Ferdinand Thepress is up and running!

ellypartworks, Studio, Uncategorized

In my last post my new press Ferdinand was ready for his life´s journey, from Barcelona to Bergen. He arrived in the beginning of July. It was like meeting up with an old friend, and we started our cooperation straight away, – but after the ceremony of course. It was a touching moment when we listened to the national anthem …

Exploring mokulito

ellypartworks, Residencies and travel, Uncategorized

  Four weeks at Art Print Residence seems like an ocean of time, but suddenly I am half ways. I throw myself into the mokulito adventure – again (see more about mokulito in my last post). After finishing the motive, the plate will have to dry, before it is covered with gum arabic. And then it depends on the humidity. Is it …

Mokulito – a non-stop-printing-circus

ellypartworks, Residencies and travel, Uncategorized

Mokulito is based on the principles of lithography, but the stone is replaced by a plywood plate. It was discovered by Japanese professor Seishi Ozaku in the 1970s, and further developed by polish professor in lithography Josef Budka and his daughter Ewa Budka, who also is a printmaker.  She has been teaching the technique to classes at Art Print Studio, and now Ariadna …

The winding road to a finished print.

ellypartworks, Uncategorized

There are so many choices to be taken before a print is done. Often I spend days just preparing bits and pieces of Japanese papers to be used for chine collé, without using them…until later. I paint, twist and fold, or I punch and burn them. Sometimes I can tell immediately that this little piece is just what I need …

Pulling a print

ellypartworks, Uncategorized

Making one of a kind prints is an intense process. Sometimes the picture is created on the surface, by working in the ink. Other times I am using drypoint, collagraph and chine collé, or a combination, like here. The plates can be turned around, and printed on top of each other, each choice giving several new possibilities. Or as here, I …

The trap of intensions

ellypartworks, Uncategorized

If I have an intension, a vision of how my work is going to look when finished, I am limiting it´s possibilities to what I already know. Often when I fall into that trap, I will not be happy about the result. The image does not look like something I could imagine in beforehand. On the contrary, if I just let go, …

Back on track – searching for the core

ellypartworks, Uncategorized

For me printmaking is the best way to explore the possibilities of the visual language. Mixing printing processes from drypoint to linocut, adding inkjet prints, trying to make it all dissolve into a unity, not achievable in any other process. The result is one-of-a-kind prints. From the same plate totally different images can be built, layer by layer. There are layers …

A fragile world

ellypartworks, Uncategorized

This is a special day, waking up to the result of the American election. Yesterday was a day of hope, but also the feeling of watching a nightmare coming true, without the possibility to contribute. Sitting on the sideline the only thing making sense is to work. Trying to express the contrasts in life, feeling Mother Earth shivering in fear.   This drawing I …

To explore rather than to explain

ellypartworks, Uncategorized

Through printmaking I get the tools to explore the visual language based on it´s own qualities. Not as a way to present a written story, some extern idea, but on it´s own right. The story of lines, textures, and colors meeting, mixing and building up – layer by layer. The history of the print is based on craftsmanship, invented for bringing a message …

Breaking down – building up

ellypartworks, Uncategorized

In my last post I showed one of my latest works, drypoint printed in 4 monoprints with chine collé. It was time to move on, new areas to explore. I cut the plate in four. Could I make each part work as a separate image? Worth a try I thought. I started out with two of my new plates, combined with …