New Monoprints - Bare Bones and Feet

Working at Atelier 6000 for the past half of a year has been such a wonderful experience. Learning the variety of printing processes (and there is much more to learn) has enabled me to blend drawing and painting in a way I've never been able to achieve with drawing or painting alone.

The techniques of mono-printing that I used to create these images involve painting with my hands on glass plates and drawing into the surface with my fingers, sticks, and more. The process is very sensual and enables me to feel as though I'm building each image with my hands from the stuff of my dreams.  For me this is a very mystical and satisfying way to create art images.

I prefer studio time in the morning when the visions from my dreams and subconscious are most accessible.  Here are two images I've recently finished.

Broken Pairing - Geese Feet Study 14:  Rives BFK paper 9" x  20".
A close friend of mine is a hunter and owner of Women's Hunting Journal.  Not only is she a responsible hunter and steward of the land, she's one of the few people I know who knows exactly where most of her meat has come from and she doesn't shy from her part in the life cycle of animals that humans harvest for meat.  She gave me some of these feet after a successful hunt. 

Ancestral Claim - Vertebrae Study #36, Rives BFK paper 16" x 16"
I am regularly in the forest and desert of the High Plateau around my home in Bend, Oregon. For many years I've picked up bones (I lived on a old homestead ranch for most of my first decade in Oregon). I especially love how the vertebrae echos some of the shapes of the DNA helix. I've worked with bones in my imagery since I first became an artist in the 1980's.

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