From Painting to Printmaking

I have been paint for awhile but love most arts. With school last year, I really didn't have time to paint with planning for classes. I had to learn the Mac, Photoshop, Illustrator, Digital Art etc. I did silk screen printing  and linoleum cuts with some students. It was hard watching them print and not being able to do you own art.

I do like painting. I have worked for years working on perfecting my art. I have different types of paint and have tried different surfaces. I have tried the plein air painting and like doing it at my leisure but get stressed when it is for a contest. If I want to paint other than in my studio it involves a packing of bags of equipment.

After painting for awhile and also teaching printmaking at school, my desire was to do printmaking for awhile. I like the look of the prints, that sometimes you can do all the work and have more than one, and that you can use your painting techiques to do mono prints. The more that I have gotten into printmaking this summer, the more I see how creative and flexible it is with experimentation. I had never heard of Kitchen or wood lithography, and pronto plates before or how I can use my printer. I have cut and printed some linoleum blocks with my wooden spoon. I use oil based ink and sometimes find them at the thrift store if I am lucky. I can use some of my oil paint and Golden open up on monoprints. There just see so much opportunity to be creative as a printmaker. Maybe in the future I will be taking my printing stuff along with my during a plein air event and be printing off monoprints or linocuts instead of painting on paper and canvas.

What this also leads me again to is back to paper making. It is like that "If you feed a mouse a cookie thing" and once I get started, who knows where I will end up at. I am excited about the possibility.

Fall 2019 Life of the unexpected

So, last year I did a long-term subsitute postition for Middle School and High School. It was interesting and stimulating to say the least. I did not apply for that job but did apply for a couple of others this summer. Was unsuccessful - which turned out to be good. A dear friend wanted me to be her long term sub for her maternity leave and I said I would.

I began my summer being a super gardener. Things were going well, but it was a heavy tick year. I ended up with 4 ticks - 2 being deer ticks and called it quits even though I had covered up and sprayed. It sounds like they can float on the wind. My garden is a weed pit now and I need to spray up and see what actually made it past my neglect. Each time I got a tick bite, the area would redden and swell and the last time half my windpipe swelled also. I haven't gotten a tick bite in years and was afraid that I was getting an allergy to the saliva. My next step may be to see an allergist or wear my bee suit and boots when I garden.  It has been a wet year and that is part of it.

The rest of my summer started out ok. We went fishing and enjoyed the days when it wasn't raining again. I began to work on linoleum prints. I even have a fish in my freezer to print. I began to have a health issue and went to the doctor. My physical turned out well except for the one issue. I was diagnosed with endometral cancer. It was not something that I had heard about to even watch for. Leading up to the surgery, it was nerve-wracking with the not knowing. After the surgery, it was what does the future hold? Will it come back. I think of those that have gone through much worse and are suffering from various things for years. I know we never know when we will go and could be hit by a car before I would have died of natural causes.

I cancelled my friend's long term sub position, because teaching art requires stamina and I didn't know if I would have it by then.  I am sitting here, not knowing where I should go from here. This is my 13th year as a Substitute Teacher and it has been a good job around family issues, my appointments, surgery and recovery. I am ready for something else - maybe less stressful if at all possible. I have a friend that wants me to work for her son. My sister has an opportunity for me also. I am just beginning to look.

So, I feel like I am standing on a mountaintop. I survey different paths and opportunities. I am not sure what my future holds and where I will be going after this. It has made me value life and how fast everything can change. I don't want to waste away what is left - whether it is only a few years or if it is 30 years.  It is being immersed in life - family, friends, others.