About the Artist

Fine Artist LuAnn Roberto Adds Fresh Organic Approach to Traditional Printmaking Technique
By day, LuAnn Roberto is a creative director, brand strategist and owner of 411 Graphics . But LuAnn is foremost and always an artist. With her refined sense of design, a deep appreciation for the accidents of creativity and experimentation, and a generous sense of humor, she creates wall art, patterns and prints for any application.
“My medium is both contemporary graphic design and old school monoprinting,” LuAnn says. “Whereas my professional designs have to be really tight and controlled, with monoprinting, you have no idea what’s going to happen on the press. Whatever you paint will be backwards and get smashed when it rolls through the press. This has enhanced my daily design work and made me an advocate for trying the unexpected.”
Monoprinting is a combination of painting and printmaking techniques that gives the artist freedom to work with a wide selection of materials such as inks, pencils, crayons, and pastels, and to choose from a variety of methods to transfer images. To create a monotype the artist paints or rolls ink onto a blank plate. The image is created by manipulating ink with various tools (brushes, rags, stencils,etc.) Ink can be layered, color over color, and printed on the same paper in successive passes through the press. Because there are no permanent marks on the plate, it is not possible to create exact multiples of the image, each monoprint is different and unique and the artist may use one or more techniques to achieve the image that he or she wants to create.
“I love the monoprint medium,” she adds. “When I’m on the press,” Roberto explains, “I love working with the brightest ink colors. I enjoy trendspotting and antiquing, and fusing these concepts into a single design. I experiment with a variety of materials. For example, recently I found a most unusual netting that was used to hold together firewood. I used it on the
press to create a beautiful flowing pattern” she adds.
LuAnn began painting and printmaking after the death of her mother as a way to get through her grief. After 6 months, she began to show her work and became familiar with the world of licensing art. Being an advertising professional, she easily made the addition to her business and www.LuAnnRoberto.com was born.
LuAnn’s monoprints and monotypes:
• Combine painting and printmaking techniques
• Are intuitive and instantly gratifying to create
• Provide an end result that always creates movement, tells a story or evokes a feeling
• Are loose and spontaneous
• Utilize all skill sets: printing, design and painting
• Are multilayered -- effects are created by first enhancing prints with gouache, colored
pencil and marker, then digitally scanning the print using digital talents to tweak color, lighting and size
Background
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, LuAnn won her first art contest at age 11. She had several artistic influencers in her life who encouraged her to be an artist, a designer and an entrepreneur. She excelled as an artist thru high school, showing leadership in creative thought and then attended Central Academy of Commercial Art, a private 2 year college, focusing on advertising and graphic design. LuAnn began successfully working in various studios and ad agencies. In 1984, she moved to California where opportunities to work in entertainment as well as corporate and packaging were abounding.
In 1989, LuAnn founded 411 Graphics, specializing in strategy, graphic design and brand identity. Maintaining that core purpose, LuAnn has successfully led her company into an expanded marketplace with a broadly diverse clientele and ever-shifting technology base. She holds the Women’s Business Enterprise Certification (WBEC), is a founder and exhibitor with Studio 1613, and was named “Woman of the Year” by the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce Women in Business Committee for her contributions to community vitality. LuAnn also serves on the committee of POP-UP Gallery, seeking to install artwork in underutilized commercial spaces.
Creating artwork that reflects her passion for color and design and has a broad audience appeal, LuAnn is “easily inspired.” “Some of my favorite things are laughing out loud, dancing, the color magenta, the smell of fresh basil and hanging out with my family,” LuAnn says.
LuAnn’s art is influenced by:
• Seeing the humor in most things
• Vintage trends -- anything from house wares to old industrial tools
• Personal life experiences (crazy Italian family, life, death, etc)
• Found objects, collected finds
• Urbanity and nature
• Digital as well as traditional techniques
By day, LuAnn Roberto is a creative director, brand strategist and owner of 411 Graphics . But LuAnn is foremost and always an artist. With her refined sense of design, a deep appreciation for the accidents of creativity and experimentation, and a generous sense of humor, she creates wall art, patterns and prints for any application.
“My medium is both contemporary graphic design and old school monoprinting,” LuAnn says. “Whereas my professional designs have to be really tight and controlled, with monoprinting, you have no idea what’s going to happen on the press. Whatever you paint will be backwards and get smashed when it rolls through the press. This has enhanced my daily design work and made me an advocate for trying the unexpected.”
Monoprinting is a combination of painting and printmaking techniques that gives the artist freedom to work with a wide selection of materials such as inks, pencils, crayons, and pastels, and to choose from a variety of methods to transfer images. To create a monotype the artist paints or rolls ink onto a blank plate. The image is created by manipulating ink with various tools (brushes, rags, stencils,etc.) Ink can be layered, color over color, and printed on the same paper in successive passes through the press. Because there are no permanent marks on the plate, it is not possible to create exact multiples of the image, each monoprint is different and unique and the artist may use one or more techniques to achieve the image that he or she wants to create.
“I love the monoprint medium,” she adds. “When I’m on the press,” Roberto explains, “I love working with the brightest ink colors. I enjoy trendspotting and antiquing, and fusing these concepts into a single design. I experiment with a variety of materials. For example, recently I found a most unusual netting that was used to hold together firewood. I used it on the
press to create a beautiful flowing pattern” she adds.
LuAnn began painting and printmaking after the death of her mother as a way to get through her grief. After 6 months, she began to show her work and became familiar with the world of licensing art. Being an advertising professional, she easily made the addition to her business and www.LuAnnRoberto.com was born.
LuAnn’s monoprints and monotypes:
• Combine painting and printmaking techniques
• Are intuitive and instantly gratifying to create
• Provide an end result that always creates movement, tells a story or evokes a feeling
• Are loose and spontaneous
• Utilize all skill sets: printing, design and painting
• Are multilayered -- effects are created by first enhancing prints with gouache, colored
pencil and marker, then digitally scanning the print using digital talents to tweak color, lighting and size
Background
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, LuAnn won her first art contest at age 11. She had several artistic influencers in her life who encouraged her to be an artist, a designer and an entrepreneur. She excelled as an artist thru high school, showing leadership in creative thought and then attended Central Academy of Commercial Art, a private 2 year college, focusing on advertising and graphic design. LuAnn began successfully working in various studios and ad agencies. In 1984, she moved to California where opportunities to work in entertainment as well as corporate and packaging were abounding.
In 1989, LuAnn founded 411 Graphics, specializing in strategy, graphic design and brand identity. Maintaining that core purpose, LuAnn has successfully led her company into an expanded marketplace with a broadly diverse clientele and ever-shifting technology base. She holds the Women’s Business Enterprise Certification (WBEC), is a founder and exhibitor with Studio 1613, and was named “Woman of the Year” by the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce Women in Business Committee for her contributions to community vitality. LuAnn also serves on the committee of POP-UP Gallery, seeking to install artwork in underutilized commercial spaces.
Creating artwork that reflects her passion for color and design and has a broad audience appeal, LuAnn is “easily inspired.” “Some of my favorite things are laughing out loud, dancing, the color magenta, the smell of fresh basil and hanging out with my family,” LuAnn says.
LuAnn’s art is influenced by:
• Seeing the humor in most things
• Vintage trends -- anything from house wares to old industrial tools
• Personal life experiences (crazy Italian family, life, death, etc)
• Found objects, collected finds
• Urbanity and nature
• Digital as well as traditional techniques