Digging out

Doing these blog projects has been fun but working in so many different kinds of media means that I've been pulling out all kinds of things! My studio looks like a tornado came through it so I've spent much of today straightening it up and putting things away. I've only scratched the surface - here's hoping a couple of evenings will do the trick. The fun part is finding things that I forgot about - the not fun part is realizing that I need either more space or less stuff!

When I last posted, I was telling you about the Monothon printing session I was going to in Connecticut....

I had never done any artist level monotype work before - I had done monoprinting on fabric and a little screenprinting but nothing that required multiple layers of prints or lining up the registration. What a learning curve! I made a couple of mistakes at the beginning - one was using oil based inks instead of water based (at the insistance of the person "helping' me), and, two, trying to make a print based on a drawing I had done. I now know that I would have been better off just rolling ink on the plate & doing a "subtractive" print where you wipe away areas of ink. Instead, I was doing the "additive" type of printing where I was applying paint to the plate.

The woman helping me was very patient, more patient than me, I'm afraid! After a while, we set aside my first project and I just did prints with dried leaves. I did wind up with a print that was deemed "good enough" to be put into the silent auction fund raiser - here's hoping it sells! I forgot to take a picture of it, however.

I'm sharing some photos of the prints I made but they aren't going to stay this way... my plan is to do a wash over the prints to tone them down and then cut them up and rearrange them into a collage. I want to try and make something out of them!

The facility is really beautiful - interesting architecture and plenty of room to work in well equipped space. If you are a printmaker, this is definitely the place to be! I will be returning to the center in late January when Inge and I start a six week course in a variety of printing techniques.

All in all, my Monothon experience was interesting but not the success I had hoped for. Really my own fault in the end, I should have taken a class before going instead of assuming that I would pick it up quickly like I usually do. Would I do it again? I think so, but now I know what to expect and I know more about the materials and the process. For now, however, I'm going to stick to what I know!