Shapes of things

Over the Summer months I had time to work on a few marbled art pieces. I put together a medley of patterns to be cut up and used like a stencil to make layers in the marbling.

The designs were mostly patterns built from simple geometric shapes.


A cosmic circle mandala

I really like the circles. I don't use black to often in my work, but in this case it wouldn't be the same without it.


Concentric perspective

Forcing the perspective a bit really makes it feel like the pattern continues beyond the frame.


It keeps going... and going

And some of the pieces reflect the seasonal sunshine.


As above...


...So below

But really I am dreaming about those Portland rain puddles.


and pond ripples.

In Other News

I've started selling prints and t-shirts again at the Portland Saturday Market. A weekly local Art & Craft faire on the Portland waterfront. Stop in and check out stuff first hand if your in the area.

----Workshops----

I will be hosting a Turkish paper marbling workshop at San Clemente Art Supply on September 16th.

I will be hosting a Turkish paper marbling workshop at ASW's Catalyst Gallery on September 17th.

Thats all for now!
Are you interested in commissioning custom art or booking an ebru art lesson, workshop, demo, party, or performance? Contact me at art@dannyebru.com

Peace & Love,
- Danny

The Dreamer

I took a small break from large masking projects to work on a new screen print design.

If life is a dream, this is the dreamer. With eyes closed and the third eye open, in a state of enlightened omnipotents.


We are the dream and the dreamers

The design is inspired by Sri Shiva. The Mahadev, Shiva is All and is in all. Shiva is the Tantric Revealer of all that is.


Har Har Mahadev

For this project I decided to do a stencil layer in place of a second screen print layer or second marbling layer. I cut a stencil of the silhouette shape and used to lay down a fill color with spray paint. I would then screen print the design on top of the painted silhouette.

While working on this project I discovered the new Montana 94 transparent spray paint colors. I really like the way they look, and I love that I don't lose the marbling behind the design.


The Revealer

Even more images available on my flickr.

In Other News

----Workshops----

I will be hosting a small workshop at OMSI on September 11th as part of the Portland Mini Maker Faire.

Thats all for now! Are you interested in commissioning custom art or booking an ebru art lesson, workshop, demo, party, or performance? Contact me at art@dannyebru.com

Peace & Love,
- Danny

Marbling Workshops

I have hit that time of year where I am teaching one workshop after another.


The Loaded Brush, Portland, Oregon

For the last three months I have done at least one event every three weeks. Thats a lot of seats containing new marblers, both amazed and passionate about their new interest. Honestly, I couldn't be happier to share my passion, especially since its been so well received.


ASW's Catalyst Gallery, Orange County, California

I went back to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry for my forth year of the Portland Mini Maker Faire. Its fun introducing wee ones to marbling. At times the kids seems to grasp it better than the adults accompanying them.


We made prints with the Maker cat printed on them.

I do enjoy sharing the technique, but what about the people out of town who can't make it to one of the workshops.

Well, I have been thinking about that for a few months. I came to the conclusion to make a booklet as a start. The booklet details supplies, preparation, pattern design, and printing. You can buy the downloadable booklet here, and the printed booklet here.

The booklet was just the start though. I have also started making detailed video tutorials. The videos are all available on my Patreon.


Here's a sneak peak. Help me make more videos by supporting me on Patreon

Now I can share my how-to marbling workshop experience with people all over the world. And more importantly I can share it for a very accessible price. Because the magic of marbling should be for everyone. For as low as $1 a month you will have access to my marbling prep videos, and $5 a month for access to everything else, including marbling pattern, print effects, and more.

Come show your support and feed your interest.

https://www.patreon.com/dannyebru

In Other News
----Workshops----

There will be a paper marbling workshop at the Loaded Brush in Portland, Oregon on October 21st.

*sign-up for workshops in advance.

Are you interested in commissioning custom art or booking an ebru lesson, workshop, demo, party, or performance? Contact me at art@dannyebru.com

Peace & Love,
- Danny

September Slam

I have come to notice that every September I get really busy. This year seems to follow suit.

