Dreaming About Tomorrow 6 x 9 Monotype with watercolor & colored pencil on Arches Cover paperThe reference photos for this series are some of my favorite poses with MKH. The peacefulness and placement of her hands are a pleasure, and the memories of that chapter in time are precious to me. This isn't the last time I'll paint this pose.This monotype, in the early stages of layering watercolor. Afte
Margery Knew the Girls Couldn't Hold Still for Long 3 x 9 Monotype with watercolor & colored pencilMy reference for this was two old photos; the girls (my grandmother is the one on the left) were taken in about 1924, and Aunty Margery with the camera was likely snapped a few years later. I used Daniel Smith oil-based Bone Black etching ink on a copper plate for this one, and added a little calcium
Learning to Love Books 7x8 Monotype with watercolor & colored pencilDuring an exhibit at Descanso Gardens, two little girls visited the gallery and curled up on a wicker bench for a rest after running through the camellia forest. I asked them (& their Mom)if I could take a photo as reference for a painting, and this is the result; a monotype this week, and a maybe painting in watercolor later in M
Dreaming 3x3 Monotype with Watercolor & Colored PencilTiny copper plate coated with oil based black Daniel Smith etching ink.Using rolled paper towel points and a pastel stomp to pull the sleeping face from the wet ink. The monotype, drying after the plate was pressed against the paper.
Watching Over 3x9 Monotype with Watercolor & Colored PencilMy mother and her sister in New England - about 1944.Process shots begin at the bottom of the postThe monotype, with watercolor and prismacolor in process.After wiping the image away in the ink, I pulled a monotype (on the right) and a ghost print (on the left).Daniel Smith oil-based black etching ink rolled out on a copper plate with a brayer
California Road Trip 7 x 8.3 Monotype with watercolor & colored pencilProcess shots begin at the bottom.On the art table, with watercolors and colored pencils, playing with color and texture on top of the black ink.The plate, ready for a trip through the press, with a variety of mark-making scraped into the remaining ink.Daniel Smith oil-based black etching ink rolled out on beveled plexiglass with a brayer. The image is being pulled out of the ink in a subtractive process. This is the same plate I used for First Day of Spring a few weeks ago.
Dozing 3 x 6 Monotype (ghost) with watercolor and colored pencilArches 88 printmaking paper with oil based Daniel Smith etching ink, Winsor Newton Watercolors and lightfast prismacolor colored pencil.
seahorses. monotype. approx 14 ins tall. Vivien BlackburnThis is an old piece of work that I have on the wall in the bathroom - a monotype I did in the first year of my degree. It is actually a normal rectangle but as it's behind glass I had to take the photograph at an angle because of the reflections.it was made by rolling out a varied mix of turquoise printing ink onto a metal plate and printing it onto the paper using an etching press (rather like an old mangle with a flat bed but rather more expensive :>( ) - inking up the whole plate with a thin layer.It was left to dry overnight and then I made stencils, cutting and tearing newsprint freehand with no drawing to make the sea horses and weed. These were positioned on the turquoise print.Then I rolled up the plate with a dark mi
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First Day of Spring 8.3 x 7 Monotype, Watercolor & Colored PencilLuckily for me, my maternal grandparents liked to take photos in the late 1920's. The family snapshots I get to use as painting references are treasures. Plexiglass plate with Daniel Smith oil based black etching ink, rolled out with a brayer. The reference was a Brownie camera photo of Al & Margie, and the image was pulled out of the ink with my fingers, q-tips and paper towels.After a trip through the press, the print is pulled from the plate.The print next to the plate on the press bed.After the ink was dry, I added some light washes of watercolor, and started to scribble texture and color with prismacolors.
