What medium do you prefer?  I guess working in multiple mediums comes comfortably to me because of my training for art education.  Good art teachers must have a good grasp of varied media.  For me, the idea comes first.  I select the medium according to the properties I need to convey a concept.  Following are some of the mediums in which I feel proficient and are favorites.  If you are interested in some of the concepts I have used in artwork that has been in gallery exhibitions or competitions, you will find them in the section accomplishments.

Printmaking
Printmaking is a graphic process. The artist creates multiple copies of original art to reach a larger audience. Prints are one-of-a-kind art, but unlike painting, the artist creates a series of multiple numbered copies of the same image.  The image is created by a number of different processes, defining the type of print.  The object that "holds the image" is the plate.  The image has to be created in reverse in order to print as seen in reality.  The plate receives the ink and the printmaking process pulls the image from the plate onto the paper.

There are multiple categories of processes in printmaking: relief, intaglio, lithograph and silkscreen.  I work mostly in relief and intaglio but have done all four processes.  While teaching, I had access to an etching press.  For retirement and our fortieth wedding anniversary, my husband bought me a Sturges etching press so I can create quality embossments and collagraphs.  (What a guy!!!  Way to go, Ron-man!)

The processes I like to work with are:

Woodcut (Relief...ink goes on top)
An image is drawn on a soft block of wood.  The image is carved with woodcarving tools. Attention to the grain is a limitation to the creativity.  Areas carved away will be negative, white space; wood remaining will print as the positive, inked area.  Nontraditional methods can be used.  Wood can be burned and wire brushed to expose the grain for printing.  Objects can be pounded into the wood to create textures.  Plates can be cut in shapes.

I am amazed with traditional Japanese woodcuts, especially those of the Edo period.  I like to use Japanese papers when I print.  The delicacy of the paper makes the images "float."  Printing is done by hand with oil-based inks, brayers (rollers) and hand or burnished pressure.

Collagraph (as Intaglio...ink goes in lower surfaces)
The word is made from two words:  colla, which means to glue, and graph, which means graphic art.  Printmaking is a graphic art form.  Picasso experimented with collagraphs with traditional metal plates.  Technology raised the potential by offering glues, binders and acrylic mediums.  Thus, in the 1950s more artists turned to collagraphs.

I like collagraphs because they satisfy my need to do fine motor collages.  I have a good sense of design and, since I enjoy textures, I like selecting materials that will provide the right surface and hold the right amount of ink to create values.  It takes me about twenty-four hours to collage the image.  I usually build it on cardboard, and when done, I have to coat the plate with gesso or polymer medium.  This protects the plate from moisture when printing.

Sometimes, before I run my inked plate, I make an embossment.  An embossment is a raised image with no ink on the surface.  The image shows because of the textures. The paper conforms to the textures as the damp paper stretches over the surfaces as it rolls under the pressure rollers of the printing press.  A series of embossments can be run just like any other print.

Collagraphs can be printed as relief prints or intaglios.  I like to print them in intaglio.  The ink goes down into the valleys of the textures and the paper will pull the ink out of the valleys up onto the surface of the paper.

When I am ready to print the plate for the collagraph, I mix oil-based inks and plate oil together.  Then, I apply it with my fingers onto the plate, rubbing it carefully into the textures.  It is pretty rough on my fingers.  Then, I use a tarlatan or cheesecloth, wiping in a circular motion to remove some of the ink.  The hardest part of creating a collagraph is learning to wipe the plate the same for every copy of the print in the series.  Once I am happy with the tone of the image, I make a proof, or test run of the print.  If I am pleased, I begin to re-ink and wipe the plate for every print I do.  While the pate rests, I soak a piece of print paper in blotters.  I lay the print plate on the bed of the printing press, place the damp dry paper over the plate, and run it through the etching press, increasing pressure as I go.  I peel the print back to check the print and, if happy, remove the print.  The print is stored in clean newsprint and is placed under pressure blocks and clean blotters.  It takes me one to two hours to make one print copy.

