Studio Series: Graphic Screen prints

Graphic screen print © Karen Thiessen, 2016

My printmaking class finished a few weeks ago and now I have a nice pile of prints to collage with. When I sorted the pile, I realized that I also have a substantial number of duds (or works-in-progress) to screen print over. 

Sunny graphic screen print © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Most of my prints are an accretion of patterns. I've learned that some prints go through an ugly process and eventually evolve to something that I am excited to collage with. In the above screen print I can see at least four layers of patterns and I'm pretty sure that they are printed over a colour copy of a collage or quilt. Some days I think that I'd like to make two or three screen registered prints like some of my classmates, but my accretion technique still gives me a lot of energy and satisfaction and unlike conventional approaches, these prints really function as monoprints because no two prints are the same.

Studio Series: Solids hexagons pillow

Solids hexagon pillow © Karen Thiessen, 2016 

I finally finished this sucker and it looks fantastic (if I do say so myself)!

Solids hexagon pillow detail © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Each hexagon took about an hour to hand quilt.

Solids hexagon pillow verso © Karen Thiessen, 2016

I appliquéd a patch of my screen printed fabric onto the back. Soon I'll write a post about a work-in-progress inspired by this hand-quilted hexagons pillow.

Studio Series: Two inch collages e

Two inch collages e © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Summer is officially here and with it I am experimenting with new rhythms. I'm stitching less and am mark-making and collaging more. I've learned to sit at the patio table on the back deck overlooking the tangled garden and feed my sketchbook. Normally, I enjoy nature by trying to tame my unwieldy garden. Sitting in nature is new to me. The weeds are still there and the daffodil bulbs still need to be divided, but I'm now almost able to ignore them. New rhythms are uncomfortable, but necessary. 

A few weeks ago I realized that I needed a vacation. This perplexed me. Vacations stress me out because they take me away from my work and my daily routine. So, I decided to take a vacation without going away: I am engaging in pattern disruption. One of my goals for this life experiment is to be mildly bored instead of being constantly over-stimulated and over-committed. It's working. It's uncomfortable but it's allowing me to play with smaller projects for which I might ordinarily not make time. If you aren't able to take a vacation this summer, try changing your routine. It might surprise you.

Studio Series: Finished Objects!

Flowering Snowball pillow © Karen Thiessen, 2016

The last few months have been busy with professional writing, bookkeeping, income tax, three classes over six weeks at my indie fabric shop, and my printmaking classes. Class number two was a Flowering Snowball class with Johanna Masko. I'm pleased with the results. I used fabrics that I had dyed and screen printed, along with commercial quilting cottons. Learning how to install a zipper with ease was a highlight.

Red Yellow Blue Hexagons pillow front © Karen Thiessen, 2016

This year I am motivated to finish old projects. I had pieced this red, yellow, and blue pillow top a few years ago. In January I machine quilted it but I was unsure how to add the back. On the day that I completed the Flowering Snowball project, I finished this hexagons pillow.

Red Yellow Blue Hexagons pillow back © Karen Thiessen, 2016

I am especially excited about the back of the hexagons pillow! Note the very sexy zipper. It feels good to finish old projects –– it makes room for new energy in the studio.

Studio Series: Work In Progress

WIP collage 3'X4' © Karen Thiessen, 2016

This is week two of three weeks of mini-studio retreats. The above 3' X 4' unfinished collage is the largest that I have ever made. I am using papers that I have screen printed as well as found papers. I need to live with it for a while to see where it wants to go. It needs taming, but how I do not yet know.

WIP collage 3'X4' © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Once it is finished, I will hang it on the wall where it is propped. The hall is a busy, narrow space so I collaged on 1/4" plywood and will either hang it with metal mirror clips or I'll screw it to the wall with brass screws.

Studio Series: Dartboard pattern screen-print

Dartboard pattern screen-print © Karen Thiessen, 2016

My winter printmaking class has finished and the spring class doesn't begin until the end of April. Fortunately, I have a significant stash of screen-printed as well as found papers with which to collage. The dartboard pattern is one of the first designs that I created in Photoshop (about eleven years ago). It's an image of a dartboard in my family room that I put into repeat and then layered. In early March I decided to see how the design would look screen-printed and I like it very much. I printed an apple green ink over a dark green paper that my friend Bob gave me (on the other side is one of his print rejects).

