Gathering Textures for Monoprints

Autumn in Maine is all about color and texture. As I work on putting my gardens to bed, I'm gathering leaves, dried blossoms, stems to store away and use as textures in my monotype prints this winter. I use a gelatin plate which is very receptive to the finest of textures which transfer easily to the paper with simple pressure of hand rubbing. So, I don't need the use of a press.  I will make the gelatin plates the day before and spend the entire day, sometimes two days, printing with abandon and without intention. Then the next few days are spent assessing what prints work best. The most pleasing are almost always result of happy accidents.  Those that don't work as stand alone pieces, I will cut up and use in collage.  The first piece below is an example of one of those wonderful happy accidents.  The second one is a collage made from combining elements of several different prints.

Sept 8, 2009...Long weekend

I'm regrouping in the studio after taking the long holiday weekend to work in my garden...the process of reorganizing the garden is much like taking on a new painting. It is in the very early roughed-in stage, and an ongoing project through the fall to have everything just right for spring blooms. So, today I've been regrouping in the studio, planning out what will be worked on this week, and going through older pieces for selections to add to my Etsy shop and perhaps something to submit to the Arts Are Elementary 10 X 10 benefit show. This is an older monotype print that I've always loved, calm and energy at the same time, so I posted it to Etsy today. "Contentment."