Art Studio Blog

Monotype Printing without a Press

How to Print a Monotype without a Press Monotype printmaking is the “painterly print” option. This printmaking process is accessible to everyone, and it doesn’t

Belinda Del Pesco 4 Comments

Monotype Print Still Life Art – adding Colored Pencil to your Print

Monotype Print Still Life – adding Colored Pencil to your Art I spent a foggy afternoon transferring printmaking inks from leaky containers to new ones,

Belinda Del Pesco 8 Comments

Make an Intaglio Drypoint Print from Recycled Paper Cartons

Making an Intaglio Drypoint Print from Recycled Paper Cartons While walking a freshly emptied carton of frozen Mango & Cream bars to the recycling bin,

Belinda Del Pesco 9 Comments

Watercolor Painting Still Life Art – Paint Your Own Things

Watercolor Still Life Painting Subjects from Your Own Things Pretend you’ve been given a watercolor painting assignment to paint two small still life arrangements. For

Belinda Del Pesco 6 Comments

Make a Watercolor Monotype from Cardboard, Cotton Swabs and Aluminum Foil

Make a Monotype from Things Around the House This was a quick experiment to see if I could pull a monotype print – without a

Belinda Del Pesco 2 Comments

Adding Watercolor to Collagraph Prints

Can You add Watercolor to Collagraph Prints? Yes, you can, as long as the ink you used to print your collagraph dries permanent, and the

Belinda Del Pesco 4 Comments

a girl in a swimming pool, with her arms outstretched in a yellow inner tube, about to push off into the water

Making a Collagraph from Mat Board with Acrylic Gloss Varnish

Acrylic Gloss Varnish Sealer on Mat Board Collagraphs When you make a collagraph plate from mat board (also known as mount board), the front, back,

Belinda Del Pesco 8 Comments

a watercolor study of a woman reading in the sun in front of a huge window looking out over a beautiful distance landscape.

Figure Composition in Watercolor

Figure Composition in Watercolor This is a figure study for a watercolor of my friend Aimee. I loved the composition the moment I saw it.

Belinda Del Pesco 6 Comments

Make a Collagraph Print from Mat Board – First Swim

Make a Collagraph Print from Mat Board Have you made a collagraph print from mat board, and printed it in the a la toupee method,

Belinda Del Pesco 2 Comments

Printmaking Inspiration

Printmakers to Admire I found Toronto artist Margaret Rankin’s work online in 2005. Her subjects demonstrate her sharp eye and sure hands. She is a

Belinda Del Pesco 6 Comments

Still Life Painting in Watercolors

Painting a Still Life in Watercolors If you enjoy the accessibility of painting still life in watercolors, but struggle with deciding what to paint, this

Belinda Del Pesco 2 Comments

a still life in watercolor with a hanging vase of flowers, near a window looking towards a neighboring house

Watercolor Sketching at the Kitchen Counter (and Art Links for you)

Consider Brevity – Short Painting Sessions After Dinner I’m much obliged this week so this is brief; I have a watercolor sketch, a few great

Belinda Del Pesco 16 Comments

How to Get Good Ideas for Art

Where Do Good Art Ideas Come From? Steven Johnson illustrates the sequence leading to the birth of a Good Idea in the video below. He

Belinda Del Pesco 7 Comments

Painting an Urban Watercolor on Clear Gesso

Painting an Urban Watercolor on Clear Gesso In a previous post, I mentioned an experiment with an urban building facade, painted in watercolor on clear

Belinda Del Pesco 14 Comments

Powdered Graphite and Water Soluble Graphite for Drawing and Painting

Powdered Graphite and Water Soluble Graphite for Drawing and Painting Here are some experiments with Powdered Graphite and Water Soluble Graphite used in painting and

Belinda Del Pesco 7 Comments

a watercolor of a woman napping on a couch with a cat

Powdered Graphite Under Watercolors

Have You Tried Powdered Graphite under Watercolors? As an experiment, I used powdered graphite to lay out shapes and a loose value study from a

Belinda Del Pesco 7 Comments

Monotype Print Still Life with Colored Pencil

Spontaneous Monotype Still Life Print I’m in the midst of filming, editing, and narrating a video class on monotype printmaking. It’s complex work, and not

Belinda Del Pesco 6 Comments

a monotype portrait of an adolescent girl

Preserve the Sizing in Fine Art Paper, and Repair Monotype Prints with Colored Pencils

Preserve the Sizing in Fine Art Paper Have you ever soaked printmaking paper and discovered that the sizing in the paper flew the coop? Absent

Belinda Del Pesco 4 Comments

watercolor painting of a back yard in new england with a bulkhead under a window on a clapboard house

5 Tips for Beginner Artists

5 Article Roundup for Beginner Artists Beginning an art adventure that requires some skill-building is a lot easier with instruction. Practical, step by step painting

Belinda Del Pesco 6 Comments

Refining Details on Monotype Prints with Colored Pencils

Colored Pencils Enhance Monotype Prints Have you ever added colored pencils to refine parts of your monotype prints? (If you’ve never made a monotype, here

Belinda Del Pesco 4 Comments

Miniature Linocut Print of Frida Kahlo

Miniature Linocut Inspired by Frida Kahlo This linocut is smaller than a business card, but it was a spontaneous and fun session of carving a

Belinda Del Pesco 14 Comments

Woodcut Print Hand Painted with Watercolor – Artemis (Diana)

German Expressionist Woodcut Prints I purchased Shane Weller’s book (a Dover Publication – you can check out here) on German Expressionist Woodcuts a few decades

Belinda Del Pesco 6 Comments

Printing a Collagraph with Full Color Using a la Poupee

Print a Collagraph Using a la Poupee for Full Color This is a mat board collagraph (also known as press board or mont board), printed

Belinda Del Pesco 6 Comments

collagraph-print of a girl and a sunflower made from a recycled food carton

Collagraph Prints from Recycled Paper Food Cartons

Making Art from Stuff at Home After printing drypoint etchings from recycled plastic food containers (see drypoints from plastic in this series), I’m experimenting with

Belinda Del Pesco 4 Comments

Watercolor Still Life Paintings from the Kitchen

How Unremarkable White Tiles in a Kitchen Spawned Two Decades of Watercolor Paintings A couple of decades ago, I walked into the kitchen of a

Belinda Del Pesco 26 Comments

Reduction Linocut Printed in Four Colors without a Press

Making a Reduction Linocut without a Press As a perpetually Distracted Person, making a reduction linocut was always a wish, but it got suppressed by

Belinda Del Pesco 13 Comments

Small Mat Board Collagraph Print of a Cat Sleeping

Printing a Mat Board Collagraph in the Intaglio Style Collagraph printmaking can arise from something as simple as finding a small, recyclable scrap of mat

Belinda Del Pesco 2 Comments

drypoint etching from plexiglass, of a girl in a bath tub

Figurative Drypoint Etching from a Plexiglass Plate

Drypoint Etching Intaglio Prints from Life Memories This little Drypoint etching is a nod to a time when my siblings and I lived in a

Belinda Del Pesco 3 Comments

Make a Drypoint Print from Recycled Plastic

Make a Drypoint Print from a Plastic Tomato Container Welcome to this series of printmaking posts utilizing stuff around the house as printmaking supplies to

Belinda Del Pesco 9 Comments

Painting a Cactus in Watercolor

Watercolor Painting of Cacti I went scouting for painting references at the Los Angeles Arboretum awhile ago. Local outdoor gardens are a good place to bring

Belinda Del Pesco 3 Comments