Breaking down the image

Using the method Wendy showed us, we made multiple copies of our image using tracing paper. First we made a master to work with, then as I had a lot of black, I made a copy with the black marked. The rest of the colours were then identified and traced as an individual layer. The image I am using will have around 7 layers.

It is important to make sure that the drawing contains registration marks and trace these carefully on each tracing. The layers are to be printed in the press for this technique, so it was important not to have anything very high or hard to keep the paper registered. We made a tape bumper for our guide which enabled the paper to be pushed up to the same place on the matrix each time and still be soft enough to go through the press.

The matrix used for this project was called Gomuban and is a vinyl type of product that is both thin and flexible, ideal for press use.

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Encaustic Monoprint Technique

Today I visited a printmaking friend's studio. Amy is experimenting with encaustic monoprints. I have never heard of this before so I was excited to have a demo. Here is the basic process: 1. Heat up the homemade heat box. 2. Rub the beeswax pigment sticks on the metal surface of the heat plate to melt them. Create a design on the plate with one or more colors. Step 3. Lay a piece of rice or rag paper face down on the painted design and cover with newsprint. Burnish. Step 4. Carefully pull the paper away from the heat plate. Steps 5-6. Clean the heat plate with paper towels. Add more color to the heat plate and repeat the process to add patterns or more color to the print. The smell of the wax is yummy and the pigments are really thick and rich to work with. I had a little play to get a feel for what the print is like (image below). Now I want to build a heat box and play!!

Peacock Paintings/prints

I'm working on the peacock paintings at the moment and some relief prints. I am slowly filling in the shapes and colors of the paintings, starting from the top and working down with each color. I'm grouping them with my 8 color reduction cut relief print. Also a feather linocut and painting, both in their early stages. The linocuts below are variation experiments based on the imagery above. It still feels like I am a long way to completion, but hopefully they will pull together fast at the detail stage.

DeMeng Workshop

We made crazy vehicles in Michael DeMeng's workshop. Here are a selection of some of the works in progress: Here we had a critique with Michael discussing everyone's progress. I loved this steampunked up critter! This is the cool studio by the harbor that we worked in for four days, pretty cool view! Later in the day we had a project with Tracy and Teesha Moore with a bunch of artists from different workshops.

Cricketts Inky Art Blot

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