Friday, December 4, 2009

Multi-plate Color


After a visit from UW-L alumni Eric Hanson, I was truly inspired by his work and wanted to try my hand at multi-plate color. Back in my adolescent print days when I was first learning color, I had never completely understood how multi-plate worked so I shied away from it. I decided to do a peacock partly because of its beautiful colors, but always because I feel they are very closely related to humans. During the summers I work at a place that has many peacocks running free, and they never cease to amaze me as they being to molt late in the summer. These beautiful birds quickly loose all their long tail feathers and are stripped back to being slightly awkward looking creatures. It makes me sad to see how much they change from the beginning of the summer to early fall. They are aggressive and pushy towards their potential mates in the spring. Then as the feathers fall they become skiddish and unsteady. They are much more enjoyable to be around when they aren't trying to impress anyone.

Self-portrait


Half-way through the semester I started to doubt many things that I had always had faith in. I struggled with feeling connected to anything and I was having a really hard time coming up with ideas for prints. After some thought provoking conversations with fellow printmakers, they helped me to realize that I needed to work through it with a print. I decided to do a self-portrait to try to figure out what was missing in my life. This plate is about embracing mistakes and trying to let go of plans, and not worrying about being perfect.

First print of the semester


This print is titled "Through your eyes". Over the summer I was thinking about vantage point and the ability to see something through the eyes of someone else. I wanted this plate to show perspective and make you think as if you were sitting in the plane and looking out the window too. This image is based on a photograph I took while on my way to visit my best friend who lives in Germany.
Welcome to my new print making blog. I might cheat and add some of my photographs to this blog. I would really appreciate any and all feedback, since all input helps you to grow as an artist.