Atlanta Artists Center National Exhibition

I have just had a piece accepted in the Atlanta Artists Center annual national exhibition called the "National View at Grandview". There were 78 pieces chosen from 35 states. The exhibition at the AAC in Buckhead runs Tuesday, August 26 - Tuesday, September 30, 2008. The opening reception is Saturday September 6, 2008 (6-8 PM).

For those of you who live in the Atlanta area it should be an interesting exhibition to visit as it appears that the juror, Paula J. Katz, assistant Curator of Art at The Columbus Museum in Columbus, GA, chose a wide variety of different media to be shown.

I have been waiting for a very exciting printmaking accessory to arrive. It's a large roller which is used to roll on a final layer, or more, of ink to a printmaking plate that has been previously inked up in the intaglio manner. This is called viscosity printing because the inks are of a different viscosity, meaning stickiness or oiliness. Where the oily ink is on the plate it resists the sticky layer of ink so it makes for an interesting effect on the final finished print. I am eager to get rolling and printing all the collagraph plates I have been working on over the past few weeks.

Collagraph Printmaking

I have been working on a series of plates for a music based collagraph print. A few weeks back I posted a photo of the collagraph plates in the progress of being constructed. In that photo the plates were whitish in color because they were unfinished and they hadn't been coated with shellac. I am now one stage further ahead. In the photo below you will see all four plates, one of which has been inked and run through as a test print. The others have a yellowish color which comes from the coating of shellac that is put on to seal the plate and help protect it. I am not happy with the test print at all but I have added a photo of it so that you can see the process.

You will notice that the letters are back the front. That is because in printmaking, things print in reverse. Also what is high on the plate will print deep on the paper and the other way around. You will see this in the photo of the test collagraph print below.

If you want to see more of my collagraph prints go to my web site http://www.susanneclark.com/ and check out the collagraph printmaking gallery page.

Kimono Collagraph Print is the July Draw


I have been having trouble with the subscription info on this site but I now have it working properly. Some of you who previously subscribed will have recieved another email asking you to verify your subscription. Please do this if you still wish to be on the mailing list.


This month one of my Kimono collagraph prints will go to the person whose name I draw from the email subscriber list. If you are not on the list and wish to be, sign up now with the subscriber button on this page.


I have been working on a new collagraph print with a musical theme. Because many of my paintings recently have had a musical theme I thought that it would be interesting to take that over into my printmaking. I am making four plates 8 inches by 12inches, that will, when all printed together, make a wide narrow print that is 32 by 12. In the picture you can see that I am at the beginning stages and still trying to decide what textures and shapes to add to the plate. Once I have finished adding stuff I will coat the plates with a shellac finish, ink them up and then print by running through my press. I have the option to make prints using the whole four plates or as few as I like. There is always the possibility that I may not like the way any of them print and so then I would have to discard them but hopefully that won't be the case.









The dark areas on the plate are made by putting glue where I want it and then sprinkling carorundum grit over the glue. The grit is a black sand like substance and when inked up for printing, it prints very dark. Where I paint with acrylic paint the ink will wipe off more and print lighter. Every type of paper and substance collaged onto the plate prints in a different manner so it's exciting to try new materials.

In my next post I will show you how this is progressing and also post a photograph of "Tempo in Blue" which now has it's bow in place.

Cello Painting "Tempo in Blue"

I couple of postings back I showed photos of the process of painting Tempo In Blue. As I said in the post I wasn't sure if the painting was finished or not, but that I needed to spend time looking at it to decide. It's so funny because I kept looking at it and thinking something was wrong and that it wasn't quite finished but I didn't know why. All of a sudden I realised I had hands playing the cello but no bow! I had forgotten to put it in. I am now in the process of adding the bow and I'll post the finished painting in a day or so, along with a photo of the Kimono collagraph print that's this months draw for subscribers to my blog updates.

Winner of the June Draw

The June draw for the free CD featuring one of my musical artworks, "Fractured Cello", now has a winner. People who sign up for email updates to my blog are eligible for the draw which will take place each month. In my next post I will let you know what the draw will be for July.

