Collograph: The Written Word

The Written Word (A/P) 9.75 x 7 Collograph with watercolor
Sold
So, let's say you want to make a print, but you only have matboard and an exacto knife. The process starts at the bottom of this post.

I laid the blotted paper on top of the inked plate, and covered the back of the paper with a sheet of wax paper so I could rub with the baren and the wooden spoon without marring the still-wet paper. After lots of rubbing and checking, I'm pulling the print. After it dried, I added watercolors (above). I'm looking forward to using oil based inks and a press for this one, to pull a small edition for adding other mediums later (colored pencil, gouache, inks, etc.)

I've coated the plate with Daniel Smith Water-based inks, using a bristle brush, and here I'm wiping areas with newsprint. I've got a sheet of paper soaking in water, and a towel ready to blot it just before I print (the inks dry fast on the plate, so you have to move quickly).

This is the back of a piece of matboard, with a pencil sketch and a coat of Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish on the front and back. After drying overnight, I incised areas with an exacto knife where I want ink to settle into line work. In other places, I've outlined shapes and peeled them away to create tiny wells to hold ink. I re-coated the plate with gloss medium three times during the cutting to hold things down if the cuts were close together, or when I got overzealous with tearing away shapes.

Monotype: Early Retirement

Early Retirement 6.8 x 8.8 Light Field Monotype & Watercolor on paper
Process shots begin at the bottom of this post.
Another post on light field monotypes using mylar is here, in case you want to try one.

In this shot, I'm pulling the print. It came off lighter than I wanted, but it's still salvageable with the addition of some watercolors later. There are all sorts of interesting textures from the print process that unfortunately aren't visible in the shot above, even underneath the watercolor. Lots of mottled textures I couldn't duplicate if I tried - examples of sweet surprises from printmaking.

The mylar sheet is laid on a piece of matboard (cut to the same size) on the press bed, and then it's pressed against a sheet of soaked & blotted Arches Cover paper.

With a reference photo of Mister Magoo nearby, and Caran D'Ache water-soluble crayons, water and a bristle brush, I'm painting and drawing - in combination - on a mylar sheet (.005 Matte Draft Film).

Watercolor: Sour Green Apples & Wine

7 x 9.25 Watercolor on paper
Available for sale here.

Watercolor: Mermaid Intern

Mermaid Intern 4.75 x 6 Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico paper
It's hot and windy in the desert today, so I'm painting swimmers.

Collograph: Back Yard Cat Bath

Back Yard Cat Bath, 6.75 x 8.5 Collograph [#1 of 5] with Watercolor and Colored pencil
Available for sale here.
Process shots begin at the bottom of this post.

While visiting my friend JMC, I used some of her water-based inks on the plate, and a sheet of soaked & blotted Arches cover paper to pull two prints (one in black, and another with a little color added a la poupee') on her little Dick Blick baby press. I'll be curious to see how this prints with oil based etching inks, but I wanted to avoid the fumes in the house, so that will wait till another day. For now, the first print (above) is ready for some watercolor & colored pencil.
I've cut the first layer of mat board away to become an ink-holding reservoir in the stripes of the towel wrapped around the cat to give it cat-shaped volume, and after brushing a diluted layer of gloss Medium & varnish on areas I'd like to print dark, I've sprinkled carborundum, and then sealed it the next day with two more layers of the same varnish.
I've used Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive glue for linear elements; facial features, limbs, hedges and architectural outlines. The cat is made from pieces of cotton balls, the hair on the figures is kitchen twine, and their clothing is kleenex tissues. The ground texture is saran wrap... I was winging this, and the kitchen was my best source for scrap materials. :o)
With a reference photo close by, I'm using a piece of mat board as a plate, and building texture with tissue, cellophane, string and glue. Each item is adhered to the plate with Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish.

I've listed some new art in my Ebay Store. You can browse here.

Watercolor: Independence Day

Independence Day 5.5 x 9 Watercolor on Strathmore Bristol paper
Available for sale here.
Painted from a borrowed flickr photo over the July 4th weekend as a study for a larger painting with another figure added to the scene. She's on the cusp of young adulthood, so I'll have to imagine a narrative about leaving the nest before I add the other figure in the final piece.

Watercolor: Summer Sunday

Summer Sunday 6 x 7.5 Watercolor on BFK Rives paper
Painted today from a photo taken on a breezy summer afternoon in the back yard. DC was reading a magazine and dozed off (though he'd deny this), so I grabbed the camera and started plotting a watercolor themed after reading and napping; two of my favorite subjects. (And apparently - his favorite subjects too.)

