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Dear Friends:
What a wonderful and productive Dealers’ Meeting we had this past weekend! Our guest speakers were Maureen O’Brien, author of Get Your Big Girl Pants On and Sell Something—A Handbook for Women (and Really Progressive Men) in Sales, and Michael Durney, President of Interactive Marketing. Maureen, a mother of four and a business owner, shared with us some of her real-life success story of being a woman in a man’s world, and Michael told us about his “Welcome Back Rewards” program.
Guest speaker Maureen O’Brien, left, and I outside the P. Buckley Moss Museum in Waynesboro, Va.
Members of my authorized dealer family gathered at my Museum in Waynesboro for The Moss Portfolio’s summer Dealers’ Meeting.
We told the dealers about some exciting new ornaments we have planned for release this fall, one of which will also be available as a brooch/pendant, as well as a new pillow. I’ll be able to show you pictures of those and tell you more about them in the near future, so stay tuned!
I’m excited to be able to show you a picture of this ornament now, which will also be available as a brooch/pendant. The Forever an Angel ornament will retail at $45, and the brooch/pendant will retail at $30. Both will be available this fall. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these products will go to the Virginia General Federation of Women’s Clubs to help them raise funds for a Traumahawk ambulance for the Virginia Tech Rescue Squad.
Several dealers asked me to describe in my newsletter the various processes by which reproductions of my original art are made. There are four kinds of prints: limited edition offsets, etchings, silkscreens, and giclées. Each involves a very different kind of process to achieve the end result.
Offset reproduction refers to a photomechanical process of reproducing an original image by first “breaking down” or “separating” an artist’s blend of colors into four basic colors and then recombining them on a printing press to approximate the original work of art. The printing company that produces my offsets does an excellent job, and I’ve been working with them for years and years. The offsets are a high quality, yet affordable, way to enjoy my art.
The Good Road—Blue Ridge Parkway 75th Anniversary is an example of one of my newest offset reproductions. It will be released during my show with The Framer’s Daughter in Galax, Va., September 11-12. For more information, please contact the gallery at 276-236-4920.
Etchings are truly a labor of love, and I am able to produce only a small number of them. Where offsets are considered reproductions because the image starts as a watercolor and is reproduced in another form, etchings are original prints because they are pulled directly from the plates on which an artist has created the original images and come in no other form. Etchings are a complicated process, but I will try to give you a simplified description. I start with a metal plate, usually steel, on which I first apply what is called a “ground.” I then use a fine-pointed steel needle to draw the outline of my image onto the plate. The plate is then immersed in a bath of acid which etches the lines into the metal. Ink is applied to fill the lines, and the inked plate is then pressed into the paper. For each etching print, the plate must be re-inked, so no two etchings of the same image are exactly alike.
The Palace Ride Etching is an example of one of my most detailed etchings.
Silkscreens are another form of original print. I use water-based, non-toxic inks and start by painting single-color brush strokes onto a piece of mylar, which is then placed on a screen that has been coated with a liquid emulsion. The emulsion is then exposed to light, which causes it to harden except where my brush strokes protect the screen from the effects of the light. When the mylar is removed, the screen is washed. The areas of the hardened emulsion remain intact; but, where the brush strokes were placed, the emulsion dissolves, leaving open the mesh of the screen. The screen is placed over the print paper, and the ink is forced through the open mesh of the screen, creating the image of the brush strokes on the paper. This process is repeated time and again for each of the areas of different color I use in creating the image. Some of my silkscreens involve over one hundred separate applications of color. When printing an edition, each of the colors is applied to the whole edition in turn.
Skating Sonata is an example of one of my smaller silkscreens.
Giclée is a French word meaning “to spray.” This method of printing is a 20th Century digital process that I have fallen in love with. No other reproduction process matches the quality of a giclée, and the end result is reproductions that bear the closest resemblance to the original work in not only color but also texture. I am so thrilled to have my work printed in such a beautiful way. Some of my giclées are printed on paper and some on canvas.
Mia Madre is one of my newest giclées on paper and perhaps my most unique one, because the original image was painted on a fabric square!
These processes are described in much more detail on my website at the following link: http://www.pbuckleymoss.com/articles.html#printing.
This week I’ll be setting sail with Quilt Camp at Sea’s Cruise for the Cure as one of their guest speakers. I’ll return just in time for a special signing of the Mathews Market Days Poster at the Mathews (Virginia) Memorial Library on Sunday, August 23, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
I am most honored that the Mathews Market Days Committee asked me to create the poster for the 35th Annual Mathews Market Days Festival. The dates of this year’s event are September 11-12. Mathews, Va., is home to some of the most sinful food and finest arts and crafts I’ve ever seen, and I encourage you to come and check it out if you’re in the area.
Tuesday I took my daughter Becky to Dulles Airport for the return trip to her home in Italy. Becky was here for her class reunion and a short visit, and I won’t see her again until I go over to Italy next spring. Oh, how I love my family!
Love,
Pat
The Moss
Portfolio
74 Poplar Grove Lane
Mathews, VA 23109
(800) 430-1320
©P. Buckley Moss 2009