Saturday, January 29, 2011

. . . developed another passion




for screen printing. . . deconstructed screen printing, anyway. The photos are terrible, I know. . . but I haven't used the camera for so long and I'm sure the settings need to be adjusted. Bear with me here. . . The picture above shows probably the first pull I did ever. . . didn't turn out too badly, did it?





I'm pretty sure this is the same screen as the first picture, but I added some red, hoping to get a good rich brown, but I quite like this result, too.






And here is totally different screen, larger than the first one.





And I think this is yet another screen, but it could be the same as #3. This one is interesting to me because the thickened dye I used wasn't all that thick and it dripped down, leaving those charming little circles to print off.


I am learning a lot. I printed all these on tissue paper, although I have printed on other papers I have around the studio, too. I chose these photos based only on whether the pictures were blurred or clear. The print paste and the thickened dye were what I had on hand. . . I have not yet been able to find back the powdered dye I need to make a new supply, and this supply was old and probably not as effective as a new batch would be.


I learned that putting the thickened dye on the back of the screen and laying objects in it will result in a screen that will last longer than if you put the screen on top of the objects and pull through it. I'm learning that the thickness of the dyes and the print paste make a difference in the finish product. I also learned that you can monoprint with this technique, and I have even screen printed over the top of some small pieces of stretched canvas that were waiting to be painted. Now I know, too, to always wear those damned gloves or you will have colored fingertips.


Don't know what I'm going to do with this tissue paper. Probably use it for collages. I did take some photocopies of one piece on the new color printer at work (but for heaven's sake, don't tell anyone I did that) and the results were astonishingly good. Oh, it's so good to be back experimenting, and saying, "what if I. . . " again.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

. . . deconstructed some screens




Nope, sorry, these aren't the results. My camera's batteries are dead, and since I have $3 to last me until next payday, I had to rethink my priorities and batteries didn't make the cut.




(I wonder why I picked this picture to show. . . blah.)


It is so much fun. . . deconstruction of anything is always fun. I used some old printing ink and print paste that I had mixed up a long time ago, and it really wasn't that good, but I got the idea of what to do. So I just finished playing the mad scientist in the kitchen with the blender (that will not be making any magaritas anytime soon because I had to use the good one because the one for the studio shot craps) and made up good clean batches.







You know how when you move, you pitch stuff that you think you will never need again and swear that you will never accumulate that much junk again in your life? That's what I did with all my extraneous plastic covered bowls, you know the kind, from butter or yogurt or deli meat. I had nothing to but my dyes into when they were blended. My kids' plastic drinking cups now will never touch human lips again.






And of course all my dyes are packed away somewhere and I can't find them. So I had to mprovise, since new dyes didn't make the budget either. I used some of the old thickened dye and combined it with the new print paste and made colors that way. I also used some of the used print paste, and it made a beautiful shade of copper. I hope art doesn't suffer from frugality. As if frugality is the only thing that would make my art suffer. Talent helps.






Next week, I believe the budget will allow for batteries, so I will show you all what I've come up with. I'm trying to figure a way to utilize this technique in my paintings. A good thing about moving is that I have rediscovered a huge amount of good stuff to make impression on the screens, as well as using them to create texture in my paintings. I'm off to have a wonderful art-filled weekend while it snows some more, again.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

. . . wondered about this:




With inspiration. . .







like this. . .





why. . .


am I . . .





not painting???