Jessica Gomes Painting

I’ve been passionate about creating all my life. I have the itch to constantly create so in the early 90’s, I stumbled upon my passion, printmaking. On a whim and needing 3 more college credits, I added Beginning Etching to my class schedule, taught by renowned print maker Kevin Fletcher, who later became my mentor and very dear friend. It amazed me to find that you could make art by just taking a copper, zinc or most any other metal or flat material, to print multiple copies of your artwork. It was like a light bulb went off in my head, I always loved working with my hands, building cars (VWs), furniture, sculptures, and just figuring out how things work in general. So professionally, I made a career in graphic design and sign making and found that this worked hand in hand with my artistic passion, printmaking. I started to incorporating sign making techniques into my art to develop a techniques that I believe are new to the printmaking community, I have yet to see any other printer utilize my technique. Using a computer, sign making tools and materials, I can make more accurate and precise images, which I then transfer to my etching plates. Being able to find a correlation between my profession and my art has been a revelation and a pleasant surprise. In the last 10 years I have started to incorporated these techniques into my paintings. I never dreamed that my skills as a sign maker would serve as a catalyst for my artistic creations. I sincerely hope you find joy viewing what I have created, as I found much joy in creating it.