Judy Youngblood started her series of "Stormy Seas" color etchings a little over a year ago. Youngblood, a well-known Texas artist whose practice has long incorporated printmaking techniques, had a vision of a series using painterly etching techniques like white ground and spit-bite to realize her new images.
We were fascinated by her images of oceans and weather and quickly fell in love with the rich color palette Youngblood employs in the playful yet mysterious scenes. Although collaborating at Flatbed is technically a group effort, Youngblood's drawing and painting skills with her deep printmaking vocabulary pushed us all to meet the challenge of four multiple-plate color etchings which use a special inking technique called "a la poupée." Our team at Flatbed was Tracy Mayrello, working as master printer of editioning, Cordelia Blanchard, second editioning printer, Sean Muldrow assisting with the collaboration, and myself, Katherine Brimberry, doing the plate-making technical collaboration. Development of the plates and the proof printing to get the "bon a tier," that perfect impression that the artist uses to direct the final edition took five weeks, spread out over five months to accomplish. The project is complicated, but the final etchings feel brilliantly effortless.
Youngblood writes: "My work explores the passing of time and the tension between the human longing for repetition and – at the same time -- change. I am particularly interested in our human ability to see what we expect to see, to misinterpret, to see a partial picture as the whole, and/or to overlook the significant.
My current artwork uses the lines and patterns from daily weather maps and images of weather – rain, snow, clouds, hail -- as visual metaphors for these ideas. It explores the constancy, variation, and violence hidden within the familiar, reassuring seasonal cycle. I also use images of oceans – stormy, placid or dramatic-- as reflections of human moods and emotions.
Like a human life, my artwork is multi-layered, complex, and develops over time. Color, texture, humor, and the physical joy of making prints and applying paint are also important in the creation of my work. My love of printmaking – with its inherent complexity, richness of surface, layering, and possibility of repetition and alteration -- is integral to my artistic thinking and the making of my artwork in all media."
Enjoy these images in the artist's collection area, and don't miss seeing them in person at Flatbed Press.
