prints

like i said a few posts ago, i have been working on prints for my class at shy rabbit in pagosa springs next weekend.  here are two very different examples.  you can click on them for a closer look!

 the first one is an assemblage box that contains a 3x3" monoprint.  i have placed it into a brass "frame" which is really a top to a brass box neal gave me a few years ago (thanks, neal).  i have used encaustic wax over the top of the print to give it a nice mellow patina.  oh and before i put it in, i ran it through the sewing machine for some texture.  the print is sitting on top of a page from a very old french dictionary.  (been using that a lot lately).  the trick to get it completely flat is to wet it first, then glue it down with matt medium.  i use a little brayer to get the air bubbles and extra medium out.  then i repeated the print image underneath with found objects.  the top of an old weathered can i found up in silverton.  (there is a place there by the railroad tracks that was once the dump.  you can find all kinds of fodder there.  and a lot of it has char marks from some 100 year old fire.  there are pieces of vintage china, old bottles, metal, and mechanical parts everywhere!)  lastly, i put in a vintage toy car that i have had sitting in my studio looking for the perfect home.  and i think this is the place it has been looking for!  the piece is 8x10", and is in a frame i have covered with ephemera.

the second print is about 9.5x12.5".  it's printed on 90 lb. hot pressed watercolor paper with oil based block printing ink.  there are about 5 or 6 layers.  i have scratched through some of them with an exacto to reveal what's underneath.  i'm not usually a blue person, but i think it works here. this print kinda reminds me of the background scenes from cartoons of the 60's.  the last layer was the white trees.  i cut a stencil out of contact paper over an original drawing to create them.  i think i will matt it under charcoal colored matt board in a 16x20 frame.  i also did two versions of this in browns, taupes, and purples.  they are really different in feel.  after the class all of this will be for sale on the website.  i need to confer with michael at shy rabbit before i put them up for sale!