Welcome to My Studio

 Hi folks!! This is the first post of my art blog. In this post I will give you a first glimpse of the place where I make my work. It evolves and changes according to the medium that I am working in, which changes as the muses dictate.  Above is one of my sculptures, and to the right you can see some shelves where I have some toys, some finished work, etc.

Above is a shelf with a few gilded sculptures which I've made in the past few years.  I work in a variety of media:  drawing, sculpture, mixed media, sumi-e ink painting, and many types of printmaking processes.

I will not be cleaning up my studio for the purposes of this blog, other than the usual weeding out and clearing away of things so that I can work!  I seem to thrive in an environment where there is a lot to look at and possible materials to choose from, and I don't imagine that changing any time soon - although from time to time I wish I had more space and could manage to have a more sparse atmosphere :)

I have a small printing press (you can see the crank on the left hand side of the picture above), which was made by Faust (the same company that makes the inks) and is a wonderful simple press to use - as far as I know I don't think they are making these presses any more.
At the moment, anyway, the press is being used for a table because the type of prints which I am doing right now do not require a press.  They are called Strappo Monotypes.  This is a process that was developed and taught to me by Harold Garde, who is a wonderful artist!  Check out his work at http://haroldgarde.com/.
OK, back to the studio here.  On the press bed, to the left hand side of the picture above, is a Strappo in progress.  You will see toys throughout my studio, as I often use them for inspiration for my work.

Above to the right is a finished Strappo.  They are made by painting with acrylic paint on glass, which is built up in many layers, then transferred to paper, panel, canvas or whatever other surface you may want to try.  In this process, the first brush strokes you put on the glass will be the top surface of the finished print.  So you are creating the image backwards. This is a very interesting way to make an image! And helps free my mind in a certain way because I am not following familiar patterns of making an image. 
The one shown here also makes use of collage.  I painted matte medium on the glass, then put the ink drawing on the glass, more matte medium, then began building up the paint.
I'll talk more about the Strappo process in later posts. 

Above are some more of the toys and paintbrushes that populate my studio.
Right now I've got to get back to work, and then will be going to the animal shelter where I volunteer, BARC Shelter in Brooklyn (http://barcshelter.org).  If you want to see what I am up to with the animals, feel free to check out my animal site, http://healingenergyforanimals.com and my animal blog, http://sarahsuricat.blogspot.com.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!