Central California Vineyard 9 x 3 Monotype with Watercolor & Colored Pencil(Process shots start at the bottom)The monotype pulled from the copper plate after a trip through the press. Under all the pressure from the press, the ink releases neatly from the plate and transfers to the soaked & blotted paper, keeping most of the textures I scraped into the pigment. There was enough ink left on the plate to pull a very light ghost print, which I'll save for another version of this scene later.I'm using an india ink sketch as a reference in the sketch pad at the top left corner. I used a brayer to roll an even layer of Daniel Smith oil based etching ink on a thin 9 x 3 inch copper plate. In this image, I've begun scraping & removing levels of ink in a subtractive process with paper towels, q-tip
Under the Lemon Tree 5 x 7 Monotype with Colored Pencil and WatercolorDuring a visit to New England last January, I found a tiny black & white photo of my grandmother taken in 1934 in a box under their television console. I snapped a shot of the photo with my digital camera, and used it as a reference for this one.
Westfield Church - Monotype & Watercolor 4x6 on tan BFK Rives paperSoldBlack etching ink rolled on a zinc plate - scraping the image into the wet ink...Using a pastel blender stump to push ink around on the plate for areas of pattern, shape, lights & darks...The monotype and a ghost print - fresh off the press.... the monotype at the top of this post is the print on the left: the first pull from the plate.
Blue Sip Cup 5.5 x 7.5 Monotype & WatercolorThis is a light field monotype of my Great Uncle Nick, who lives in a bed, in a nursing home, 365 days of the year, whether it's a holiday or not. Despite the monotony and the pureed food, he twinkles.
Rose in her Hair 4 x 6 Monotype & WatercolorSoldI've received many emails this month asking for details on monotypes and ghost prints. The image above is a dark field monotype; the first print pulled from a polished zinc plate, coated with oil-based black ink, which was wiped away to reveal a portrait. I'm using a subtractive process; the face emerges as the wet ink is cleared from the plate in various degrees for texture, tone and value (see below).Paper is soaked in water and blotted before being laid on the still wet, ink-coated plate. A press is used to press the paper into the ink, and when the paper is peeled off the plate, you get a monotype. If enough ink remains on the plate, you can lay a second sheet of paper over your image, and pull another, fainter version of the monotype. This is called a ghost print.I pulled one monotype and two ghost prints from this plate (see below) before cleaning the ink off to make something else. I get to use the same plate over and over becau
Who Am I? 4.5 x 5 Monotype Ghost with WatercolorAvailable here.The model for this piece is a single juvenile lamb, but the ghost print was so soft, there was room for additional details (see below). I was toying with iconography related to self inventory, and finding gaps between who we think we are, and how we are perceived by others.Pulling a little lamb out of the ink on the plate.Pulling a nice, dark monotype from the plate (filed for color alterations later in the Winter).A second sheet of paper was laid on the plate, and run through the press to collect any remaining ink. This is a ghost print; faint suggestions of the initial monotype, which are perfect for taking the art in a different direction. It's still an offspring of the monotype it was harvested from, but it's a different piece of art all together. This is what I love about Monotypes. They are, as their name implies, editions of one.
Off to See the World 5 x 7 Monotype with watercolor & colored pencilsAvailable here.My Aunt Barbara left a small, rural, New England village to live in a Madrid Naval base with her new husband in the late 1950's. A small black and white photo from that time was my reference for this piece.This print started with a dark-field (Daniel Smith oil based black etching ink) monotype, with a la poupee' color added to the background.Laying in the first under-painting of watercolor washes.Making adjustments to the features and facial structure with colored pencils.Cross-hatching colored pencils for skin tone.
Andrea's Violin, 5x7 Caran D'Ache Monotype on tab BFK Rives paperSoldImage based on a 1918 photo of my grandfather standing on the porch of the family's New England apartment, holding his new violin.
Movie Night 4.5 x 6.5 Monotype Ghost with watercolorThis is a ghost print from a monotype I did last Fall (Cat Hammock, sold). I painted the ghost with watercolors yesterday while spending time with an artist friend undergoing & recovering from hand surgery. (Heal fast & paint, NE.)
Villa Steps 4 x 6 Monotype & watercolor This former residence, an Italian/Spanish Villa built in the 1920's, is now a girls' school in Sierra Madre, CA. The administrators are kind enough to allow artists to paint & sketch on site during weekends, as long as the wedding and film/tv production schedule allows.Sold
Troubadour 4 x 4 Monotype with watercolorFor sale here.When my grandfather Alphonse was 18, he played in a band with his brother Freddie. On the way to their gigs, he'd stop by my grandmother Margie's house and play love songs for her on the front porch of her aunt's house. They'll celebrate their 72nd anniversary in January.