After finishing my last painting, "Tempo in Blue", my studio looked really messy so today I spent time getting it cleaned up. I thought it would be fun to do a video of the studio to post on the blog but first I have to learn how to do it. I actually know how to take the video but I have to work out how to edit it and then post it. With all this new technology there is always so much to learn.

New Musical Painting

"Tempo in Blue"

Some paintings come together easily, others have to be dragged into being and this is one of them. The early stages went well but then it all changed and it got darker and darker. A lot of my recent work has been very red so at least a blue painting is a nice change. I like the idea of "Tempo in Blue" but I'm not sure how happy I am with the final result. I am taking a break to look at it a lot and decide what, if anything, I need to do to finish it.

The top picture is where it is at the moment but if you scan down I have included photos of many the stages it went through.

First of all I put in a random background wash.

Next the image of the cello and hands were added in red oil pastel. This will resist the acrylic paint and enable me to scratch back to it if I want.

I start painting in and around the image and pattern of the wash. This is where the fun starts.

After this it went very dark and I forgot to take a photo. Since then I have lightened it up and the photo at the top is where it's at now.

The Golden Saxophone is Finished

I feel this Saxophone painting is finished. It's rather busy with all the patterned underpainting showing through but I think it makes it more interesting, in fact, I have enhanced the pattern in many places by backpainting around and into it. You can see pictures of the process, right from the start, in previous posts. If you like musical paintings check out my web site http://www.susanneclark.com/ and go to the musical page where you will find lots of cello and saxophone paintings with a few pianos thrown in.

If you are interested in receiving updates to my blog drop down and read my previous post and read how you can be in a draw each month for free goodies by just subscribing. Hopefully I will have some fun items for you.

Free, Free, Free!

Wouldn't you like something for free? Sign up now to my mailing list and be in for a draw each month to receive a free gift. This month it's for a copy of the CD "Strauss and Rachmaninoff - Sonatas for Cello and Piano" with Ruth Sommers, cellist, and David Oei, pianist, and featuring one of my paintings as the CD's artwork. Ruth is the director of Festival Chamber Music in NY. It's a great way to keep up with my new work and get an insight into the daily work in the studio.

You will be in for the draw each month you are on the mailing list. Gifts over the coming months will be CD's, collagraph prints or a reproduction of one of my musical paintings. As they say, you have to be in to win. My daughter knows all about this principle. She enters lots of things and has won some great prizes over the years. One was dinner and a baseball match at the Sky Dome in Toronto for 12 people plus team merchandise. I can't match that however!

Subscribe in the box to the right of this. You can have your name removed at any time by emailing me and I certainly won't give your email address to anyone else.

I will be posting a picture of the finished Golden Sax painting in a day or so. You can see pictures of the first few days work in a previous post.

"Mystery Mountain" Wins Award

I just found out yesterday that one of my recent collagraph prints, Mystery Mountain, won second place in the Atlanta Artists Center current exhibition. The exhibition called "Saturation" runs through to the end of the month.

I was quite amazed when I got the call to say that Mystery Mountain had been selected because when I dropped off my three pieces for submission to the show there appeared to be a huge number of entries. I was therefore very pleased to get all three accepted and win an award. A nice surprise.

The Golden Saxophone
An Update

The Golden Saxophone is turning out to be a very glowing picture. I have used bronze, gold and silver paint on the sax and with the overpainting of other colors it has lots of metalic glints. It's rather busy with all the textured pattern showing through but I quite like the effect. Tell me what you think.

I should be finished in a day or so so check back to see the finished result in the next update.

The Golden Saxophone.
A New Musical Painting.

I started a new painting this week. It's another in my ongoing musical series. What always amazes me is how a painting can take on a mind of it's own. I decided on the composition and then started to put a wash on the white canvas, as I usually do, to get it started. I textured the wash and then that's when it began to happen. The pattern of the textured background started asking to be enhanced and the saxophone demanded to be painted in gold paint! I wanted this painting to be quite abstract with the subject matter blending into the background but with all the pattern I feel it's going to be a bit overwhelming. I have added a couple of pictures showing the process so far.

