Debra Claffey

Debra Claffey’s paintings in oil, encaustic, and mixed media concentrate on plant and foliage forms as expressions of the human dilemma. Her experience in horticulture adds a scientific perspective to her aesthetic appreciation of the natural world. With the plant kingdom as muse, Claffey’s work employs direct observation of nature to comment on the critical relationship between humans and plants.

Claffey’s paintings have been exhibited across New England and have won several awards, including the Juror’s Award at Anything But Flat at the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. She holds a BFA in painting from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Tufts University and an Associate's Degree in Horticultural Technology from the University of New Hampshire.

You can view Debra’s work at www.debraclaffey.com

Class Details

Home Cooking: Gelatin Plates from Scratch

There are really good reasons to buy a commercially-made gelatin plate for making monotypes. They are very durable and easily available in many sizes. Smaller sizes are affordable, but the costs rise greatly when you want a 12 x 12 inch or larger plate to print from.

Before they were made commercially, many artists made their own from packaged gelatin. You can make the any size. You can melt them down and repour when needed. You can make them in a rectangular, square, or a circular mold, or any other shape you have a form for. And they are much less expensive to make.

In this video, I’ll show you the recipe I like best. We’ll make a small plate to use for monotypes. I will also show you how I have made my largest plate, a 24 x 24 inch square plate. I’ll pass along all the information I’ve gleaned on how to make, store, refresh, and repour your new monotype printing plate.

Save It for Later: Preserving Botanicals for Monotyping

I will often go outside my studio and pull some leaves, stems, or blossoms from my garden to include in my printmaking. Because I use oil paints and Pigment Sticks as my monotype “ink”, I can paint or roll paint right onto the plant material and include them in an afternoon of printing. But plant material, even when placed in blotter paper to keep them flat, becomes brittle when dried. 

For this video I’ll share the ways and means of preserving the plants that I have learned over my years of printing. The leaves, stems, and blossoms will stay flexible and flat for many months and can be reused in your compositions for several sessions.