Studio Series: Two inch collages b

Two inch collages b © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Happy April first! How did that happen so quickly?

Studio Series: Mark-making screen print

Mark-making screen print © Karen Thiessen, 2016

My ongoing 2014 Lenten mark-making practice has been good to me. At times it seems to be going nowhere and then bam! I make new discoveries. Early this year I was playing with an old Sheaffer calligraphy pen and some Sakura micron Graphic pens and I was pleased with the line qualities, so I decided to see how they would look screen printed. During my last printmaking class, I took a shine to printing on brown Kraft paper in off-white and pink inks. Now I have a whack of paper to collage with and I am curious to see how I can push the mark-making, screen printing, and collaging. Where will it go next?

Studio Series: Two inch collages d

Two inch collages d © Karen Thiessen, 2016

The same week that I made 43 two-inch-square glue stick collages on acid-free bristol, I collaged another 40. I was on a roll. The tiny collages are warm-ups for other work. They allow me to work quickly and not overthink what I'm doing. Rebecca Pidgeon, Beck, Rachel Zeffira, and Charlotte Gainsbourg provide a mellow soundscape that allows me to focus and become one with the work.

Studio Series: Zwieback screen prints

Zwieback screen prints a © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Early this year I set up my ironing table to be a print table. It's only five feet long, so I can only print small runs of textiles. Of my designs that I've printed so far, the Zwieback pattern is my favourite. It's looser and more open than my usual designs. Layering the prints in various colours has been fun. I'm printing on cotton fabrics that I dyed using plant stuffs: black walnut, avocado pits and skins, and honey locust bean pods.

Zwieback screen prints b © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Above is a printed textile in progress. I'm printing with Speedball fabric inks on cotton that was dyed with honey locust bean pods. On its own, the honey locust colour colour is rather bland, but is a nice backdrop to colours like off-white, mocha, and rust. I'm curious to see how the Zwieback prints change once I stitch them into tags or piece them into larger textiles.

Studio Series: 2 inch collages a

Two inch collages a © Karen Thiessen, 2016

I've been quiet here in blogville as I write my various statements. The other day I had a revelation that I'm sure you've all figured out by now: I gave myself a break of about an hour (looking at design magazines) and I came back to my work refreshed and energized. It's such a simple concept, but so very effective. When I returned to the studio I made 43 two inch collages and was in flow during the entire time. A friend has a system of working 52 minutes and then taking 17 minute breaks. She uses a timer to keep on track and finds that this allows her to get a lot done and stay fresh. Do any of you have ways to keep fresh during your work days? If so, feel free to leave a comment.

Studio Series: screen prints

November 2015 screenprints © Karen Thiessen, 2016

My winter screen print class is already one-third over and I still have at least fifteen designs that I'd like to print. Each week I arrive with a work plan where I've made all the decisions about ink colours to mix, and papers and designs to print. This helps tremendously. Above are designs that I printed during the fall session. I've already collaged with many of these papers and one pattern made it into an early 2016 birthday gift for a friend.

Studio Series: material explorations

Pop tab sample © Karen Thiessen, 2016

On my long list of things to do in the studio this year is to make time for material explorations. As a textiles student at Sheridan College, I was expected to create all manner of samples: dye, print, stitch, and more. I made the pop tab sample for my Material Explorations class while I was a student. The textile pattern is my thumb print enlarged. I dyed the blue fabric and then screen printed my thumb print pattern with pigments. The stitched pop tabs followed. At the moment I'm in UFO (UnFinished Object) completion mode and I hope that I balance that with at least some material exploration–– I finished three textile projects since my last post!

Studio Series: printmaking

Birch-dulse-o-rama © Karen Thiessen, 2015

My fascination and appreciation of leaves has not waned. The above print is an amalgam of a collographed birch leaf and a screen print (the chartreuse flowers). They are both printed on foxed pages of Mennonite books. I printed these during my autumn Printmaking class. The winter session class begins soon and I have fifteen new designs to print.

