objects and prints, and I displayed my screenprints.

2010-07-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

In May I took part in a project called Collective Nouns, run by the West Port Book Festival and the Owl and Lion Gallery in Edinburgh. The task was to illustrate collective nouns, which have been collected by the online project
a linguistic experiment on All-Sorts.org.
The collective noun I chose was "A Round of Robins", of course, as I love drawing birds!
All illustrations are available as screen prints at the Owl and Lion Gallery and you can find more info on the following link:
http://westportbookfestival.org/news/2010/03/18/collective-nouns-a-collective-project/

2010-04-09T04:36:00.000-07:00

Here a drawing from my sketchbook I have done during my time off at home in Germany.

2010-03-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

In March I did some illustrations for the magazine Brikolage based on the theme childhood. The magazine also published an article about my work in the same issue.
For the illustrations I was using water colour and ink pens. I'm not too much into using paint or a lot of colour, but I really enjoy using simple washes mixed with line work.

http://issuu.com/rikolage/docs/brikolage_issue1

2010-03-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

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The Book Lover's Tour of Scotland- Cover

2009-07-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

This month I did some illustrations for the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The illustrations were used for a brochure about Scottish writers, called The Book Lover's Tour of Scotland, which will be published for the Edinburgh Book Festival, beginning in August.

Crime Fiction

2009-07-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

Fiction

2009-07-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

An Idea is born in the Flight of Thoughts

2009-06-21T05:02:00.000-07:00

During April and May 2009 I visited a relief-printing-class at the Edinburgh-Printmakers, learning wood-block-printing.

How the Trees grow Leaves

2009-06-20T10:50:00.001-07:00

I printed the following 3 images for an exhibition in Glastonbury about megalithic sites. The images were printed on my own little table-top-printing-press.

The Eternal Yew Tree

2009-06-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

The Ancient Kings

2009-06-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

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Robert and the Devil

2009-06-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Big Man Walking- Title Page

2009-06-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

During May 2009 I illustrated a little comic-book for the Edinburgh theater-company "Puppet Lab".
This comic is part of their current project "Big Man Walking".
You can view more illustrations from the comic-book below this post.

The Big Man Walking

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The Big Man Walking

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The Big Man Walking

2009-06-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

I see the Moon again

2009-06-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

The Stars are Shining

2009-06-20T09:12:00.000-07:00