Fall Collage

Our Fall has been very dry and sunny....which...I know I shouldn't complain but.......
My garden is complaining from the lack of rain and quite frankly.....I love the rain!

Ok...so on the topic of plants here's a tutorial I taught this Fall on printmaking and collage.
Credits on the printmaking process due to Leslie Marsh, who taught great workshops this year for San Diego Book Arts. 

Also....my 2018 workshops are up for you to ponder......and of course to sign up! 

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I started out with a quick pencil sketch on hot pressed watercolor paper. The surface was painted with dropped in watercolor, wet into wet. This process involves wetting the paper first and dropping in watercolor pigments so that the colors mingle on the paper without brushstrokes. 

This printmaking process is quite simple...which I love.....we used black stonehenge paper to print on. Green leaves were used to roll Speedball water soluble inks onto. The leaves were placed onto the black paper and brayered to transfer the inks. We did a second run of ink color over the top while the leaf was still in place.

To enhance the edges of the Agave I used a black Tombow pen to draw the lines. I then added water to my brush, wet the lines and allowed the pen lines to bleed out, creating a darker area next to the lines. I also started to cut out pieces of the prints, choosing pieces that corresponded to color and line in my painting. 

Working on placement.....this is the fun part....I have 4 pieces on the painting. I haven't glued them down yet. I'll wait till I've finally decided on placement. The intent is to add interest but not dominant the work. Notice how I thought about color repetition.........