Watercolor: Del Sol D'Oro

Del Sol D'Oro 7.5 x 10.5 Watercolor
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This is the nunnery tower at Del Sol D'Oro, formerly a private residence, and now the Alverno High School for girls. It's also a popular location for weddings and film/tv shoots, and weekend painters. Walking the grounds transports you to Spain and Italy. It's an amazing atmosphere to paint on site.

Watercolor: Girl with Carnations

Girl with Carnations (Self Portrait) 4.5 x 6.4 Watercolor on Arches Hot Pressed paper
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Watercolor: Spread Good Things

Spread Good Things 1.6 x 3.6 Watercolor on Arches Hot Pressed paper
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You know how we accumulate little scraps after cutting paper down for watercolors & printmaking? I can never throw them away. I have a shoe box full of perfect little squares and rectangles for teeny prints & watercolor paintings. They are the stash I reach for while chatting on the phone.

This one came about as a doodle during a lovely phone conversation about the words we chose to share, and the difference we make in a room when we're complaining, vs acknowledging the good things in Life.

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own sunshine.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Collograph: Penelope

Penelope 3.5 x 4 Glue Collograph with watercolor & colored pencil
Available for sale here.
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Matboard with loosely drizzled glue, coated with gloss medium & varnish front and back.

Oil based printmaking ink, applied randomly with a bristle brush, and top rolled into the raised glue areas with a brayer in a swimming pool blue-aqua color.

After a trip through the press, the print is pulled (on the left), and a second sheet of paper is laid on the plate and run through the press to pull a ghost (on the right). The print at the top of this post is the ghost.

Adding watercolor & colored pencil.

Collograph: Antebellum

Antebellum 4.25 x 4.75 Collograph & Pencil
Available for sale here.
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Scrap matboard with glue drizzled into a figure, and sealed with gloss medium & varnish.

Arbitrary inks were painted into the background with a course brush, and then the raised glue areas were top rolled - using a brayer - with dark blue pigment.

Pulling the print after pressing soaked & blotted paper to the plate. This is the print at the top of this post. Each print was different, based on how the color was laid on the plate, and the softer, more subtle ghosts will be great fun to paint later on.

Monotype: Testing a Quintero

Testing a Quintero 4.5 x 6.5 Monotype with Watercolor & Colored Pencil
Available here.

Monotype: Blue Sip Cup

Blue Sip Cup 5.5 x 7.5 Monotype & Watercolor
This 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.

Watercolor: Summit Path

Summit Path 6 x 9 Watercolor
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This is a great speed walking path in the early mornings before the desert heats up. I can't remember if this incline was dubbed suicide hill, or heart attack hill, but climbing to the top rewards you with a nice view in the Fall.

Collograph: Folies

Folies 4.25 x 6.25 Collograph with Colored Pencil (Edition of 10)
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Available for sale here.

Close up to show how painterly the surface is even after drawing on top of the print.

This is a printmaking method I've wanted to try for a long time, and it's great fun. I spent most of yesterday making more of them.

For this first glue collograph, I starting with a piece of matboard as a plate, and used yesterday's painting (Content) as a reference to sketch a rough outline of a face, and then loosely retraced my lines with glue. When it was almost dry, I used the tip of a brush handle to score and poke the glue for texture, and added more to create higher, printable relief areas.

After the glue was dry, I coated the matboard front & back with Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish and let it dry for 24 hours. I rolled oil-based inks on the plate, and pushed pigment around with brushes and finger tips. Each trip through the press revealed surprising, painterly images, with different opacities based on a variety of papers, and lots of texture from the raised areas where the glue pushed meandering rivulets of color into the paper.


The image on the left was inked generously and printed on ivory bfk rives, and the one on the right was printed as a ghost (another sheet of paper laid on the plate without re-inking) on tan bfk rives. I like them both, but for some reason, the left side image was the first to dry, so it's the first one out of the studio as a finished print (the top image in this post). I'll finish and post some of the prints I made yesterday later this week.

Watercolor: Content

Content 5.8 x 4.2 Watercolor
I've drawn and painted figures and faces since I was in grade school. The first painting I remember making was a face copied from the cover of a catalog. I used my mother's watercolors while sitting on a blanket in the grass - I was probably six, and I remember feeling like I'd stumbled upon a great discovery in the process of making art. I was thrilled. I don't think I'll ever tire of the human figure as a subject.

Pencil and first washes of color on hot pressed arches paper.

Layering transparent glazes of color to build features and values.

Announcing: Daily Paint Works

Daily Paintworks is an ambitious, talented group of 12 painters, and I'm very proud to be a member of this collective. We are dedicated to art in all of its facets, including daily painting, marketing and momentum in our pursuit of artistic conviction.
Please visit & support these talented artists, and peruse our new web site: Daily Paintworks

Edward B. Gordon
Justin Clayton
Qiang Huang
Jeff Hayes
Aaron Lifferth
Carol Marine
Laurel Daniel
Margaret Dyer
Michael Naples
Stephen Magsig
Abby Ryan

Watercolor: Autumn

Autumn 4 x 4 Watercolor on paper
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