Watercolor: Central California High Noon

Central California High Noon 15 x 11.5 Watercolor on Arches Hot Press
Available for sale here.
This was painted during the San Diego Artwalk in April (in process on my easel below), based on a photo my step dad TC sent me of an abandoned farm in Cayucos, CA. I've listed it on Ebay and will be posting more work there, and in my Etsy shop, each day this week, so check back to see what's available.

Painting & talking all weekend in San Diego.

Watercolor: Three Tenors

Three Tenors 5 x 6.75 Watercolor on Arches paper
The roses in my yard are great models for still life. I'm snapping photos and painting from them as studies for larger pieces I'll work in this Fall. This one was done on the plane enroute to the east coast last week.

Watercolor: Tender Garden

Tender Garden 6 x 5.3 Watercolor on BFK Rives
Painted on the plane while flying west - after an incredible visit with family; mostly between 70-94 years old. There were some peer-age cousins in there too, but the focus was on those born in the first third of the last century. It was a nostalgic and poignant trip.

Watercolor: Copper Mine

Copper Mine 9.5 x 7.5 Watercolor on Aquabee paper
This copper mine is in southern Arizona near the Mexican border, and my traveling buddies were kind enough to pull over and let me take photos to use as painting reference. The geometry & colors of the storage barrels and metal feeders made me want to try something industrial.

Watercolor: Guitar Solo

Guitar Solo 5.5 x 6.75 Watercolor on paper
Available for sale here.
Sold
My rearranged studio has a new sound system connected to my itunes library. The music in here sounds really good when it's LOUD. I *love* music. It makes the paintings spill out faster.

Monotype: Indian House Mountain, AK

Indian House Mountain, AK 8.5 x 6 Caran D'Ache Monotype & Watercolor
Available for sale here.

Using the same piece of mylar as yesterday's post, this was a fast and loose sketch of Indian House Mountain, from a reference photo taken as we drove along Seward Highway near Anchorage last June. You can see in the image below that the pressure on the press was too light, and I got a very faint print, but that's okay, because there are plenty of art supplies in the studio, waiting for experiments after the print & paper dry.

Pulling the print after a trip through the press.

Monotype: Not Tied to the Ground

Not Tied to the Ground 8.5 x 6 Monotype & Watercolor on Somerset paper
Available for sale here.

You and I, we're not tied to the ground
Not falling but rising like rolling around
Eyes closed above the rooftops
Eyes closed, we're gonna spin through the stars
Our arms wide as the sky
We gonna ride the blue all the way to the end of the world
To the end of the world.

You & Me, Dave Matthews Band

There's a reference photo in the background of a bird, some roses and a horse on the window sill in my studio. I'm drawing on a sheet of Mylar (.005 Matte Draft Film) with Caran D'Ache crayons and a wet brush to soften areas and add layers. (I left the process photos full size so you can click on them to see more detail.)

The mylar is placed on the press bed face up on a same-size piece of matboard. A sheet of soaked and blotted Somerset paper is carefully laid on top of the pigments. After a trip through the press with quite a bit of pressure, I'm pulling the print.

The print on the left, and the mylar sheet - with remaining pigment - is on top of the matboard. (I did get a ghost print, though it's quite faint.)

Watercolor: Seventy Four Years

Seventy Four Years 2.75 x 3.75 Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico paper
My maternal Grandparents, Al & Margie, have been married for 74 years. They met in a textile mill in Connecticut on the assembly line - they were both 17. Al used his first paycheck - in 1933 - to take Margie to the movies. I'm going to see them soon, and I can't wait to hear more of their stories.

Monotype: Chestnut Mare

Chestnut Mare 3.75 x 8.75 Monotype & Watercolor
Available for sale here.
This piece was pulled from the same mylar sheet used in the last post (Geat Dane), made with Caran D'Ache Neocolor II Water Soluble crayons. Scroll to the bottom photo: you'll see my reference photo, and the drawing on mylar, next to the crayons, an old paint brush and water. You can scribble the crayons on the inside cover of the box they come in, and use a wet brush to pick up pigment and paint washes and soften areas around your line-work.

Pulling the print after a trip through the press.

Laying the mylar sheet on a piece of matboard on the press bed; notice that you can see my fingers through the plate. The one I'm using here is about the same weight and texture as a plastic file folder.

