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Drypoint Etching of a Girl and Her Little Dog from Clear Acrylic

Clear Acrylic Drypoint Engraving

Here are photos and a description of the process I used to create a Drypoint Etching (also called an engraving) from a sheet of clear acrylic or plexiglass. Traditionally, these intaglio prints are made from metal plates, but we're going to use easier to find and less expensive acrylic sheets to make an intaglio drypoint of a girl and her dog.

The drypoint etching in this post started as a sketchbook doodle during a rough chapter. I was sketching myself out of a pity party, and re-targeting my focus on things going well, and reasons to be grateful.

Sometimes, changing a bad mood is as simple as that; re-route the thought path, breathe deep, and just feel the sun.  Find your Gratitude. It sounds dimple, but studies show....

Plexiglass Clear Acrylic Plates

I was just starting to make drypoint etchings under the tutelage of a master printmaker when I created this print. It was exciting to experiment with printing an intaglio drypoint from plexiglass instead of traditional metal plates.

Acrylic and plastic matrix materials are easier to find, and less expensive than traditional copper or zinc plates.

I also found that plexiglass (or acrylic, or lexan, or perspex) are all easier to scribe linework into, compared to metal plates. (If your hands are tender, consider scribing your plates with an electric engraver.). Acrylic is also easier to bevel (very important if you're printing on a press).

If you need instructions to bevel your acrylic or plexiglass plate, I made a video tutorial on that for you here.

What is a Drypoint Etching?

Drypoint Etching (also known as Drypoint Engraving) is a form of printmaking that uses a hard plate and a sharp tool to scratch or incise line work into the surface of the plate.

The plate is then coated in ink, with the intension of pushing ink into all the recessed grooves etched into the surface. Then the top area of the plate is wiped off, which leaves ink embedded in the grooved lines of the drawing made with the sharp tip of the tool.

Transferring the Print

Printmaking paper is soaked and blotted, and pressed against the inked and wiped plate, usually on a printing press, to collect the ink from the drawn line work in the plate. Since the print is made from inked linework beneath the uppermost surface of the plate, it's referred to as an intaglio print, which is derived from the Italian word "to cut in" or engrave.

NOTE: When printing from the uppermost surface, like a woodblock, a linocut or a rubber stamp, the print process is called a relief print. We use this name because the image to be printed stands in relief (elevated or raised) after the background material has been carved away.

Okay, back to intaglio.... Traditionally, drypoint engravings are done on copper plates, or even zinc. In this post, I’ve used a smooth sheet of clear acrylic.

A drypoint engraving doesn't get dipped into an acid bath, like the process of traditional etching.

Since the process involves my simply scribing into the plate material, without using caustic liquid chemicals to create the marks on the plate, this method is called a DRYpoint.

I like to remind people that in relief printing like woodcut or linocut - I'm carving away everything *except* my drawing. When I'm working with intaglio printing, like drypoint, I'm literally drawing with my tool on top of the drawing, replacing the drawn lines with incised gouges. I'm "removing" the drawing.

Drypoint Printing

When my incised lines on the plate are looking finished, I apply printmaking ink (specific to intaglio printing) over the entire surface of the plate with either a dauber, a soft cardboard squeegee, or a brush. I'll push the printmaking ink carefully, all the way into all the grooves left behind by the sharp tip of the twisted scribe.

Using starched cheese cloth called tarlatan, I wipe the entire plate of ink. This is where experience matters. I'm always careful to use a light touch when wiping over areas where ink is nestled below the surface, inside the gouged line work plowed by my scribe.

When my damp printmaking paper is pressed firmly against the plate by the cylinder on my etching press, the ink laying in the recessed drawn lines is lifted out by the paper, duplicating the drawing on the plate, in reverse.

What is an Edition?

After reviewing the print to make sure there's no additional scribing necessary, the artist decides on the size of the edition. An edition is a number of identical impressions pulled from a plate. If the editions are limited in number - say an edition of ten, then it's considered a limited edition print, and I will destroy the plate after ten prints are pulled.

