Does It Go Round In Circles?

work in progress, monoprints, collaged on 300 lb. watercolor paper

For the past month or so I have been playing printing with a 6x6 inch gel printing plate, called a Gelli Plate.  Gelatin plates have been around for ages, but require quite a lot of advance set up, and they do not last very long.  Gelli plates are made from a polymer material, are easy to use and clean up, long lasting, and they work perfectly with acrylic paints.  I have lots and lots of acrylic paints.  I also already had leftover glass from framing, and a brayer, which is really all a person needs to get started.

The story with this project is that our local art league plans to partner with a business incubator, and is looking for good-sized abstract art for offices.  I thought for a while about images of light bulbs, brains, the earth, gears, and a whole lots of other over-used imagery, and decided to fall back on a design loosely based on quilt patterns.  I love vintage papers, so I printed on pages from an old child's dictionary, allowing a little bit of print to show through.  I made the circles by impressing a lid from a jar of hair gel on the paint covered printing plate.  

There have been challenges along the way.  I adhere my papers by coating them, and the substrate,  with a polymer medium, allowing it to dry, then using a tacking iron to adhere the papers to the substrate.  My printed papers, even coated in medium, were more fragile than I knew.  And perhaps I had the heat on the iron too high, because several of my papers bubbled and tore when I tried to heat fuse them.  I ended up patching some small places to disguise the tears.  Then I was unhappy with the design, because at that point all the circles were just empty rings, and the overall look was very dark.  So, I went back into my stack of prepared printed sheets and cut out some circles, and tacked them into the previously empty rings.  I like this better, because there is more variety in value, and more color. 

I still need to go back and apply more heat to the edges of some circles to make sure they are completely adhered, and I still need to decide if I want the final collage to have a matte, semi-gloss, or glossy finish.  Perhaps when my mat is cut it will help me envision what is best.

In the meantime I am enjoying the ambiguity of the repeated circle filled squares.  They suggest all sorts of things to me, quilt squares, round pegs in square holes, diagrams, wheels, crop circles.  I haven't decided yet.

June is Dairy Month

Adapted from a monotype I did a couple years ago of two Holstein cows.  I might like this version better than the original!

In Wisconsin June is always Dairy month.  It's a promotional tool for dairy farmers, but they don't call us cheeseheads for nothing.  Tomorrow Dick and I plan to attend the Rock County Dairy Breakfast (very local eating), and there are lots of other events going on in the area including Cows on the Concourse in Madison.  

Here are some favorites from 4-H days.

Don't Be Blue Cheese Ball

2 packages cream cheese

3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Put the cheese in a mixing bowl and allow to come to room temperature.  Mix in the chopped onion and Worcestershire sauce at low speed, processing until smooth.  Cover and chill several hours, then shape into a ball and roll in chopped pecans.

Dreamy Milk Punch

1/2 gallon milk

1 quart Squirt or 50-50

1 1/2 quarts orange sherbet (or your favorite flavor)

1 small can frozen orange juice

Mix the sherbet into the milk, reserving some for putting on top.  Add the soda and orange juice about ten minutes before serving.  Makes about 32 cups.

Lots of Bran Muffins

1 15 oz. box bran cereal with raisins

3 cups sugar

5 cups flour

5 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

4 eggs, beaten

1 quart buttermilk

1 cup cooking oil

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  In another bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and oil.  Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid mixture.  Stir until combined; do not over mix.  Spoon into prepared muffin tins.  Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  This makes about six dozen, but don't panic - they freeze well.  Or just keep the batter in the refrigerator and bake the muffins fresh as you need them.  The batter keeps several weeks.

Oh My Darling, Clementines!

8x10 inches, monotype with added colored pencil

This month's Virtual Sketch Date (see the side link) challenge is a photograph of a peeled clementine.  It looked so delicious I had to remind myself there are still oranges and grapefruit left from the case of fruit we bought from the FFA at Christmas.  I like trying these challenges different ways.  The top picture is my first try, a monotype.  These are great fun to do.  I coat an acrylic plate with a base medium, then use Createx water based paints to paint directly on the prepared plate.  Then I take a dampened sheet of Masa (rice) paper, and lay it on the plate, and use my hand and an old wooden door knob to apply pressure.  Then I lift the image, and dry it between sheets of newsprint.  I liked the result well enough, but then felt compelled to go back into the picture with colored pencils. I discovered I darkened one are too much, and so then I went back in with a little bit of acrylic paint to fix it.  My morning project ended up taking most of the day.