Mark Byk: Beware of Gods

Beware of Gods screen print by Mark Byk; Photo © Karen Thiessen

When I saw Mark Byk's Beware of Gods screen print at You Me Gallery a few months ago, it was love at first sight. After the show, I inquired about it, but I was told it wasn't available. That's probably because my beloved hubby had bought it for me as a surprise to mark a special occasion. Beware of Gods reminds me that some things, although good, can become a god. My mark-making practice is a case in point. I've sustained the daily practice since Lent 2014 and I now realize that missing the occasional day from my 640 day habit is healthy. I'm not ready to take breaks from my 1783 day-in-a-row Lent 2011 yoga practice yet.

Studio Series: work in progress

Mennonite material culture series in progress © Karen Thiessen, 2015

While I've been moving my Poetic Memory series forward (well over 200 tags are complete!), another series has been almost making itself. Yup, Mennonite elves toil away in the studio when I'm not looking. Well, it seems that way. 

Each body of work that I make has its own rhythm and personality. Some are neat and tidy and emerge on schedule, like a small miracle. One was stubborn and had its own sense of time (the Shadow series). I started playing with making a Mennonite series about fifteen years ago. It wasn't ready. While I was working long hours for my 2013 solo show Unit(y), naturally the Menno series started elbowing its way into my awareness. It's a sneaky beast. 

Above is a random selection of 41 of the Mennonite material culture tags that I've made so far. They aren't optimally arranged or installed. The series needs a better title and I need to triple the amount of work before I have a sense of what it wants to be and where it wants to go. With this series it seems that as long as I'm working on something else, it gets made. 

Studio Series: Mini screenprints

Screenprint patterned tape © Karen Thiessen, 2015

Recently I had the pleasure of taking a full-day (six glorious hours!) screen print class. The day before the class, I wrote out a work plan for the day: colours of ink to mix, screens to expose, and patterns to print. This worked like a charm and I was able to print far more than I expected. A few prints resolved nicely; many will be over-printed when class resumes in autumn.

One role of the artist is to pay close attention. I'm glad that I was looking carefully when I was sorting my prints because I noticed that the tape that I used to adhere small pieces to bristol were miniature artworks.

Studio Series: Mixed Media tags

Mixed media tags © Karen Thiessen, 2015

Since January, I've been on a tag making, collaging, painting, stitching, and varnishing blitz. So far, I've completed about 165 collage tags. I haven't counted the completed textile tags since they are a different studio process and I keep them separate. The top photo shows a selection of the 165, all that could fit on my 1960s family room wet bar. The pink tags in the foreground are a significant shift in colour palette for me.

Mixed media tags © Karen Thiessen, 2015

Working with #6 shipping tags has been a gargantuan learning experience. I've learned plenty of what doesn't work and with a lot of persistent trial and error I've learned what does. As you can see, I've incorporated my screen printed and intuitive mark-making papers.

Mixed media tags © Karen Thiessen, 2015

After making the first batch of tags that I exhibited in my 2013 solo show Unit(y), I learned that acrylic medium never cures. This means that if a pile of collage tags are stored together, they stick. Not good. While reviewing old sketchbooks I learned that Fran Skiles varnishes all her completed work with Golden acrylic polymer varnish. I bought some in January. Resistance (a.k.a fear) kicked in so I made a lot more tags before I finally had the courage to learn how to use it and complete all that I had started. The Golden varnish was easy to use and very forgiving. Now that I have the hang of it, I complete tags in batches of fifteen, versus waiting until I have 120+ tags in limbo. Now it's time to start applying for shows.

Studio Series: Squeegee Marks Pattern 3

Squeegee Marks Pattern 3 © Karen Thiessen, 2015

My next round of printmaking classes begin in a few weeks and I'm looking forward to learning collography and other ways of making marks on paper. Naturally I'll do some screen printing too as I have a lot of designs on acetate ready to be used. Above is one of Bob's squeegee marks that I put into repeat. I wonder if one can read squeegee marks like some read tea leaves?

Studio Series: Squeegee Marks Pattern 2

Squeegee Marks Pattern 2 © Karen Thiessen, 2015

Squeegee Marks Pattern 2 began with Bob's elegant red squeegee marks. I scanned the newsprint, cleaned it up, scaled it way down, put the marks into repeat, played with the colours, and then layered them. Fun!