unveiling

Sunday, October 5, 2014

More fun with mono printing!

I love teaching these classes with loads going on for all! This class was small and kinda quiet, though when we turned on Pink Martini you would have seen us all dancing while the paint flowed! Here are some action shots followed by a few examples of the work. Leaf prints captured most of us with the shapes and details. Both the Gelli plate and the homemade gelatin plate are good forms to work with impressions of leaves.

Christie and Nina playing.
Alexandra running in the background.

Alexandra caught in the moment

Anne Marie's prints with leaf. Anne Marie is Christie's mom

Anne Marie - she loved working with leaves

More leaf prints from Anne Maria

Christie puts up her work

Leaf prints and more by Christie

Ellen's leaf prints

Many prints by Ellen

Nina's work. Working on newspaper and the grid.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Mono printing classes for the fall using the Gelli plate and other interesting stuff!

Yay!! I will be teaching two more mono printing classes this fall. Last June's class was a blast so we're doing it again. The classes will be held at my friend Alexandra Sheldon's studio in Cambridge on Saturday September 27th and Saturday November 8th. Here's the link to the classes: http://alexandrasheldon.com/index.php?page=classes

These 5 hour themed classes are about playing while exploring mono printing using the Gelli plate by Gelli Arts. I will also bring in some work with an alternative method using some homemade gelatin plates using gelatin and glycerin. We'll see what happens when we use ordinary stuff from around the house like lace and straws and leaves and cardboard and string along with handmade stamps and stencils.

The emphasis is all about waking up our creative spark. We won't worry about the end product. Instead it's about becoming comfortable with the medium and gradually learning about what excites us, what images begin to mean something to us. We'll use cheap paper and cheap paint so nothing is precious. There is no right or wrong, just a loosening of the usual ways we keep ourselves separate from our own kid like creative sense. I'm really looking forward to seeing what we come up with this time!

Now here are some very quick pics of some of the work I've been doing this summer. Most of these are what I would call loose sketches on the Gelli plate, a way of starting. I have fallen in love with leaf prints and Golden Open Acrylics along with my usual cheap craft paints. I'm getting more fluid with the way I work and there's also something about images emerging as I pull things out or push them back, almost like something is being excavated. No titles yet for these since they are unfinished and will probably be used as parts for bigger collages. Look for another posting coming up with more complete work.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

monoprinting / Gelli plate class preparations

It's been a long time since I've posted! The year was a quiet one with a time for allowing ideas to percolate. I'm so glad I gave myself that time, never pushing, the intent only to uncover and discover.

One of the most fruitful processes I got involved with during this time was doing mono prints with both a gelatin plate and the Gelli plate by Gelli Arts. I have always loved the unpredictable things that can happen with mono printing and using a gelatin type plate for printmaking satisfied that "anything can happen" way of working.

Now I'm a complete convert, obsessed with pulling prints and continually finding surprises. There's something so satisfying about just pulling the prints, regardless of what happens to them afterwards.

All of this playing has lead to some wonderful things. One was to be introduced by my good art friend Meg Turner, to collage artist Alexandra Sheldon. She has been teaching collage and related arts at her Cambridge studio for quite a while. With our mutual interests in collage, mixed media and paper arts, we realized it would be exciting and fun to bring in a new element with the Gelli plate from Gelli Arts.

These following pieces are the fruits of my preparations for the class which took place the middle of June. With all that focus putting the class work together I learned lots (!!) of new ways of working with the very versatile Gelli plate! I consider it a painting tool as I keep finding how to use it.

The class was so much fun! This I love to do. We were all creating things, the place was filled with work and laughter. And the plans I made, the examples I brought were hardly needed as everyone took off and we had a creative festival. I loved how that happened. An amazing bunch of people all playing.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Preparing for the 8 Visions exhibit at Attleboro Art Museum

The creative flow really came through as I put together pieces for this recent show at the Attleboro Art Museum. All the collage work for this show is new and the image work is shifting more deeply into something I'm calling a dancing fluidity. I did a lot of mono printing with masks and an abstract use of paint on a gelli plate. This supported a more flowing set of images. Serpents and the sea and a kind of rhythmic, musical dance emerged. This isn't new for me, but the expression is softer, quieter and more internal.

I'm also introducing more obvious, recognizable elements and this is great fun. I'm looking forward to bringing in more. Animal life speaks to me, the massive and yet soft and tender forms of whales and elephants bring me alive with my connection to the earth. I feel great birds, turtles, more serpents, fish and who know what great beasts will come along!

There is also much coming along with myths, ancient stories telling of life before the word. Much to open to as I keep feeding the flow of creativity.

The show runs from August 7th to September 7th with a reception night and artist's talk on Thursday August 8th. The museum is in Attleboro Mass.