About

I celebrate the dazzling spirit and quiet camaraderie of cowgirls in my brightly colored handmade collagraph prints and white-line woodcut prints.

 In my pictures, cowgirls warm up with soulful food, wave from a parade, ride gorgeous horses, gallop across open spaces, and sit tall in the saddle—bold and confident. 

My romance with handmade prints took off after stumbling across Blanche Lazzell’s stunning white line color woodcut prints from the 1920’s and 1930’s. 

Hand-carved from a single block, each print is hand-colored using watercolor, then hand-pressed to create a unique work of art. No printing press is used for my collagraphs or woodcut prints. 

Works by Lazzell and others from a group known as the Provincetown Printers are held by major museums and fine art collectors across the country. 

A collagraph is a collage of materials with different textures adhered to a printing plate or hand-carved wood block.

Collagraphy, a printmaking technique pioneered by Glen Alps in 1955, involves the application of various materials onto a sturdy base surface. The term ‘collagraphy’ derives its origins from the Greek words ‘koll’ or ‘kolla’, signifying glue, and ‘graph’, referring to the act of drawing.

In this method, artists create unique textures and patterns in a handmade print by affixing an assortment of materials, such as paper, fabric, string, or even found objects, to a rigid substrate like wood or cardboard. 

The result is a highly textured printing plate that, when inked and pressed onto paper, produces prints with rich, intricate surfaces that showcase the tactile qualities of the materials used. 

Each collagraph is handmade resulting in a unique monotype print.  

Collagraphy allows artists to explore a wide range of creative possibilities, making it a versatile and expressive form of printmaking.

Source: Avant Arte glossary 

White line woodcuts, also known as color woodcuts, are handmade prints based on a design hand-carved into a single block of wood. 

Watercolor paint or ink is applied to the block in sections, reaching only the uncarved areas of the surface. A sheet of paper is then pressed (using the artist's hand, a spoon, or other burnishing tool) onto the block. The result is a unique handmade print or monotype.

Because the uncarved sections are individually painted and hand-printed onto paper, the carved portions form white lines throughout the print. 

Lazzell and other artists specializing in the white-line technique formed the Provincetown Printers, an artist collective that later would earn national recognition.