Window Hat 7 x 9 Monoptype with Watercolor & Colored PencilAn open window, and an open door, with back lit flowers in a glass vase on a sill...For two years, I lived in an old carriage house bungalow with lots of 1930's tile and lead-weight windows with hundred-layer painted sills. The light in that house used to stop me in my tracks, and send me scampering for the camera. The reference photo for this monotype is 14 years old, but I still enjoy the process of trying to capture the atmosphere in those little rooms.Pulling the image out of the ink on a beveled, plexiglass plate.Pulling the print after pressing the paper to the still-wet image.The monotype on the left, and a ghost print on the right. The image at the top of this post started as the monotype on the left.
Sunday Paper in the Park, 4x4 Monotype with Watercolor & Colored PencilThe petite readers I've been working on this week - and 20 other paintings & prints, will be exhibited tomorrow night, Friday, Sept 28th at the Canyon Theatre Guild Gala Fine At Invitational. The fine art exhibit & fund raiser will kick off the annual street painting festival this weekend. Tickets to the Friday night Gala are available at the Canyon Theatre Guild box office.After moving ink around, and tapping it out of light areas, I'm ready to print.Pulling the monotype.You can see the amount of ink left on the plate after the print was pulled. Another sheet of soaked and blotted paper was pressed against the plate to make a faint but suggestive ghost print.First washes of watercolor on the monotype after the ink was dry, followed by colored pencil.
Turning the Page 4x4 Monotype, Watercolor & Colored PencilMKH was sitting in our apartment in Rome, searching for Italian fabric shops. The light in Italy makes every quiet little scene a potential painting or print. The sense that it's fleeting and lovely, so you have to stay alert to capture each and every one, is just about overwhelming.Pulling the light out of the image by wiping away the ink with paper towels and pointy tools.Moving the plate to the press.Pulling the monotype; this part is always a surprise. The pressure from the press moves ink around and changes some of the textures and values in ways you don't anticipate. It's a lesson in flexible expectation.The monotype.The ghost print.
Read to Me 4x4 Monotype, Watercolor & Colored PencilI've included a few more process images in this post in response to emails from new subscribers asking for details on how to make a monotype. There are lots more process shots in the archives of this blog - you can search for monotype to see them. In the meantime, here are the basics from this one:Black etching ink rolled out on glass, with a brayer, a phone book and a thin plate of copper.Rolling ink on the plate with the brayer.After pulling the image out of the ink - a subtractive process, using pastel stomps, rolled paper towel and q-tips.Pulling the monotype from the plate after a trip through the press.Pulling a ghost print from the plate, since there was enough ink to suggest the image on a second sheet of paper.After the ink is dry on the monotype, adding watercolor to start the final process. Colored pencil was added later.
Brain Breakfast 4.5 x 6.5 Monotype Ghost, Watercolor & Colored PencilAfter I pulled this figurative monotype last Fall, I had enough ink on the plate to lift two faint ghost prints. Brain Breakfast started as the ghost in the center of the line up below; I added watercolor washes, and colored pencil on top of the ink this weekend.
Iris 5x5.5 Monotype Ghost Print with Watercolor & Colored PencilSoldI rolled the ink on the plate pretty heavy for this one, and got two ghosts after pulling the monotype. You can still see remnants of ink on the plate (below) after three trips through the press. Iris is from the first ghost print. The monotype and the 2nd ghost are in my flat files, waiting for whimsy & fun with other mediums.
