The first year I did the Printmaking Pals' tier, I was flying by the seat of my pants each month trying to come up with a print design.
In 2023, I decided to try creating a series of prints revolving around a theme to help make it easier for me to come up with designs. 2023 was the Year of the Trickster Spirit with prints designed inspired by a variety of trickster heroes in folktales. I started out strong, but by the middle of the year I started to run out of steam and inspiration for the theme and printing in general. I wanted to quit, but I wanted to actually finish this collection far more than I wanted to throw in the towel.

For 2024, my theme for the Printmaking Pals is something I'm SUPER excited about so I do not see me experiencing burnout about printing this year. This year's theme will revolve around my interpretation of Western zodiac signs as North American wildlife.

And for January, we're starting with Aries!
My Aries is inspired by the Bighorn Sheep—an animal near and dear to my heart as a girl who grew up in the American West.

I'm also doing a limited colour variant run again, and each colour will coordinate with the sign's element. So for Aries, I did red for fire. And if you look closely, you can see hand-embellished gold stars that reflect the actual shape of the Aries constellation.

You can read more about the process behind this print over on my Patreon!