Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

Ilse Reimnitz introduced me to monotype printmaking and Quartermaster Press 20 years ago.  She is a great friend and mentor.  I always enjoy talking with her and every time we teach a workshop together I learn something new from Ilse.   Ilse Reimnitz has an innate sense for asymmetrical composition.  She is a master of watercolor and monotype.  Her success in both mediums relies on her ability to subtly layer texture and imagery.  What often first appears to be a simple though elegant composition upon a closer look is revealed to be complex, mysterious, and texturally rich.  The QMP 25 Retrospective Exhibit, April 6 - May 25 at Vashon Center for the Arts will include Ilse's monotype "Current" 29 x 21 in. "Current" Monotype by Ilse Reimnitz

QMP, Quartermaster Press, was founded in 1993 when artist Valerie Willson moved to Vashon Island, Washington with a very large etching bed press.  The press was new.  Valerie had commissioned Ray Trayle to build it two years before when her second story studio in the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon could easily accommodate it and two other presses. Valerie's new, smaller, Vashon Island studio could not accommodate the press and so she and a handful of Vashon Island artists came together to form Quartermaster Press.  The new cooperative shared a press, studio, ideas and friendship. Twenty five years later those foundational ideals are still common denominators of Quartermaster Press.  Below is a 1995 publicity photo of QMP artists Jill Stenn, Valerie Willson, Sue Grant, Bonnie Wilkins and Ilse Reimnitz.  Valerie Willson has been the constant in this artistic equation.  Thank you Valerie for your dedication and contributions to the exploration of pri...

Ilse Reimnitz and I shared Monotype Print techniques with an incredible group of print curious artists at BARN , (Bainbridge, Artisan Resource Network) last weekend.  I came away inspired by what we made together, by those who organized our wonderful weekend and the creative space that so beautifully supports artists pursuing many paths and print medium and workshops like ours in particular.  Thank you!

Prints by Lynn McClain and Janice Campbell Ilse Reimnitz and I teach a monotype workshop one or two times a year.  It is always fun to share this print process with others and spend creative time with Ilse.  Above and below are a few examples from our April 2017 workshop.   Each was made using oil base etching inks over a smooth plexiglass plate and printed in layers with a Takach etching press. Prints by John Riley and Lou McBride

Workshops are celebrations of discovery for those who take them and for those who teach them! Several weekends a year my good friend Ilse Reimnitz and I teach monotype and watercolor workshops. I always have fun meeting new artists  and renewing ties with the friends who have returned to take another workshop.  And for me the bonus is to be with and make art with Ilse. Certainly watercolor demands patience and concentration  but the method we like to teach also embraces the serendipitous.  By reacting to what happens in an initial pour of transparent nonstaining pigments compositions are imagined, established and developed in each newly painted (staining) layer. In the photo above Ilse demonstrates the process.  Making art is a strange amalgam of actively seeing, purposeful motion and a portion of don't forget to breath, deeply.  People who make art are filters and conduits at the same time.   I thank the participants of our workshop and I...

When print and water color artist Ilse Reimntiz invited me to co-instruct a monotype workshop I happily excepted.  Ilse is an incredible artist and mentor to many, myself included.  Her print imagery ignited my initial interest in monotype, for which I am truly grateful. September 10-12 we coached five enthusiastic, print curious, artists in basic monotype techniques and were witness to inspiring results.  Check out the photo below of one students dynamic work in progress.   What fun!  I am already looking forward to the next workshop Ilse and I will conduct early in the new year. Monotype  printwork from the workshop by Sarah Stuart