8x10 inches, paper collage with added watercolor

Here is my second version of the clementine.  This one was done very differently.  The image is made of cut and torn paper, adhered with acrylic gel medium.  It's a messy process.  My work table and floor was full of paper snips, and my hands are still peeling adhesive.  Then I tried something I had never done before.  Once the paper was all applied and the image coated with gel medium, I went back in with some light watercolor washes to add a little delicate color to the top of the fruit, and around the shadows on the counter.  I was afraid; I didn't want to spoil what was already done, but was pleased with the effect and plan to try more collages that incorporate either watercolor or acrylic paint.

I'd still like to try a painting of the clementine on Yupo, a synthetic paper I've been playing with this month.  The rich colors might work out well on that surface.  We shall see if that actually happens.  I'm curious what readers of this blog think about the two approaches, which one appeals to you more.  Do some of you like to approach a subject in more than one medium?  I'd love to hear from you.

Virtual Sketch Date: Pears

Sometimes I like to try online challenges as a way to stop procrastinating and get back into the habit of going to work in my little upstairs studio. I stumbled across "Virtual Sketch Date" this week, and liked the reference photo very much. I saw some people's responses to this challenge on Flickr, and decided to give it a try. This response began as a sketch, which I put under a piece of clear acrylic which had been coated with a monotype base. Then I painted over that, and made a hand print. Then I went a step further and added color and detail with colored pencil.


Here's the sketch, original reference photo, and completed monotype. It works nicely for me to keep my eraser, shrpener and pencils together in a foam meat tray. I like to work on my cutting mat, because the surface is softer than the table alone, and because it's plastic it's easy to clean.


Here is another response to the same challenge. This one was done in my Moleskine journal, and was an experiment in mixing media. I copied out a Hilda Doolittle poem, Sheltered Garden, in my journal, then covered the writing in thinned down gesso. I used my pear sketch to guide me in painting the pears in acrylic paint, some of which I wiped away before it dried. I then used a black Micron pen to add dark lines, and added some highlights and background color in pastel. It was labor intensive, but interesting.

Sheltered Garden by Hilda Doolittle

I have had enough.
I gasp for breath.

Every way ends, every road,
every foot-path leads at last
to the hill-crest --
then you retrace your steps,
or find the same slope on the other side,
precipitate.

I have had enough --
border-pinks, clove-pinks, wax-lilies,
herbs, sweet-cress.

O for some sharp swish of a branch --
there is no scent of resin
in this place,
no taste of bark, of coarse weeds,
aromatic, astringent --
only border on border of scented pinks.

Have you seen fruit under cover
that wanted light --
pears wadded in cloth,
protected from the frost,
melons, almost ripe,
smothered in straw?

Why not let the pears cling
to the empty branch?
All your coaxing will only make
a bitter fruit --
let them cling, ripen of themselves,
test their own worth,
nipped, shrivelled by the frost,
to fall at last but fair
with a russet coat.

Or the melon --
let it bleach yellow
in the winter light,
even tart to the taste --
it is better to taste of frost --
the exquisite frost --
than of wadding and of dead grass.

For this beauty,
beauty without strength,
chokes out life.
I want wind to break,
scatter these pink-stalks,
snap off their spiced heads,
fling them about with dead leaves --
spread the paths with twigs,
limbs broken off,
trail great pine branches,
hurled from some far wood
right across the melon-patch,
break pear and quince --
leave half-trees, torn, twisted
but showing the fight was valiant.

O to blot out this garden
to forget, to find a new beauty
in some terrible
wind-tortured place.

Not Quite Identical Twins

Watercolor monoprint on Arches paper

Watercolor monoprint with colored pencil on Crescent board

The experiments with materials that might work plein air for the Beloit event continue. I painted this scene the other day on gessoed Arches paper, in a vertical format. These two horizontal versions were done by coating a 5x7 inches Plexiglass plate with Createx base, then painting with watercolors over the base. The first experiment with soaked Arches paper is a little too bright and crude for my taste. It took ages to dry, since I had soaked the paper so long. Since then I discovered I can keep a sheet of dampened paper moist by sandwiching it between sheets of plexiglass. A prepared sheet could be taken outside safely, clean and ready to print in this way. I also forgot to flip the image before working with it, since it is a print. Oops. It probably doesn't matter, and if I do the process on the spot the image will be backward no matter what.

