Palm

Yet another day at home with a sick child. Spent the day working up some monoprints and this is one of the finished pictures. I'm really pleased with this one. Started a caricature of Stan Laurel - OK it's not hard to caricature him, but it's fun!

I can't stand it anymore!!!!!

Nothing drastic, but the level of mess at home has finally freaked me out. Spent a long time tidying and cleaning today - ugh! This photo of the cat will explain why!

Well OK, I just put it in because she's so darn cute! Dominic is feeling much better today so I could finally use the vacuum cleaner! I think I'd prefer dynamite!

I did allow myself a couple of hours to mono print in the morning and this is one of the nicer results. Some need some work as they haven't turned out as anticipated but that's all part of the learning curve.

Had a phone call from Google about website optimisation. Nice because he didn't rabbit on in techno-babble!

Waiting

I haven't been able to progress with the caricature so I've focused on abstracts and monoprinting. This is my favourite of the monoprints. The abstracts aren't finished yet. Maybe tomorrow!

OK, so what is a monoprint?

I've been gaily publishing monoprint images assuming people knew what they are. Until yesterday when a friend asked me to explain what they were. So, for the sake of my friends and non arty people, I'll explain, shall I?

Firstly, the monoprint term refers to one print image being taken from the plate although, in reality, 2 or 3 more prints may be taken but these will not be as good as the first. They can be one colour (monochrome) or coloured. There are a few techniques which can be used: - 

1 - Using a very smooth surface, such as a glass plate, ink, oil paint or acrylic paint (with a drying inhibitor) is applied using a roller. 

a- A sheet of paper is placed gently on top and an image drawn using a pencil or other tool on the paper. The paper is then removed and the printed image will be seen on the reverse of the page.

b- The design is wiped away using a cloth, cotton bud, palette knife etc. Paper is then placed on top and rubbed gently before being removed to reveal the printed image.

2- Ink or oil paint is applied to the plate directly to form an image on the plate. Brushes, palette knives or rollers can be used. The paper is then applied directly to the plate and rubbed lightly to transfer the image to the page.

2nd and 3rd takes are often used as a base for mixed media work and are worked on more to produce a "finished" picture.

Obviously, this is a very brief description and there is a lot more I could say but I'm not going to. Try looking here for more information. OK, I'll will now come out of teacher mode!

I'm not happy with any of my scribbles today so I won't add a current picture but I'll show you another monoprint. A second take that has been worked on.

This is a working of the Fish image seen earlier here. I used iridescent pastels which never show up well when scanned! Pah!

I've had the green light for my latest commission so that will probably be the focus of tomorrow. That and shopping for school shoes - ugh! At least I only need to get one pair this time!

Yin and yang

Nothing new to post today as what little time I've had has been focused on the commission. Lots of ideas but nothing is really gelling yet. I've sent the proofs to the client so hopefully their preferences will help gel the composition.

So here is a monoprint from a few weeks ago. It's an abstract textural piece. I titled it "Completeness" because of the yin/yang nature of the image.

More mono print

Today was odd, I got distracted by trivia. Plodding on with the painting but distractions kept interfering. This is one of the mono prints from Saturday. The quality of the image is poor as it was photographed in poor light. I'll replace the picture with a scanned image once it is dry enough! That's a few days away yet.

Mono prints

Today I've been working up some on my mono-prints and continued with an acrylic painting I started about a month ago and stopped to do a commission. I should be able to post that soon!!!!! Here's one of the pieces I was working on -"Poppy". It's not my favourite of the mono prints but it was improved by the pastels.

It looks better "in the flesh" as I used iridescent pastels which don't show up when scanned. In fact, I'm not sure I like the scanned version... Oh well! I'm going to spend the evening on my painting, which won't be ready to post for a while.

The dog picture is still awaiting approval but as we're in a semi quarantine at present it will have to wait a few more days. I'm still happy with it.

Monoprints and abstracts

I finished a couple of abstracts yesterday so here is my favourite. It's called "They trample our hearts". I wasn't sure it was going to work but I think it's turned out quite well. I could do some arty waffle here. It's a metaphorical piece about childhood, how whilst we might follow in each other's footsteps, the impression we leave is different and unique to us. The colours represent earth, life and passion. The heart represents love and can be difficult to find, but is there for those who seek it. The black lines the relationships which tie us together, tenuous, fragile and yet beautiful when seen together. Is that enough arty waffle?

I've also photographed a monoprint from last week. No arty waffle here, it's a fish, I like fish and it was all I could think of to crawl out of the Artist's block I was in!

Today I've been working on a commission. An acrylic painting of a dog. She's a scruffy thing but quite sweet. So far I've done the background and roughly positioned her, then decided she needed moving so painted over most of my original outlines. Frustrating. That was my main activity for today despite setbacks I'm at a net gain.