So you want to be a printmaker...

It has come to my attention that in order to be considered a printmaker you actually have to make distribute/sell or present prints. and the time to do that for me is...hope fully upcoming. why am I not entering the hundreds of prints I have in shows or contests? Because I'm a busy lady but I get the point. There's just something about the newness of work that's lovely. The old work I keep forgetting, isn't old to everybody, just me.

So perhaps I will enter some prints in some shows.

In the meantime- I'm making an inking table. Its turquoise. Also cutting new stencils based on my favorite print in the post beliw. Can't get over it. Gotta keep using the imagery.

Plants are back- Moving on with new ideas for gelatin

So lately I've been really wanting to get back into my printmaking. Missing what your life was about for years all of a sudden SUCKS and I want it back. I plan on starting up my prints again- working more with my hens and chicks patterns like in my large square prints. I want to do several smaller versions in all different colors. I really love the large ones but I think fall colors would be neat and a greyscale one would be bitchin.

Maybe still using gelatin I will make stencils to take up the ink instead of carving out of wood and continue my work and it's graphic sort of expression that way to still make pieces of a quality I enjoy. I have to find a way to stop the gelatin prints from being all random and ....unpredictable? It's hard, I know that is what they're supposed to be like and that's why people love them for layering pigments and getting unpredictable results.

SO things I want to try to keep my style but use this less hazardous less messy method of printmaking:

Stencils. Out of whatever I can get. Probably not mylar- although I love mylar stencils because they are washable and barely stainable, they don't pick up the ink like paper stencils, and they don't quite NOt pick up the innk either. They cause the ink to bubble into droplets. However I would want a stencil I could use over and over again. SO I'm not sure where to go from here. Maybe tar paper? Stencils Are needing some research and questions to artists who use them.

My second thought is Stamping. I have many blocks with only the lines left after making and hollowing out the print inside. Could I roll on a layer of ink to the gelatin or to the block, and then use my blocks to Stamp out the outlines of some duplicate monotypes? Like one would use tjaps with wax for Batik?

ANd my third idea. I could treat the gelatin like a block of wood or linoleum and reductively carve it out as I add print layers. I could recycle the gelatin in a blender to keep making and reusing the blocks. It's so soft, theres no way it would take the 12-40 hours carving wood can take.

A moment on the gelatin.

I haven't gotten to play much with gelatin prints since making those first attempts.

I did however spend a weekend over at my aunt's, and while I was there decided to make a plate and go to gung ho the next day.

I mixed up the gelatin in the usual recipe, 4c water to 1/3c gelatin - food grade gelatin I ordered off line. I have 5 pounds of the stuff which will stretch WAY farther than I thought it would. So the game is on.

I pour the gelatin a bit at a time stirring it into the simmering water, when almost all the chunks are dissolved and it's like a light shade of piss yellow- I pour it out into a jello roll pan. I leave it on the counter overnight to cure.

Now the next day, when we went to get it out of the pan it stuck like GLUE! Worse, when we attempted to gently, with splayed fingers, tug it out, it folded and broke. crack after crack. Next we tried heating up the underside of the pan with a hair dryer. No difference. Eventually we settled on prying it out of the pan using the hairdryer to blow air up under it creating lift- think a sheet on the line on a windy day. We managed a few decent sized chunks. and played with them- but they were too soft to take much printing and eventually we played with cookie cutters to make shapes.

The ink also acted differently on it, being more water-y the ink slid off it instead of having nice grip. The Speedball inks I'd expect that of- I haven't had much luck with them being sticky or opaque. The Daniel Smith inks I bought are Fantastic (unfortunately their price? less than fantastic).

Anyway- The real question is- why was my plate so awful?

Let's investigate the differences between the first [;ate i made and this last one in process:


Plate One:
4 cups water using liquid measure + 1/3 c gelatin solid measure. When combined over heat, resulting in an amber like color, a medium yellow. Then poured on a normal cookie sheet, let it set, then popped it into a fridge over night. It was almost room temperature by the time we used it next day but it was rubber-y and the edges and bottom had pulled away form the pan.

Plate Two: 4c water- using a solid measure. 1/3 c solid measure. when combined made a light yellow color, poured into a jelly roll pan (higher, more vertical sides) and placed on a counter.

My hypothesis is that I ended up with more water in plate two, and because I didn't stick it in a dry fridge to dehydrate over night it didn't get that ideal rubbery texture.

the first gelatin prints!

Would that I had a studio to do these every day, they are so fun and easy to get really creative with.

Prints from Senior Show:

The prints that were sold (YAY!) are gone forever- I will post pictures of their brothers and sisters soon. Since my runs are inconsistent, each print has a little something special- its own character; a slightly differing color scheme usually. The point of doing an edition is to have the prints all be the same- it's a skill I am still working on, also the reason I trend towards monotypes as a printmaker.

Aeonium






Sempervivum





Dawn in the Garden



Hen and Chicks





Lithops

a drive-by tour of my senior show works

Dawn in the garden
Intaglio- 4 plate- akua inks. Quick to work up and print. rives lightweight.



gelatin print with woodblock over it. watercolor added. rives lightweight.
This one was a huge experiment. Awesome fun making gelatin prints with my teacher Elizabeth Cameron (a fantastic printmaker) and the woodcut was done a little later.


This ones my favorite. It's echeverias- I did it with the careful layering of transparent inks. The dark blues and greens are all the same color grey- overlayed over different base hues it looks like several different colors. I blew my own world a little with this one.



This one is a set of about 20 monoprints. The edition failed when I couldn't decide how to resolve the print and kept niggling away at the colors, printing and reprinting the layers. The carving took what felt like a lifetime and made me need a break from woodcuts- its 2'x2'.







These are some paintings bonding with my prints. I sold two prints all told- thanks to whoever bought the one and to Kathy who bought my favorite. Featured in the photo far off are another etching and a few more relief prints.

The show featured 9 prints in all and only two paintings. So I took away a painting major with a printmaking minor- the first one at the NHIA- and had two paintings to show for it. Needless to say I enjoyed my minor more. I am looking around for ways to incorporate them with each other. The more I get into monotypes the more I see the link between painting and printmaking shrinking.

The NHIA Minumental Exhibition

Every year my college-The New Hampshire Institute of Art- does an exhibition of 2"x2" artwork- this year I did a cute little relief print- I hand painted and printed each little one so they are each unique and different. I think they look cool together in a triptiych, there are several that I like. The print is a little Echeveria plant that has gently rouged leaf tips. The colors and rose-like design remind me of vintage type tattoos a little bit. Sadly, due to snow and a not-so-public rain date to drop off submissions these little guys didn't make it into the show. Maybe next year!



These little prints coincide with my current body of work focused on my beloved house plants, of which I have at least twenty. I am going through a phase of life where, bereft of pets, I have taken on plants as a kind of overt obsession. I own many succulents and know how to take care of anything from a tropical pitcher plant to grass. I know when to plant and fertilize black eyes susans, and I know when it is time to begin watering your lithops in the spring. I think the first little relief print is my favorite for its subtle pink and changes in green.
Check out some plant related paintings and in progress work at the Painting tab above, or if you too are a plant hoarder check out my blog- occasionally updated with new plant facts I have found scouring the internet, updates on how mine are doing and new additions/the occasional death.