Ancestorial Clues Print

Ancestral Clues Who are those people in the pictures in the shoe box my mother gave me? I do not remember the stories. I lay them out and find similarities and try to put the people into time lines. I remember bits of stories. I can trace my grand father from old to younger and younger. I can do the same with my grand mother. There is a picture of my mother probably around 18 and my grand mother and an older woman. This must be my great grand mother. I never met her that I can remember. I remember a story that she had a boarding house in Chicago that was part of some stories. I think her last name was Goldberg. She was from Sweden and when I was growing up there was a TV program called "I Remember Mama". It was about a Swedish immigrant family that had to rent some rooms in the old house they lived in to get by and all their tribulations. I did not make the connection to my great grand mothers situation until now. This image is about discovering your heritage. I love making monotypes. The big attraction to me is the huge amount of unpredictability in the process. Basically you put ink on a plate and then lay a piece of paper on to the ink and then put pressure on the paper. Only some of the ink transfers to the paper. This is where the magic happens. When you peal the paper away from the plate it is elation or disappointment. It is Christmas each time you do this "opening of the sandwich" because you really do not know what the art gods will give you. There are many variables involved such as the amount of pressure, the type of paper, the amount and type of ink, the design, how the ink was applied, yatta yatta. After you pull the print you have to decide "do I stop here, or keep on manipulating the image. The other gift you get is the remaining ink on the plate. Most people wipe the remaining off of the plate but not me. I put another piece of paper on the remaining ink and create a ghost which becomes part of the history of another composition. These are called montypes or monoprints because you only get one copy of the design. I like to work in a series to show all the variations of the design. I put a number on each print so I can keep the variations organized. The printing press I use to make monotypes is extremely expensive. This along with the time required to make one painting can be very long. It takes a week for the ink to dry before I run it through the press again to add to the design. Some time it takes months to make a picture because I do not have a road map how to make it and what I want to do to it next. These things are too big to fit in your garage so now you need a special building that must be rented. On top of that it costs thousands of dollars to have a machinery mover put it in your space after you have spent your life savings on the press. Bottom line is monotypes are expensive to make but are really really fun to do.. Most of my images start as a monotype that is layered into a sandwich of other monotypes and then I sometimes put copy and a border on it. To me the border is a way to consentrate the interest or a viewing path and saves buying a matt. I make the sizes so they will fit into standard size frames that you can do your self. Frames are way too personal for me to mount my work in so I leave that for you to choose for your decor. I like to make monotypes and have hundreds of partially finished ideas that I call history pieces saved in many flat files. I photograph them and build compositions from them. After I get my composition made by layering them in Photoshop I have it printed on a special metallic paper that seems to give it depth. So is it a monoprint or a collage or a photograph? If you are interested in my printing and want to see more search "Arfsten prints" in the Saatchi box in the upper right corner to see them all in one spot. Saatchi offers prints up 32 x 40 for a bigger visual impact.