“Performance- Pins and Needles”
My interpretation/intent to visually express for this image is about being a Mom and doing a good job bringing up my children by setting a good example. It is scary performing on stage musically and much more publicly through our children. *Mothers and children are all about dreams for the Future. Songs of Peace warm the heart and help set the stage for the future. Printed 2010.
I love tinkering with playing the guitar and penny-whistle & Celtic flute, but have never had the nerve to play in front of anyone but family and a kind Slow Jam group. In many ways this image has a special spot in my heart because maybe someday I will get braver 🙂
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“Seasons At Play”
There are so many wonderful memories of childhood in this image. The memories are a mixture of my early childhood and my kids. The figures were sketches of a walking doll I got for Christmas when I was 6 or 7 years old. The bird was from a children’s book I read to my kids before bedtime. And of course the leaves are a symbol of changing seasons. It is an image about good times remembered.
The medium is Zinc etching and in 1992 – I was into deep bitten lines. The colours were inked separately and then blended.
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“I Can Do This”
This is my got to be strong print. Sometimes we all need a little encouragement to make it through the day. I created this image in 2003, the year my husband did his cancer treatment. The kids, Terry and I …… all made it through the year, one day at a time.
The original image was created on an aluminum plate, coated with future floor polish for a hard-ground. The image was scratched into the plate and then etched really deep. The original print “I Can Do This” is 6 inches x 12 inches.
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“Spirit Rising”
There was a period in my printmaking career that it was all about how much ink I could layer on a sheet of paper. This image is what I refer to as a Printmaker’s painting on paper. “Spirit Rising” was created in 1999 and has 4 wood blocks, mono print background printed on the press, lots of ink added with a roller and some hand painting. This is truly a mixed media image.
The original image paper size is 30×22 inches
The 90′s were a fantastic period of my life juggling being Mommy and an artist. I had some wonderful folks visit my studio (who bought lots of artwork) and they told me that they saw my artwork at a gallery and the only thing the person at the gallery could tell them was “she has a lot of kids” disdainfully! Bless them, that just made them more curious to meet me and buy my art directly. At the time I was a little upset with the gallery, but now I love the memory. I am very, very proud of my 3 kids.
I am a Happy Printmaker.
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“Who’s Guarding the Shore”
OK, it is hot today and I am dreaming of about the beach. I was looking through my files of old artwork trying to decide on which image to play with. This old photo collage just made me smile. I never made this image into a Intaglio Type print when I was working on the project “An Islander’s Perspective”. I loved it too much as a photo image.
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“Life’s A Puzzle”
Life’s A Puzzle at the best of times, but when you are a kid trying to figure it all out, Wow!
This image is a personal favorite of my images. It is a symbol of how life is never figured out. The young person in the image has worked themselves up the steps of life into the light.
The original print on canvas is 15 x 25 inches
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“Tattletale”
This image was created in 2002 and it is a story about my childhood. When I was younger the kids in our neighborhood ran around pretty freely. We just had to say whose yard you were heading over too. There was always a parent at home, so in a way the neighborhood took care of us. The annoying thing was that you could never get away with anything! My Mom had a saying “A little bird told me”. Which meant some grown up tattletaled on you.
The image is 5×7 inches and the print is an Intaglio Type print. I love using ImagOn for layered color work. All the images were drawn on paper and cut out, except the paper doilies. I laminated the ImagOn onto my copper plates and exposed the paper cutouts. So much fun.
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“Hug Me”
This image is sentimental and special to me. My daughter when she was much younger would do all kinds of hand modeling for me. This is Little Eliza Jane hugging a tree. And I really love trees a lot too! The original image was created using the printmaking mediums Intaglio Type, Mono-print and Linocut. The hand-pulled print “Hug Me” was created in 2005.