monotype: copyright Vivien BlackburnThis is a monotype I did some time ago - made by doing a random roll up of the printing plate with the honey/burnt sienna coloured printing ink. I then made cut out stencils from newspaper and overprinted with the black ink. With monotypes there can only be one, it isn't possible to recreate the print again. For this type of printing you don't need a printing press, you can just place the paper over the printing plate and rub the back with a baren or your palm to pick up the ink from the plate. He looks a bit cross at being disturbed.I've been looking at cats in art from the earliest times and found some beautiful examples :)In ancient Egypt they were of course revered but in medieval times their fortunes changed and they were seen as associated with magic, witches, licentiousness and wrongdoing. Hundreds of thousans were exterminated - leading to a rise in the rodent population and probably aiding the rise and spread of the plague - the black dea
Picnic in the grass 4.5 x 6.5 Monotype Ghost & WatercolorI finished painting this ghost print while sitting at the Boddy Carriage House Gallery in Descanso Gardens. It's been a bit warm this week, but it's still a beautiful place to paint. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by - the show is up till Sept 13th.
Mae & Tess 6 x 9 Monotype Ghost on Arches 88 paper with colored pencil My paternal grandmother and her sister posed on the bumper of my grandfather's car in 1925. I love the reference photo for this monotype. These women had a huge influence on me: two of my dearly missed, most favorite people, ever.
Blue Boy Reading 6x9 Blue Field Monotype with Watercolor & Colored Pencil This is my second monotype of AJC in this pose. Both were pulled a year ago, and this one in particular was begging for other mediums on top of the saturated blue, so I worked on it this week up at the Boddy Gallery. The choice of color had more to do with using up ink that another artist had already rolled out, but since blue is one of his favorite colors, I went with it. :o)
Walk with me in Italy, 4 x 6 Monotype Ghost & WatercolorAvailable here. This monotype ghost was one of my attempts to get every last molecule of ink off the plate, after pulling the first print. This one came out so transparent, the term "ghost print" is really illustrated. Still, it makes an interesting under-painting for a watercolor - just enough information to hint at the structure, but none of the details of the original monotype.
San Juan Capistrano Bell, 4 x 6 Monotype, Watercolor & Colored pencilThe beginnings of this monotype were posted here, a few weeks ago. I added watercolor & colored pencil to it this morning.
Omikuji II, Monotype, Watercolor & Colored PencilStart at the bottom of this post to see the process on this one. The first monotype pulled from the plate. (I also pulled two very faint ghost prints.)After a trip through the press, pulling the monotype from the plate.Close up of wet ink with varied mark-making.Ink is removed with pastel stomps, rolled & folded paper towels, finger tips, etc.A copper plate is coated with Black oil-based Daniel Smith etching ink, using a brayer. The drawing was sketched over vellum paper, which is explained here. The meaning of Omikuji is also explained in that post.
He Gave Her Everything, 3.5 x 11 Monotype, Watercolor & Colored PencilThis is the 2nd monotype I've done on the new tall-skinny plate I used here. I laid the ink on too thin this time, so I lost some detail and didn't get any solid blacks. I hung the monotype to dry in the studio last night, and couldn't paint on it till this morning. Lessons in patience.Here it is, after playing in the studio with watercolors and colored pencils this morning.
Purple Barn at Agua Dulce Vineyards 5 x 7 Monotype with colored pencil & watercolor washesThe barn really *is* purple (see photo below). The first time I drove out there to paint, I couldn't stop smiling when I found the barn near the back of the vineyard. I imagined it at harvest time, full of purple and violet colored grapes, with grape juice stained hand-prints on all the doors and gates.Pulling the initial drawing off the plate...After wiping and moving ink around....Pulling this monotype, after a trip through the press...
Mom's Bicycle, 3.5 x 11 Monotype & WatercolorThis monotype was inspired by a photo of my mother, taken in Connecticut, in about 1948. I like the long vertical format of the new plate I used for this, and I'm excited to make more art in this tall, thin layout.The ghost print, getting some color (above). I pulled the monotype yesterday afternoon, so the ink was still wet last night. I was impatient, and started working on the ghost print with watercolor washes. Three images below show the monotype in process, with the print hanging in the studio to dry.The topic for Illustration Friday this week is: Remember
Freshly Tilled Soil 4 x 6 Monotype Mixed MediaThis Arizona landscape was pulled from a big 3-ring binder, filled with beautiful photos my friend Vicki Leigh snapped, packaged and mailed to me. All of her day to day adventures, garden discoveries, and encounters with light, landscape and people are captured in her camera with an artists' eye. Every year, I get random, surprise care packages in the mail, filled with photos organized by subject to use as painting and printmaking inspiration. How cool is that? Check out her stained glass blog (and her Etsy store) in my links.The monotype, fresh off the press.After adding Watercolor & Colored Pencil
Commit to Memory II, 5 x 7 Monotype & WatercolorThis one started with a ghost print from this Monotype, with watercolor washes layered in, after the ink dried.
