Mary P Williams

The professor, Rey Santiago, introduces himself and announces (with a twinkle in his eye) “Two subjects for your prints are not allowed: ‘No FLOWERS AND No FAIRIES’.” About 30 students glance at each other with unasked questions in their eyes; no Flowers? He continues with explanations of lithography and woodcuts and kinds of paper then sends us off to buy supplies.  Returning to my studio I sit and idly begin to draw on the floor … the old paint covering the floor has left a lovely pattern … so I paint the forbidden flowers on the floor.

No Flowers Per Rey Santiago

Not having painted flowers for years it becomes challenging. When I quit to let the oil paint dry I dedicate the whole exercise to Rey and take a photo of it.  Another semester begins !!

The goal for the Litho students is to produce a series of eight prints with 5 clean (CLEAN !!) prints of each image in the series.  The clean bit is the hard part … everything I touch has fresh ink on it … it is on my clothes, it is on my hands, elbows, the Rives paper I am trying to print on … not being a tidy person is definitely a handicap here.  Here are the results of three weeks of  ‘grit-your-teeth-labour’.  The title is My Feet – Your Feet .  It represents drawings of
the feet of my husband and my feet – intermingled – it is informed by our relationship of twenty years where we often sit near each other to watch TV and prop our bare feet together. Our feet have a tender relationship!