I first started doing silkscreens in Chiang Mai, Thailand more than a decade ago, and it is a process that continues to fascinate me. By combining my own photographs with free abstract forms, I am able to celebrate my surroundings—wherever I might be—in the moment and at the time.

Manual silk screen printing is a method for producing images using a stencil and a fine synthetic mesh designed to release color to specific portions of the design, while blocking others.  The surface on which the design is printed is known as a “substrate.”  The term “silkscreen” refers to the fact that originally the mesh through which color passed was made of silk.

In order to create a design, a mesh, or screen, must be created for each shape/form. Getting the color through the mesh and on to the substrate is done using a squeegee, a tool with a metal or wooden handle and a strong rubber blade.

Since each color has to be printed individually, and then placed only on very specific portions of the substrate, the process is extremely labor-intensive. Still I continue to enjoy it very much because of the unique results that can be achieved.