In order to make an edition of ten, I ink and wipe and print the plate against new sheets of paper on the press ten times.

If the edition is open, there is no limit to the number of prints made, except for the reduced integrity of the plate over time with repeated inking, wiping and printing under pressure.

After the prints are dry, I sign, title and number each one in pencil. This normally occurs along the bottom of the art, just beneath the plate impression.

Resources to Print a Drypoint Etching without a Press

In this series of printmaking projects using stuff around the house to make art, we've explored drypoint etching in the posts below, in case you missed them:

• 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 without a press, from a blueberry container using acrylic paint and watercolors (hint: this one is great if you don't have inks)

• Printing a Drypoint Etching without a press, from a plastic lettuce box, using a spoon, and then adding watercolor (hint: this one has a tutorial video)

Make a Drypoint Print

Printmaking terminology can be a brain teaser, but make rather than study. Can I suggest that you have courage, and learn as you go?

Follow the basic instructions available to you online and in books if you have them. Keep your designs epically simple and small at first. Don't substitute recommended materials, as paper, inks and pressure all matter.

Drypoint etching is one of the more appealing "drawn line" forms of printmaking. The goal is to duplicate the drawing you made on the plate, with all of the naturally occurring soft and hard marks, wide and narrow lines, bold and lost edges.

I hope you'll give it a whirl.  C'mon now, we both know you have some gestural drawings and watercolor painted drypoint ideas floating about in your sketchbooks, right? Wink-wink, nudge-nudge....

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you in the next post,

Belinda

P.S. Do you know there are over 300 art books in the Getty Museum Library than you can download and read for free? Have a look.

Art Quote

The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself. ~ Alan Alda

The post Drypoint Etching of a Girl and Her Little Dog from Clear Acrylic appeared first on Belinda Del Pesco's Art Blog Belinda Del Pesco.

Surfer Riding a Wave - Mini Watercolor Painting on a Wood Block

Painting Watercolor on Wood Blocks

Decades ago, I experimented with painting watercolors on a gesso coated wood plaque I picked up in a clearance bin at a craft store. The pigments handle very different on gesso compared to painting on paper.

You can lift non-staining colors back up with a wet brush to get back to white, and the watery edges of the pooling paint are quite pronounced on gesso.

I mentioned this to my step dad, and about a week later, I got a Priority mail box filled with 3.5 x 3.5 inch pine blocks he cut for me in his garage. He also included a packet of photos taken in and around his coastal California community. I've made many paintings (like this one) and prints (like this one) from those images over the years. 💗 [Thanks, TC]

Mini Watercolors, Ready to Hang

I painted tons of mini watercolors on pine blocks, wrapping the image around the edges of the wood, and then sealing them with clear coat so they wouldn't require frames or glass.

I also drilled a hole in the back of the block and taped a nail to it. Easy peasy - find a wall, hammer the nail in and hang the mini watercolor. Some folks bought multiples, and sent beautiful images of a grid or a row of evenly spaced, tiny art.

Below, I've uploaded a few of them so you get the idea. Have you ever tried painting watercolors on gesso coated paper or wood? If you want to give t a go, there are lovely 5" x 5" wood panels available here.

Cleaning the Studio

I'm cleaning my studio, purging un-used supplies, and overhauling my entire Etsy Shop.

I've dropped off a car load at my local high school art department, and re-arranged all the storage spaces on shelves and in my closet with labeled bins so I can find things. What a wonder. Index cards and binder clips to the rescue.

I also want to fit a sewing area into the little 8x8 room I use as a printmaking, etching press, painting, blogging, YouTube video tutorial filming and creative studio. It *can* be done, and I'm doggedly determined. Have you squeezed a dozen flavors of creativity into one table space? Share some tips, please.

In the melee of my pull out-sort-purge process, I found one last watercolor on pine block of a surfer, riding a wave.

