I am having a 10% off Valentine’s Day sale in my Etsy Shop. There are 70 items all featuring a 10% discount on already reduced prices. Have a look! Here’s a selection.
The Blues – Acrylic/Ink on Canvas Board – 10×12 inches
Poppies – Mixed media on Canvas board – 5×7 inches
You can visit my shop here or click on the link on the sidebar!
The Magic Tree is the last of the collagraphs I have printed for the year. The plate was made with real lichen and tree bark. The plate was quite fragile and is why I have only made 3 prints in the series plus one Test Print. This edition is now available for sale in my Etsy shop 
As I mentioned before, the first print is usually a test print. On one of my walks, I found some moss, lichen, and bark. I made up a collagraph plate with moss and bark and some other plant matter. I was hoping that it would look like a rotten tree trunk that I had seen in the woods. When putting the first print through the press, I got the above, minus the pencil work. I had to raise the rollers up during printing as the plate wouldn’t go through properly. I ended up with a dark line at the top of the print where I started rolling. The printing got better and even the more prints I made, as the press does flatten down the plant matter.
The print line made a natural surface where a plant is sitting. As I started to embellish each print with watercolor to make a surface, I noticed that there was a sort of face in the bark, so I highlighted that with some Derwent Graphitint pencils. That is how I made The Green Man. Six of these were printed on Acid Free Mixed Media paper and are now listed in my Etsy Shop 
Arlene's New Beginning 