I just came back from a short walk away from my studio. It has been a gray and overcast day, and my printing was labored. I needed a break.
I was lifted up by the puffy golden clouds that filled the sky just as the sun was setting. Glad I took a walk.
It reminded me to be open to the gift of surprise and serendipity.
This openness to experimentation is essential to gelatin printmaking. It is a true monotype process. Everything changes with each impression.
This can be really fun, unless you are stuck on recreating some kind of print or mark. So I advise to approach gelatin printmaking with a sense of adventure and discovery.
That is when the magic happens for me. My current exploration into Monochromatic Mountains uses masking stencils in a systematic way. That creates layered value changes.
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