Hand pulled Monotypes
My method of printmaking is what I like to call paint to print. I paint on the surface of my paper with many layers of color. Then I begin the screen-printing process with an image/story. The images are screened over and over again, creating many rich layers. I manipulate the piece by excavating with a sander or scraping with a razor blade, discovering what is waiting for me underneath the many layers. Finding a treasure that needs to come to life.

Paint/Print
Print on paper or canvas, arranging color by moving and spreading it on my surface. Creating shapes that are familiar and foreign. Using a color that cries out “red” or a violet that is barely there.

Subject
Responding to an event, a place or a form in nature, I treat myself to a visual story. The holocaust, or a dog named Rex. My mother’s garden. Taking what I know to be true and enhancing that truth.

Surface
Creating a surface that never existed before and never will again. Releasing a moment in time, catching it on the paper or canvas.

Line
Thick, thin, sketchy or graphic, a line can speak a thousand languages. The lines outline the words in my painting/prints.

Tools
My substrate is usually paper, but I also print on canvas and wood. Screens, acrylic base, … and using brushes, chopsticks, my fingers dipped in acrylic, oil, water or graphite, I apply my response on my substrate.

—Paula Wachsstock

Commisioned work available upon request.