First Set 5

The Musicians series is a tribute to the only unique American music genre: African American Jazz! This image is achieved by inking and printing an arrangement of handmade acetate/plastic stencil forms (sometimes as many as 75 ). I start with a contour line drawing of my image in which every element is a shape. They are like a jigsaw puzzle in which every inch of compositional space is part of the design. I cut out each shape and surface roll to ink them. I use Handschy lithographic inks mixed with Windsor Newton oil paints. These inked stencils are placed on an inked plexiglass plate and run through my etching press many times. I re ink and reprint some of the stencil shapes. Some prints have 20-40 layers of hand printing. I have created several versions of each image. Each time I ink the shapes a little differently. The template, or composition , remains the same but each print is unique.