The Roadkill Diaries

A series of artworks and written entries that depict my ever-conflicting struggle of what it means to be alive. All of the works posted here are my own and contain a variety of printmaking, painting, and drawing processes. Please refer to my Instagram: @berriestephanie or my website: stephanieraeberrie.com for my work outside of this series. Thank you. 

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X-ray vision 👀

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It’s like Cat-Dog, but Squirrel-Bird 🐿🐣. First plum-y proof of this 18”x13” mezzotint, hard ground, and soft ground etched plate 💖🩸💜

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First etch done, at least one more to go

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Update on the latest roadkill: I have the first etch done and will be starting the second etch this week. I have a feeling I shouldn't proof it until I'm where I want to be with it, just to keep things exciting 😂... but, mainly because I am lazy.

[theroadkilldiaries]

This little guy is ready to fly 😎. Ready to start etching it this weekend!

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Printing the bird plate with some human hair... I think this is going to be what the final print looks like!

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I love the spooky eerie-ness of inked up mezzotint plates. They remind me of objects floating in jars 💖

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Working on a dead bird head for a new intaglio print. Using graphite to draw into soft ground, so the final print should look similar to the drawing here.

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When the process/ plates are more beautiful than the final print because I'm the world's worst printmaker and can't make a good print to save my life

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This piggy's gone to heaven pt. 2

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This piggy's gone to heaven pt. 1

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Roadkill Diaries, Entry 01: Running Out of Luck

Soft and Hard Ground Etching

7"x 5"

2021

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The plate vs the print. I like how they look together 💖. Trying to soothe my violent urges through printmaking. It helps.

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Proofing my dark bird to help negate my dark thoughts, but that’s what therapy printmaking is for, right??

Love those velvety mezzotint blacks 🤤

[theroadkilldiaries]

Roadkill Diaries, Entry #00: Valkyrie

Lithograph and Screenprint on Paper

7″x 5″

2021

...Being so thin that the passenger’s airbag wouldn’t turn on made you feel like you could fly, didn’t it? The older I get, the less I can remember from those days, but that’s probably a good thing. I’ve found many more dead baby birds this year than last, but maybe that’s because I’ve been outside more. 

[theroadkilldiaries]

I’ve been having too much fun with mezzotints lately- here’s one that I’m currently working on for this series. My friend sent me a picture of a picturesque dead pigeon and I couldn’t resist 💖

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This one isn’t my first entry but my most recent/ favorite one, and the one I’d like to start off this adventure.

“Roadkill Diaries: Entry 02; Unlucky Rabbit’s Foot”

Hard and soft ground etching, screenprint

11″x 11″

2021

...Around this time last year I started walking daily around my neighborhood. My apartment complex is located right next to a run down cemetery, so I would frequent that cemetery to watch the birds, rabbits, marmots, deer, bugs, and the other creatures that crawled around there. I would every once in a while come across an animal that wasn’t alive and would document its stages of decay. A lot of my work has to deal with death, decay, and rebirth, and I wanted to bring that back into my work with these carcasses that I call my “roadkill diary.” I’ve come to really love that cemetery because I think it portrays this cycle perfectly. 2020 had been a hard year for all of us, and I had my own hardships as well. There were many deaths of loved ones that year for me- some pets, some family members, some friends… I found solace in my daily walks and documenting the roadkill to help cope with what I couldn’t control. There’s growth and rebirth in death, and the walks around the cemetery helped me to remember that. …plus, I have a minor obsession with the macabre :)