Monotype Print Still Life – adding Colored Pencil to your Art I spent a foggy afternoon transferring printmaking inks from leaky containers to new ones, sent gratis by the manufacturer. Good customer service! While pouring and scraping ink into shiny new containers, I rolled out a bit of leftover ink on a sheet of plexiglass …
Monotype Print Still Life Art – adding Colored Pencil to your Print Read More »
Making an Intaglio Drypoint Print from Recycled Paper Cartons While walking a freshly emptied carton of frozen Mango & Cream bars to the recycling bin, I wondered if the thin paper carton would yield an intaglio print. There’s only one way to find out, right? So let’s give it a twirl, shall we? Recycled Cartons …
Make an Intaglio Drypoint Print from Recycled Paper Cartons Read More »
Make a Monotype from Things Around the House This was a quick experiment to see if I could pull a monotype print – without a press – from tube watercolor applied to a tin-foil-wrapped sheet of scrap cardboard. Making fun stuff from what you have around the house was the goal, and it worked, so …
Make a Watercolor Monotype from Cardboard, Cotton Swabs and Aluminum Foil Read More »
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 paper you printed it on can handle wet media. (Here’s a post that covers the caveats of wet media on ink and printmaking papers.) (You can test a small swatch …
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, and edges of the board should be sealed. Moisture from printmaking inks and modifiers would soak the mat board plate into cotton pulp. The sealed printable surface should be a …
Making a Collagraph from Mat Board with Acrylic Gloss Varnish Read More »
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, intaglio style? A La Poupée Inking After laying out ink colors (see above) I plan to use on the plate to print the edition, I’m using rolled felt daubers (or …
Make a Collagraph Print from Mat Board – First Swim Read More »
Printmakers to Admire I found Toronto artist Margaret Rankin’s work online in about 2005. Her subjects demonstrate her sharp eye and sure hands. She is a trained Landscape Architect, and her composition and colors are based on nature. One of the things I was drawn to is the way she uses her blocks – after …
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 in my creative wheelhouse. One of the best ways to shake off the monitor and keyboard is a spontaneous monotype. That’s how this one arrived. Fixing a Monotype Print – …
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 or deteriorated sizing in printmaking paper can result in failed prints. In this post, we’ll talk about preserving the sizing in fine art paper. The monotype in this post went …
Preserve the Sizing in Fine Art Paper, and Repair Monotype Prints with Colored Pencils Read More »
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 is an introduction to dark field monotype prints without a press.) Whether your subject is portraits, abstract, still life, or landscape, adding colored pencil will transform a mediocre print into …
Refining Details on Monotype Prints with Colored Pencils Read More »
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 miniature portrait of Frida Kahlo. In the last post, I shared a pile of very loved resource books from my studio with ideas, examples, and instructions for relief printmaking. Most …
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 ago. All this time on my studio bookshelves and Weller’s book is still an excellent source of inspiration to make something bold, or unfussy. Do you ever get the urge …
Woodcut Print Hand Painted with Watercolor – Artemis (Diana) Read More »
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 in full color in one pass through the press. If you’ve never used the a la poupee method of inking your plate, I hope you’ll give it a go. Here …
Printing a Collagraph with Full Color Using a la Poupee Read More »
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 other household materials. In this post, a recycled paper food carton will be used to make a collagraph print. Let’s head into the kitchen! Printing Collagraphs with What You Have …
Collagraph Prints from Recycled Paper Food Cartons Read More »
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 uncertainty. I made a reduction woodcut in a printmaking class I took a few decades ago. It came out terrible, with too many layers of thickly rolled ink. The surface …
Reduction Linocut Printed in Four Colors without a Press Read More »
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 board. On the way to the trash bin, I pivoted left to my work table, and made a quick sketch of my studio assistant, Scout. He was, as usual, napping …
Small Mat Board Collagraph Print of a Cat Sleeping Read More »
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 rambling old house in Santa Barbara, California. We had one luxury; a generously sized claw foot bath tub under a sunny window in our single bathroom. We loved that bathtub. …