Hey, Wanna Split a Sandwich? II, 5 x 7 Monotype Watercolor & Colored Pencil.This is the dark field monotype I made after pulling a trace monotype from the same plate here.After the ink was dry, I used watercolors and Prismacolors to finish the print. It'll be exhibited in a week at the San Diego Artwalk, in Little Italy. If you're in the area, stop by and say hello. (Booth-125 on Beech Street)
Leda & Zeus, 5 x 7 monotype Watercolor & Colored Pencil.The print, fresh from the press. This was created on a copper plate, using Daniel Smith oil-based etching ink (a blend of black & process blue), and printed on Arches Cover printmaking paper that was soaked in water and blotted before going through the press. (Big thanks to JMC for the lovely reference photo of the swan.)On the art table - after playing with colored pencil and watercolors.
Omikuji 5 x 7 Trace Monotype & WatercolorOmikuji - "sacred lottery" are fortunes on slips of paper dispensed at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan. People draw numbered sticks from a container, corresponding to slips of paper with their fortunes written out in detail. Those who draw a good fortune take it home with them, and those who pull a bad fortune tie the slips to a tree, or lines strung between posts at the temple, to avoid bringing the bad luck home.The topic for Illustration Friday this week is: FortuneAfter inking the plate to make a monotype, I lay a thin sheet of paper on top of the wet ink, and draw the beginnings of my image on the paper. The pencil-to-paper texture is familiar to me, and the pressure of drawing plows a groove into the ink on the plate, giving me a map of a drawing to get started with (see below).The cover sheet I used to lay out the initial line work is now a printable "plate", since the back side of the paper has a wet ink drawing on it. I ca
Fire up the Grill! 5 x 7 Monotype with Colored PencilThis is my great-great aunt and uncle, in 1961, holding dinner by a string. I can think of all sorts of quotes to put above Margie's head, especially with her hand pulled back in a dainty British recoil.This one started with Graphic Chemical, oil based, bone black etching ink, rolled out on a copper plate. After removing most of the black ink to outline George & Margie, I tapped various colors in the areas I cleared, and printed the monotype on soaked & blotted Rives paper. After the ink was dry, I had fun with colored pencils while studying the facial expressions on the photo that inspired the art. I never met these two, but I've heard so many stories, it was a pleasure to spend time with them.
Poker & Pepsi 5 x 7 Monotype, Colored Pencil & WatercolorThis started out as a dark field (black Daniel Smith etching ink) monotype on a copper plate, with a rushed ending before going through the press. I had planned to take a lot more ink off the figure before printing (see below), but I ran out of day.To lighten the figure, I used colored pencils on her face and arms, and then a wash of watercolor over the background.
Snap Apple, 3 x 6 MonotypeAfter coating my zinc plate with black ink, I lifted the image of a girl playing a game of Snap Apple out of the pigment, by wiping the ink away with rolled paper towels and blending sticks.Using fingertips to tap colored pigment into the areas I cleared of black ink.Pulling the print, after a trip through the press.The topic for Illustration Friday this week is: Snap
Red Carpet Retirement 3 x 6 Monotype (Ghost) and WatercolorThe April issue of American Art Collector will feature a quarter page ad announcing The Daily Painters Guild. Check us out on page 48.
