112th Street and Lenox 5 B by robin holder

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 . It is like a jigsaw puzzle in which every inch of space is part of the design. I cut out each and each ink shape. I re ink and print of the stencil shapes in different colors . Some prints have 20-40 layers of hand printing. I created several versions of each image. The composition remains the same but each print is slightly different from the others because the colors are unique.

robin holder

112th Street and Lenox 5 B

stencil monotype

20 x 28 in

Signature: under image on bottom

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.