2. Charles Rennie Mackintosh

My sketch for the print

I have just finished reading "The Quest for Charles Rennie Mackintosh" by John Cairney. I found myself back in late Victorian Glasgow, Scotland, later with the Vienna Secessionists. "Toshie" (as he was known to his friends) created extraordinary art work from the time that he was 16 years old. His wife, Margaret McDonald Mackintosh worked with him to design revolutionary interiors and paintings even before their marriage in 1900.

I have been intrigued with the range of work that C.R.M. produced. His paintings of wildflowers at Walberswick, UK around 1914 are what first drew me to his work. But there is so much more. For more go to http://www.crmsociety.com/ . I decided that I needed to create a print that would say somthing about what I was experiencing. I made a pencil sketch of three "Mackintosh Rose" trees along with a pair of abstract birds. The sketch can almost be a collage of different elements. You can cut them out and arrange them until it suits you. The sketch was mounted onto a piece of print paper and placed under the transparent scteen.

Using it as a guide, I painted the design onto a screen with Screen Drawing Fluid, a blue liquid. I used small watercolor brushes and a drawing pen. Then I spread Screen Filler, a dark red liquid over the entire screen with a strip of mat board, let it dry and washed out the Drawing Fluid with cold water. This created a stencil on the screen. I then mixed a color for my first printing. I chose a soft golden tan that would not contrast too much with the fawn Stonehenge paper that I will use for this print.

This photo shows the screen with the image painted with drawing fluid that has been covered with screen filler.