This semester I"m taking a silkscreen class. Our first assignment was to create a reductive silkscreen using layers of one color of transparent ink. My first idea was to translate a plein air ink drawing I had done, but after learning more about the reductive technique, I realized that the drawing wouldn't work well because instead of adding dark marks on top of each other, I had to build value by blocking out lighter and lighter areas. I looked around my studio and noticed a collection of rocks that I had placed on a gessoed panel with the intention of painting them. Because they were all shades of white and gray, I thought it would work well for the project and took a photograph of the rocks. I printed the photograph in color and black and white. I was surprised when the color photograph appeared so turquoise. Turquoise is one of my favorite colors, so I decided to highlight the color in my print. I mixed two containers of ink--a container of dark turquoise and a container of transparent with just a little bit of the dark turquoise. Then I began to block out sections of my image using screen filler. First, I blocked out only the whitest highlights. After printing my first layer of ink, I blocked out the next lightest value, mixed a slightly darker color of ink, and printed that layer. I continued the same process, printing a total of ten layers of ink. I was interested to see what the ink would look like on different types of paper. I chose a range of colors, transparencies, and textures. Above are a few examples of what the same image looks like printed on different types of paper.
I really enjoyed this technique and can't wait to print more!
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à la ligne, string and thread on denim, stained with fabric dye and bleach, 10 x 8 inches This semester I tried some new ways of working. The piece above was created for an assignment I had early in the semester. Our assignment was to create a painting inspired by a piece of art that we don't like. I first fell in love with painting when I saw impressionist paintings in high school, but have always disliked Renior. His chalky pastel palette is off-putting and his forms often lack definition. They're so etherial, like they're made of someone's hot breath. But the assignment intrigued me. I started looking at his paintings online and came across the painting Le pêcheur à la ligne. I was drawn to the phthelo green + beige color palette and marks he used, so decided to try and reproduce those elements of the piece, minus the subject matter. The first thing I did was turn the reproduction of the painting upside down as a way to isolate the colors and marks. Working from "back to front," I poured fabric dye on a canvas of stitched jeans that I had made earlier. Then I added some bleach to the dye. I worked back and forth until I created a "stain" to work on top of. Then I began adding lime green stitches to the denim using my sewing machine and drawing with a royal blue marker to describe some of the forms I observed, like the flittering leaves of the vegetation. Then, for several hours, I continued layering machine stitches, hand embroidery, and loose threads to the surface until the image felt resolved. I really enjoyed the assignment. It was a practice in empathy. I learned to appreciate the technique of someone's work who I usually have a negative reaction to. It was a little like being locked in a room with an enemy and being forced to find common ground. Left: A Piece of Me, A Piece of You, acrylic, spray paint, oil pastels, string and thread on sewn canvas and repurposed clothing, 18 x 22 inches Right: Love Quote, repurposed clothing and mesh on sewn canvas, stained with fabric dye, and oil on pre-primed canvas, 22 x 18 inches I continued experimenting with mark-making throughout the semester. Above are two different examples of experiments in mark-making that I tried. On the left, I layered a lot of different colored sewing machine stitches on top of paint, spray-paint, and oil pastel until the colors began to blend together. This caused the canvas to warp and buckle. I had seen this technique several years ago in a video of Rebecca Ringquist explaining her process and knew that I wanted to try it at some point. On the left, I created individual marks with the machine, dispersing them across the canvas. To me, they start to resemble letters or characters from an alphabet. Detail of A Piece of Me, A Piece of You To see more of the work I made this semester, click on the tabs pieced and painted and fabric paintings.
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CurrentDrawing from Perception, Invention & Memory @ Stein Galleries
Jan. 16 - March 8, 2024 160 Creative Arts Center Wright State University Dayton, OH Gallery Hours: Tue/Thur 11-4pm Wed/Fri 12-4pm Sat 10-4pm Feast @ Mosesian Center for the Arts Jan. 26 - March 8, 2024 321 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA 02472 Gallery Hours: Wed. - Sat. 1-8pm Tag Cloud
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