Artist Profile: Peter Lodato

Another artist profile in my series of artists that I have worked with.

I really enjoyed working with the artist Peter Lodato. I felt a natural ease with him and I attribute it to him being a native Californian. It would usually take us at least a month to make a print for an artist. When you factor in all the components it is at least a month! When you make a fine art print you must proof it first. So we would print the art on just a few pieces of paper and once the artist approves and makes changes that are to his or her satisfaction we begin the process all over again on over 100 sheets of paper. So you know the art intimately by the time you are finished. Most of the time you are happy to be done and you need to not look at it for a while. I didn't feel that way with "Red Room". I love this print! This is a typical silkscreen print and by that I mean it is flat planes of colour that are combined with blends (the blending of two or more inks to create blended skies, etc.) I mixed all the colours on this and I love his colours very much. This is just a feel good piece of art to me and I would hang it in my house if I had the wall space and colour scheme to match. He is a very nice artist and easy to work with and for. I can't stress enough how working at Wasserman Silk Screen changed me as a person and artist and how I feel privileged that I got to work with all of these people in the late 80's early 90's. It was a fun time in LA when people loved to buy hand printed art.

My pix look weird because most of these prints are huge and it's hard for me to photograph them. I laid it on the floor as it would be hard to attach it to the wall without harming the print. Please click on Peter's name and native Californian to read about this amazing artist.

Jerry Wayne Downs

I have been wanting to write some posts about artists that I have worked with in the past and I keep getting deadlines which makes it difficult for me to think about writing. This year I wanted to dedicate a post every other week for a while to some of the more interesting and unique artists that I have had the pleasure of working with and for. Today I am featuring the art work of Jerry Wayne Downs. This is truly an amazing print, not just the subject but the print itself is astounding! That is due to Jeff Wasserman the master printer. Jeff has to channel the artist to paint and see the way the artist sees to totally capture the artists vision. Jeff paints on mylar so that every line and brushstroke is exactly as the artist dictates through the original. Then he exposes the emulsified screen with the mylar separations in a vacumn table to a high powered light. The screens are then washed out and the emulsion washes out of the areas that have been painted on the mylar. I only printed on this one piece for Jerry but the image is so special and impactful that I wanted to share it with all of you. One great thing about being a printmaker for well known and special artists is that you receive a printers proof as part of your pay so my collection of prints is vast, unique and wonderful and I hope to share more with you in the future.

I included 2 views because it is such a large print I couldn't capture the whole thing in one shot. The 1st view is a wider view and the 2nd is more of a closeup view.