A Toast to Your Clean Out

If you're on a clean out and purge mission, I'm sending good thoughts and a cool wash of courage to Let Go of things you aren't using. Life is short, and we have a lot of art to make. Sometimes, the best approach is to limit the media and supplies, and dive deep in the process we love the most.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you in the next post -

Belinda

P.S. The last time I did this purging and storage rehab, I wrote about tools and supplies I use here.

Art Quote

To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it. ~Kurt Vonnegut

The post Surfer Riding a Wave – Mini Watercolor Painting on a Wood Block appeared first on Belinda Del Pesco's Art Blog Belinda Del Pesco.

Adding Colored Pencil to a Faint Monoprint Still Life

This monoprint was pulled from a construction paper collagraph plate (more on how to make one of those here). I brushed different colored printmaking ink quickly onto the collagraph plate to loosen up a bit and play with color.

The printmaking ink was applied with brushes and felt daubers. You can see the rolled felt daubers in the photo below. Applying different color inks to a printmaking plate is called 'a la poupee' - a French printmaking term that means 'with the doll'. The daubers sometimes look like little dolls. It's a creative and painterly way to pull a full color print with just one trip through the press.

Collagraph vs Monoprint

Let's talk about printmaking nomenclature for just a minute. It's a hot topic, debated with ardent hand waving and speech spittle in print labs, and furious typing in the comments on social media.

A collagraph is usually made from a stiff board with collage-like materials adhered to its surface with glue, and parts of the plate might also be carved or engraved.

Monotype

A monotype is a print made with pigment alone, from a perfectly smooth plate. There is nothing between the plate surface and the pigment. Ink is manipulated with tools or fingertips or both, and the resulting still-wet pigments are transferred from the surface of the plate to paper via pressure. You get one print, hence the root of the term MONO-type.

Monoprint

A monoPRINT is the same concept as the monotype above, except there is some form of repeatable mark in the plate; an adhered shape, or grooved line on the plate that will be marked in every print.

So the plate could be rolled with different colored inks, and the pigments could be manipulated into various compositions before each transfer - but that printable mark on the plate will show up in every print pulled from that plate.

Printmaking Verbiage

Monoprint - as a term in printmaking - is applicable in so many instances, it's almost an overused catch phrase. The junk drawer of printmaking lingo.

If you used brushes to slather color all over a collagraph plate, a woodblock, and a zinc etching, paying no attention to the shape and linework in each matrix, and you printed each one to paper, what would you call them? They all have a repeatable mark in their matrix, but the paint colors and applications could vary from print to print, like a monoprint.

By definition, they could each be called a monoprint??? BUT, the underlying structure of the plate they were printed from (in my opinion) supersedes the printmaking method.

Maybe I'm a stickler for specificity, but if I were to exhibit the piece featured in this post, I'd label it "Monoprint from a Collagraph Plate". Let's spare ourselves an exploration of adding further lingo in the printmaking method realm, such as Intaglio vs Relief vs a la poupee inking methods. And is it an engraving or an etching? Another time, maybe.

Print, Dry, Hand Color Fun

So there you have it. More print layering fun with various wet and dry media, and enough print nomenclature to start a multi-thread argument in the Printmaking Group of your choice. If you've never seen it, I'm pinky promising that some folks smack so open palm on their view of print definitions, the comment threads resemble keyboard-fisticuffs.

But that's not how we roll over here, because we have plates to build, and construction paper to cut, and colors to mix, and paper to soak and blot, and new designs to sketch. Let's get busy, right?

Thanks for stopping by today, and I'll see you in the next post -

Belinda

P.S. Here is a similar printmaking method, because the plate is made from paper (a popsicle carton), but the process (brain twister ahead) is closer to intaglio drypoint engraving.

Art Quote

An infinite question is often destroyed by finite answers. To define everything is to annihilate much that gives us laughter and joy. ~Madeleine L'Engle

The post Adding Colored Pencil to a Faint Monoprint Still Life appeared first on Belinda Del Pesco's Art Blog Belinda Del Pesco.

