I spent some time this week-end preparing for a class in printmaking. This will be an introductory class for me, since I’ve had no previous training in the art. After dreaming up a few ideas for print images, I started sketching them out. Here’s what I came up with in the space of a few hours.
To start, I went to my photographs of Belize for inspiration. Here is one that I snapped of the beach as seen from our front porch. The view faces east and the time is shortly after sunrise.
Nice, huh? The tree and hammock are silhouetted against the water and sky, so I made them the primary subjects. Keeping in mind my inexperience with carving a print block I vastly simplified the scene. I also chose to reverse the tones and turn day into a night with the moon rising.
Next I went through previous saved photographs. This is one of a monarch butterfly I downloaded from a free use site. I was attracted by the strong contrast of its black body and wing edges with the warm background
For my third sketch I worked from my imagination. I wanted to play with a basketweave pattern, but in an unusual context. The idea of a cloak came to mind.
The class took place yesterday. It went well and I had a great time. I’ll show you the subject I chose and the block and print I made in the next post.
Daily Fiber 