Figurative Drypoint Etching from a Plexiglass Plate Read More »
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 make art during the Pandemic. We’ve explored drypoint etching and monotype prints in these previous posts, in case you missed them: Printing a drypoint etching from a plastic Trader Joe’s biscotti …
To Crosshatch or Not – on a Hand-Printed Drypoint In the previous post, lots of cross hatching was scribed into a small sheet of clear plastic from a produce container. That Drypoint was inked, wiped and hand printed with a baren, and via the stomp print method. The results, even after a flock of adjustments, …
Drypoint Printing at Home without a Press (Part 2) Read More »
Printing a Drypoint without a Press I’m delighted that you’re enjoying this series of posts on Drypoint printing at home without a press. (If you missed any of the most recent drypoint print demos made from recycled plastic, I listed them for you below.) This is Part 1 of a two part post on Drypoint …
Drypoint Printing at Home without a Press (Part 1) Read More »
Drypoint Etching from Plexiglass Here’s a frivolous little twirl from the studio; the drypoint etching in this post started with a sketchbook doodle (above) during a rough period in my life. I was talking myself out of the pity party, and re-targeting my focus on the wonderful things in my life. Sometimes, it’s as simple …
Drypoint Etching from Plexiglass with Watercolor Read More »
The Art of Wiping an Intaglio Plate Inking and wiping an intaglio print is almost an art. Watching a master printmaker ink and wipe an etching plate is similar to watching hands dance. The muscle memory of the printmaker’s hand movements is fluid and graceful, but deliberate. If you’re new to printmaking, it all looks …
Printing a Drypoint Engraving without a Press In this series of printmaking projects using stuff around the house to make art during the Pandemic, we’ve explored drypoint etching (also called drypoint engraving): Printing a Drypoint Etching from a plastic Trader Joe’s biscotti container with a stomp-method (hint: your feet are the press) Making a Monotype …
Drypoint Etchings on Recycled Plastic Sheets So far, I’ve experimented with Drypoint etching print from a Trader Joe’s biscotti container here, and a monotype print from a recycled plastic blueberry container here. In this post, we’ll go over how to make a Drypoint Etching (also known as a drypoint engraving) from a plastic lettuce container, …
How to Make a Drypoint Etching from Recycled Plastic, and Print it without a Press Read More »
Figurative Linocut Nude Print Exchange This figurative linocut was made a few years ago for a print exchange. The theme of the exchange was The Nude. Have you ever participated in a print exchange? Printmakers sign up, usually with a limited quantity of participants, and each artist makes a print edition large enough to gift …
Repurpose Plastic Food Containers into Printmaking Plates Your enthusiasm for this post about converting a plastic cookie container into a drypoint engraving inspired another monotype printmaking experiment. I started clipping plastic from all the food and produce containers we brought home from the grocers to experiment with monotype, drypoint and collagraph prints. This post is …
How to Make Monotype Prints from a Plastic Blueberry Container Read More »
Make a Monotype Print with Water Soluble Crayons from a Sheet of Drafting Film You can use water soluble crayons and watercolors on a sheet of acrylic plexiglass to make a monotype (like this figurative monotype print). You can also use a sheet of Mylar drafting film as your monotype printmaking plate! Drafting Film Sheets …
Monotype Print from Drafting Film with Water Soluble Crayons and Watercolors Read More »
Carving a Stylized Manga-Inspired Woodcut Portrait Have you ever made a woodcut? It’s the same process as carving and printing a linocut, except it’s carved and printed from wood. This is a doodle-turned woodcut portrait, inspired by Manga art, and hand colored with watercolor and colored pencils. If you’d like to try one, you can …
Woodcut Portrait – Manga Style – Hand Painted with Watercolors Read More »
A Klimt Art Fan (forever) I saw my first Klimt painting projected on a large screen in a college auditorium during an Art History class. It was The Kiss, painted between 1907-8 in Vienna. That was almost four decades ago, and I’m still moved by Klimt’s work. Inspired by Master Artists Artists looking to sharpen …
What is a Glue Collagraph? A glue collagraph is a printmaking plate made from a stiff base, like mat board, with a printable design applied to the board with dimensional glue. Here are some examples: Collagraphs are Chameleons of Printmaking Traditional collagraphs are often built in an additive process – with papers, fabric, thread or …
