Live the questions now.
-Rilke
Random intention
While you print, keep your sketchbook open. Use it to wipe off your brayer. Print off excess paint from stencils. test colors. When the page is full, start a new one. (Waxed paper between the pages prevents sticking.) Later, work back in, with other marks and materials. What happens may surprise you.
What was random can become intentional.
Leaves of summer
Walk outside. Pick some weeds. Back inside, get out some paint, your gel plate, and print. Watch the colors layers as they build. Change colors. Print again.
And keep a sketchbook handy, to wipe off excess paint. Sometimes those unintentional marks are the most inspiring.
Leaf Printing Time
Summer loves gelatin printing. Leaves are back. Grasses too. Dust off your gelatin plate, pick some leaves from your garden, and bring them to your print table:
Leaf mask
Ink your plate. Place leaves on top. Here the smooth side is down. On the right you can see the clean void each leave leaves when you take a print.
Leaf print
For your next print, turn the inked leaf over and place it on your plate (inked or not). You’ll get a positive leaf image on your next print.
If one layer doesn’t satisfy, have faith and make another. The layering makes all the difference. Play with cut stencils and found objects. Layer brights and darks. Throw in irridescents for sparkle. The results will infuse your stash with summer energy.
Sketchbook dreams
After a day in the studio, moving furniture and supplies, starting new work, I sat down, tired, with my sketchbook and some old supplies:
catch ideas
The creative mind sprouts ideas like a plant sprouts leaves. The artist must simultaneously play plant and gardener.
Art is like a garden. Keep it growing. Prune to prevent legginess. Reach wildly. Seek structure to support growth. Sink your roots. Drink deep from inspiration. Fertilize wisely.
Pull up the weeds. Give away what’s dusty. Scribble during the smallest scraps of time to scribble. You might be surprised what your sketchbook has to say.
Unexpected Journey
Future Past
Artistic company can work like critical mass. Thank you to my students in this spring’s Expressive Collage at Arlington Center for the Arts. Together we created a room that embraced creation. Music in the background. Supplies spread out. Ideas shared. On my table: papers the colors of sky and fire, plus text and pages from an old book. The rhythm of time together each week meant progress for all our work.
Do you like to work alongside others? Do you prefer privacy when you create?
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