collage

I printed up two of my designs today=both originally done in cut paper. Once home I began playing around with the various bit & pieces... Not sure what I think yet. Maybe too tired to tell much of anything right now. Maybe tomorrow morning...

working in another medium this week:

The printshop is closed until mid-September & there is a void left open. Filling it is easy right now:I am finally getting to view & print photos from a quick and unexpected trip to Istanbul & Paris. I have not had any ideas about how the images will impact beyond their printed photograph state...they sit on every surface as the past few days humidity seems to keep them from drying properly. While I like the look of a room covered in photos the cats love it too ,forcing me to think of books and frames.
Back in college I was required to take a darkroom class & did fall in love with the peace of the red lit room and the images, floating and developing in trays of fluid. It had a sense of mystery to it & it taught me a great deal about manipulation of negatives.I have always longed to one day get back to a darkroom ...but it is so expensive! (Like much art making is.)
I have never been much of a computer artist. Working on the computer simply did not entice me. I liked mixing ink colors, I like the smell & feel of materials and computer art seemed devoid of all that. But this week, as I began playing with the printer I got absorbed by the ability to crop and zoom on in to some barely visible detail.This manipulation and the slightly blurry & grainy image texture seems to perfectly suit some of the images and convey the feeling of the moment they were taken.
I have never done photo silkscreen but some of these altered images are just interesting enough to make me entertain the thought of taking the plunge in September...

Transparent magenta or opaque pink ?

Back to work! Summer semester has begun, the printshop is open and I am back adding layer of color upon layer of color in curiosity . The latest Valentines are shaping up nicely and one of my many tree house prints is also nearing completion. It would be fantastic to have everything done in the next 9 weeks! 

New art to ponder

There is nothing like some new art! As I spent Thursday evening wrapping up the spring 2009 semester at School of Visual Arts I was able to silkscreen several pivotal layers to 3 prints I have had in the works . It is wonderful to see something go from unfinished to almost finalized! & my love of color never ceases to amaze me. It feels like hitting a home run, bases loaded. Or drinking a perfect cup of steaming hot tea. Or smelling the scent nearby flowers, warmed by the sun. It is a "makes my heart sing" kind of thing. Certain things make life fascinating & worth living and color is definitely one of those things for me! I also love seeing work at the stage where it is going somewhere and my job is to figure out the next step. That is so inviting & curiosity provoking! 

sketchbook collection

I have been thinking about sketchbooks this week. I have taken their presence in my life for granted all these years but they can be miniature works of art. I use them to jot down ideas, designs,images and to save things from a certain time in my life-like fortune cookie fortunes or small found items. They are records. Most contain postage stamps & collaged bits of letters or envelopes. As a letter writer , those are elements I adore. Many have bits of my silkscreened prints on them. The cover is all important. It has to be something you will love looking at, day after day. And it has to wear well. I use a sheet adhesive that sticks like cement and if something gets worn I create a patch. I have used almost every type of book there is but have no preference. If, like me, you think you might want to tear out pages afterward a spiral bound book is best. But, pages should really be kept in tact. Easier said than done though. 

rocks with gold hearts

The newest creation-gold leaf hearts on found rocks. I imagine an entire rock garden filled with them in all sorts of sizes and shapes. I especially like the contrast of the rough , natural rock and the shiny, smooth gold heart. 

Valentines

Some new work has been hanging to dry : envelopes for Valentines Day 2010 (!)  & some note paper printed in a cut paper pattern I designed for use as Christmas gift wrap this past December. 

silkscreens

The latest prints hanging to dry:

COLOR

Something unusual : mixing sticks. These are the sticks I use to mix colors of ink for my silkscreens. I have always saved them , in part because I love the different colors & there is a part of me that thinks there might be some great piece of art that I could make out of them...

Ready, set, print!

The  spring 2009 continuing education season has begun & with it the silkscreen projects class I have been taking for several years now. I emptied my flat files earlier this week to sort through what gets worked on next. An art triage of sorts. There are 12 classes per semester and that means time is of the essence. I have cards, Mylar & plexi glass prints and goodness knows how many mono prints -all in various stages of completion . Imagine a horribly crowded airport runway with an endless line of planes awaiting take off. Only this is a truly endless pile of prints - waiting, waiting, waiting. Some are one of a kinds and others are in sets = small editions. I am limited by time, rack space at the print shop, my poor aching wrists and horribly cracked thumb pads and how much I can carry into and out of the city on each trip without damaging fragile paper and easily scratched plastic. I dream of a studio like Motherwell  or Matisse -in the backyard, well stocked and limitless . Alas, that will never be. I also try and keep in mind the toll my art making has on the earth. The ink that gets washed down the sink, the proofing paper that is tossed, the chemicals used to photographically coat a silkscreen and then clean it. All of this and more go into the waste system and become...what? More than that-is my art worth the toll taken ? And, is my art of any real value-to anyone? As I get older, these are the things I ask myself. And these questions often lead me to posit that my days as a productive artist are slowly drawing to a close. Time to turn to more beneficial enterprises..................................

This site is under construction...

While I work on art work for this blog I have taken a few photos to hold the space in place. Proceed with caution!

testing...

testing., testing, testing!