Foam Plate Relief Printing class starts soon
Hope you can join us in the online foam plate relief printmaking class that starts very soon. Check out the details and join us today.
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Shadow and shapes for drawing
You know that part of my practice is to go to the woods for inspiration. I love to capture cast shadows and use them as a drawing reference.
Using the photo as reference seems to help me to see shapes instead of leaves and branches.
I do the outline drawing one day and come back and fill the shadow shape in with black paint on another day.
I hope this inspired you to look for shadow shapes to draw. Sometimes I have to take a lot of shadow pictures before I get one that is good for reference. Got to love our phones and digital cameras.
Sometimes I use shadow shapes to make stencils for gelatin printmaking.
Happy Printing!
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Explore potential marks
One printmaking assignment in Art School might be to see how many different kinds of marks you can make on a relief style block.
This would usually be a carving process with wood, linoleum or rubber. I played with the assignment to make the sampler blocks above with soft foam plates.
I think I like the assignment, because it focuses on exploration and discovery. There is no pressure to create an end product.
But in the end, the marks can be used to create texture and value in other wise simple impressions.
If you would like to explore this low tech method of relief printing, the read the details about the upcoming, online workshop and join us.
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Masking stencil combined with soft foam plates
I think a combination of different quality of marks often creates a more interesting print.
Foam plate relief printing often creates solid white line kind of mark. You can create variety in the line quality by drawing the plates with different kinds of tools.
In the print above I used a pen, pen cap and found weeds to make the foam plates on the left. But to create the bolder marks on the right I combined a solid plate with “masking stencils.” I used plant material for the lower right image and cut paper stencils to create the shapes on the upper right side.
Masking stencils like those shown above are not usually used in relief printing. But if they are super flat they can be combined with a plain unmarked foam plate with pleasing results.
I thought of this combination of materials, because as a gelatin printmaker I have stacks and stacks of masking stencils.
So as you work on creating your mixed media prints be open to combining processes and materials in new and unconventional ways.
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Relief Print with Soft Plates
Relief printing with soft foam plates makes printmaking accessible to most everyone.
You can easily make a stack of plates with a wide range of marks and then start printing and layering to create unique prints.
You can combine several plates to make larger prints.
I have even printed on fabric swatches and combined the prints to make a quilt.
I love finding new ways to make interesting marks in the foam. I am always hunting for tools.
It is fun to make these sampler blocks of different textures and patterns. You can learn a lot about what works to make strong impressions in the foam.
Today, I even played with making tiny little stamps that I could ink with a stamp pad and print in my mark making journal.
If you would like to make a pile of printing plates and explore foam plate relief printing, then read all the details about the online workshop and join us.
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