Network Gathering

The Printmakers Network of Southern New England held their fall meeting at the Providence Art Club in downtown Providence, R.I. (Just down the hill from RISD.) What a wonderful environment!



The Providence Art Club was founded in 1880 and created to promote the appreciation of art in the community. It's home to studios, galleries, and a clubhouse housed in a procession of historic buildings. You can check them out at their site. http://www.providenceartclub.org/



There have been renovations made in one building to house classroom and exhibition spaces while parts of the older buildings step you back in time.



You could almost imagine dropping by for afternoon tea as you set foot into some of the rooms. The buildings are connected by atrium like hallways.



It was a beautiful day to visit Providence and a treat to check out the various corners of this wonderful old establishment. It's always great to get together with fellow printmakers to share ideas and plan for group projects and exhibitions. Being a printmaker is almost like belonging to a secret society; if you meet another printmaker, talk immediately turns to techniques and materials. There seems to be an almost instantaneous collegiality among printmakers that I'm not sure is there among other artists, or at least it's not the same. Every printmaker that I've met, either in person or online, has been enthusiastic about what they do, and generally very generous with their knowledge and insights. I think we're all pretty much caught up in the process, at least to some extent, of our given printmaking media, and recognize that spark of craftsmanship in other printmakers, too. Needless to say, it was an enjoyable meeting.

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

Interesting week as we watched the cottage being demolished. It's amazing how quickly a place can be reduced to a pile of rubble. It was sad to see it go (so many great memories) but exciting to think about what's to come. Right now, there's not a lot we can do so I have time to spend in the studio. I'm thinking of doing a few prints dealing with this demolition.



Only the "crows nest" is left at the moment. Hopefully, the rebuilding will start soon and we'll see some progress by Thanksgiving - fingers crossed.

Back in the studio.

There's nothing like spending a productive day in the studio. I finally had time to make progress on an image that I had set aside during the summer. It's based on a photo of the room I stayed in while in Hawaii. I loved being on the 27 floor and the sense of being up in the clouds and away from everything.

I manipulated the image in PhotoShop and printed it out on acetate. After making a small trial plate, to test the exposure time, I went ahead and adhered the film to plexiglass. As I was proofing, I had one of those "ah ha" moments when I spotted a scrap of that non-skid backing used under throw rugs lying on the counter. I placed the plate on the rubber surface and easily wiped the plate without it skidding around. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before but I will definitely used this on a regular basis.



My original intent was to work in black and white but decided to see what it would look like with a little color in the window area. Using the Chine-colle' technique, I first tried a Japanese paper but the color was too strong. I ended up using Rives cream colored printing paper and was happy with the subtle hue. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chine-colle' for a quick description of chine-colle'.