Drypoint Engraving Print from Black Plexiglass Instead of Copper

Let's look at how to make a drypoint engraving on plexiglass. The drypoint print in this post was an experiment with inexpensive plastic plate material, instead of the traditional copper plates used in drypoint printmaking.

In recent years, I've done drypoint etchings and engravings on clear plexiglass plates. The line work can be hard to see while drawing into the clear plastic with your scribe or needle.

I bought a sheet of opaque black plexiglass on amazon to see if my mark-making would be more evident on the darker acrylic. I scored and snapped the sheet into several pieces to make multiple prints (see that in the video below). It worked!

Drypoint Printmaking on Inexpensive Plexiglass Acrylic

Drypoint is a very old, traditional form of printmaking, and examples of gorgeous prints transferred from copper plates can be seen in museum collections all over the world.

If you're printing on a press, you'll need to bevel the edges of your acrylic or plexiglass plate so you don't cut through your printing paper or the press blankets.

Your plate and paper stack is going under the cylinder of the press at an enormous rate of pressure to transfer the image from plate to paper. Here is a video to show you how to bevel a plexiglass plate before printing on a press. And if you do bevel your own plates, this tiny sanding block kit is my fave for the last steps of the beveling process.

Mixing Drypoint Engraving with Relief Print

Another benefit of working on acrylic or plexiglass to create drypoint etchings is that you can use the see through material to register the mark making over a relief print. This example (below) is a reduction linocut for the color layers, and a drypoint engraving from plexiglass to add the black ink crosshatch and details.

Round Up of Drypoint Print Resources

• This post covers drypoint printmaking made from drafting film, or mylar.

• Here is a 3.5 minute overview of a figurative drypoint from a sheet of clear plexiglass.

• Wendy Thompson writes about drypoint printmaking from the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

• Catherine Brooks from Crown Point Press published a drypoint video excerpt from a DVD on printmaking. This video segment on drypoint uses traditional copper plates, but it's a great visual on the drypoint printmaking process.

Drypoint Print Supplies and Tools

The repetitive nature of scribing cross hatching and line work into a sheet of plastic might be a bit much if your hands or fingers are tender. An effective option is to use a Dremel engraving tool (like this one) with a variety of tips you can test on a practice piece of acrylic.

If you choose this route, be sure to wear a face mask or respirator while working on your acrylic sheet, as it's not safe to breath the fine material the Dremel kicks off the plate, especially as the friction may warm the Poly (methyl methacrylate).

I use a twisted scribe (below) on most of my drypoint engravings. It's simple and traditional, and not expensive (see it here).

Can You Print a Drypoint if You Don't Have an Etching Press?

I wouldn't recommend doing a hand transfer of a detailed, cross hatched drypoint, because the paper will move as you rub back and forth on the back of the paper. Instead of a single sweep of pressure like you'd get from a cylinder rolling over your plate and paper stack, any repeated rubbing will cause contact with your inked lines in more than one place on the paper.

As an alternative, artists and print lovers have come up with some inventive workarounds. Folks have driven their vehicle tires over their drypoints, fit petite plates through pasta makers, and altered stencil cutters into effective little table top presses.

• Colin Blanchard has a whole group on Facebook dedicated to sharing plans and details to transform a stencil maker into a printing press. Here is a blog post he published all about making a craft press.

• Here is an intriguing post by artist Annie Day in Australia, using the pressure in a small, inexpensive die cutting machine to print her drypoints, etchings, linocuts and collagraphs.

• Have a look at this post about small printing press alternatives that include pasta makers and embossing machines.

• Printmaker Sally Hirst did a fabulous comparison of die cutting machines to use as alternatives to presses on her You Tube Channel.

Adding Other Pigments to a Drypoint

As long as you use intaglio ink that dries permanently (it can be water-wash-up, but NOT water-soluble after it dries), you can add watercolor or gouache to your prints.

I love experimenting with watercolor on all sorts of printmaking, and I did paint a few of the prints in this edition with watercolor. (I used ink on the print that would not re-wet after it dried.)

