Monotypes

Took the day to experiment with more monotypes. This time I used black oil paint on the Gelli Arts gelatin block instead of acrylic and I'm much happier with the results. On all of these I used a soft rubber brayer to roll a coat of paint onto the gelatin block and pulled paint off with cotton swabs, rubber tipped paint shapers, and paper towels. Overall I'm quite satisfied with the results. Took about 2 hours to do all of these, not counting cleanup. These are really just proof of concept and I really want to continue to explore this technique.

30 of 30

Well I really meant to post more here as I progressed on the 30 Day Art Challenge but (insert excuse here). Regardless, I got everything done in time. This year I treated the month more like a sketchbook than a cohesive project/series. I tried new techniques, new tools, and new materials. And I had a lot of fun with it. While I'm not happy with everything I think I learned something with each piece and I'm motivated to do more at a larger scale.

Here they are in all their glory.

This is one of my favorites. The background texture was created with a Catalyst Blade which is basically a rubber fingered brush. The white was applied by doing a gelatin print transfer using real gelatin - it didn't take me long to realize I did not like the synthetic gelatin block for printing to canvas board.

This is another gelatin monotype. You will notice that this, along with the next two feature my favorite color combination of green and red. It is not easy to use that combo without evoking a feeling of Christmas but I think I've pulled it off.

I want to do a 36" by 48" version of this one at some point in the near future. At this point I had abandoned the gelatin printing. The base sketch was done in blue gel pen which works great as a guide over dark colors.

This may be my favorite of the bunch and was #29 of 30. I will be doing a larger scale series of these I think.

1 of 30

Once again this year, I have signed up for the 30 Day Art Challenge. Today I picked up my canvases and got started, with the goal of prepping a few with gesso and finishing at least one piece. With that in mind, here a few shots from today.

In the background you can see my first prepped canvas. In the foreground, a sketch from a life drawing session that I put on a template that I plan to use as a guide for each piece of art.

Here I have placed a 6x6 inch Gelliarts gel printing plate over the guide image and started putting down some acrylic paint.

Above you can see the painted gel block. It was tough to tell how much coverage I had so...

...I slipped a blank piece of paper between my guide drawing and the gel block. I decided that the coverage was a little wonky in places so I cleaned up a few spots but neglected to take any pictures. Once the gel block painting was where I wanted it, I pressed my canvas board down on the block.

DISASTER! This was the first time I had used the Gelliarts gel block and my first pull was terrible. The paint was too dry and the canvas didn't create a stronger bond to the paint than the gel block so most of the paint did not come off. Fortunately my template under the block had an 8 x 10 inch registration box around it so I could easily align the canvas panel for more impressions. Instead of painting the entire image, I began quickly painting in a section here and there and quickly re-pressing the panel to it. In the end, it took about six pressings, including the failed first to get the image to a point I was happy with it.

Here is the end result. Not bad for trial and error. I'll try a few more with the Gelliarts block and see how it goes. I need to use brighter, richer colors for my under tones as this is coming off a little flat. Hopefully I can figure out a way to get this technique working a little better, otherwise I may be back to making my own gel plate with Knox gelatin - which I know works well with canvas panels.

Tomorrow I will finish another painting. And it will be an improvement over this one.

From the Sketchbook

Another acrylic sketchbook painting.

Started with some loose lines from a Tombow brush pen. I then picked out the lines I wanted to keep with pencil and washed over the whole thing with acrylic paint which erased most of the lines I didn't need. After that it was just a matter of adding layers of acrylic paint.

Digital Doodle

30 min in PhotoShop with Wacom. No reference.