Creative Mode

I can't believe it has been over a year since I last posted.  But that year has passed and I am now ready to be more present in my art practice both on the creative side and the administrative side.  It's all about learning and keeping up.  New technology is getting harder for me as I get older but I am determined to learn as much as I can.

In the meantime I am furiously but happily making new artwork for my solo show at Five15 Arts@Chartreuse in September.  My most recently completed piece is called "Covet" which was primarily created for a print exchange of the same name organized by Melanie Yazzie of UC/Boulder from her printmaker encounters at the SGCI Conference in Las Vegas last March.

Before I started on my print, I saw that two printmaker heroines I respect (Kathryn Maxwell and Emily Arthur) had posted their prints in process and they had printed on both sides of the 20 x 8 paper size.  So I decided that I too would print on both sides.  Also at SGCI in Las Vegas, I connected with John Hitchcock at the Open Portfolio and he talked about using dye which added splashes of color in his screenprints.  So when I came home, I experimented with 3 different types of dye and used this new tool to create Side B of my print with a gomuban relief print of baby turtles.  I used pieces of embossed paper to create texture in the turtles shells after inking and before printing. 

After printing the baby turtles, I sprayed two different colors of dye to represent the beach and water as they race to the ocean.  On the other side, I planned a 6 color reduction of a green sea turtle I met off Maui some years ago.  

Another first for me in the learning process department was using pin registration for the first time.  I am now a committed pin registration advocate.  

For the reduction print I used battleship grey linoleum mounted on masonite.  I used an acetate mask to isolate the turtle from the water for the first 4 colors.  For the last 2 colors I inked the water first and then cleaned and re-inked the eyes in black.

 

 The prints are intended to be 10 x 8 inches in the end.  But before the fold this is how they ended up.

Thank you Melanie Yazzie for including me in your project.  

Now, back to my studio for more new works already in process.