Navigating difficult times

I haven't done any monoprints in awhile so my original intention was to create a series of unique prints based on a single theme rather than print an edition. Right now I have a few interesting images and lots of ideas for directions in which to take them.

This is the newest addition to the series. I feel everyone is attempting to navigate this "new normal" as best they can and by whatever means they feel necessary. It's a precarious balance between shutting yourself off from life and venturing out while trying to avoid hazards. The faces in this series are, for the most part, purposely silhouetted; they could represent anyone and everyone.

This one will offer a few different approaches as well so I need to just sit with it for the time being.
There is definitely plenty of time for the studio.

Lots to work with

Like Covid-19, my pandemic series is growing.

I wanted to try a different approach to my social distancing piece so I created two separate plates and printed them side by side.

Since it was always my intention to tear a gap between the two images, it doesn't matter that you can see where the two plates meet.

A smaller plate of the Covid-19 virus was printed on rice paper and a second print had rubber stamped houses added.

After carefully tearing the prints, I added the two different virus images from behind. Things look promising.

The best thing to do now is to live with these images for a bit and consider my options.

Sacrificial Proofs

New week, new print in the works.

I wanted to do a piece referencing social distancing, since we're all experiencing separation anxiety in one way or another. I've given this image a lot of thought and wanted to try something different. So lots of experimentation is required before the piece is resolved, which means sacrificing a few prints.

I'm keeping the rope web theme of the previous pieces but want to tear into this print and add other elements. There's lots of different directions I can go with this one so I'm planning on doing this as a series of monoprints. Besides, it will be next to impossible to get each tear the same for an edition.

The first tear was the hardest; trying to get it just so. This seems too wide but I wanted to see how a print of the virus would look added behind the print.

I then tried a double print. The virus plate was printed on one side of the paper and the figurative print on the other. Since I was considering leaving the torn curl of paper on the print, this allowed me to  have an image on the back side of the torn piece. I liked this but will need to make the torn shape a bit larger, or the virus print a bit smaller, to be effective. I may even decide to eliminate it altogether.

Next experiment, a rubber stamp (made from an eraser) of a simple house shape. This was printed on Awagami paper and placed in the void. This looks promising too.

At the moment, lots to consider as I grapple with this piece. Looking forward to a week of experimentation.