I started the month with an instal at the 77 Salon in the Pearl Art District of Portland, Oregon. My Ebru art will be there for the Month of September. I also helped Chelsea Rose hang her solo art show at Future Shock. We decided to displayed all her collaborative art pieces too, including the piece she made with me.


Our piece is in the middle, "Wormhole".

Once I was done with hanging art around town I switched focus to workshops.

I hosted an advanced ebru workshop for a small group of Oregon based paper marblers. I passed on techniques like the Spanish wave, the ripple, and the drag, along with some other tricks that I favor when in the studio.


Fresh papers drying on the line.


The group hard at work.


Contemplating the possibilities.

The advanced class was fun, but the fun was just beginning, because a couple days later I held a workshop at OMSI(Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) during the 2014 Mini Maker Faire. The Mini Maker Faire brings in kids of all ages to get hands-on with all sorts of DIY projects. I enjoyed introducing paper marbling to some of the Mini DIY enthusiast.


Started the workshop with a group demo


Then I let the kids play.


Helping the little ones.


Dapper Maker cat 2014.

While at the Mini Maker Faire I was visited by Oregon's Marbling bigwig, Peggy Skycraft. We had fun talking shop and comparing methods. Maybe we will get together and do a project in the future.


Marblers unite.

I still have one more workshop to go this month. Next week I will be teaching at the Loaded Brush. We will be marbling silk scarves on September 21st, 2-5pm. We made a short video mash-up of me doing some ebru designs at the Loaded Brush to help entice people into giving this ancient artform a try.


Caught in the act.

If your interested in a workshop at the Loaded Brush, follow this link.

----Workshops----

I have a silk marbling workshop coming up on September 21st at the Loaded Brush in SE Portland, Oregon. We will be hand marbling silk scarves and sipping wine.

I have a beginners adult paper marbling workshop coming up on October 24th at the Spark Arts Center in NE Portland, Oregon. 7-9pm We will be hand marbling paper and book pages while enjoying a sip of wine.
*sign-up for workshops in advance.

Are you interested in booking an ebru lesson, workshop, demo, party, or performance? Contact me at art@dannyebru.com

Peace & Love,
- Danny

Tea Time

This month my ebru art will be on display at the Tea Zone & Camellia Lounge in downtown Portland, Oregon.

The Tea Zone is an awesome little tea house located in the heart of downtown Portland's art district, The Pearl.


Hanging at the tea house.

The selection of work I am showing at the Tea Zone is a combination of Eastern symbolism and abstract expression pieces that I have created over the last three years.


Front room of the tea shop.


Back room of the tea shop.

The back room of the tea shop is also known as the Camellia Lounge. This sweet ambient tea house transforms into Portland's premier Jazz bar in the evenings.


Jazzy, no?

So if you are picking up art supplies, or just enjoying the bustle of downtown, take a minute to pop in to the Tea Zone and peep my work up close.



- In Other News -

I recently linked up with the Turkish Cultural Group, the Pacifica Institute.

The Pacifica Institute invited me to perform my ebru art at their annual Oregon Legislative dinner. I put together a 15 minute set of traditional ebru imagery and patterns for the members of the Oregon Legislators to enjoy.

Here is the print from the end of that nights performance.


Traditional Tulip on a detailed wing pattern

- In Other Other News -

My marbling workshops are going great!


From February's paper marbling workshop at the Loaded Brush.

Those interested in marbling will be happy to know I have a fabric marbling workshop coming up on April 12th at The Village Gallery Of Arts.
*sign-up for workshops in advance.

Are you interested in booking an ebru workshop or performance? Contact me at art@dannyebru.com

Peace & Love,
- Danny

Portraits and Workshops

Lately I've been trying my hand at portraits.

I started with ebru silhouettes. A simple nostalgic design defined in ebru.


Silhouette profile portrait.


It's good for pets too.

Silhouettes are fun. I can make you a custom one too. Check out the listing in my etsy shop.

I have also been working on stencil portraits based on photos.


The lovely artist Miss Chelsea Rose.

They say all artist paint themselves. So here is a couple of my self portraits.





I can make custom portraits too. Go to my etsy shop to learn more.

- In Other News -

Marbling workshops are going great. I had a good time with the group at Catalyst in Westminster, California.





