The silkscreen process was first used in this country to print cardboard boxes and packaging. It grew as an effective method for printing textile goods and wallpaper and then drew it's popularity in the art community from the inspiration of Andy Warhol. I use the most traditional means of screenprinting to create my serigraphs. I hand cut lacquer-based stencils which I adhere to my silkscreen. I then print onto rag paper by forcing ink through the holes in the stencil with a plastic bladed squeegee. This is known as "pulling" a print. If you are interested, follow along and I will attempt to simply illustrate my method of screenprinting.

1. All of my work is inspired by real things or places, so the first step in my process is to photograph my subject. The photo on the right is a rowhouse in the "fan" district of Richmond.

2. The next step is to make a pencil drawing to serve as my cutting pattern. It's the same size as I want the finished print to be and drawn on the same paper, Rising Stonehenge.

3. So that I'll know what color to print and where to print it, I place a sheet of tracing tissue over my pattern and rough in the color using felt tipped pens.

4. At this point you can see that I've made some real decisions about my choice of colors or this design. Now that I feel confident, I'm ready to mix my inks and begin cutting the stencils necessary to print this edition. The paper has been unwrapped and placed in the racks to adjust to the humidity of the studio and I'll soon begin.

5. My stencil material is a lacquer based emulsion coated onto clear mylar. I place it over my pattern and cutout everything on the design that will be tan (my first color). I peel the emulsion that I have cut, away from the backing, leaving little windows through which I'll squeegee the ink. My edition is targeted at 125, so I've begun with 150 sheets to accommodate any mess ups that might occur during printing.
6. To the far left you see the tan printing which has been accomplished on all 150 sheets. At that point the ink is cleaned from the silkscreen and the stencil itself is dissolved with any enzyme cleaner. This process, known as "self-destruct," leaves the screen clean and ready to receive another stencil. That stencil, orange, is a little one, seen to the near left. Following you will see the next several colors as the print starts to take form.

7. By the eighth color, the print is beginning to look like something, and despite my terrible digital photography, I think you're getting the picture of how the process works. At this point I've been printing for four days, allowing each color three hours of drying time before I put it back into the press for the next printing. The print is now one half completed and I can't wait to show you, so...

8. After the final color, black, is printed, I leave the prints in the rack to dry for 48 hours. Then they are removed, inspected, numbered, titled, and signed in pencil. The first number, for instance 5/125, is the individual print number, while the second number is the size of the edition. Since there is no deterioration of the screen during printing, print quality is consistent throughout the edition and lower numbered prints are not any more desirable than higher numbers.