Aside from doing the occasional demo for my students, I haven't really done printmaking since my Undergrad days. When I saw the press, drying rack and glass table top at the Nina Haggerty I thought it was time to take up the old lino tool.
I've been brainstorming ways to express myself through art during the pandemic. I wanted to create an art piece that addressed our connections to one another, interwoven community, loving each other, no matter the colour...
So I settled on the idea of holding hands/a rope/braids/knot- something around that idea.
I wanted the background to be many shades of skin colours- image those colour palettes of foundation at the cosmetics counter. I saw it clearly in my mind. Then I tried to mix those colours.
Speedball Block Printing ink is pretty good for the classroom. Easy to clean up and water soluble. But the colours are not exactly "sophisticated". Their burnt sienna is not my friend.
Today, however, I made a discovery.
COPPER
I used their copper as a yellow ochre and proceeded to mix fairly decent skin tones.
copper + white + red
copper + touch of burnt sienna
copper + yellow + white + red
I've been printing on Chinese mulberry paper (the smooth side) and using the baren instead of the press.
Remember, I haven't done this since 2001, so I was having problems with the registration. By keeping it simple and eliminating some technical elements, I come out less frustrated.
The next challenge, pasting these small puzzle pieces onto a larger sheet. Should I do chine colle? or just a plain old UHU glue stick?
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