This Time Around the Sun... and then some

"Hamp's Blues" 6"x8" drypoint + relief

"Art is the guarantee of sanity." - Louise Bourgeois "Art is a way of survival." - Yoko Ono

Sometimes I taste from the fire hose, open the valve wide, and see what my limits are. I'm looking for the possible; the surprise; what fits in my studio; the exhausting yet exhilarating feeling at the end of a studio day. I'm also looking for what annoys and makes me cranky. So cranky that I stop and clean my studio. The delta of the two is what can be done and where I'll go next.

Ellen Heck's work broke a barrier for me. She combines both relief and intaglio methods to great effect. I kept my initial project low stakes. The image comes from a Lionel Hampton album. The disembodied hands swinging out a tune inspired me. My relief plate was linoleum and my drypoint plate was PETG. Here are some things I learned:

• draw the relief plate first and lay the PETG on top - this ensures the two plates will line up;

• the relief plate was used for color and holding negative space, and the PETG for line work and darkest tones;

• the two different plates require different tools, but I did use the same tool on both plates;

• the color on my relief plate was a simple gradient of yellow and purple, combined these two make brown;

• as the paper was damp, less ink was required for the relief plate;

• let your paper dry under weights;

• you can re-dampen Caligo safe wash inks without any bleed;

• registering plates of different heights and re-calibrating the press is a thing;

• drypoint is printed last

The result was exciting! AND, I wanted to try another one. BUT, I got stuck. When stuck, go consume art. Wayne Thiebaud's watercolor monotypes found me by accident. The expressiveness of the work pushed me to re-visit prior work with fresh eyes. Part of my mentorship at Zea Mays Printmaking is about seeing and how different printmaking methods hold line. Here's what I revisited, thus far:

Buddha

"Salutations," 8'x10" reduction linocut

"Salutations," 12"x6" watercolor monotype with drypoint

Ginkgo

"Winter Palette," 12"x6", woodcut

"Ginkgo," 12"x8", watercolor monotype with drypoint

Goat

"Not such a Bad Goat," 5"x7" watercolor painting

"Not such a Bad Goat," 8"x10" watercolor monotype

When I take this step back, I'm seeing how different techniques hold line and either enhance or hinder the subject.

With this new set of eyes, I can work on my deeper project of friendship: what's it like to make a friend; to hold onto a friend; to lose a friend; to feel that loss. I'm focusing on my friendship with Michael Lownie. He returned to the stars a year ago on February 23rd. All art is personal and one way to survive.

Take care and more from me soon...