This is the canvas with the textured wash and the basic outline of the composition drawn on it. You will have to look hard to see the drawing of the sax and cellos.

Here you can see where I have started to add the gold and bronze paint and begun back painting into the texture in red, in the background on the left hand side.

This shows the pattern and detail. I will simplify it all as I go along. Check back over the next few days to see the progress.

The Kimono Prints

A few years back I began a series of collagraph prints based on the Kimono. It's such a wonderful shape and great to work within. I felt like a dress designer putting these together and could go on and on thinking up new designs. Now that I have my own press I am able to start making them again and yesterday I was in the studio pulling one for a friend when I thought about posting a few here.

The Kimonos are signed with my name and the Japanese characters for my name. The colors are vibrant and the image is impressed into the paper by the press embossing it which unfortunately doesn't show up in photographs. I have added a detail picture so that you can see a close up.

There are a couple of beautiful Kimonos framed up at the

Heaven Blue Rose Gallery

in Roswell north of Atlanta however if you are interested in this one you can contact me or the gallery. I will post more in coming days. You can also check out my web site http://www.susanneclark.com/ and look on the gallery page for collagraph prints.

"Signs of Life"

Here is the latest piece I have been working on. It's a collagraph for an exhibition with the theme "Evolve" starting soon at Heaven Blue Rose Gallery in Roswell, north of Atlanta.

Five basic shapes occur in the art of all cultures; the circle, the cross, the triangle, the square and the spiral. According to a twenty year study by anthropologist Angeles Arrien people in different cultures give similar meanings to these shapes. The circle symbolizes wholeness, the square stability, the triangle dreams and goals, the cross relationship and the spiral means growth and evolution.

According to the study, the order of preference in which a person places the symbols, shows which of the five universal processes of change and growth is being experienced most intensely by that person at that time.

The spiral symbolizes the process of growth and evolution. It is a process of coming to the same point again and again, but at a different level, so that everything is seen in a new light.

Art of Music Exhibition

Well I have gone and done it again! Every time I start a new work I intend to take photos of the process to post on my blog but once again I got into the studio, started working and forgot all about it.

Because I am excited about finally having my own press I am focusing on printmaking and trying out a lot of different ideas and techniques. There is an exhibition coming up soon at the gallery in Atlanta where I show my work and the theme is "Evolve" so I am working on a piece with that in mind however I have a friend visiting this week and so I've been busy going out and not doing any work.

Last week I had notification that I have had two pieces accepted for the "Art of Music" exhibition at Mills Pond House Gallery in Smithtown in NY state. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend the exhibition which is a pity as I would love to see the other musical works being shown. This would be of special interest to me as musical instruments have been my main theme over the past few years. The two pieces being shown are posted below. They are "Dynamic Duo" and "Well Conducted"

Later in the week I will be back in the studio.

Experimental Paintings

Yesterday I went to my weekly life drawing group at the Atlanta Artists Center. I really enjoy it especially when the model is interesting as she was yesterday. I like to either just do a charcoal drawing or if I am painting I want to try something different and work in a way I don't usually do. These are my experimental paintings and I am not really interested in trying to make a pretty painting. Yesterday I worked in oil pastels on a board that I had painted with the left over acrylic on my pallet. The board was very textured and the paint very random and messy. Most of the colors were primaries so it was very bright. The oil pastels sat up on the textured surface leaving much of the underlying pattern showing. It's certainly not a neat finished looking painting but it was a fun experiment. I will add a couple of pictures showing the detail so you can see the effect. I called it "Looking to the Future"

Collagraph Landscape called "Mystery Mountain"

Yesterday I spent in the studio here in Atlanta making a new plate for a collagraph. It was really nice to have the door to my studio/garage open and the sun shining in.while I worked.

In case you don't know anything about printmaking, a plate is what you print the image from, and for a collagraph, it is usually a thin piece of board, metal or cardboard that you have collaged or stuck various pieces of paper or other stuff on. You can see some examples at my web site.