The second version used Crescent board instead. I misted the board a bit before laying it on the plate, and the results were less garish than the first try. I liked it even better when I went back after it was dry and deepened some parts with colored pencil. I'm going to try both methods outside this weekend.

Experimenting Again

I haven't been in the mood to work on large watercolors lately. I did several last month and am one by one getting them framed in preparation for my first show in June.

I am torn between working in familiar media, colored pencil and watercolor, graphite, and trying new approaches. I loved building a shrine inspired by my mother, though a judge at a recent show just scratched his head and moved on. I enjoyed making a couple collages out of maps, though right now I don't feel I have the patience or attention span for another collage.

I have been doing 5x7" monoprints with Createx paints the past few months, excited by the possibilities of hand prints. The black cat near the barn door is an attempt at combining Createx with watercolor pencil, and I used Arches 140 lb. paper instead of the rice paper I often use. I like these prints, but can't get over the notion that the results look a little like tempra paint. This is a bit less garish than an earlier try.

I have never attempted using oil paints. I work in a small converted bedroom that serves as a studio, and have worried about fumes and a lack of space for paintings to dry. The space issue has not changed, but I think that using water soluable oil paints might work, at least later in spring when I can open a window for ventilation. Months back I bought an oil set for almost nothing at a consignment shop. The wooden box had some Grumbacher oils paints, a palette, and some brushes. I decided to try a monoprint using the old oil paint. That didn't work, since the paint had the consistency of dried glue, and in fact the tube split. But I decided to invest in a couple tubes of water soluable oil paint, and the monoprint experiments went smoothly. I tried the King penguin I've done in Createx and as a blind contour drawing. The effect was soft, probably too soft. I added watercolor pencil, and was pleased with the orange and yellow details, less pleased with the black feathers. I tried a TomBow marker and liked the result better.

I wanted to try again in another format, so I took a glass shelf out of the bathroom cabinet, rolled the paint onto the shelf and tried subtracting the image of my cat at her bowl. The effect was nice, but I liked it even better when I added some Micron pen. This is a hand print, because I don't have access to a press. Note - take off all rings before doing a hand print! They can leave a nasty mark where you want it least. My high school art teacher told me to always work on decent paper, but I don't always follow that advice. Since this was an experiment, I used newsprint, so this print won't last long. But I did learn that the oil paint doesn't smell too bad, and that it does clean up easily. Perhaps one day soon I'll have the nerve to actually try painting a landscape with my new toys.

The Third Day of Christmas: Winter Monotypess

One of my current goals with my artwork is to learn to appreciate and paint snow scenes.  This is the ideal year for it, because southern Wisconsin has gotten more snow than I remember for quite a while.  All the folks who bought snowblowers, or who have been moping over their unused cross-country skis, are happy at last.  

For me, though, the fresh snow has gotten me out with my camera, and then upstairs in my studio.  My most recent efforts have been monoprints.  I don't have a printing press, so I'm limited to using a hand printing process.  Actually, I use an antique wooden doorknob to rub the back of my damp paper.  I get more of the original painted image on the paper than I do by simply rubbing with my hand, or with the back of a spoon.  I am also experimenting with scratching detail into the painted image.  I don't want to be too picky, but it seems to be a way to suggest branches or bits of snow.  The other thing that is happening with these winter images is that my colors have changed.  Generally I use lots of bright colors, but not in these scenes.  White, blue-gray, and the rusts of dry oak leaves are the colors of the day.  I hope to get a decent series of these local pictures.

Recent Efforts

It has been ages since I remember so much snow and ice here before Christmas. Every other day we have more brown slush, white snow and blue sprinkles of de-icer on top. Yesterday we got the edge of the icestorm that hit Oklahoma, and all the schools closed, anticipating the worst. The view from our house is uniformly pale and dim, a study in gray. At seven this morning it was dark enough for me to need the hall light on to come downstairs.

The way I'm dealing with this dreariness is to work in bright colors. I have an idea to do a series of monotype prints that feature black and white animals, and bright backgrounds. I've experimented with several papers, masa paper, watercolor paper, and now Strathmore drawing paper. After I pull the image I go back with colored pencil. The effect is rich, I think, combining the texture and intense color of the print with the softer color of the pencils.

Cowabunga!