Plus there are two more workshops scheduled in the portland area that are coming up soon. I have a paper marbling class at The Loaded Brush on February 16th and a fabric marbling workshop for April 12th at The Village Gallery Of Arts.
*sign-up for workshops in advance.

Are you interested in booking an ebru lesson or workshop? Contact me at art@dannyebru.com

Peace & Love,
- Danny

Ganesh And The Flower Of Life

My latest project is a three headed Ganesh with marigolds.

I started this project in September during Ganesha Chaturthi and spent three months working on it. This is the second Ganesh design I have made. However this design is much different then the single headed full body image of my first Ganesh.


Ganesh is hailed as the mover of obstacles, patron of the arts, and protecter of the downtrodden.

The project required many steps, starting with a large ebru mono-print that covered the paper.


This freeform marbling will become the background.

While normally I save the screen printing for last, this project required a change in process. I needed to screen print at this point of the project so I could have a guide when placing the mask over the four big marigold flowers.


Marigolds are known mostly as a symbol of creativity and passion. However Marigold also helps with herbal healing, and is a botanical protector in the garden.

I glued paper cut-outs down over the screen print. Then I went back to the tray for a second layer of ebru.


The paper mask protects the covered area from the second layer of color.

I remove the mask during the rinse the paper receives after I pull it from the tray. Once the paper dries it's finished




But there is more!

I also finished a second version of the piece.

This second piece took three times longer then the first to produce. The reason being, I decided it is time to take my work up to the next level. I am attempting to do so by embellishing the second layer of ebru with a masked pattern.



I appointed the flower of life pattern for this piece. This popular sacred geometry pattern of unity contains all the fundamental forms of life.


Sri Ganesh!

- In Other News -

I have scheduled a fabric marbling workshop for April 12th 2014 at The Village Gallery Of Arts. *sign-up in advance.

Are you interested in booking an ebru lesson or workshop? Contact me at art@dannyebru.com

Peace & Love,
- Danny

Triangle Time

Take a look at some recent work of mine. It looks like my latest trend is triangles.

This first piece is my favorite of the year so far for two reasons. One, I love optical illusions. Two, the ebru came out nice and clean with lots of contrast.


Handmade psychedelic 3D illusion.

The impossible triangle is made up of four separate ebru prints on this one piece of paper.


not so impossible after all.

This next piece is made of triangles linked together to form a tetrahedron knot design. This piece has a natural glow to the warm colors, and a dark velvet feel to the cool colors. The ebru patterns used are rather simple, but rich contrast of color really draws me in.


How many triangles do you see?

This third piece is covered in triangles. Although the focus of the piece is really on the abstract ebru-scape background. The idea behind this piece is based on old cottage window designs, and the amazing fictional landscape outside my window.


Window with a view?

- In Other News -

I recently had the pleasure of hosting a workshop at a new facility, The Loaded Brush, in SE Portland. It was a beginners workshop that started out with paper marbling and evolved into canvas marbling. The workshops went so well we are arranging more for 2014.


Widening the circle.

Interested in booking an ebru lesson or workshop? Contact me at art@dannyebru.com

Peace & Love,
- Danny

Show and Tell

I recently contributed to the Portland Mini Maker Faire '13.

Once again the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry(OMSI) hosted Make Magazine's Portland Mini Maker Faire. This was the second year I attended the faire, sharing the magic of ebru with Portland's future DIY enthusiast.


Showing off the ebru skills.


Cosmic ebru demo.

All weekend long I demonstrated the diverse beauty of Turkish paper marbling for the guest. I also set-up a hands-on demo area with multiple trays of size so people could try marbling for themselves.


Freshly marbled papers hanging to dry.

Those whom chose to try their hand at ebru were able to embellished a print of the Maker Faire cat logo.


Proud marblers

I even marbled a cat head too.


Psychedelic dapper cat!

All and all the event was lots of fun, and I think a few new marblers were revealed.

-WORKSHOP UPDATE-
October 20th I will be hosting a paper and canvas marbling workshop at the Loaded Brush in SE PDX.


Peace & Love,
- Danny