Studio Visit with Deborah McLouth

Artist: Deborah McLouth

I've always been amazed at Deborah McLouth's fish prints, and this past Thursday I was able to have a personal tour of Deborah's studio to see her latest projects. At the beginning of the summer I was able to see a collection of Deborah's prints, so I've been especially eager for a studio visit.

Artist: Deborah McLouth

These prints are actual rubbings from real fish--a technique called Gyotaku, which is a Japanese word for . . . fish rubbings (!), a form of nature printing.

Artist: Deborah McLouth

Earlier in the summer Deborah pointed me in the direction of The Art of Printing from Nature printmaking guide book put out by the Nature Printing Society, which I immediately purchased. I'm not sure I'll master any of the techniques in the book, but since I'm a printmaking junkie I had to buy it to find out more. The book was worth every penny. It's technical and chock full of pictures. The Nature Printing Society holds a annual conference including workshops, and after hearing about Deborah's experience, I am itching to attend. These prints by Deborah were created after she read about the technique used by Vickie Schumacher, which is covered in the book referenced above.

Artist: Deborah McLouth

Deborah took an encaustic workshop at the latest Nature Printing Society conference and this was her end result. This is very similar to the encaustic techniques I employ, so I loved seeing it. The textures in the background were made by stamping tissue paper and fusing.











Deborah also has some handmade stamps where she's created her own textures.

If you're an artist, I know you're interested in seeing Deborah's studio, so I've taken a few pictures. Here's Deborah in front of her white line woodcut, a technique she learned last weekend from Lynne Hubner.

Studio visits are a great way to get inspired, and Thursday's visit was no exception. Thank you Deborah!