More Art

I spent the afternoon at Cafe Leila in Berkeley with Christina and her art group. They used to meet there to do art, but now they meet there to socialize -- though an art discussion usually enters the conversation at some point. This time the art part was about printmaking. For the last few months, Christina has been making block prints so Cheryl offered to lend her some printmaking equipment.

As I listened to them talk, I found myself wanting to try printmaking, too. I took several silk screening classes when I was a student at the San Francisco Art Institute (we're talking late seventies here), but I wasn't particularly good at it. Silk screening requires patience because you have to do it in careful, planned-out steps. It also requires precision. The ability to measure accurately is a must and I'm terrible at measuring. I'm also not so good at 'neat and precise.'

When I was in school, what I really enjoyed was making mono-prints because it's a one-time deal with instant gratification. If you have a particular effect in mind, you have to be careful because you have only one chance to get it right, but if you're working spontaneously, there's a lot more freedom to play around and this I liked.

Ah, regrets! When I was young, I was always worried about doing it right. Now I wish I'd used the time to let loose with what I enjoyed and see where it took me. Of course, I could do that now.