I have been working on the theme of surveillance and cameras using relief prints and monoprints.

The monoprints give a fresh application of color and I’ve been using this as the background. I’m trying to get better about controlling the look of the pigments. For example, if white is too liquidy, when I mix it with blue on my palette, on my paper it turns into an unrecognizable blob. If the blues dry on my palette, then the color isn’t imparted to the paper and the paper can stick to the palette. The colors work best when they don’t dry too quickly and aren’t too wet.

I’m experimenting with different kinds of paper and printing on fabric. I’m getting new mediums and thickeners to better modulate the pigments and get better results on my paper. My goal is to get recognizable forms such as clouds, buildings, figures, landscape. I may not get a lot of detail, but I can add that with other forms of media later. It was not unusual for artists who used monotype printing to include other printmaking processes as well. Maurice Prendergast and William Blake, for example, used this practice.

And I’ve been adding linoleum block prints onto the monoprint backgrounds. I like doing reduction prints so I get a variation in colors. I’ll try adding darker colors on top of lighter colors as well as lighter colors on top of darker ones. Some of the linoleum prints are not giving an equal application of the pigment, some need a little more pigment and some have too much. So I’m trying roughing up the surface of the linoleum block before carving so there is a better application of the ink. And the lines are not giving perfect detail so I want to work on improving this. Since I am hand-printing, I believe I need to spend a longer time with each print, rubbing and pressing, in order to get a better and clearer printed image.

Next I want to try woodcut. I also want to try using more mixed media applications. This will mean that each print is unique. Where relief printing often gives the artist the same image over and over, the use of mixed media will put each image in its own unique piece. Mostly, I want to try out new ideas and techniques.