Today turned out to be a cow day. I had a "to do" list like many folks, little errands around town. One job was to go to the Janesville Performing Arts Center and photograph my Holstein monoprint. I entered three pieces in a recent Art League show, an although I didn't win a prize from the judges, I did sell my first piece of artwork. Wouldn't you know it was one that I forgot to scan before I had it framed. So, I went down and took a photo to remember my first sale. This is shot at an angle because the reflection of my flash hid part of the image. Anyway, I was excited that somebody liked it well enough to buy it. Now I need to do a few more, since I had a series of animals planned for an upcoming show.

One other stop around town took me to Utzig's body repair shop. Since a fender bender last winter, I am on their Christmas list. All I had to do to be entered in a drawing for a gift certificate was to answer some questions about It's A Wonderful Life (What were the names of Goerge's children?), and drop the answers off. So since they're such nice folks, I drove my beautifully repaired car over there. Then I remembered, they are the folks who gave Janesville's giant fiberglass cow, Bessie, an extreme makeover. I asked the receptionist if she could be viewed and was assured I could visit the famous cow in back of the shop. The last time I saw Bessie she was faded, peeling, with graffiti sprayed on her Guernsey hide. She had a bullet hole, for pity sake. But now she is repaired, repainted, and resplendent in a coat of white snow and two fresh evergreen wreaths on her horns. When the new Menards is finished she'll travel back across town to her permanent home. If you want to read about her makeover you can check this address: http://www.gazetteextra.com/oasiscow100807.asp

Auditioning

This is a monotype I completed in a class I took from my friend Mary Ann (See the link "School of Eclectic Art"). One reason I like taking art classes is that I can absorb the energy and enthusiasm of not only the instructor, but also of other students who are stuggling, as I am, to produce something worthwhile. I tend to work in colored pencil and watercolor, which are in my comfort zone. I had never tried any printmaking before, but I was attracted to the process because of how painterly and how unpredictable the results are. This particular image was based on a photo I took several years ago at a friend's farm in Door County. A number of us had gathered for a camping weekend, and I saw a beautiful black cat sunning itself near the barn. The photo is OK, but I like how the print turned out even more.

Which brings me to my topic; we are auditioning cats for the role of "adored pet" in our house. I already wrote that my eighteen-year-old calico Sophie had to be euthanized just before Easter. We have been waiting to get a new cat until we took our trip to New Orleans and painted the basement floor. The floor will be done tomorrow, and then Monday the job of head cat will be awarded to a Humane Society kitty. We both went to the main shelter earlier this week. We peered into cages filled with cats who sqeezed their eyes, sang cat us songs, and reached out their paws toward the soft touches on the other side of the bars. We auditioned two, a little calico similar to our Sophie (only young and healthy) and a jumbo sized tom who cuddled and purred like a pro. Today I visited the satellite shelter at Mounds, and was charmed by a small female with black and white tuxedo markings. How to choose? Who can we bear to leave behind? Whoever comes home will need to purr, play and pounce on both our hearts. The question is, who will it be?

Something Old, Something New

"Something old,
someting new,
something borrowed,
something blue."

The old saying usually applies to brides, but the past couple weeks it has applied (mostly) to me. The old part was our calico cat, Sophie. I got her from my hairdresser eighteen years ago, after having to put my first cat, Buster to sleep. I thought I'd never find a kitty I loved as well as Buster, but Sophie turned out to be a sweet cat, and her death on Good Friday left us both teary eyed for days. There were all those last things, putting away of bowls and toys, disposing of cat food to the Humane Society, tossing of medicines from her recent illness. But most of all it was the absence of the cat. She wasn't sleeping by the heat register, standing at the foot of the stairs waiting for her morning food, begging in the kitchen when supper was being prepared. It was, and still is, hard to lose the old girl. We're still pretty blue, although we're planning to get another kitty from the Humane Society in a few weeks.

The new part is my experimentation with monotype printing. I've been taking a class once a week from an artist friend, and when she demonstrated printing from an acrylic plate with water based paint, I felt like a little kid. It was fun, fast, and it was agreeably unpredictable. When I got home from class I decided to experiment with creating an image that would portray Sophie. This is it. I tried to make the cat image stand out by going back into the print with colored pencil in the background.
I like the results, and I look forward to experimenting more.

I enjoy my usual methods of creating images, watercolor and colored pencil, but I'm happy to try something new. I miss my old kitty, but I'm looking forward to bringing home a healthy playful young cat. Making art helps me feel less blue. Sometimes you have no choice but to move on.

As for the borrowed part, Mary Ann, I promise to return your board as soon as I get around to finishing that watercolor!