Retreat decompression

OMG! Did I have a fab time or what? I need a little decompression time tonight, but I will share a little over the next few days.

Here are the snaps I took arriving at the retreat center:

The Old West town ofVirginia City is perched up high in the mountains, somewhere just under 7,000 ft above sea level. I was surprised that I could feel the extra pressure on my lungs, but was otherwise fine, a couple of people experienced nose bleeds and other altitude sickness symptoms, which is always a bit of a drag to have. It was worth it for the amazing sensation of the air at such a height.

These buildings were on the left of the road as I drove down. I am not sure what they were, but were obviously original and now just part of the ghost town.

Speaking of ghosts.... The retreat center is one of America's most haunted buildings. Many groups of ghost hunters visit and record the paranormal activity. Interestingly, the building was once a hospital run by nuns and the ghosts are said to be previous patients. The window free printmaking room was originally the morgue. Had I known that BEFORE the trip, I am not sure I would have been in there alone at Midnight....

Comments

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

This is a sort of artist's statement, but far more boring and long-winded. My current form of blogging is to limit the text to as little as possible. I am lazy when it comes to writing and the blog tends to trickle off when I feel the pressure of having to add words to the pictures. I hung my exhibition yesterday, so today I will ramble a little about the reasoning behind it (and to help me get over the guilt for hardly writing anything in the last couple of months). Please feel free to skip the words and look at the pictures! For a long time after moving to America, I found it difficult to process who I had become and the new meaning of home. I was English, yet found the American "English" language a challenge. This culture that in many ways was similar to my own, is in other ways completely opposite and confusing. I still often experience a shock by a sudden feeling of otherness and a perhaps a reminiscence for the past, yet I relish the possibility of ne...

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

Search This Blog