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Maureen Booth in her Granada printmaking studioThe system of numbering and documentation of fine-art editions is designed to guarantee the authenticity and originality of prints in the art market. Each print is signed by the author (usually, but not always) in the lower right-hand corner or margin. In the opposite corner goes the edition numbering, two numbers divided by a slanted stroke. The bottom number represents the total number of prints in the edition; the top one the order in which the artist has signed that particular print. (more…)

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El Gallinero, looking through the kitchen/sitting room past the French doors to the terrace into the bedroom/workroom.4.   The Focus—When is the last time you’ve had two or three weeks with nothing to think about, nothing to spend your time on but art? It sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? But that’s what happens to people when they arrive in Granada for one of my printmaking workshops. This is especially true of the artists who come to do one-on-one collaborative work with me. Their involvement here is total, their existence almost monastic. They divide their time between the creative cloister of the Gallinero and my studio. We usually work together for five hours each morning. Then, after lunch, they make their own hours, either working in the studio or sketching glimpses of the village and the surroundings. Some of them stay in the studio past midnight. (more…)

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Maureen Booth's "El Gallinero" artists' residence in Granada, SpainMaureen Booth, Granada, July 18, 2011–I’ve had artists coming to stay in my “Gallinero” artists’ residence and work with me in my printmaking studio for a year and a half now. I’ve welcomed all sorts of people: working artists, advanced beginners, people between the ages of 15 and 82, a Canadian return-to-art person, a couple of delightful veteran artists and art educators from Colorado, a Hungarian sculptor, an Australian painter… All of them have taught me something, and I’d like to think the experience was mutual. And there’s one thing they all agree upon: Printmaking here in Granada and staying in the Gallinero is a unique creative experience. That compels me to try to figure out what makes it so. I’ve made a list of possible factors: (more…)

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Lou Netter and Maureen in the studioMaureen at work in her studio

An article by Maureen Booth in the summer 2011 edition of Printmaking Today, the British fine-art-printmaking magazine with subscribers worldwide which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year (more…)

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Maureen and Cuca in the studioThe Mother of All Communications Tools

If you’re interested in having mathematical laws work in your favor—and you are—you’re going to have to brush up your Internet skills a bit beyond sending emails and logging onto your Facebook and Twitter accounts. You should at least know how to create and maintain a blog. This is fun and easy, once you surmount a not-too-steep learning curve. I cannot overemphasize the importance of Internet for artists. A dozen years ago, when my husband proposed to make me my first website, I said, “What do I want a website for? I’m an artist.” Today he’s at work on his seventh (Or eighth? I’ve lost count.) printmaking website, some of which are exclusively mine, others in which I participate with other printmakers and studios. Today 90% of my living comes either directly or indirectly via the Web of Webs. (more…)

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Lorna Burden's article on solar-plate printmaking with Maureen Booth

Lorna and Maureen review Lorna's production of solar-plate prints.Lorna Burden, the Australian printmaker and art student, who was here working with me in the month of March, has published an account of her experience in On the Edge, a new magazine “a collaborative effort of the Advanced Diploma of Creative Product Development Students of NMIT (Northern Melbourne Institute of Technical and Further Education.“) The content ranges from original art to art-travel experiences, essays and music commentary.

Lorna’s article is very generous, both with me and with the solar-plate printmaking process, which she took to like a duck to a goldfish bowl. Though she was only here for three days, en route to England to visit family, she took home a portfolio of  lovely solar-plate prints with which she took some delight in surprising her fellow NMIT students. She’s promised to come back next year for a longer stay. We’ll see if we can conjure up some more surprises.

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Maureen Booth, editionA Few Basic Notions to Keep in Mind During Hard Times

Keep Working
Even if you don’t have the time and resources to paint or make prints, keep drawing. Everything and everywhere, at every free moment. This activity will not only hone your hand and eye, it will boost your morale. You know how low you feel after a couple of days without making art. Don’t let that happen. All you need are paper and pencil. The Spanish have a saying: “Feliz como un tonto con un lápiz…” ”Happy as an idiot with a pencil…” (more…)

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What Can Working Artists Do When People Stop Buying Their Work?                     by Maureen Booth

Maureen Booth in her printmaking studioThe End of the World?
For whatever reasons—investment banks, hedge funds, corrupt politicians, permanent war, the beatification of greed—most of the world is in an economic tailspin. For working artists, perhaps the most vulnerable species in the food chain, this has led to an almost total cessation of sales. Is this the end of their (your) world? Sometimes it feels that way. What to do? I confess I’m not sure what you should do but I trust you’ll bear with me while I make a few observations and suggestions from my own experience. (more…)

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The Chicago Girlz in Maureen Booth's studio in GranadaThe Chicago Girlz (our affectionate nickname), an extraordinary trio of printmakers made up of Deborah Lader, founder and director of The Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, her mother Carol Lader and Carol’s sister (Deborah’s aunt) Janet Imerman, have set new benchmarks for printmaking zeal in my studio. These remarkable young people stepped off the Chicago-Granada flight (Janet was actually coming straight through from Los Angeles) at midday last Monday, put down their bags in the Gallinero, rested for a whole hour and then proceeded to my studio to begin making prints. (more…)

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Brenda Eubank-AhrensBrenda visited Maureen’s studio and artists’ residence a year ago (thanks to their mutual friend, Alice Doeldissen) and when the tour was over Brenda asked Maureen if she could create a workshop for  a dozen or so of her 17-year-old art students from the International School of Bremen. The answer was yes, and the  the group has just spent three intensive days working with Maureen learning solar-plate etching techniques. The artistic level of these 17 year olds was remarkably high, and that coupled with their enthusiasm made for some interesting results (see photo presentation below). (more…)

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