inspiration

Winter makes the landscape black and white. The branches of the trees are visible. City shapes stand out against the simplicity of white snow.

I see inspiration for stencils when this happens in my neck of the woods. I know not everyone has white winters, so maybe you have another environmental condition that quiets the visual noise and feeds your printmaker’s heart.

Maybe it is a time of day or a foggy day.

Be open to seeing a simplified landscape

to inspire your next printmaking project.

I see shapes with just enough interest to become a stencil for working on the gelatin plate.

• trees
• twigs
• birds on a wire
• buildings on the horizon

If you would like to be inspired by other artists – join us in the next online workshop.

Play is essential.

• Do you give yourself time to play?
• Is your best work created with an open playful mind?
• What do you believe about work, money and play?
• What kind of space do you need to play?
• What “toys” make it easy for you to play?
• Are there “rules or boundaries”?

Give yourself permission to play at something today. Notice what happened.

If you would like to play with gelatin printmaking, then check out the current workshops.

Ok, I admit I just took a Creative Live course with Megan Auman about Pinterest.

So I am guessing that a lot of folks use pin boards and Pinterest to keep track of ideas and inspiration.

There must be some other folks who love paper, pictures and real pushpins.

Do you:

• collect postcards from museums
• create dream boards
• cut out magazine pictures
• spread them out to see or
• organize them in a book or binder?

What do you do when you are walking and you have a great idea for your next series of prints?

Do you talk to your smart phone, write it down or hope you will remember it?

Need a printmaking workshop? Check out the current online classes.

Heavy wind and rain here at my studio. Click below and enjoy a minute of “rain in the drain”

Flow is important to me when I making monoprints. Flow is:

• effortless
• steady
• beyond though control
• usually allows for results that exceed thought

I have discovered that gelatin printing monotypes on fabric has a very different flow for me as compared to gel printing on paper. I have noticed:

• transfer of ink is different
• hand pressure is different
• brayer care is different
• potential marks are different
• impressions are different
• time management is different

As I walked through the rain this morning, I was very aware that the street was the same but different. It was covered with a thin sheet of ice and that required:

• awareness
• adaptation
• patience and
• adjustment of expectations.

I think that when I apply those attitudes to making monoprints, then I have more success. What do you think?

Explore making gelatin plate monotype prints on fabric with me and an international group of artists. Read the details and register for the online printmaking class today.