In process: reference photo, mylar, crayons, brush and water.

Monotype: Great Dane

Great Dane 3.75 x 8.75 Caran D'Ache monotype on Somerset paper
Available for sale here.
This is Deebo, a four year old Great Dane, who will be traveling cross country with his peeps in about a week. He's relocating to Virginia. In a Geo. This is a light field monotype; I'm using Caran D'Ache Water Soluble Crayons on a sheet of Mylar (also called sheer Polyester Drafting Film). My reference photo of Deebo is in the background (below), along with an old paint brush, dipped in water, blotted, and used to move the pigments around on the plate.The drawing is laid face up on a piece of matboard, and covered with a soaked and blotted sheet of Somerset paper. After a trip under the press, I'm peeling the paper off the mylar plate (below). The pressure transfers (and alters/squishes) the pigments from the mylar to the damp paper. I pulled a ghost print from this image as well, and cleaned the mylar to make something else. You can print from it over and over again.

Mini Watercolor: Sunshine Jacket

Sunshine Jacket 2.75 x 4 Watercolor on paper
Available for sale here.
After the Sierra Madre Art Fair last weekend - which was great - I'm swimming in ideas for new, bigger work, and a different layout for my studio that will accommodate standing while painting. But first, the requisite job of post-show sorting, putting away and cleaning up, and lots of purging in the studio to open the space in here. I'll be painting again soon.

Watercolor: Reading Chairs

Reading Chairs 4.5 x 7 Watercolor on Bristol paper
I'm loading art, road cases and display panels to set up for the Sierra Madre Art Fair today. There will be lots of great art in the park this weekend; my friends Laura Wambsgans and Nancy Eckels will be exhibiting too. Come on over and say hello.

Sierra Madre Art Fair
Memorial Park
222 West Sierra Madre Blvd.
Sat 9:30-6pm & Sun 9:30-5pm

Watercolor: One More Chapter

One More Chapter 6 x 7.5 Watercolor on BFK Rives paper

Watercolor: Window Seat

Window Seat 11.5 x 17 Watercolor on Fabriano paper

Watercolor: Saturday Morning Sleep-in

Saturday Morning Sleep-in 10.5 x 15 Watercolor on Bristol paper
Sold

Watercolor: Kass

Kass 3 x 5.5 Watercolor on Bristol paper

Tiny Dry Point Engraving: April

April .75 x 1 Dry Point Engraving with Watercolor
Another tiny scrap of copper (see photo below) found under the metal cutter in the print lab, used to make a petite pre-raphaelite inspired portrait.

Watercolor: Conversation in the Garden

Conversation in the Garden 3x4.3 Watercolor on Bristol paper
Working small this week while recovering from some sort of flu. Looking forward to working a little larger when I'm back in full swing.

Glue Collograph: Charlotte on the Dock

Charlotte on the Dock 4.25 x 5.75 Glue Collograph with Watercolor on Arches Cover paper
Available for sale here.

The reference for this is an old photo taken on a lake in Connecticut in 1934. My great-grandmother Charlotte is sitting with one of her grandchildren, ready to go sailing and have a picnic.
Process pics are below, and more details about previous Collographs are posted here and here.

Watercolor: Fayum Woman

Fayum Woman 3 x 4 Watercolor on Bristol paper

Dry Point Engraving: Persuasion

Persuasion 2.5 x 5 Dry point Engraving (Artists' Proof) with Watercolor
The plate needs more work, but painting the proof gave me ideas about where to go with lights and darks.

Watercolor: Wells Beach Huts

Wells Beach Huts 6 x 9 watercolor
Available for sale here.
Big thanks to Andy English for allowing me to paint his wonderful photo of the beach huts at Wells-Next-The-Sea. Both sides of my family's folklore chronicle summers on shorelines, and my affinity for the water is steeped in family histories of cabins, swimming, boating and fishing.

Watercolor Study: San Luis Obispo Fountain

San Luis Obispo Mission Fountain 5 x 7 Watercolor study on Canson Cold Press paper
Sold

Trace Monotype & Watercolor: Charles, Painting.

