Archive
Donating an Artist’s Book to the Jaffe Collection
I’ve been a fan of Dot Krause and her work for years, and her recent incorporation into Facebook makes it a lot easier to keep tabs on her. It was there that I learned of her current residency at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. From her ongoing reports from the Jaffe Center it seems that Dot is in her element there teaching some workshops and creating an artist’s book entitled “River of Grass.” Read more…
The Story of This Print: “El Patio del Harem”
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Back at the Alhambra
I’ve started on a series of medium-sized liquid-metal prints on Alhambra themes. Granada’s medieval fortress and palace has been for centuries a source of inspiration for artists, writers and photographers, so much so that today it’s difficult to get an original take on it. This time I’m relying on the inherent looseness of the liquid-metal technique to try to achieve Alhambra images with some originality.
I had one of those wonderful printmaking experiences at the beginning of this project. The first proofs I pulled from the first plate, El Patio del Harem, looked frankly great and I thought, “This is it, I’ll print up an edition.” But before I could start, I took a close look at one of the plates from which I had just pulled a proof. In the ink residue left on the plate I could still see beautiful detail. So I rubbed a light layer of yellow ink into it, rolled some fresh silver ink on top and put it back through the press, making a “ghost print.” I was shocked to see how superior the ghost was to the live one. I have placed the original print at the top of this post, the ghost below. See if you don’t agree with me.
This print was done with liquid metal on an old, previously-etched copper plate, a still life with fruit. I put the cold solder on with a palette knife and when it was still quite sticky I drew into it with a stylus. I didn’t press any texture elements into it until about an hour and a half later. I left it overnight to harden and printed it on 600 gr. handmade paper. The ghost print was printed on 375 gr. Paperki handmade paper. I like this one better.
Cathy Naro Has Found the Liquid-Metal Solution for the USA
Cathy Naro reviewing her prints with Maureen during her workshop last spring
In my Liquid Metal Printmaking video I use a two-tube epoxy adhesive (“cold metal solder”) called “Nural 21” sold by a Spanish firm call Pattex. As it turned out, this product is not available in the U.S.A. and some American artists have been frustrated trying to find a suitable substitute. Now Cathy Naro has found it. I’ll let her tell you about it:
The product I’ve bought (at a local hardware store when I asked the manager for a product that I described according to my experience with Maureen) is called “J-B Marine Weld” (made in USA PO Box 483 Sulphur Springs, TX 75483 phone 1-800-529-3530). Read more…
The Story of This Print: “Grapes for Claudio” / “Uvas para Claudio”
In 2009 our son Bill and his wife Victoria adopted a two-and-a-half-year-old boy from an orphanage in Madagascar. We picked them up from the Granada airport when they arrived back with Claudio, after a two-month get-to-know-each-other period on the island. Claudio was in Bill’s arms with his hand stuck reassuringly in his new father’s shirt.
On his first visit to our house Claudio was taken with the bunches of ripe grapes hanging from the vines over our terrace. He stretched and fretted until Bill lifted him up to pick some, and Claudio stuffed his little cheeks full. There was so much joy in that image in my mind’s eye that I made an etching of the grape arbor. It’s called “Grapes for Claudio.”
Claudio is now four. He speaks Spanish like a four-year-old Granadino, and loves to paint.
This is a relief acid etching worked on a 15 x 30 cm. zinc plate. I first varnished
the plate then did all the line work. The nitric acid (28%) was diluted12:1.
Then I cleaned the plate and painted all the images with covering varnish, and
left it to harden overnight. Next day I put the plate in a stronger acid bath,
and left it for a couple of hours, wiping away the bubbles frequently with
a feather, so as to keep the lines clean. There is no aquatint on this plate.
The stronger acid makes an interesting background. Then I printed it a la
poupé on hand made cream-colored Arpa paper. The little birds are painted
on with watercolor after the print is pressed.
Consider the Luxury of Collaborative Printmaking
One Plus One Equals Three Point Five
We usually think of fine-art printmaking as a solitary endeavor, and until recently it has been that for me. But after years of yearning I finally got my Gallinero artists’ residence built, my husband Mike did a terrific job of introducing it on Internet, and artists started coming from all over the world. Most of them arrived by themselves to work together one on one. This was a relatively new experience and it has opened my eyes to new ways of working and new joys in printmaking.
I have done a lot of workshops, both in my studio here in Granada and around the rest of Europe, and always enjoyed the experiences. But there’s no denying that to work along with another artist is something different, a luxury for both. Clearly, two heads are better than one. Then there’s the mutual understanding which the Spaniards call “compenetración.” Working together intensely establishes a joyful dynamic where images and ideas get bounced around , and suddenly creative things begin to happen. Read more…
A Quick Look at Granada in a One-Minute Tourist Office Video
Wondering what Granada has to offer visitors. Here’s a quick overview:
Video Producer, Juan Carlos Romera Comments on the Printmaking Master Classes Project
When I conceived this video tutorials project I was determined that my first subject should be printmaking with Maureen Booth. I’ve known Maureen and her husband, Mike, for years. In fact, we live just a couple of kilometers apart on the outskirts of Granada. I’ve worked with both of them on other projects and have always admired Maureen’s prints, as well as their uniquely creative lifestyle.
Maureen was actually the female lead in Bive, a 38-minute short film I made in 2006. She played an English printmaker who falls in love with a Spanish fisherman, causing an uproar in Mediterranean fishing village. That film had a brief printmaking sequence which opened my eyes to the magic of creating art with inked plates.
Now, seven years later, I have the privilege of working again with Maureen and delving further into her printmaking world. I hope you find the experience as rewarding as I did.
Lorna Burden Publishes Her Granada Solar Plate Experience in Australia
Lorna Burden, the Australian printmaker and art student, who was here working with me in the month of March, has published an account of her experience in On the Edge, a new magazine “a collaborative effort of the Advanced Diploma of Creative Product Development Students of NMIT (Northern Melbourne Institute of Technical and Further Education.“) The content ranges from original art to art-travel experiences, essays and music commentary.
Lorna’s article is very generous, both with me and with the solar-plate printmaking process, which she took to like a duck to a goldfish bowl. Though she was only here for three days, en route to England to visit family, she took home a portfolio of lovely solar-plate prints with which she took some delight in surprising her fellow NMIT students. She’s promised to come back next year for a longer stay. We’ll see if we can conjure up some more surprises.
What Printmakers Need and What They Want
I’ve been doing printmaking master classes in my studio since the late 80’s. Over that time I’ve a learned a lot about what most printmakers need–and perhaps more importantly–what they want (with a nod to Bob Dylan: “She knows what you need, but I know what you want…”) To sum it up briefly, printmakers need to dominate the basics and pay attention to detail. Once they have these factors under control they can let their creative juices flow. To do so earlier often leaves artists adrift for the rest of their printmaking lives. It’s like any other activity you want to take seriously. There’s no substitute for good coaching in the beginning. Read more…
Chicago Girlz Hit Granada Like a Whirlwind
The Chicago Girlz (our affectionate nickname), an extraordinary trio of printmakers made up of Deborah Lader, founder and director of The Chicago Printmakers Collective, her mother Carol Lader and Carol’s sister (Deborah’s aunt) Janet Imerman, have set new benchmarks for printmaking zeal in my studio. These remarkable young people stepped off the Chicago-Granada flight (Janet was actually coming straight through from Los Angeles) at midday last Monday, put down their bags in the Gallinero, rested for a whole hour and then proceeded to my studio to begin making prints. Read more…
Maureen's Printmaking Master Classes in Video 