Three Amigos, 6 x 8 Collograph & Watercolor
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I'm back from a weekend art festival in Little Italy-San Diego. It was a wonderful show, with good company, enthused patrons and of course, great food. I promised a few of my new friends that I'd create another post on how to make a collograph. The person to ask about this type of printmaking is the artist who taught me how to make one this winter - Victor McCay. The work in process shots begin below... (start at the bottom)
After a trip through the press, pulling an Artists' Proof. Once this was dry, I painted it with watercolors to get the finished print posted above.
Using tarlatan cloth to wipe excess ink from the plate, while leaving some ink nestled in the grooves and against the curbs of the construction paper edges.
Using a bondo scraper to spread a thin layer of Daniel Smith oil-based black etching ink on the plate.
Coating the finished plate with more gel medium.
Cutting construction paper and gluing it to a piece of mat board coated front & back with Gel Medium.
4/30/07
Collograph & Watercolor: Three Amigos
4/26/07
Monotype: He Gave Her Everything
He Gave Her Everything, 3.5 x 11 Monotype, Watercolor & Colored Pencil
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This 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.
4/25/07
Monotype: Purple Barn at Agua Dulce Vineyards
Purple Barn at Agua Dulce Vineyards 5 x 7 Monotype with colored pencil & watercolor washes
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The 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...
4/24/07
Monotype & Watercolor: Mom's Bicycle
Mom's Bicycle, 3.5 x 11 Monotype & Watercolor
This 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
4/23/07
Monotype, Watercolor & Colored Pencil: Freshly Tilled Soil
Freshly Tilled Soil 4 x 6 Monotype Mixed Media
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This 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
4/20/07
Monotype & Watercolor: Commit to Memory II
Commit to Memory II, 5 x 7 Monotype & Watercolor
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This one started with a ghost print from this Monotype, with watercolor washes layered in, after the ink dried.
4/19/07
Monotype, Watercolor & Colored Pencil: Hey, Wanna Split a Sandwich? II
Hey, Wanna Split a Sandwich? II, 5 x 7 Monotype Watercolor & Colored Pencil.
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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)
4/18/07
Monotype, Watercolor & Colored Pencil: Leda & Zeus
Leda & Zeus, 5 x 7 monotype Watercolor & Colored Pencil.
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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.
4/17/07
Watercolor: Nassco Shipyard
NASSCO Shipyard, from the bridge between San Diego & Coronado Island, CA 7 x 14 Watercolor on paper
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4/16/07
4/15/07
Trace Monotype & Watercolor: Omikuji
Omikuji 5 x 7 Trace Monotype & Watercolor
Omikuji - "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: Fortune
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 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 can pull a trace monotype from this if the wet-ink-side is pressed against printmaking paper on the press. (see below).
The top image is the trace monotype pulled in the photos here, with watercolors added after the ink dried. I also made a monotype from the copper plate, after removing ink around the figure and the omikuji slips. I'll post the results after I finish adding color to it later this week.
4/13/07
4/12/07
4/11/07
Woodcut & Watercolor: Bath St. Breakfast
This little woodcut is based on a photo of breakfast in the early morning light, in Santa Barbara, CA. I've painted the scene, printed it, sketched it, and I'm sure I'll make something else from the photos, because I love the light, the memories, and the Mexican pottery on the table.
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The block used to make the print.
4/10/07
4/9/07
4/6/07
4/5/07
4/4/07
Watercolor: Albanian Window
Albanian Window, 11 x 17 watercolor
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Painting in process during a demo at an art festival.
4/3/07
Monotype: Fire up the Grill
Fire up the Grill! 5 x 7 Monotype with Colored Pencil
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This 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.
4/2/07
Monotype: Poker & Pepsi
Poker & Pepsi 5 x 7 Monotype, Colored Pencil & WatercolorSold
This 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.