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“Always There”
I created “Always There” back in 1998. If I ever said I painted a landscape this would be it. The blue bird (above the walking dolls playing with a ball) wings make a mountain. The face in the pool below the children(dolls) playing is the representation of ripples in water. The yellow wheat in the foreground is grass that needs to be cut in the backyard. Smiles! My art is not realistic and is meant to represent a mood, a moment in time, or an abstract feeling. The printmaking medium silk screen is wonderful for layering of lots of color. When I work in silk screen I us all nontoxic supplies. Sometimes I cook up my own flour paste on the stove and add pigment. Or I buy wall paper paste (that is marked non-toxic) and add my color to it. **Just remember while working – to not let your screens dry!
This image is 22 x 18 inches
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“Little Eliza Jane”
My children in 1994 were young and into paper dolls, crafts of all sorts and of course fantasy. It was such a fun time. This is a silk screen print, printed with water based inks and a flour paste I cooked up on the stove. Silk screen was one of the first mediums I explored in non-toxic printmaking. The paper dolls were real paper dolls donated by my daughter Eliza Jane. She also donated the tulips in the print. The tulips stencils were made of construction paper she cut out for a spring window display.
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“To Be Female”
Look closely at this print and you can see an old cloth doily inked up in the background. The face was drawn from one of my daughter’s dolls and the rest of the patterns were just for the love of pattern. I created this image in 1991. I have never lost the love of excessive ink and layering of images.
“To Be Female” is a puzzle woodcut print with the background plywood with the circles carved out of the plywood. Then the circles that were inserted were inserted by hand because they were carved pine board.
Printmaking can have lots of different textures depending on the materials and amount of ink used. It is fun.
The plywood carved for the background was 18 x 24 inches and the paper printed was 30 x 22 inches.
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“Play On Life”
Wow, this image was hard to photograph. I have a hard time getting squares in squares! Then there was the problem of all the gorgeous layers of multiple printings. I had to settle for this representation of “Play On Life” because I was driving myself nuts. The original image is 22 x 30 inches and is a not so traditional zinc etching with a mono-print back ground. I etched the image in the plate really deep. The plate was almost like when you draw in sand with a stick. The background was a cardboard plate with yarn stitched into it in the shape of a sort of spider web. The original print was created in 1993.
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“Tortured Soul”
This print dates back to the early 90″s. I still love the wood block that I carved for this figure. The image was printed on Rives BFK Arches paper. I did not need a press for this image; I just had a lot of fun with lots of ink and tools I used for seam filling drywall. The back ground was all mono printing and the shapes and figure were printed on with wood blocks. Honestly Printmaking is a lot of fun.
The subject matter for the image is not fun. If you ever loved someone tortured with a mental illness you will recognize this figure. Or felt like this figure watching helplessly. Everyone suffers!
The original image is 27.5 x 22 inches
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“The Life Must Go ON”
Printmaking can be like painting with shapes and objects instead of a paint brush. I created “The Life Must Go On” in 2001 and the original is 22×30 inches. The print is mixed media with a mono printing background and the shapes are a combination of wood block and lino block.
Life has all kinds of ups and downs: meaning not everything in life can go smoothly! The old saying in the theater when something goes wrong “The Show Must Go On” is very true of ordinary life.
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“The Golden Child”
“The Golden Child” is a copper etching on woven paper. The original size is 6×4 inches.
I made two woven paper prints of this image. One was sent to an art show asking female artists to send small art not meant for sale. I liked the not for sale/commercial aspect of creating art.
About the art: Parents love to protect, hold on to, and shield their children form everyday struggles and hurts. But we can’t! The old saying cut the apron strings some-days for both children and parents feels more like taking a saw to chain.
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“Behind the Curtains Over the Years”
“Behind the Curtains Over the Years” is an image I printed on paper in 2002. It is a mixed media printmakers delight. It is a combination of copper etching, wood block printing, stenciling, and mono printing. The paper is 22×30 inches.
I love to look in windows as I walk or drive by homes in the evening. A quick glimpse is like a slide in a slide show telling a story. Lots of emotion, moods, parties, happenings, and events take place behind window curtains, and it all adds up to lots of story material. Put all the slides together and tell a story about what is happening behind the window curtain.
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The print studio is reopening this week !!!!
I am planning to go in this week and dust my plates off 🙂
Artist/Printmaker-Debra James Percival 