Drypoint Printmaking Experiments

If you've always thought drypoint required an entire printmaking lab, and sheets of copper and chemicals, I hope this post and the links included for further reading inspires you. Make a drypoint that's *super simple* at first, Just a few lines, and no crosshatching until your third or fourth plate.

A number of years ago, I make this tutorial video on drypoint engraving for a high school teacher house with her students. It has helpful tips and materials listed as links in the More Info text under the video window. The students in her class sent me hysterically adorable examples of their work, and I was delighted to see they "got" the basics of the process.

Happy printing to you, and I'll see you in the next post!

Belinda

P.S.

Art Quote

You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. ~Zig Ziglar

The post Drypoint Engraving Print from Black Plexiglass Instead of Copper appeared first on Belinda Del Pesco's Art Blog Belinda Del Pesco.

How to Make a Dark Field Monotype and Add Color After the Ink is Dry

After you create a monotype print at your kitchen table (more on how to do that here), you can add color to it after the ink is dry.

But there are a few caveats. If you plan to use wet media - like watercolor or acrylic pens - your printmaking ink must dry permanently. Some water wash-up inks will dry fast, and then re-wet as soon as you touch them with a wet brush.

Another consideration is the printmaking paper you choose. Some papers will ripple terribly with watercolor washes. Other will bleed past the shape you're trying to add pigment to. So, lets get into wise choices for your ink and your paper so you can color your prints with impunity!

Printmaking Ink Options

If you want the option to wash up after printing with plain ol' soap and water (rather than solvents), *and* you'd like the option of painting your finished print with watercolor, I got you.

The inks I use regularly are Cranfield Caligo Safe Wash (both relief or intaglio are great) and Akua intaglio (thinner consistency, but highly pigmented).

If you're looking for good ideas related to making linocuts, this post has a pile of goodies. I'm including it here because further down the post, there's some excellent nuggets about water-based vs water-wash-up vs water-soluble printmaking inks. There's a big difference in the way manufacturers label inks and it's good to know the difference. You want Water-Wash-up, and not water-soluble if you plan to paint your print.

Another important distinction is the way ink dries. Oil based, traditional printmaking inks dry via air. Have you ever opened a canister of traditional ink and found a skin over the top? Ink dries with even a tiny bit of air inside the container, and that's why you can buy wax paper disks to lay on the wet ink inside the canister to prohibit air contact.

Akua ink dries via absorption. You can roll it out onto a glass or acrylic sheet to make a monotype and work on it for *weeks*. (Ask me how I know.) It's important to note that if you use printmaking paper with sizing in it, the absorption of Akua inks will be blocked, and the ink will stay wet on your prints for weeks (avoid using watercolor paper, ArtAgain or Legion Coventry Rag with Akua). Look for paper with little to no sizing if you're using Akua... But, full speed ahead with that lovely ink as long as you use the right paper! More on paper below.

Mark-Making in Printmaking Ink

When you're removing ink from a dark field monotype, be curious and have courage. If you test a cotton swab in the ink, or scrape a squeegee edge with mat board, or the tines of a fork - and you don't like the look of the mark, use your brayer and smooth that section of ink flat again. It works like a Free Start Over for that little section.

If the area is too small for a partial length of your brayer, tap a finger into your ink, and repeatedly tap the ink over your mark-making. You'll find that the wet ink spreads and merges under the pressure of your finger tip and feathers out very effectively. Now, you can make new marks! Tah-Dahhh!

Also, on brayer "erasing" of marks in the ink, I *highly* recommend acquiring a mini-brayer (like this one) in your tool set. I love mine and use it all the time, especially to roll over small areas of ink to re-make marks, thin the ink layers or adjust passages of certain values.

Paper Options for Adding Wet vs Dry Color

One of my favorite printmaking papers is Arches 88. It has NO SIZING (the sealer that prohibits wet pigment from bleeding randomly like you're dripping pigment on a t-shirt) Sizing is in most papers to keep your pens, watercolor and markers from running wild.

