As a painter, trying my hand at printmaking was a little frustrating. Ink on paper is gorgeous even when I make mistakes, but there was something about every print that drove me nuts. So what is it that’s so frustrating about printmaking? I was talking to Nikki about this. She had a good idea: traditional printing has a finite process. You go through the steps in the proper order, then once it goes through the press, you’re done. It’s complete. Painting isn’t like that. With paint just because you go through steps 1-5 doesn’t mean you’re done. If something’s not working you go back to step 2. With paint you can fix and change and fix and change and fix some more. Nikki says she doesn’t like painting because you do all the steps but then you still have to go back to step 2 if something isn’t working. She likes knowing that or better or worse, she follows the steps and she’s done.
Richard Diebenkorn, Irregular Grid, Drypoint and hard-ground etching
Then I realized I could paint on my prints. I know, I know, no one in the history of art has ever thought of this before (that’s sarcasm) but I really did forget that this was a respectable possibility. Once I pulled out the gouache, things got better.
Nope.
Yes! I like this. The line work, the open space, and the dark leaf is counter balanced by the thickly textured yellow acryla gouache flower.
So I get to have my ink and eat it too. I mean, I can print and paint, and print again. I can do whatever I please dammit, because I’m an artist. I forget that sometimes.
Ever think about printmaking? You could give it a try next week. I highly recommend it. …And if there’s something that isn’t working quite right, there’s probably a way you can change it to suit you better, because you’re an artist, and that’s what you do, dammit.
Printmaking classes start next week!
MONDAY: beginning January 14
BEGINNING PRINTMAKING / Nikki Barber
$ 395. 8 Weeks. 10:00am – 2:00pm
.
TUESDAY: beginning January 15 DRYPOINT WITH MONOTYPE / Nikki Barber
$ 395. 8 Weeks. 10:00am – 2:00pm
Laia was a groundbreaking female artist in a male-dominated era. Born in Cyzicus (present-day Turkey) in the 1st century BCE, she earned her place in history with her exceptional portraits of women, a rarity at that time. Pliny the Elder praised her quick and high-quality work, noting she could crush her male peers in both …
Painterly Figures with Tone was a 4 week shortie art class, snuck into November/December. This post includes some of my favorite moments from that class. Please kindly overlook any flaws in the photography. A Sunday evening class, the images were taken on the fly, and in the dark. A word about working from photographs… Typically …
I used to view digital paintings as inferior to “real” paintings, requiring less skill. I’ve since come to realize the skill of digital work is no less challenging, and the medium can be every bit as sincere. Digital paintings require the artist to mix and apply specific color, value, texture, layers, and transparency – all …
I was interested in learning how to better see and describe what makes Charity Baker’s drawings and paintings so captivating, and she gave me a list of her teachers from the New York Studio School. Goldmine! I posted drawings by her teacher Barbara Grossman yesterday. Today I found drawings by Stanley Lewis. Although the two …
What I hate about printmaking
As a painter, trying my hand at printmaking was a little frustrating. Ink on paper is gorgeous even when I make mistakes, but there was something about every print that drove me nuts. So what is it that’s so frustrating about printmaking? I was talking to Nikki about this. She had a good idea: traditional printing has a finite process. You go through the steps in the proper order, then once it goes through the press, you’re done. It’s complete. Painting isn’t like that. With paint just because you go through steps 1-5 doesn’t mean you’re done. If something’s not working you go back to step 2. With paint you can fix and change and fix and change and fix some more. Nikki says she doesn’t like painting because you do all the steps but then you still have to go back to step 2 if something isn’t working. She likes knowing that or better or worse, she follows the steps and she’s done.
Richard Diebenkorn, Irregular Grid, Drypoint and hard-ground etching
Then I realized I could paint on my prints. I know, I know, no one in the history of art has ever thought of this before (that’s sarcasm) but I really did forget that this was a respectable possibility. Once I pulled out the gouache, things got better.
Nope.
Yes! I like this. The line work, the open space, and the dark leaf is counter balanced by the thickly textured yellow acryla gouache flower.
So I get to have my ink and eat it too. I mean, I can print and paint, and print again. I can do whatever I please dammit, because I’m an artist. I forget that sometimes.
Ever think about printmaking? You could give it a try next week. I highly recommend it. …And if there’s something that isn’t working quite right, there’s probably a way you can change it to suit you better, because you’re an artist, and that’s what you do, dammit.
Printmaking classes start next week!
DRYPOINT WITH MONOTYPE / Nikki Barber
$ 395. 8 Weeks. 10:00am – 2:00pm
$ 215. 4 Weeks. 6:00 – 10:00pm
$ 215. 4 Weeks. 6:00 – 10:00pm
Related Posts
Laia’s Selfie (maybe)
Laia was a groundbreaking female artist in a male-dominated era. Born in Cyzicus (present-day Turkey) in the 1st century BCE, she earned her place in history with her exceptional portraits of women, a rarity at that time. Pliny the Elder praised her quick and high-quality work, noting she could crush her male peers in both …
Painterly Figures with Tone: Part 1
Painterly Figures with Tone was a 4 week shortie art class, snuck into November/December. This post includes some of my favorite moments from that class. Please kindly overlook any flaws in the photography. A Sunday evening class, the images were taken on the fly, and in the dark. A word about working from photographs… Typically …
Artworks with an “Undo” button; Online Anniversary Show Continues
I used to view digital paintings as inferior to “real” paintings, requiring less skill. I’ve since come to realize the skill of digital work is no less challenging, and the medium can be every bit as sincere. Digital paintings require the artist to mix and apply specific color, value, texture, layers, and transparency – all …
Drawings by Stanley Lewis
I was interested in learning how to better see and describe what makes Charity Baker’s drawings and paintings so captivating, and she gave me a list of her teachers from the New York Studio School. Goldmine! I posted drawings by her teacher Barbara Grossman yesterday. Today I found drawings by Stanley Lewis. Although the two …