A collagraph plate can only make a short run in a series.  I usually get 10 to 20 prints from one plate before the quality no longer pleases me.  I feel that a small series makes a more valuable print.  On all prints, the artist will assign a series number on the bottom of the print.  For instance, if I sign 5/15, it means the patron is purchasing the fifth copy of 15 in a series from one original print plate.  I never re-print a series.  Some artists may print 250 of a plate and, in my ethical system, that makes each individual print copy less valuable to the buyer.

Batik on Paper
Traditionally, batik means "wax writing."  It is practiced in Indonesia, India, Japan, Africa and Western countries.  I first used batik on fabric, learning both the hot wax methods and the Japanese rice paste resist method.  Sometimes I combine tie-dye or other fiber arts with it.

Presently, I am enjoying doing batik on heavy water color paper.  I draw directly on the paper using a hot pen with liquid wax.  Then, I use fiber-reactive dyes and paint them directly in the wax-defined areas.  The dye will not go beyond the wax contour.  I think knowing color is critical to this process.  The colors are bright and vibrant.  Color principles and theories are constantly in my mind.  I layer the images.  When the dyes are dry, I will re-wax using brushes, wax pens, or by printing textures with metal tools.  The wax continues to be a resist and will protect the dye color underneath.  Then, I apply a second layer of dye.  Where one dye interacts with another, the color will change on the paper.  I may do multiple layers of wax and dye, sometimes into double digits.  The final image has a coat of wax applied to the whole surface.  The paper is then scraped by hand to remove most of the wax.  It is like a gift!  The color no longer looks muddy and caked, and the vibrancy sparkles.  The final step is to burnish the surface to a glow.

I evaluate each piece differently.  Sometimes the batik becomes a surface on which to bead.  I may sew images together on the sewing machine.  Or, I have cut them up and rewoven or reassembled them.  The surface is strong, and books or boxes can be formed from the finished batik paper.

Jewelry
I was trained in college in traditional metalsmithing.   I did not particularly like the limitation of the tools, but I liked designing.  I am lucky that technology has given me another opportunity to explore this medium.

Four years ago I discovered polymer metal clay.  It was developed by Mitsubishi as a process to reclaim silver from industries.  The reclaimed silver is mixed with an organic substance.  (People call it "clay."  It seems more like "moss!")  It can be manipulated in a similar way to clay but, of course, on a much smaller scale.  It is then dried and fired in a kiln.  During the firing the clay goes through a physical process called cincturing; the molecules shake so the friction and heat of the kiln fuse the molecules into solid silver again.  The silver is then polished and finished traditionally.  I enjoy combining found objects, diachronic glass cabochons that I make, pottery shards, gems, etc., with the pieces.  In finishing, I have also used macrame with fine cords, leather, ribbon and beading.  I enjoy figuring out how to present the work appropriately.

Basketry
The process I use for baskets is called coiling. It is a Native American method of construction. The form begins in the very center and works it's way out, around, and up, like a coiled piece of pottery. A warp, or core material, is required. It is a continuous cord, until it runs out, and then a new cord has to be spliced onto the initial cord. The weft material wraps over the core, surrounding it. Weft and warp can be innovative or recycled materials in a contemporary basket. Each quarter-inch of the basket is wrapped three times, and then a figure-eight stitch is made to anchor the upper row to the lower one.  Only a needle is used.  The form or shape of the basket is sensed as I create the shape.  It is a little like sensing the shape of a pot being thrown on a potter's wheel.  Making the baskets is extremely time-consuming but rather meditative.  I try to incorporate negative spaces or add interesting found objects.

Assemblage
Assemblages are used when I want to present specific concepts.  Assemblage is a three-dimensional collage.  I use whatever mediums I need to present the idea properly.  I may or may not confine the objects in a box.  I have been influenced by the art of Joseph Cornell, Lenore Tawney, Lucas Samarus and Bette Saar.  Art can communicate big ideas.  I use assemblage for social commentary or storytelling.