“Asymmetrical grace” won a First Place prize in the Tampa Regional Artists’ exhibition “Art in the Garden.” This is one of three monoprints I entered into this show. Dozens of beautiful original watercolors, acrylic and drawings showcase floral interpretations, and I’m truly honored that Terry Denson (FWS) selected my piece for this prize.
To create this piece, I inked up a plain monotype plate with various colors, then impressed some relief blocks into the ink before running it through the etching press. Then, I drew the flowers onto the image using Derwent Inktense pencils, and painted the flowers with Akua Liquid Pigments.
“Art in the Garden” is showing at the Old Hyde Park Art Center through June 8, 2023.
Nature surrounds us. There it is, making the most of whatever soil and space it can eke out of human encroachment. Birds, plants, trees, wildlife, insects find a way. For instance, when the ditches alongside roadways fill with water, it’s common to see egret spotting insects and snails among the elegant stalks of arrowhead flowers and grasses.
Florida has managed to preserve some areas from development, though. Brooker Creek Preserve, spanning Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough Counties, is just such a treasured place, where arched branches of live oaks form a vast cathedral through which sunlight casts its sacred light over swamp, hammock, and flatwoods. I come to Brooker Creek Preserve to center and take notice. Every visit exposes a new discovery where even the most commonplace “weeds” reveal themselves as precious.
It was during a guided walk with one of the Brooker Creek Preserve staff, Barb Hoffman, that I was particularly struck by how the silver-grey tillandsia glowed bright red when illuminated by sunlight. These spiky, curly plants cling to trees, rooted not in soil but air. And the trees are bedecked by blooms of red Christmas lichen (among other varieties).
In my ignorance, I thought these plants to be parasitic, but my guide explained that this is a myth. In fact, lichen are beneficial to fungi, serving them nutrients and a habitat. Lichen are sensitive to air pollutants and are used by climate scientists as a key indicator of air quality. These delicate epiphytes are so lucky to be able to hug trees and commune with the arboreal commonwealth.
My monoprint, “Rustling whisper” was honored with an honorable mention in the 16th annual Bay Area Art Show, presented by Tampa Regional Artists. The quality of submissions was so good, I am truly humbled by this recognition. The show is juried by Amanda Cooper, Chief Curator for the Morean Art Center in St. Petersburg, FL.
This work is part of my “Arbor” series of prints, and was completed after I took an excellent online course with Sally Hirst called “Approaches to Abstraction.” The image evokes sun streams that sparkle through the canopy of live oak trees.
Rustling whisper is a 12″x12″ print made with Akua inks on Rives BFK paper and mounted on wood panel. Available for purchase through May 4 2023 at Tampa Regional Artists, located at 705 West Swann Avenue, Tampa, FL, 33606.
There’s a whole discussion in the art world about artists who are “self-taught” vs. “art school”. I’ve been spending a lot of time learning from professional artists and printmakers this year, but I’m not enrolled in any fine arts degree, nor am I taking my own instruction. A better term may be “Learning by engagement.
I’ve taken a number of virtual classes with various amazing artists, and was accepted to a mentorship program with Lynn Peterfreund through Zea Mays Printmaking Center. Along with technical skills development, I’ve gotten a lot of encouragement wrapped around tough love, driving me to reflect on composition, craft, and why I decided to add that red stripe, or outlined that flower.
The instruction and critiques have been every bit as serious as formal art school: Kind and gentle, yet constructive and a bit soul-baring. I love the “likes”, but grow from the “have you considered“ insights that lead to tweaks that make all the difference.
My teachers and mentors have helped me improve my observation skills, and guided me in creating a series about mangroves. I also completed #the100dayproject on Instagram which forced me to make at least one work a day. The discipline of this daily regimen served as an “idea factory” that feeds my on-going work
Persistence – Monotype, 2021; Akua intaglio on Fabriano Unica; 9″x12″
Monoprinting is torturous fun. You paint in reverse, and inside out. And chine collé adds further complication. Trace monoprinting is the riskiest of all, either reducing hours of work to an irretrievable mess, or adding the mark that makes all the difference.
I absolutely love monoprinting!
By definition, a “monoprint” is one of a kind, but has repeatable elements, like etchings, relief plates (linocut, collagraph, stamps), or textures I scrounge from packing materials or nature. A “monotype” is something that is entirely original, with no repeatable elements. I do both, yet I particularly enjoy incorporating original carved or found textures in my work and seldom combine them the same way twice.
The image shown above is a close-up of “Improv with Gold“, a banner piece on Masa paper. Because it was created using stencils, relief plates and stamps, it’s technically a monoprint. I used brayers to apply the ink, and embellished with trace monoprinting for the asemic writing (a fancy word meaning words with no meaning).
It’s always a journey of surprise and discovery to see how these disconnected marks work together on a single piece of paper.
I am the Ibis – Monoprint, collagraph, 2019; Akua intaglio on Arnhem 1618; 21.25″x12.25″
A fitting first blog post is my first entry into a group show. The theme was “This is Me” and the show was the annual member show at Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg, FL. Pondering how to tackle such a dull subject, an “industry of ibis” gathered in dozens in my front yard, persistently picking and pecking. Ibis are the hardest working avian around; the busiest of birds.
This is my spirit animal, I thought. I am the Ibis. Goo goo g’joob.
The above image is the fourth of five monoprints made from a collagraph plate, stencils, found texture and asemic writing. The monoprint submitted to the show won honorable mention.
