Love Letter

This is what I've been working on for the past little while. Its working title is Love Letter to Fredericksburg, and is my attempt to re-purpose some of my used/old printmaking blocks to make something new. This is essentially a large printmaking block. I made it by collaging recycled papers over an old painting on a canvas board and then mounted expired or discarded blocks on it, all of which have something to do with my adopted town. Originally I was planning two pieces of art from this, the first one being the block, and the second an embellished print from the block.

Today I pulled four prints on two different papers, and while I was really happy with the prints, it became pretty clear that the block itself was not going to stand up to the challenge of being framed and displayed. Below is the third print I pulled, on a Rives light sheet of warm white paper.


For my finished project, however, I want to use the print pulled on a handmade Thai grass paper, mount it on a piece of water color paper to strengthen it, and then embellish it with thread. The love letter part is the writing which explains where in Fred the image came from, why I made the piece and/or why it's so important to me.

Below is my sample piece, and I apologize now for the poor quality of the photo, but I wanted to give an idea of where I am going with this. To test out the paper and the process, I took a test print of an arrangement of my blocks. In order to be able to get the thread and needle through the double sheet of paper, I used an awl and hammer to poke holes in the pattern I wanted to sew. Can you see the Rappahannock River???

My plan is to mat and frame the final embellished print and enter it in a show at LibertyTown called Discarded Potential.