Printmaking Surprises

Bill Bruckner viewing Spirit Boat Prints @ Gruenwald Press

One big surprise in my life is that I am now into print making! For decades, I had thought printmaking was way too process oriented and technical for impatient me. John Gruenwald helped me break through my resistance to this world of paper, metal, stone and ink and showed me ways I could have fun with drypoint, burnishing, aquatints and spit bite etchings and drawing on stone as in lithography.  Gruenwald Press is an exciting studio and gallery that offered me and my fellow printmaking friends an exhibition,"Pieces of Brilliance" featuring the  best prints produced in our monthly workshops where techniques and observations are shared freely. The printmaking experience has showed me that metal came be transformed with tools that add or remove lines and tones easier than I thought possible. It just takes a bit of persistence and attention to detail. It has felt so good to get into smaller work on paper and have every little detail count for something.
In college, I loved printmaking. It was one of my favorite classes and the spacious studios held the smells of inks, acids and solvents with an intriguing collection of presses and drying racks. It was like art heaven for me, a place I found solace and ways to stretch my drawing skills. Working with multiples was so satisfying. But once I left college, I never envisioned doing prints again. I was more into painting and sculpture so the idea of prints did not surface. It was easy to make excuses for not trying my hand at printmaking again.
But the opportunity came to join John's Saturday group and I once again entered into a studio where my Spirit Boats can emerge and float in an very different kind of space created on a copper plate. I feel so fortunate to be able to reconnect with that significant part of my college days.