Savin' a 1,000 Words!

Our Printmaking Class held each Tuesday at Coos Art Museum is off on the Right, Fun foot! First taste of printmaking has been Silkscreen Monotype and the results were met with extreme pleasure and surprise. Here are 6 samples from students Dana, Nancy, and Sarita.
Our next process is Drypoint Intaglio with the Museum’s Etching Press. We will be using etching tools and plexiglas plates. Those results will be posted later.

Dana #1 – Silkscreen Monotype

Dana #2 – Silkscreen Monotype

Nancy #1 – Silkscreen Monotype

Nancy #1 – Silkscreen Monotype

Sarita #1 – Silkscreen Monotype

Sarita #1 – Silkscreen Monotype

Experimented with a monotype on a South Slough Reserve Brochure. I first lightly (see through) coated with thinned Gesso. Made a test of mediums on screen for best B&W – watercolor black, Derwent Ink Black 2200 pencil, and 6B Drawing Pencil were the choices.

Brochure – 8 1/2 x 11

Silkscreen drawn and painted on its surface with watercolor & pencils

The printed brochure.

We have many Chickadees that flock our bird feeder and I am always attracted to their small size and b&w design around the head. So, I thought “small,” “fine” and Wood Engraving popped up as an answer because of its advantages of dense end-grain of a very hardwood (Maple, in this case). After engraving and gouging, the small wood block was rolled with a black oil-based engraving

“Chickadee” - Wood Engraving - 2 x 1.5 inch

ink and printed on Arches 88 paper. I enjoyed the test print and decided to keep it instead of ‘deep sixing’. Then, I thought – let’s frame it and enter the 2nd Street Gallery’s Miniature Show in Bandon, OR. Soon afterwards I find that it was purchased right after being displayed and before judging – a wonderful, and warming surprise! After the judging, I find that it was a ribbon winner. A couple of days later, I gouged some more to get some more ‘white’ around the Chickadee’s cheeks and printed an Edition of ten (10).

“Chickadee” - Wood Engraving - Edition of 10

The next themed exhibit at the Hospital in Bandon is “Farm.” I didn’t have much dealing with agriculture although living on Ross Inlet Rd that is lined with dairy farm after farm. So, decided to go along the road and get some images and do a couple of Silkscreen Monotypes – I knew the spots that interested me after driving the road for the past 30+ years.

We are in the middle of winter and the pastures were pretty well battered and mucky. At the fence I was approached by a few cattle who were expecting me to toss a bail of hay – but, sorry, disappointment for them – all they could do is stand in the mire and stare and hope. For my first farm-themed piece I felt a need to show the feeling of beaten pasture, reflective puddles, and non-heroic animals surviving on the mashed earth at their feet. Through all the murk I used gold leaf reflecting off the puddles showing that sun and warmth are always lurking.

“Winter Pastures” - Silkscreen Monotype - 13x10 in.

I got the mood I have been after by working Silkscreen Monotype and Collage together. The view needed layering and texture that silkscreen wasn’t offering by itself. Adding ripped papers and gold leaf made the landscape breath and come alive.

“Millicoma Wetlands Fall Day” – Mixed Media 8.5×11.75 in.