Waterbased Intaglio Inks

Linda Goodman asked me to assist her in her waterbased monotype class last weekend. I was excited to try out these new inks and compare them to the oil based inks. The oil based inks I used in her oil based class were the Handschy litho-inks . I've had a lot of experience with Handschy since these are the inks that Prof. J prefers to work with. My grad professors frowned on me using these inks, but I still used them anyways. It was good because nobody was advanced enough at CCA to use the color litho inks so I had them all to myself. Anyways, for the waterbased workshop with Linda Goodman, we used Akua-intaglio which is a new brand of Akua that was supposed to be good. At first I couldn't tell much differnce to the oil based inks when I was rolling it out, but when I printed, I could tell right away. The black to me looked like a bad marker running out of ink. Eventhough my black looked richer than the others, it was ugly. Also, the printgods god mad at me because I had a slight ten minute creative block. Usually, I'm able to just dive right in, but the Gods would not allow it. Solvent and oil based inks create the most wonderful washes, but this stuff just smudged. Linda took me into the back and showed me an experiment that she did on Aqua-line
faust inks. The water when mixed with the black created a texture exactly like tusche , so hopefully she will like these inks and use them in Greece while I'm there. The clean up was extremely messy. It took me twice as long to clean these inks off of rollers eventhough it is a safer process. My hands got very messy from using it too...it is just too messy. Out of a scale of five I would give them a four. I have heard that other inks brands are a lot worse.

I don't like these prints, but I'm going to share them with you anyways. Just wasn't feelin' it that day.




Subtractive method.



Additive onto ghost.

Paula Rego

Born in Portugal, Paula Rego's work always has a sense of magical realism; quirky contemporary mythologies pointing to an underlying psychology and sexuality, through a feminine view point. The Fitting is a scene of fairytale romance turned nightmare. Reminiscent of Velasquez' Las Meninas, Paula Rego uses loaded imagery and symbolism to create a surreal mystery for the unravelling.

My new work is heading in this direction. I was happy to find this artist. She uses all different types of printmaking methods to make these installations. Mine will be more figurative, and I plan to incorporate celtic designs as a code for mapping the memories in my life of the different places I have lived. I am interested in how immigrants memories are different to most people because we have two seperate lives. It's kind of like a parallel universe in the way that our lives have been spliced into two, yet we are still connected to both worlds. What I was doing last semester at CCA was creating memory images out of maps that I had found of my past. I was particularily drawn to the London maps. So, I projected the maps onto large sheets of paper and drew narrative out of the patterns of the maps. It looked really cool. Now I am working towards creating my own maps still using the original maps, but turning the pattern into celtic form. The narrative that I am drawing out of the pattern is more interesting and complex.

Nicola Lopez website

Jude Griebel

In Jude Griebel’s paintings and prints, elements of storybook narrative and adult experience are combined to create scenes that have a foothold in both the real and imaginary. Regarding his work, Griebel states: “I am interested in how youths are able to project their imaginations onto domestic and everyday spaces, transforming and doubting the familiar. It is this state of questioning, anxiety and nostalgic wonder that I attempt to translate through my painting.” The costume has become a repetitive theme in his work as a tool of transformation, disappearance and disconnection from reality.

Paintings

Come with me......

Other workshops that Linda has coming up are in Italy and Greece. She asked me if I would like to be her assistant for the Greece Workshop. I was in such shock when she asked me, and I'm praying that it will work out. So, if any of you printfreaks want to hang out with me in Greece for a couple of weeks please come. Her workshops are great. She also said that they visit Athens for a day. Doesn't it just look magical. Special things happen when you get out of your safety zone and explore the WORLD!! We can go out dancing Greek style!!!




Linda Goodman's International Art Workshops 2006, Italy, and Greece Painting Drawing Monotype Monoprint Class Summer June July
Painter/ printmaker Linda Goodman is on the faculty at Mission College, Santa Clara, California and has taught extensively in the U.S. and abroad including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; University of Oregon, Eugene; Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA; San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California; UC Berkeley; Berkeley,CA; University of Minnesota, Split Rock; San Francisco State University and Mills College, Oakland, California among others. She regularly teaches workshops in the United States and abroad. In June 2006, join her for the tenth Art Workshop, "Your Creative Sojourn" in captivating Florence, Italy, with a NEW OPTION of visiting for eight days for an "Artist's Date" focusing on museums, drawing, journaling and/or watercolor monotype, or from one to three weeks to work in monoprint (beginning to advanced levels). All groups should have unparalleled privileges at most major Florence museums allowing repeated entrances. In August, she returns to conduct "Walking with the Muse: Creative Journey in Monoprint" on Skopelos Island, Greece for 15 days on this beautiful island in the Agean sea.
Her work is in the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Oakland Museum, California; the Library of Congress, Washington D.C. and other public and private collections. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Mills College, Oakland and a BA in Fine Art from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California

Some of my new work

So to get my juices flowing once more, I decided to take a two day monoprint workshop with Linda Goodman. It was a great weekend. She spent a good time showing us her prints that she did. I really like it when printmakers take the time to do this. She showed us some black and white demo's and then we broke for lunch. After lunch, we worked on our own prints until 4:00pm. The next day, Linda spent the morning showing us how to do color. We then took a print from the previous day and turned it into color.



This is the first monoprint that I pulled. We applied a layer of Linda's secret recipe black ink all over a zinc plate and then we subtracted an image from it. I had no idea what I wanted to do and stared at my plate for a while seeing if anything would coem out of it. I sometimes feel like Michelangelo when I do this. I love his half carved statues when you can see him just pulling that person from out of the marble. I wasn't sure how the ink would move, and was pleasantly suprised to feel it move away almost like butter. I started with the eyes and soon an owl appeared out from it, but then I didn't want just regular owl, so I gave him some fluffy horns that now remind me of Picasso's montaur now that I look at it. I wasn't sure what to do to the body, and honestly I didn't care at this point.



