Giving Myself A Break?

You always learn lots when you listen to other artists. I went to visit my friend Rob today; he makes wonderful drawings and prints. I have one of his pieces hanging in my hallway, and pause every time I go through there to see what I can see; there's always something new. He hangs things in his living space that have meaning for him; I tend to hang pieces in my own living space that I'm trying to get to know. Usually that means that I'm not happy with something or other, and the pieces need to go back upstairs to be worked on. I thought that was true of every place I hang things in the house, but actually, it's only true of the space opposite where I sit in the living room. Perhaps it's time I changed that policy, and hung something there that I am happy with, that would give me a gift each time I look at it, that would relax me, calm me and tell me stories of success, of good markmaking, of balance. And then, I could think about the problem children another time...and give myself a break, literally and metaphorically.

Dyers say that they get the best results from the cloth they used to mop up the spills; this is the print equivalent, used to take ink out of a few monoprints, and to clean the brayer. Perhaps I could call it the Wipe Method of printmaking? I'm sure I can use it for something...