Yesterday, I explored the experimental nature of rubbings, as part of the contemporary practice class with Cathy Mclaurin at the Essex Art Center.

It was fun to wander the studio looking for textures and patterns. So today I explored my own studio for simple textures and made a rubbing with a fat black crayon.

This takes the need to draw right out of the process. I just see and print. Do you recognize some of the items? I think that I am going to carry some rice paper and this black crayon with me on my walks and see if I can capture more interesting textures and patterns.

It is an experimental process. Somethings print i nice crisp line and some things don’t. Look for a strong raised edge to get the best results. Enjoy!

Today I cut some foam evergreen trees inspired by  a chain of trees I cut last summer. I like the organic unevenness of the branches.

I cut 3 different sizes with the hope that they would work together to create some cards. They were easy to draw and cut with little scissors.

Then I test printed the relief blocks on some paper with speedball block printing ink, gold, yellow, green, brown and blue.

I added a star to the top of the tree and the Hope stamp below and then a few dark blue dots. I may not use all the trees together but I do like how the littlest tree with the medium tree as shown above.

I think I will have some fun playing with these stamps.

Have you tried  this method of printmaking without a press? Go for it!