This is a monotype of AJC, pulled from a sheet of beveled plexi glass rolled with oil-based black Daniel Smith etching ink. I used Arches 88 paper for it's smooth surace, because I wanted to add colored pencil later. Social Skills, 7 x 8 Monotype, Colored Pencil & Watercolor
This is a light-field monotype. I started with a clean, un-inked, un-etched plate - in this case, plexiglass - and added colored pigment to the surface. (Most of the monotypes I've posted here are dark-field; starting with a dark, ink-coated plate, and pulling the ink [light areas] off with my fingers and assorted tools.)I used Caran D'Ache water soluble crayons to sketch the face and the tangle of hair, seaweed and fish. I added watercolors randomly, which will repel and pool on plexi, but they "stick" to the crayon lines a little bit, so you get an impressionistic effect.The print, above, after it dried, and below, finished.Mermaid Hair, 7 x 8 Monotype, Colored Pencil and WatercolorsSoldThis piece was also submitted for perusal in Illustration Friday, where the topic this week is: Mask
I have an idea for a quadrant of monotypes, pulled from the same plate, based on old family photos. I made the first one today. We'll see if this works....The plate, with ink rolled out.First lines of the drawing.....Pulling ink from the plate with paper towels and blending stomps...The print, fresh from the press...Lineage 1, 4.5 x 5 MonotypeI'll post the others as I finish them.
SoldI've painted, sketched and printed this pose quite a few times, and I'm sure I'll paint it again. She's my favorite model, and I love the peacefulness of this image.
This is from an photo, taken by one of my brothers in Santa Barbara many years ago. I've sketched it a few times, and always meant to use it as reference for a watercolor, but I started with a monotype instead. Maybe I'll paint it this winter... Window Seat 4 x 5 Monotype & WatercolorSold
Canadian Girl, 4 x 6 Monotype & Watercolor, available at So Oh Fine Art GalleryThe monotype ghost, before watercolor, below....Baudelaire wrote an essay titled The Painter in Modern Life, and challenged artists: “Make us see and understand, with brush or with pencil, how great and poetic we are in our cravats and our leather boots.” This is my mother's cousin JBM, as a young girl, transplanted to New England fresh from Canada, and I love the 1930's era photo of her that I've used as a reference for this monotype.I've painted watercolors of her, and sketched her in graphite, and I've made several monotypes - all from the same photo. (She thinks this is all very funny.) The first monotype pulled from the plate, with watercolor, below...Black Fur Hat, 4 x 6 Monotype & Watercolor (Sold)My feeble attempts to capture the essence of her loveliness, and her youth, and her spark (she is one of fourteen children) keep bringing me back around to try again. I'm working it out; lookin
I found an old photo of a house in Santa Monica, taken in the early 1950's in my Great-Uncle Nick's photo album. I've sketched it, and painted it, and I'm still looking at it, so I figured it was time to make a print of it.No one in the family can remember who's house it is, but I'm pretty certain, based on multiple images, that they all spent time there. It's funny how we document our lives with photos, and then forget to label the moments, trusting our memories to hold all that data.Santa Monica House, 4.5 x 5 Monotype & Colored PencilAvailable here.
This is a small zinc plate wearing faint remnants of ink after three trips through the press. The top print is the darkest, and the two ghost prints under it are waiting for an art supply spa treatment.The lightest ghost was printed on Arches88, a smooth, bright white, printmaking paper with no sizing in it. You can't use watercolor on it, unless you like to paint on paper towels, since it's about that absorbent.It's a lovely paper for colored pencils - the plate-finish is silky under the pigments, and you can layer the colors on the sheet almost like watercolors.Connecticut Pasture, 3 x 6 Monotype Ghost & Colored PencilBid on it here.
