Busy Early Summer

I've been taking printmaking lessons from local artist Patricia Sennott.  This is "real" printmaking ~ monotypes on good paper with etching ink on a plate, printed on a press.  As opposed to the type of printmaking I normally do ~ acrylic paint rolled over stencils right onto the paper or fabric. 

I am planning to translate the techniques I'm learning into my work with acrylics.  The monoprints I've made, or attempted to make, in the past were with thickened dye on a plate, then printed on fabric...and actually it didn't work very well.  Thickened dye is fabulous for many applications, but monoprinting is not one of them.

This first piece is a three color registration -- the plate was inked and printed three separate times.  The image is a photo I shot a couple years ago, of a pontoon dock in the Eureka harbor.

The next two pieces are one each of three related prints using handcut stencils.  These were the showiest of each set.  If you're on Facebook, check out my whole Printmaking Album.

In other studio news, today I plan to finish the first of two quilts for Fiberactions' July 15 challenge.  The second piece is just waiting to be quilted.

I've also been taking an Altered Journal class online taught by Tammy at Daisy Yellow Art.  I'm having a great time doing things to an altered book that I likely never would have thought of on my own.  I especially love Tammy's enlightened view that an art journal can be anything you want it to be.  What a terrific sense of freedom and possibility. 

So much of the material out there on art journaling seems to be somewhat formulaic ~ each author/artist has their own way of doing it and often their books or classes appear as though their way is THE way.  It's like that with a lot of art, actually, not just journaling.  And I've always shied away from becoming enthralled by gurus of any sort.