My Website and Upcoming Workshops

Almost forgotten I had a blog! Life just gets really busy and time with family has been paramount for the last few years following study and also other obligations. I have been running workshops and making lots of wonderful papers, journals and cards. A few workshops are upcoming with the Tropical Garden Fair at George Brown Botanical Gardens this month on 13th and 14th August. Also teaching paper making workshops at the Festival of Teaching 27th August at Darwin High School. So excited to be sharing what I love to do and open kids (both little and big) to the wonderful world of paper creating, modelling, moulding, sculpture and journaling! I have also set up my website (finally). It isn't perfect by any means, but a great way to express, share and communicate with the greater public. Please see www.veronicahodges.com.au    I hope to be adding monoprinting at a later date to my website and in the future add some of my art. I started this project absolutely years ago with pastels and never really got to finish it. Well, earlier this year I finally took a pastel course with a local professional artist and was very happy to enlarge it x 4 times the original size I was trying to do - gulp!  However, I did complete it! Now it sits lovingly looking over me at home and enriches my lounge space! Love it!
 

Mono printing week 3

This week was working on different ways to directly use the stencil on the geli plate or use the print to finish off applying a direct stencil to an almost finished print.  I have an idea on one I want to finish off but for this posting of my blog I will just upload an exercise we did putting down black ink first on the plate, then applying the stencil.  Then using several picks ups of the black ink to remove it from the plate to leave a clean background.  This gives you several different values of a shaped image.  I then applied ink with the brayer carefully over the applied stencils. In this case, it was just local grasses but I was happy with the effect.  So i did a few to make a series of similar prints.  I personally think they all need another layer of something else to go over the grasses, but was happy with the look.  What do you think?

Making Marks for Monoprinting

This week we are making marks with found stencils and using "treasures" that may be all around us to see what we can use them for apart from their obvious uses.  I used muslin cloth, great for showing the weave of fabric, hessian stencil and netting, lace, marks from cut glass, metal, testing and trying all different things.  Some I thought would be great, were not.  Others I did not think would work, worked well, so always learning.  I will have to try to make some more marks on the weekend.  Lots of experimenting for sure.

10 Prints of Shape and Favourite 4 - End of Week 2 Monotype Printing

This print session I stuck to the focus of 10 prints of the same shape and elements and then selected my best 4.  Every session I print, I learn so much.  I have a small light brayer but it needs some practice by the user!  Lovely and light but getting the lines out of the printed geli plate is needing more work.  Still using watercolour paints at the moment until my ink and brayer order arrives.  Happy with the simplicity of these prints.  I am very happy with the lady cut-out shape and love the shadow print of her in green with the other faces watching her.  Images like this create your own observatory questions of what it is meant to mean or exhibit?  In my opinion here - nothing but a beautiful shape admired by faces with no distinguishing features - like a model on a catwalk perhaps.  Enjoy!

 

Week 2 Monoprinting in one session

Time was not on my side this week, so I sort of incorporated all the requirements of the video classes into one session doing several different stencils and elements and types of prints with a bit of thought as to composition and structure.  I had hoped the lady would work better but she kept rolling up on me making it difficult to print.  I was happy using the feather as is already has the fine shape and went well with her I thought.  Later I saw the head shape and cut that out and tried a few creative things to put in the head space and at 1am called it a night but it was fun!  I am really enjoying the processes involved and have a lot more respect for the art.  It is harder to get it looking the way you want it than it seems, trust me!

More monotype with found stencils

Had another go at my found stencils last night and decided I am not so keen on shape as yet.  Loving the detail of prints.  I will source some more interesting shapes and try to do contrasting shape on shape images, then detail with detail.  Also going to try more contrast.  Time to turn over my geli plate I think as the stencils have left some dents in the plate.  Okay for now, just learning and practicing so all good.  Still water colour artist paints in use while I wait for mine to turn up and big brayer instead of small one.  Someone on the Facebook page of our class thought that the bigger brayer would be easier and yes it does cover more area but is also heavier and not as agile as the small one.  Pictures are below -

Week 1 of Monotype Printing

Having lots of fun with the monotype printing course.  The first week we made the "geli plate" and got our studio area set up right, then learning to use the brayer (supposed to be a 2" brayer but all I could get was a 6" brayer).  So I am experimenting with what I have and not with what I should have.  I have put in an order online as our local Art Supply store did not have any of the right things I wanted.  The first print was experimenting with shapes of cut out leaves and threads.   I then tried a few found elements and had a lot more fun.  Here are a couple of pictures.  Today's lesson will be more on finding elements we like, leaves, feathers, etc.  I do like the detailed picture the best.  Basically you do a shaped impression first, then remove the elements and take a print of the detail of those prints.  I will have lots of little hand made gift wrap by the time I am finished ready for Christmas so perhaps small items this year hee hee.  I even tried a shape and a detail image on my own bush grass papers.  Pictures at the bottom of blog.