I absolutely love the process, even though it can get tedious. You work with oil paints and you need to find the right combo of paint, solvent and brush strokes to make it print just right. I was worried I’d forget the tricks I learned last time, but it clicked in!
Here is the first one – I call it my warm-up! All those little hash marks, I didn’t even think through the placement of them. Once I pick up my dried prints, I’ll rework the background on my iPad (Procreate). This is the print fresh off the press. I use so much paint that our teacher, Brent, was able to make two more prints from my Plexiglas plate!
How it works: You draw a design on newsprint and slide it under the Plexiglas. Or at least I do, it gives me something to start with. Once your paint is how you like it, then you run it through the press! The paper has to be damp just right in order to soak up with colors.
Here is Brent, our teacher, after he finished lifitng my print from the press!
I didn’t have any plans going in, so I sketched another sheet of paper, I folded it first and created a grid and then used it as my pattern. I didn’t know what I was doing, this was strictly experimental!
I’m not a pro at this, so I stick with bold, big designs and then let the color do the work! Here’s what it looked like coming off the press. It’s like magic!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4qkpYil05h/
I ended up with three prints! The first one, then Brent made a calendar print from the first print, then a ghost print from what was left on the Plexiglas. Now I can take those three prints and add to them here in my studio! I’m so excited to add them to my store when they are done! I love this pattern, it’s my favorite of the day. I’m hoping I can turn it into fabric or paper!
I thought I was finished, but Brent was like, “Come on, Kathy – you can do one more!” My back was aching from being hunched over hours painting, but when would I have the chance to do this again? So I went for a short walk, drank some water, cracked my knuckles and pulled another sheet to draw a design. Plus, look at these gorgeous colors I had left!
My theme? An alebrije! I quickly drew it out and then turned the paper over and traced over my design because I knew it would print backward. I worked really fast on this one, the end of the class approached!
He looks a lil frightened, but I think he’s super cute! I have three prints of this one too, so I can rework some details!
Well, that’s how it all went down. Check out community art centers in your area so you can try it, it’s super fun! I can’t wait to work some magic on these prints – stay tuned!
On another subject, I just finished my last business trip for the year, which means more time to craft and more time to blog! Here is a sneak peek of what I did last week!