Charles, Painting. 5.5 x 7.5 Trace Monotype & Watercolor

Dry Point Engraving: Tiny Dancer

Tiny Dancer 1.125 x 3.125 Dry Point Engraving with watercolor
Sold
I found this tiny scrap of copper (below) under the metal cutter in the print lab on Friday. Most of the scraps piled there are too small, but every once in awhile, I spot something too potential to throw way. The plate was engraved with a twisted scribe in the lab that was a bit dull, so the lines and burrs weren't deep/high enough to hold ink, and my dancer lost some of the detail and shading. My scribe is sharper here in the studio, so I'll engrave more & see what happens when I pull a 2nd proof. The first proof was painted yesterday (above).

Watercolor: Alaska Slough

Alaska Slough 7x9 Watercolor on BFK Rives paper

Dry Point Engraving: Jules

Jules 4x4 dry point engraving with waterclor (artists' proof)
I've got more work to do on the plate for this dry point, but the first proof print - shown in the photo below, behind the copper plate it was printed from - was good for adding watercolor washes (above) to map the shading I want to engrave on the plate. I'm sure the dry point will print quite different from the watercolored proof, but the painted version gives me something to aim for.

Watercolor: Prospect Street Bedroom

Prospect Street Bedroom 9.3 x 6.3 Watercolor on Strathmore Plate Bristol

Watercolor: Seating for Four

Seating for Four 9.5 x 7.25 Watercolor (dry brush) on Bristol paper
Sold
I'm putting the final touches on work for a Spring exhibit at the Boddy Carriage House Gallery in Descanso Gardens, La Canada, CA. You'll see new watercolors, and printmaking from March 6 - April 2nd, 10-4 daily. I'll be painting on site every day except Fridays, so if you're local, come on up and say hello.

Show Post Card (above) for the Spring Show at Descanso Gardens. (The gardens will be in bloom during the exhibit - see photos taken last year below - it's a beautiful place for a walk!)

Watercolor: Adolescence

Adolescence 4.25 x 5.5 watercolor (dry brush) on Illustration Board
For the last 3-4 months, I've been reading Andrew Wyeth - A Secret Life, by Richard Meryman. Every page is a pleasure, because of Meryman's intimately personal view of Wyeth as an artist, a man, a son, a brother, a husband, etc. When I closed the book yesterday, I felt compelled to try a little dry brush on board while pondering what I'd just read.
Work in process, upright on the easel. Working this way (as opposed to flat on a desk) is still challenging for me, but I'm getting more comfortable with it. The Mahl stick helps a lot.

Monotype: Window Hat

Window Hat 7 x 9 Monotype with Watercolor & Colored Pencil
Sold
An open window, and an open door, with back lit flowers in a glass vase - on a sill in a vintage bungalow bathroom in Los Angeles.

I used to live in a second story carriage house 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 a sketch book and my camera. The reference photo for this monotype is 15 years old, but I still enjoy the process of trying to capture the atmosphere in those little rooms. This piece will be exhibited in March at Descanso Gardens in the Boddy Carriage House Gallery. March 6-April 2nd. Stop by and say hello.

Pulling the image out of ink rolled onto a beveled, plexiglass plate by wiping, smearing and lifting pigment with paper towels, q-tips and fingers.

Pulling the print after a trip through the press; soaked and blotted paper is laid on the still-wet, inked plate, and then sandwiched with felt blankets before being squeezed together with steel rollers on a Takach press.


The monotype on the left (which was altered with other media after the ink dried, and is shown at the top of this post), and a ghost print on the right (waiting in my flat files for some added media fun).

Watercolor: Siesta

Siesta 5x7 Watercolor on Arches Hot Press paper
Sold
This small study was painted from a photo taken by my friend VLB while she was on a cruise in Mexico. I love the colors, the subject (naps) and the composition of her image, and I'm lucky to have her permission to paint from it. I'll be working on something larger from this shot in the next few weeks.

Watercolor: Brand Blvd Kitchen

Brand Blvd Kitchen 5 x 8 Watercolor on Arches Cold Press paper
Sold

I'm grinning awkwardly to be featured in Chris Beck's watercolor blog Brush - Paper - Water this week. Take a look at the great line up of watercolor artists she's featured, and be sure to stop and look at Chris's wonderful paintings too before you scoot on your way.

Watercolor: Retired Racer

Retired Racer 9.5 x 8.25 Watercolor on Canson Plate Bristol
This is Magoo - our big, gentle boy. He was part of our family for 11 years, and modeled for me (in exchange for milk bones) many times. It's been a trying week - missing his company, his sounds, and our routines. The space he occupied is so vacant now. Rest peacefully, little old man.

