Oxbow Press Opening Gala

The opening gala of Oxbow Press started last Friday, June 4th. We had a good turnout of people to come and view our new workshop and art studios.

I was demonstrating some relief printing and running one of the presses. A fellow resident artist, Isadoro Leon was printing T-shirts with one of his designs, the shirts are awesome and looked a lot of fun to make. The evening was a lot of fun and hopefully word will get out about Oxbow Press.

Saturday was an open studio day, I worked in my studio for a while starting a painting ready for Nada Dada which is mid-June.

Sunday

I attended a Printmaker's Conspiracy meeting in the studios where there was a mini critique of work and a general update on what the members have been doing in the last months. The group show will be up in Carson City all Summer. http://www.wnc.edu/news/2010-06-01a.php

After weeks of preparation, the printshop is now officially open and the presses are ready for action, yay!

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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!!

A Sort of Artist's Statement

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Longest day

I spent the day at the studio sorting out some piles of mess and racing outside to see if the water to the pond was flowing. The sorting was hard to focus on and the water never arrived. The anticlimax was excruciating! Hopefully the water will arrive tomorrow! This is all that is left from last years fill, the fish and I are very miffed!

Cricketts Inky Art Blot

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