Artist and screen printer Andrew Western, owner of Flooded Ink, works in his studio in Canmore. photo by Pam Doyle/www.pamdoylephoto.com
Andrew Western is a screen printer and artist with over 10 years of experience.
After working in the Bow Valley for many years doing graphic design, he started his own business called Flooded Ink in 2017.
“I rented a garage and started in there. I got the equipment from a guy in town and it was everything I needed,” Western said. “All I needed was some ink and new squeegees.”
He now rents a bigger workspace in the Elk Run Industrial Park.
“In my first year attending Sheraton College in Ontario, I got in contact with friend who had a surfing clothing company in Florida and Detroit,” Western said. “I did some drawings for them. I had never worked in the computer program Illustrator. He said okay give me that in a vector file. So that was kind of the start into graphic design.”
He started his own clothing company and he prints original designs on t-shirts and sweatshirts.
“I didn’t start screen printing until I worked in the Bow Valley,” he said. “I worked in Banff in embroidery for 10 years where I was doing the art work. So it made sense to jump into the screen printing and it went from there.”
Western has been an artist his whole life.
“I’ve always done portraits for as long as I can remember, but there’s something about nailing the proportions of the face and bringing out the character of the subject,” Western said. “I’m not as concerned with it being photo realistic as I am with the end result suiting their personality. As for what inspires me to do art, I think I like the gratification of the end result, whether it’s a logo, a painting or a drawing. When everything looks right in my eyes and I don’t see anything that can be improved on.”
Western is a guitar player with the local band Tea and Biscuits. So when he chooses to draw a portrait, it’s often someone in the music industry, he said.
“But a lot of the time it depends on the reference photo that I can find,” he said. “I like the challenge of recreating wrinkles, smoke, sunglasses, facial hair, or if they are wearing something that has an interesting texture like a flowery shirt or a wool hat. I find it more interesting to draw someone with a scowl or a funny face rather than a well lit photo of someone smiling.”
He likes both charcoal and oil painting, but paint is much more of a commitment, he said. “I’ve spent as long as a year and a half on a painting,” Western said. “Whereas a charcoal drawing could only take me 10 hours. But I’ll get the same satisfaction of it coming to life in the later stages.”
He started doing prints.
“I always liked screen printing posters,” Western said. “I’m selling those at Project A which is right on Main Street. She sells a lot of local art from smaller artists.”
Work keeps getting busier, he said.
“Last year was super busy,” Western said. “And this is usually my downtime but I’m super busy. We just got back from holidays and I’m already printing for clients the week after.”
He has three designs with the Grizzly Paw, he said.
“As soon as the design is approved it turns into a print job,” Western said. “I do t-shirts for a lot of bands and tattoo shops like Electric Grizzly. It’s fun to work with so much creativity.”
Western did the album artwork for the local band Elk Run and Riot.
“They approached me about doing a limited editions screen printed art print. They sell them at shows,” he said. “Because I’m so into music that was a really fun thing for me to do. They just got their albums so they’re all coming out now.
He keeps his hand in the local art scene. His drawings will be on display at the Canmore Hospital at the end of March. He also will have his work in the Home grown art show at the Banff Town Hall in March.
Please visit https://www.facebook.com/floodedink for more information.
