Strawberryluna

“Elephants In The Trees” – Our Test Print Gallery Show At Rotofugi!

Hello friends!

We have some exciting news on the fine art front that we’ve been dying to share for over a year. And now the time has come!

The fantastic Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago, IL is home to our new Gallery show of 16 hand silkscreened Test Prints / Monoprints as well as a brand new black & white silkscreen, monochromatic, oversized, 2-art-print-set. Our show, “Elephants In The Trees”, opens on Friday January 13,  2012. But don’t be scared, Friday the 13th is always a lucky day for Allison, she was born on one.

What’s a Test Print, aka a Monoprint? Glad you asked! It’s a form of absolutely one-of-a-kind printmaking. A great definition from Wikipedia:

“Monoprints are known as the most painterly method among the printmaking techniques; it is essentially a printed painting. The characteristic of this method is that no two prints are alike. The beauty of this medium is also in its spontaneity and its combination of printmaking, painting and drawing media.  Monoprints may also involve elements that change, where the artist reworks the image in between impressions or after printing so that no two prints are absolutely identical.”

We’re absolutely thrilled, nervous, and excited all at once. Allison is almost always working on a tall stack of silkscreen Test Prints in the studio with each new print run. However, they rarely see the light of day publicly. Especially over the past year while she has been working on a suite of individual prints for this Gallery show in particular. And this is a first, with the debut not only of most of these absolutely one-of-a-kind monoprints but also of a new oversized 2-print set, (expertly printed by our friends at Delicious Design League). All prints on display will be for sale exclusively through the Rotofugi Gallery, both in person and online.

And here’s the thing, we can’t show you much before the Opening on Friday January 13th, 2012 BUT! You can totally sign up for the Rotofugi Gallery’s preview email list RIGHT HERE and get a beautiful eyeful of this (and any upcoming shows) special private preview and see the artwork for yourself before the general public. Trust us, this makes trying to buy original art and one-of-a-kind pieces far easier. ‘Cause once they are sold ‘cuz, they’re gone forevers.

Until then, here’s a little sneak-peek teaser of just a few of our 16 silkscreen printed, individual, one-of-a-kind Test Prints in the our upcoming show.

We hope to see you there on Friday, January the 13th at the opening reception!

Sneak-peek at just a few of our Monoprints to be shown at Rotofugi.

The Gallery Show Details

Elephants in the Trees: Silk Screen Monoprints & Art Prints by strawberryluna

  • Opening Reception at Rotofugi: Friday, January 13, 2011, 7-10PM
  • Rotofugi Exhibition Dates: January 13 – February 5, 2012
  • Rotofugi Location: 2780 Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614
  • Rotofugi Phone: 773-868-3308
  • Google Map

Fresh Batch of 8 new Test Prints up in my Etsy shop!


Test Print 23, freshly up & available in my Etsy shop (click for info or to purchase).

Sha-bam! I’ve finally prepared a new batch of Test Prints for web sales. I love love making test prints, and the ever-rotating stack that I am working on & taking to shows is proof positive. Is it bad that I don’t often get a chance to put them up on the web for sale? I don’t know. It’s true that I usually only have them available for sale AT shows and in person. But, every now and then I like to add some of my favorites to my Etsy shop and the Gigposters.com classifieds for sale.

And hey, being snowed in under about 3 feet of snow this week made cataloging and preparing photos (taken well before the snows, as my driveway backdrop can attest) and descriptions a real possibility. So, I present, 3 of the 8 new Test Prints up, available, and ready for new homes, just like puppies.

Test Print 27, ready to go to a new home (click for more info or to purchase).

What are Test Prints? Good question Grasshopper. Test Prints, also known as Make-Ready, or Monoprints, are made from various layers of different prints from different print runs, sometimes as a way to check colors or help re-wet and open a clogged screen, or maybe to just goof around with alternate colorways, seeing how they look together, or to test transparency (especially useful if you print with transparency bases a lot like I do). Test Prints are spontaneously created and basically, magical. Hence once a test print is sold, that’s it, gone baby. They are fully one-of-a-kind prints. I always keep a few with me in the studio while printing and every now and then one looks suddenly nice & done.

Test Print 28, an oldie but a goodie (click for more info or to purchase)

So, these prints and 7 others are now available for purchase from my Etsy shop here. If you don’t have an Etsy account it’s free to sign up for one (and easy!) or if you don’t want to set one up, they will also be available for a limited time (about 30 days from today) in the Gigposters.com classifieds here. And, of course you can always contact me if you simply wish to purchase any of the Test Prints currently available online (all viewable in my Etsy shop without signing in or up) if you wish too, just email me at strawberryluna [ a t ] straberryluna dot com.