Recovering from my trip from Jamaica after hours of delay, gate changes and crowded planes, I arrived back in St. Petersburg. I returned just in time for the deadline to deliver two prints, Planted by the Waters and Clusters to the University of Tampa for a group print show with 24 Hands Fine Art Printmakers. It will be opened to the public sometime this month and will continue into 2023.
Back in my studio I am working to complete three new prints. The process of building up layers of ink and hand rubbing each layer is slow. To get the effect I want one layer of ink hand rubbed on the paper has to dry before I add the next layer of ink. Finishing my multilayered prints requires two or three layers or sometimes 7 layers of ink! Whether I use a hand cut stencil, a lino cut or a monotype each technique requires hand rubbing each technique onto the paper. I’m using two different kinds of paper one is Mulberry a thin Asian paper that can hold the ink multiply times and the other paper I use is Archers BFK a thicker paper. Both require the same amount of preparation for an excellent outcome.
For the last couple of years, the theme of climate change has dominated my work. I have been particularly aware of the devastating images due to climate change which are flooding the news. Climate catastrophes are happening in every corner of the world. As a visual artist I bring awareness and emotive skills to express what I see, know and feel about the upheavals of planet earth. However, I don’t want to aways be a bearer of calamities but also want to express the hope that comes from the divine intervention of the Creator. There is still beauty and inspiration in the colors of the sunsets, water, trees, and oceans. In my next body of work, I will be concentrating on nature’s goodness.
So, stay tuned to my next series of prints which will be exhibited in January at the Brooker Creek Preserve in Tarpon Springs.