This is my second pull. I went over my ghost image, so this time I was adding to my image rather than taking away. I spend a good time on this one trying to get the body to work how I wanted it to. I also spent time investigaing textures and different viscosities of ink. I really like how this one turned out.



This was my final black and white. I didn't have time to build this image up to somehting I was happy with, but Linda really liked the delicate quality of this print.



The next day, Linda taught us how to use color. This print had three seperate runs. The first run I did with green washes. The second run was with blue drips, and the third run was a soft burnt sienna glaze and I subtracted highlights from it. As you can see, this print got very murky. One problem was that maybe the print in the first place didn't need color because on the second day when I looked at it, I really liked the delicate tones too. As soon as the green wash went on, I realized that I had lost those tones and it looked bad. The run of blue drips also made it worse. I think I have fulfilled my appetite for drips now, and I probably won't do them again. They are fun to do, but sometimes you have to know when the right time to use them is. The final color really pulled everything together, but it also flattened my image. This print needed one more run of a warm color just isolated in the owl/cat/thing to really pop him up from the background.



Linda isolated this portion of my color print and said how successful it was. I happen to agree with that now that I croped it on the computer.

All in all, I really liked this process. I know my wonderful prof. would knock his eyes to the heavens, but it really made me realize how I should be working in etching. I know now that it helps to work subtractively to get an image, but I also need to add and take away again. The class also helped me figure out how color can be applied successfully. I've always had problems with color on representationl pieces. Usually, when I work in color, it's always on absract images. These problems that I have been having for years have all of a sudden become so clear to me in just a couple of days. ChEERs and Hoarray!!!! Lets skip down a Lane.

A thing great about Linda was her concern for safety. Being young, I really wasn't the safest printmaker, but Linda made me realize that women need to be especially careful because we carry toxins in our body different to how men do. She said that a lot of printmakers have keeled over because of toxins. I'm glad that she brought these issues to life, and I am going to stop being macho and start caring about my health more. I'm thinking about switching over to non-toxic printmaking, but it is like learning all over again. Maybe I will find some workshops that will help me switch to these other techniques. Another good thing about Linda, is that she is not afraid to tell you WAS'UP. I get so tired of ambigious comments and most of the time no comments about my work. As soon as a print came off the press Linda was there to talk with you about the image, and offer good honest feedback. Because, I want to teach printmaking someday, I really like taking these classes to get different ideas on how to teach printmaking. OF course, my founding prof. J has been the best teacher so far, but I'm also finding other skills in people that I like and want to use. I hope someday I can be a grand old teacher.

Greenday and Utamaro

A punkish man walked into our store Friday and asked for the frames his wife had gotten framed. I asked what her name was and he said "Adrianne Armstrong" I remembered excactly where that order was. I took another look at the young man and thought to myself that he looked so familiar. I pulled out the frames for him: both were charcoal grawings, and I asked him if it was him or his wife that had done them. He said that he had done them. I kept thinking to myself, he looks a lot like the lead singer for Greenday except a little bit smaller than what I had imagined. It then dawned on me that it WAS Billy from Greenday. He seemed so normal, friendly, and not at all snobish (like most lead singers). This guy was quiet and happy to see his work framed. I helped him get his frames together and gave him hooks to hang his picture. I held the door for him and told him to have a nice day. After he left, I screamed. My face was red, my heart was racing. I felt like a child. Greenday Dookie was the first CD I ever bought. I knew the words to all his songs eventhough I had no idea what the word masturbation meant in those days. It was so exciting to meet him on such a mundane ordinary occasion. I'm glad I played it cool, because I could see the relief in his face when he left the store that I didn't freak out on him. That whole night I was day dreaming over and over. The whole weekend, eventhough I had a workshop, I couldn't stop thinking about it. It's such a strange feeling to have, it reminded me of my first encounter with Gustav Klimts, "Danae".



This is one of three original Kitagawa Utamaro's japanese prints that I framed for someone. I love when people come in with these types of works. I get to spend a long time looking at prints, and I try to figure out the artists techniques. I particularily like these works because the lines are so crisp and fluid and the colors are so soft. I think that maybe Mattisse was influenced by this artist. They have a similar approach to line.




"Men of All Seasons"
Charles Bibbs

This is another piece of art that came into our shop. I really love this piece. I'm not a huge fan of racially charged pieces of art, but I feel like this artists work is so successful. I feel like it is a universal image that many cultures can relate to.

Charles Bibbs has always believed that we are the keepers of our culture, and as such, has spent much of his time working towards developing a cohesive, energized African American community. He is a committed activist on behalf of economic development and empowerment in the community, spending much of his free time holding seminars and workshops with young people. In his quest to preserve and develop the visual arts, Charles Bibbs has founded Art 2000, a non-profit visual art association that informs and inspires artists and art patrons alike. Out of this association has grown Images Magazine, the first national publication dedicated to ethnic art. Another one of Charles’ passions is jazz music; and by founding the Inland Empire Music and Arts Foundation, another non-profit organization, he has been able to bring an annual world class jazz and art festival to Southern California, while providing much needed funding for a number of art and music programs.

Registration

I registered for classes last Monday. I'm really excited for next Fall, and I can't wait to start school again. I have a lot of ideas, and I feel more comfortable about where my work is going.
Here is what I signed up for:
Graduate Critique class with James Gobel,
Principles of Pattern. I'm hoping this class will help me somehow mesh celtic designs, map making, and memories together.
Thesis Seminar with Ted Purves,
Studio units with these people:
Yee Jan Bao
Jovi Schnell
Nance O'Banion
David Huffman