After inking the plate to make a monotype, I lay a thin sheet of paper on top of the wet ink, and draw the beginnings of my image on the paper. The pencil-to-paper texture is familiar to me, and the pressure of drawing collects a line of ink on the back of the paper as my pencil bears down on the cover sheet. When I peel the paper sketch off the plate, the faint line work that stayed on the back of the sheet is a map in the ink (above) to get started with, *and* there's a wet-ink line drawing on the back of the paper I peeled off the plate. That sheet of paper can be used to make a trace-monotype print if the wet-ink-side is pressed against printmaking paper. This is the result.Adding Watercolor washes... All in Green 5 x 4.5 Monotype & WatercolorAll in green went my love riding on a great horse of gold into the silver dawn.e e cummings
This is a trace monotype of the San Juan Capistrano bell tower, from a photo taken inside the mission courtyard. (The dark field monotype I pulled when I made this one will be posted later in the week, after the ink dries.)The ink lines are about the same value as graphite, but they have a dotted quality to them from the tooth in the printmaking paper (Arches Cover), and I like the way they look around and underneath the watercolor pigments.Capistrano Mission Bell, 4.5 x 6.5 Monotype & WatercolorAvailable for sale here.
A glitch in my blog subscription was repaired this morning. Subscribers have missed the last 10-12 posts. (Darnitt.)If you want to scroll through them on one page, go here.This is a 4 x 6 zinc plate, rolled with Daniel Smith oil based black etching ink. In these shots, I'm wiping, scraping, smearing & pulling ink off the plate, based on a photo of the San Juan Capistrano Mission.This is the plate I referenced in yesterday's post about trace monotypes. And below is the resulting monotype. I haven't added color yet, but I'll post it when I do. San Juan Capistrano Bell, 4 x 6 Monotype
A monotype of the Mission at San Juan Capistrano (printed in reverse of the actual lay out of the grounds), which came out a bit too dark for my liking.After watercolors and colored pencils, it's lightened up a bit, and adjusted.California Mission, 4 x 6 Monotype & Mixed MediaBid on it here.
Removing ink from a plexi plate: reference photo of John Singer Sargent and a rough line sketch in the back ground.Pulling the print off the plate after a trip through the press...Dandy Sargent, 6 x 9 Monotype & Watercolor (Sold)
This started as a viscosity monotype (layering blue, rubine red and process yellow). I didn't care for the result after pulling it - a little more pressure on the press would have yielded more color blending. So, this one was in the Goof-Off pile. I played with it using colored pencil and watercolors last night.Blumen, 6 x 9 Monotype & Mixed Media
This is a 4.5 x 6 inch monotype ghost print & watercolor titled "Five More Minutes". A few people have asked about the process, so I'm posting more details here.Monotypes can be created with any medium that will transfer from a smooth plate to a sheet of paper. You paint on a plate, and press the wet painting against a sheet of paper, either by using a press, or by hand with a brayer, or a baren, etc. There are lots of mediums to try.... oil paints, etching or relief inks, water soluble crayons, etc. In this piece, I rolled black etching ink onto a smooth zinc plate with a rubber brayer. This shows a reference sketch, and the plate after I moved and pushed and wiped the ink around to make my sleeping figure.After rolling the plate through the press against a sheet of BFK Rives printmaking paper (below), I'm pulling the print off the plate (on the press bed). The image will print in reverse of what's on the plate. The photo on the left shows the print, next to the plate I pulled it
This is a monotype done with black etching ink on a zinc plate. After the cityscape was pulled out of the ink, I top-rolled a thin, transparent film of golden ink over the plate. All the areas I cleared down to the metal filled with this color. Before I printed the plate, I wiped the sky clean, so it would be the only area without the gold tint.After the ink was dry, I added color & details with colored pencil. The view was through an apartment window on a trip to Florence, Italy.Duomo, 4.5 x 6.5 Monotype (Sold)
This trio of viscosity monotypes were pulled from the same 3 x 6 plate, coated with layers of blue, red and yellow ink - one rolled out on top of the other - in altered states of viscosity (a fluid's resistance to flow). You can add burnt plate oil, or petroleum products like miracle gel to change the thickness and stickiness of the inks, so the colors resist each other till they're squished on the press. It's always a surprise. :-)The middle print was the first pull. I added inked leaves on the 2nd pull - on the left. The print on the right was the last one. Lots of color & temperature variation from the same three layers of color on the plate. This is the middle print (above), with watercolor and colored pencil added. Done yesterday while all the pre-oscar hubbub was in full swing. Oscar Night, 3 x 6 Monotype & Mixed Media
