Monotypes, Again

No Comments

I started a new monotype sketchbook (8.5″ x 11″) where I sketch with charcoal from the back pages to the front pages, and I create the monotypes from the front pages to the back pages. I wanted to have a system where the sketches aren’t in a wide variety of sketchbooks or on single sheets, but it’s kept together.

I use the Gelli plate to “grab” the charcoal sketch and then usually only apply one coat of acrylic paint before creating the print. I doubt the sketches and the prints will meet in the middle because I sometimes don’t use a sketch, like the birch trees above. That was done with the roller and a paintbrush and inspired by Linda Brown, a gel plate and collage artist Youtuber.

My favorite is the potted begonia, second the birches, and third the old doorway.

I learned a lesson about how to clean and store gel plates, but I didn’t realize I was doing anything wrong until my charcoal prints had nearly stopped transferring to the plate. Instead of a medium to dark transfer, they were barely there and then hardly lifted with paint. One day, I realized that I had totally stopped using mineral oil to clean the plates, and instead I was using almond oil, which seems to do a fine job and doesn’t irritate my skin. I then realized the almond oil was probably drying out the plates, which are made of mineral oil. So, I swapped back and everything has improved.

Categories: Acrylics Art Pastel Printing

Tags: , ,

More Monotypes

No Comments

I keep creating monotypes, mostly charcoal sketches transferred to the gel plate and lifted with acrylic. Some have additional pastel or acrylic “reverse painted” on the plate before the final lift. These look painterly, I think. There’s one very bright red apple that I drew directly on the plate with acrylic markers. It’s not my style, but the medium called for something crisp and bright.

These are 6″x6″ and printed in a Stillman and Birn Nova sketchbook. I mentioned it before, but the paper is beige, and I’ve struggled a bit with keeping the lights light. On a few, I’ve been experimenting with only semi-mixing the paint before applying it to the background with the brayer. I really love the unexpected, mottled look, so much more expressive than the one-color or gradient backgrounds. My favorite is the female red-winged blackbird perching on the branch. I can tell it’s windy out because of the background.

Categories: Art Pastel Printing

Tags:

Postcard Explosion

No Comments

I joined the Mail Art Movement as a fun way to create and swap small, original works of art through the mail as postcards. Each Wednesday, you receive a random name and address for a fellow enthusiast, either in your own country or somewhere in the world, and someone else receives yours. So, if you do the math, this adds up to one unique, handmade postcard going out in the mail per week. So, of course, I have over a dozen ready to go, and that doesn’t count the two that have already been mailed off.

With all of these postcards hanging around, I also joined Postcrossing, which is huge. Of course, many of these participants specify they don’t care for handmade cards. Because it’s random, I’ll likely need to send a professionally made postcard, of which we have plenty. It’s been fun learning about other countries, buying stamps, and even fretting about what to write on the back of a postcard. We’ve started searching antique stores for old postcards, too, which has become an absorbing hobby in its own right.

I had a great deal of fun making these postcards, all of which are monotypes from the gel plate. I’ve expanded my horizons from charcoal transfers by adding soft pastel, Neocolor I wax pastels, “reverse painting” with acrylic paint, and even creating a stencil. For that effort, I created until I couldn’t create any more. I started with a charcoal sketch based on a blurry photo I took years ago of a foal trotting across a field. I then made a typical charcoal transfer monotype (second row on the right) which remains my favorite. I’ll always love detail. From there, I traced the image and cut out a stencil using Duralar. I spent a confusing but fun afternoon creating many variations, some being more successful than others. The solid foal creates an illusion if you look at it long enough. Is it running toward you or away?

Off I go to send my first Postcrossing postcard to someone who likes animals and handmade cards. Which one should I chose?

Categories: Art Pastel Pencil Printing

Tags: , , , , ,

Monotype Printing

No Comments

Using a Gelli plate, Golden Open acrylics, charcoal, and pastel, I’ve been creating monotypes and printing them in a Stillman and Birn Nova sketchbook. It has tan paper, but I wish it were white as many of my prints are coming out darker than I prefer. Oh, well. There are a million different ways to print using a gel plate, but I find that so many options don’t work well for me. I tried a while back and gave up. Now, I’m limiting myself to using charcoal transfers as a starting place, and I’ll work more on how to be creative with the layering of paint. So far, I’ve only been doing one layer of acrylic, and my experiments with matte medium haven’t worked out that well.

My process is to first do a charcoal drawing in another sketchbook, sometimes adding pastel, then transferring the drawing to the Gelli plate by placing the 6″x6″ plate on top of the drawing. The dry media adheres quickly with pressure although it’s always lighter in the end than the original. I then use paint and a brayer to add paint to the plate. After that, I place the plate on the sketchbook page or put the page on the plate, use my makeshift baren (which is a round, smooth, plastic piece that goes under furniture legs when you need to push them across the floor). I then weight it down for a few minutes and, when dry, pull the print, the most exciting part.

Here are those steps with the charcoal drawing of tea roses, the drawing being transferred to the plate, the plate on the sketchbook after I added some pastel and the acrylic paint was applied (I forgot to take that picture, but it’s a fun step and the charcoal doesn’t budge), and finally, after drying, the result. This is one of my favorites, and it was the only time I felt a bit sad when the charcoal drawing was demolished from the process.

Monotypes differ from prints because they are a “one and done” process. You create the image on a smooth surface which is used up after the pull. However, a few times I’ve reused the same drawing by reapplying charcoal to it. It’s not quite the same, but it’s close.

I’ve become kind of fascinated with how a monotype changes a drawing into something that I wouldn’t have created on my own. Also, by using the paint, it stops smearing and makes it an acrylic painting, so that’s convenient.

Categories: Acrylics Art Pastel Printing

Tags: , , , , ,