Screen Printing from Concept to Completion

I love screen printing about as much as I do painting. There are a lot of similarities, but of course it’s a different medium and you have to keep a lot of different things in mind when printing.

I got interested in screen printing years ago when I saw some Warhol-type images in one of the Austin Powers movies and thought, that’s cool. I’d like to find out how to do that.

At first I was self-taught but years later I was lucky because one of my friends just happens to teach screen printing at a local Los Angeles trade school. I ended up taking his course and learning even more. Of course there are artists who are absolute masters at screen printing and I look up to them, but I love the process. Like painting it’s a tactile, hands-on art.

I’m working with inks and mesh and aside from choosing the image I want to make (with all its attendant pitfalls), I have to work fast to prevent ink from drying in the screen and ruining the prints. Registration is critical too. Each new paper (or whatever substrate I’m using) has to be in the exact same position as the last one or I end up with some out-of-register prints.

In the photo above I was doing a print of Frida Kahlo. It never ceases to amaze me that the ink really is completely constrained by the outlines in the mesh of the screen. I get a kick out of that.

I also used a new technique (new for me) in using two colors for Frida’s body. The inks mix together as I pull (or push) the squeegee, creating a gradient. I think it turned out pretty well.

I’ll be doing more screen prints soon and I’d love to know what TV subjects you would like to see. I usually choose from 60s and 70s shows, but who knows? Let me hear from you.