I spent a long time working on it and was quite pleased at the end of the day, however, when I sat down and reviewed what I had done later that evening, it didn't look good at all! It's so frustrating. I won't give up on it though as there are some really nice parts. I was trying to have some large clear areas instead of all over pattern, but in the end there was just too much space where nothing was happening. I will have to add some more complexity in those areas to make it work better.

Above is the photo of "Mystery Mountain" that I did a few weeks back before I went to Toronto. I am quite happy with it but I am not sure about the dark area at the bottom and I am wondering about cropping that part off when I frame it. If you have an opinion please let me know. There are some wonderful color combinations in it when you see it up close. Click on the image to have a look. Oh the joy of printmaking, I love it!

Where Does All My Time Go?

This weekend, seems to me, to have been completely wasted. I spent hours on the computer updating things on my web site and trying to set up a paypal system so that I can sell reproductions of some of my paintings online. The web site building program I use is called Homestead and it's really good and easy to use however the thing I find most problematic is sorting out the shipping and taxes. Unfortunately at the level I have in Homestead they don't offer a shipping and taxes option so I have to build all those into the pricing. Entering all the info and pictures in just takes time. Perhaps I was just procrastinating about starting another painting or print!

I have run out of steam and enthusiasm for doing a small print to enter in BIMPE. I find small really hard to do. I think I will go back to bigger things!

One thing I did achieve this week was making a submission to an exhibition coming up that is focused on Music, and I donated a couple of paintings for a charity fundraiser here in Dunwoody.

Yesterday!

Yesterday was quite exciting for me. After several months in preparation I finally recieved a box of CDs on which my musical painting, Fractured Cello, is the cover artwork. The 'Strauss and Rachmaninoff Sonatas for Cello and Piano' feature Ruth Sommers, cello, and David Oei on piano. Both are musicians with Festival Chamber Music (FCM) in New York city.

The other thing that happened was that I picked up a copy of Access Atlanta a weekly arts insert in the Atlanta Journal where my large wacky collagraph 'All You Need is Love' was printed very large in color! I was away when the paper came out but Cathy at Heaven Blue Rose Gallery in Roswell where my prints are exhibited had kept me a copy. Last night when I went up to the gallery to pick up the paper the amazing 'Alive After Five' event was on. Canton St has a group of galleries and lots of restaurants who all get together to make the monthly events a real swinging affair. There were two bands playing and the street was filled with people eating, walking and shopping. Very impressive and worth visiting if you live in the Atlanta area. Just make sure to get there early if you want a place to park and eat. Details of dates are on the Gallery website.

In the Studio Again. New Collagraph Print called "Purse and Pumps"

We have just spent the past two weeks on holiday in Toronto helping to build a kitchen and doing lots of painting and cleaning. for our middle son and his partner. His Dad and I along with his partner's step Dad worked non stop for the two weeks and I have to say that it is going to be fantastic. It's a great feeling to see something come together so well after all the work. We now need another holiday to recover.

It's good to be back and in the studio again and creating some new collagraph prints. My printing press arrived just a few days before I left and I only had time to play with it a bit before going to Toronto. I had been looking forward to using all the fabulous ink colours and experimenting!

Today I started work on some small, 4 x 6 inch collagraphs to enter in BIMPE, the Biennial International Print Exhibition held in Vancouver. It is a real challenge for me to work so small but challenges are good and can lead to exciting new work, well that is what I am hoping happens. I will post pictures of the results, meanwhile here is a picture of my first attempt done prior to going away. It's a pretty girly artwork called 'Purse and Pumps'.

Printmaking Update!

As I promised, here is the finished result. It was great fun playing with this method and I think the result is quite effective. I am eager to try incorporating this technique into some of my paintings on canvas.

I based this print on a painting I did a year or so ago. It was one of three very large works featuring women from different cultures. The Flamenco dancer would be interesting to do too and I could add drawings around her based on photographs I took during a trip to Spain in 2006. So many exciting things to try!