September is definitely starting to feel like Fall. We had some scorchers at the beginning of the month, but the evenings are turning cool and we're enjoying the change of seasons...and welcoming Halloween with open arms. Family News The decorations are up. His costume has been ordered and hemmed. The pumpkin is carved. Now we just have to wait a month for the trick-or-treaters to show up. Work News This month has felt very much back-to-school for me. I've been teaching a lot, with three in-person classes, a new online class, and a new live online class, plus all the... Read more →

I had a wonderfully energizing first class with the Botanical Monotype Collage students on Friday night. And I've been enjoying seeing their beautiful prints in the online classroom since then. Here are a few of my Friday night demo pieces, all made using plant matter from my backyard: Every single one of these needs more layering. But, that's the focus of class two. Class one was focused on gelatin printing and "getting the results you want." I take a "no surprises" view of gelatin printing. You should know what you're going to get every single time. You can control the... Read more →

This week I'm sharing a little bit about 3 art supplies I'm currently loving: Sulphite Paper The Tim Holtz Tonic Rotary Media Trimmer Wet Strength Tissue Paper Watch the video for more: Sulphite Paper - The Ultimate Multitasker This isn't your ordinary construction paper; it's construction paper on steroids! Sulphite paper is made by extracting lignin from wood chips, leaving behind pure cellulose fibers. I've found it to be incredibly versatile and durable. It's my go-to for drawing and printmaking. It can take a beating and still come out strong. Whether as a base for gelatin prints or as a... Read more →

My favorite medium to use with stencils will always be acrylic paint. I primarily use 1 of 3 methods to get the acrylic paint onto my substrate: A Stencil Brush A Cosmetic Wedge Sponge A Gelatin Plate In today's blog post, I'm going to cover all three for you: Video Take Aways: Stencil Preparation: I use Dynasty Stencil Brushes, specifically the Stencil Pro Brushes -- like the 3/8-inch and 1-inch brushes. I tape my tags together, making it easier to work on them as one surface before separating them. You can use a repositionable spray adhesive, like Pixie Spray, to... Read more →

I'm very excited about my new live online class, Botanical Monotype Collage, which begins on Friday. It's packed with content and covers sooooooo many art-making techniques. You are probably familiar with the idea of making pretty papers on the gelatin plate and then using them for collage. That is NOT what we are doing. Class one is all about creating the stuff you will use in your artwork -- a mixture of "base layers" and collage papers (and I will be sharing how to tell the difference between the two). You will also learn: The basics of gelatin printing. How... Read more →

My son says he wants to be a garbage man when he grows up. I think it's mostly because of the cool robot arm that the garbage trucks around here use. But, sometimes I think it might be my influence. I do looooove garbage. It has so many uses for art! In this week's Studio Snippet, I'm waxing poetic about the magic a bit of corrugated plastic packaging can do when combined with the gelatin plate. Watch the video for more: Here are the papers I made in the video: Lots of delicious texture! Here are the key takeaways from... Read more →

I recently filled out a questionnaire and one of the questions struck me as worth sharing. The question was: how does printmaking and/or the printmaking process influence your art practice? This was my response: I employ various printmaking techniques in my artwork, often combining them within the same piece. My preferred methods include screen printing, block printing, collagraph, pochoir, and gelatin printing. Traditionally, printmaking has been used to produce identical copies, but my focus lies in using printmaking to create pieces that exhibit similarities yet possess distinct differences—an exploration of making the unfamiliar feel familiar. A significant aspect of my... Read more →

Do you like nice neat precise stenciling? Or are you more of a messy stenciling fan? Getting the look you want is all about understanding how the medium you're using needs to be handled. The wetter the medium, the more likely you're going to get roll under. But you can take some careful steps to avoid roll under with all mediums. And that's what this video is all about: In the video I use the "Messy Writing" stencil I designed for The Crafter's Workshop with... A Distress Ink Pad TCW Stencil Butter (modeling paste-ish) Heavy Body Acrylic Paint Fluid Acrylic... Read more →

One of the brain puzzles I really enjoy is figuring out how to "fix" my artwork and make it better. Recently, I went on a rampage through some piles of old art and worked on making them better. Here's the first one: I flipped it 180º and slightly reframed the matting to include more of the blue circle area. This had the added benefits of (a) getting rid of the bright green in the upper left corner of the original, and (b) revealing the small orange and salmon rectangles seen along the right edge in the "after." Matting often involves... Read more →

Welcome to another Studio Snippet! Today, I'd like to talk to you about something that's central to my art practice and a principle I encourage in all my classes – the importance of practice. And why mistakes are vital to becoming a better artist. The instructions for the exercise I'm doing in the video can be found in the Maker & Super Learner Classrooms. For me, I can't stress enough how crucial it is to practice. You should use your best materials, embrace your precious items, and be prepared to make lots of mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the... Read more →