creating an image in a different way

This past Saturday a few members of my art guild and I took a printmaking class with Miles Lewis at his Valley Print Studio in Woodland Hills, CA. We learned hands on about litho and monoprinting. I was a bit lost in the beginning with all the technical verbiage and processes, probably because I was a bit distracted by Miles beautiful and affectionate cat that Lizz, our president was cuddling during the talking portion...sometimes I swear I have ADD!

We were then split into two groups...my group started with the litho process. Since my reference material was inconveniently left on my kitchen counter I stepped outside and to see if there was a tree I could draw...and right behind his studio there was a gorgeous something or other with cool vines creeping up it, so I quickly did a sketch on my litho paper!

Unfortunately the main pen I used was not water soluble and therefore bled away when I started the water portion of the printing...darn! Instead of slowing down, drying it off and going back over it with a Sharpie I just printed it anyways...and of course I was really unhappy with the results, but then we had to move on to the monoprint part of it anyways.

I really didn't care much for monoprinting...but the next day on my hike with Josie I really got excited about going back to Miles studio and working with the litho process again...now that I know exactly what happened and how to correct it...I'm seriously thinking that this could be really cool! A lot of people were really interested in taking the class again soon...so I hope to get outdoors and do some sketching to use in my next printmaking session! I think it would be a wonderful addition to my drawings!

AND, a big shout out to Dolores Pope for taking photos throughout the day...she did a beautiful job of capturing our fun time there!!