Original handmade Lino and Screenprints!
Hello!
I create handmade single color lino, reduction lino and silkscreen prints at my home and at PIttsburgh Center for the Arts.
I have 3 degrees in art.....Commercial Art and Design, Animation and Art Education. I have worked freelance as an animator and substitute teach as well. I recently became interested in various forms of printmaking and have immersed myself in both screenprinting and relief printing. I bought and use a Blick 906 Etching press at my home studio and I use it to make smaller linoleum block relief prints.
I'm influenced by many different artists and subject matters. My artwork doesn't revolve around a single subject, but moves from endangered wildlife to Pop Art styled screenprints to old, vintage neon signs.
I'm inspired by artists such as Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Hopper, Andy Warhol, Walt Disney, Burton Morris and the comic book artist Jim Lee.
I keep an up-to-date blog of my current projects at: www.dougthomas.blogspot.com
Due to the amount of time some of these projects take I try to keep multiple projects running at once and try to work on at least one of them every day before heading off to my real job.
Luckily my wife Jennifer is very similar to me. She is a talented ceramics artist and has many other projects also on her plate which include sewing, crocheting and block printing.
Even though I have had a very well rounded art education I had never really had any experience in printmaking. I felt that in order to be a better teacher and artist that I needed to learn skills in various forms of printmaking. I've since taken 3 classes in screen printing, an Intro to Printmaking class twice and a Printmaking Studio course at PIttsburgh Center for the Arts.
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-Screen Printing-
I quickly discovered that I really loved and dove head first into screen printing. All of the prints that I currently make are all completely handmade. I take a photo or drawing and trace it on different sheets of tracing paper. The tracings are used to identify where different colors are located in the image and they help to simplify the image for me. Next, I place a silkscreen over the tracings and use drawing fluid to transfer the design onto the screen. Once I've completed that, I fill the screen with screen filler and wash out the drawing fluid. After the screen dries I tape off areas that I don't want to print, grab some ink and get to work.
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-Reductive Linocut-
During my first Intro to Printmaking class I got introduced to the reductive linocut process. As with screen printing, I fell in love....so much that I bought myself a small etching press so that I could create prints at home.
As with my screen prints, all my linocuts are completely handmade and are generally created off of images that I take with my camera. Though I prefer working in an 18x24 format, I've decided to work on smaller pieces as well. The reduction process is rather involved and takes a good bit of pre-planning before printing can occur. Once carving begins I cannot go back and reprint an area, so planning is very important.
I trace my entire image onto tracing paper and when I'm finished I lay the drawing face down on the surface of the linoleum block and run it through the etching press. The pressure causes the image to transfer onto the block. Next I trace it in a waterproof permanent marker and mark areas with the first letter of the color that belongs there (almost similar to a paint by number, but in my case...ink by letter). After everything is double checked I carve away any areas that will be paper color (bright white is usually my paper color of choice) and I print the first lightest color, I then carve away areas that were associated with that first color, print the next darkest color, carve, print, carve....by the end of the process there is very little surface left to my block.
