October 2010 Meeting

The October MCS meeting will be held Sunday, October 3, from 1:30 - 4:00 p.m. at the Darien Municipal Center, 1710 Plainfield Road, Darien.

Margi Hafer will be presenting a demo and mini-workshop on watercolor techniques for collage. This is a hands-on afternoon, and our standard $5 studio fee applies. As always, feel free to bring treats to share and items you no longer need for our informal swap table.

SUPPLY LIST

Please bring the following items:

- A white plate or palette (enamel butcher tray, porcelain or plastic plate are fine if you don't have a palette)
- A container for water
- A 16"x20" board to stretch paper (gator board, masonite, plywood, or foam core will work for small pieces)- A spray bottle
- Watercolor brushes (flat and round of various sizes)
- Paper towels
- A large sponge for clean-up
- Assorted collage elements of your choice (i.e. photos, magazine pictures, various papers, stamps, etc.)
- Various glues you like to use
- Scissors
- Optional: small clay board to mount finished watercolor

The following items will be supplied: watercolor paper, fiber papers, watercolor paint, matte medium, kosher salt, plastic wrap, and other supplies to alter and texture watercolor paints.Participants will create two small watercolor pieces based on demonstrated techniques.

Hope to see you there for what promises to be an inspiring afternoon!

Open Studio at Nancy's Home

MCS member Nancy S. held an open studio Sunday, September 12, with a hands-on demo of relief and intaglio printing. Each attendee had the opportunity to emboss or carve a small, simple printing plate, and run it through Nancy's printing press.

We inked the plates with a brayer and used dry paper for relief printing. Then we cleaned the plates, forced ink into the carved portion, wiped off the surface and used damp paper to create intalio prints. The press is manually operated, and each of us were able to make several prints.

Below, Sylvia has just pulled an intaglio print, and there are three other plates that have been run through the press and are waiting to be pulled.

Mary is pleasantly suprised by the appearance of her print.

Here are all the prints that were created Sunday afternoon.

And when we were done printmaking, we enjoyed lemonade, goodies, friendship and the wonderful fall weather in Nancy's delightful back yard, where even her woodpile is artistic! From left, Pat, Joan, Mary, Sylvia, Gai, Jerri & Rochelle, with Nancy behind the camera. Many thanks to Nancy (and her sweet husband) for opening her home and studio to us and giving us a wonderful taste of printmaking!