Watercolor: Entry Window

Entry Window 12 x 6 Watercolor on Strathmore Aquarius II paper
Sold
Painted from a reference photo that I've been painting and sketching from for almost 10 years. There's something about windows & sills that I've always loved.

Work in process on the easel

Watercolor: Help with Homework

Help with Homework 5 x 4.25 Watercolor on Arches paper
Available for purchase here.
Sold

When I was a kid, I used to do homework at my father's drafting table in a little laundry room at the back of the kitchen. One of our Siamese cats would invariably come over and offer assistance. Especially if I was distracted already, bored, or stuck on a problem. You can't really study math when there's a cat sitting on the corner of your text book, purring, now, can you? I mean, really.

Working on the watercolor, upright on the easel, with my 1970 reference photo.

Watercolor: Red Table in Winter Light

Red Table in Winter Light 11 x 14 on Illustration Board
Early morning sunlight throwing long-legged shadows across the room, and a halo of back light on a vase of roses and a bird candle holder. The geometry of this scene is very appealing to me, or maybe it's just a familiar view. Either way, it was fun to paint, and I'm looking forward to starting the next one today.
In process on the easel.

Watercolor: Mid-Century Red Head

Mid-Century Red Head 9x12 Watercolor on paper
Available here.
Sold
This pose was selected from a stack of wonderful vintage snapshots (thanks VMC) filed for figure study references. I'm practicing painting standing, at more of a distance from the paper, with a mahl stick (thanks JMC), to get my nose off the art. It's not easy - my art making muscle memory wants so bad to be on top of the action - but it's also exciting, because it forces me to see differently, move and hold the brush differently, and that feels like forward momentum. Yahoo for progress in 2009!

Monotype: American Crow

American Crow 4.5 x 6.5 Monotype Ghost, Watercolor & Colored Pencil on BFK Rives paper
Sold
This monotype ghost was made with the same printmaking method as yesterday's post (Auburn Hair), and the ghost image was just as faint and soft before I took a brush and some pigment to it.

Monotype: Auburn Hair

Auburn Hair 4.5 x 6.5 Monotype Ghost with watercolor & colored pencil
The process shots begin at the bottom of this post.


Arches Cover paper was soaked in water for about 10 minutes, and then blotted before being laid on the still wet, ink-coated plate, and rolled under the press. Since I had pulled two prints from this plate already, there was very little ink left. You can see in this image and the one above it how faint the ghost print is. I think of ghost prints as suggestions of any given image, with lots of room to wander with other media.

The smooth, un-etched plate is coated with ink using a brayer. In this image, I'm removing pigment in a subtractive process; wet ink is cleared from the plate with fingers, paper towels and q-tips in various degrees for texture, tone and value. A dark field monotype begins with a complete coating of pigment, and the image is "carved" out of the ink to reveal light areas and half tones.

"Auburn Hair" is a dark field monotype ghost; the third print pulled - in sequence - from a zinc plate coated with Daniel Smith oil-based black etching ink. The plate is simply a re-usable substrate to hold pigment that's wiped, blotted and moved around - in this case, to make a portrait - and then pressed against a sheet of paper to make a print.

Watercolor: Horizon Line

Horizon Line 5 x 8 Watercolor on hot press paper
Sold
I don't remember if I ever posted this - it's an older piece, but I keep thinking about painting it larger, if I have an appropriate exhibit for something of this flavor sometime in 2009.

Graphite Drawing: New Mother (Study #2)

New Mother (Study #2) 5 x 6.3 Graphite on Arches paper
The first post of the new year, and the beginning of my fourth year of blogging art. It seems hard to believe I've been blogging for that long, but the practice of posting art in a consistent and steady manner adds elements of accountability, peer review and community to this work, just like any other job. Blogging art is like mounting a store front window to the outside of my studio; it's a passageway between the window-browsing public & other artists, and the quiet focus of creating alone at my work table. Good balance.

The drawing above is my second attempt to work out the values and light on this scene, in preparation for a larger, loose watercolor later in the season. Hopefully, familiarity and practice will add muscle memory to my brushwork.

Happy New Year!

Watercolor: Painting in the Canyon

Painting in the Canyon 6x6 watercolor on Fabriano paper
Available here.
Sold
Towsley Canyon is in the Santa Susanna Mountains a few miles from my studio. If you pack bug spray, a camera and painting gear, there are landscape, creek and mountain views aplenty for a painter.