heaven...

oh, oh, OH! yesterday was a total apple of a day- crisp and sweet and jui--uuu-cy! it's been about a year and a half since i've had access to a print shop and, even though i've been able to do some printing of my own here at home, there's nothing like turning the wheel of a big french printing press. OH! NOTHING! i have so missed the SMELL of a print shop- the inks in the air, the paper, the soft sweat. and the whole space was given over to us 4. we spread out and made messes and worked, worked, worked and the day flew by so so fast.



jose areanas hard at work.


we were at san francisco university. the art program there is only 6 years old! not just the printmaking program, the ENTIRE art program. wow! i didn't know universities could go without the arts! nevertheless, the space was warm and friendly and, to me, there was no place better in the world to be yesterday.



my set up


i spent the first couple of hours making a painting on an aluminum mono printing plate...



my plate


and then the next few hours making lovely ghost prints that looked like lithographs(which i'll photograph once they're dry and we get some sun). i painted back in to one of the prints and then pulled a print from THAT- paper on paper! experimentation! YUM!

but this is the print i gave the institute-






i wanted to give them something graphic and that had more technical flourish than the more ghostly, conceptual prints i pulled. it's actually the very first print i made yesterday. ha! sometimes you hit the nail squarely on your first swing, i guess. :)



"Lineage"
22" x 15"
mono print
angela simione 2009


(image courtesy of The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art)


and i'd like to extend an extremely appreciative "THANK YOU" to Susan O'Malley who facilitated all this goodness. she swung through yesterday to check on us and make sure we had all the things we needed. she is such a warm and beautiful and happy person, i felt honored just to meet her. i had a wonderful time. there's no better way to spend a drizzly san francisco day. :)