If you're using Akua Inks, Arches 88 works beautifully for a speedy dry with fast absorption, BUT - I wouldn't recommend adding color via wet media like watercolor, because - No Sizing. The pigment will bleed beyond the boundaries of where you brush it on.

You can still use Arches 88 (it's bright white, super smooth and sturdy), but add your color with dry pigments like pastel, or colored pencil rather than a brush and wet pigment. See? A workaround!

If you want the option of wet media on top of your monotype, and you're using Akua inks, Arnhem 1618 or Strathmore Printmaking papers work well. This print was made with oil-based traditional printmaking ink (Graphic Chemical Carbon Black). I clean traditional oil based inks with canola oil to break it down, followed by Dawn Dish Soap in place of solvents. This monotype was printed on Arches Cover paper.

Try not to shake a frustrated fist in the air at paper or ink that doesn't seem to work well for you. Be curious enough to get acquainted with the particulars of each of your art supplies. That practice will go far in your pursuit of getting your expectations met when you start a new creative project.

A Merry Go Round of Monotype Methods

I love making monotype prints because they do not require carving, sharp tools, a printing press or solvents. They can be created at the kitchen table with just a few supplies, and the more you make them, the better you get at the process. They are also the most "painterly" form of printmaking.

There are dark field monotypes, light field monotypes, trace monotypes, viscosity prints, gel plate monotypes (and there are a dozen or more options of this style of monotone print too), monoprints and mixed media silkscreen and pastel mono prints. They're printed in monochrome, or full color. The list goes on and on, but I'll spare you the blabber of print nomenclature.

I hope you try making a dark field monotype and your results are so exciting, they launch a whole new adventure of printmaking for you and your friends and family.

If you have any questions about the process, here is a playlist of monotype print tutorials on my YouTube Channel. You can also visit me here and leave any questions you have in the comments. I love hearing from you.

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you in the next post -

Belinda

P.S. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a selection of varied monotype prints on their website here.

Art Quote

“A monotype print is always a unique impression - no two monotypes are the same. It is a print, because a plate and paper are together subjected to pressure. It is a one-of-a-kind image, because once printed, it can never again be exactly reproduced.” — Wolf Kahn Foundation

The post How to Make a Dark Field Monotype and Add Color After the Ink is Dry appeared first on Belinda Del Pesco's Art Blog Belinda Del Pesco.

Young Archer in the Snow Monotype Print with Watercolor and Colored Pencil

In the last post (you can read that here), I described the process to make a monotype print at your kitchen table, with just a few gathered tools. This is another quick, loose monotype print made the same way, with a sheet of acrylic as a plate, a single color of printmaking ink, and a brayer (similar to the one below) to roll the pigment onto the plexiglass sheet.

Once the acrylic sheet is coated in a thin, smooth layer of pigment, the world is your monotype printmaking oyster. You can make anything. Just carve away the ink to create light.

Family Photos as Inspiration for Art-Making

If you're new around here, I'll go ahead and wax enthusiastic about mining your own family photos as art-making fodder. Hear me out...

You already know the bone structure, gestures, head tilts and coloring of your siblings, aunties and parents, etc.

That familiarity leapfrogs past the "get acquainted with this face" while you're rendering away. It also softens the workload in your process. You aren't staring at a stranger, scrutinizing the tilt of a mouth, or the width of an eyebrow. You likely share some of those same gestures and bone structure.

Give your artistic skillset a leg up by using familiar images from your own family archives.

Marinate Your Work in Your Own Familiars

There's a subtle but palpable magic in art that originates from events you witnessed, rooms you inhabited, people you've known for years.

Leaning into your own relationship to a subject adds a spirit of acquaintanceship that resonates with your audience. There is an almost palpable narrative - a recognition of sorts - to a face, figure or scene that tickles a viewers' curiosity when you paint or draw from your own life story.

Give it a try. At the very least, you own the rights to your photos, so there's no fear of copyright infringement. Skip having to disclose that your sources were lifted from magazine ads or other people's imagery.

Sowing Creative Seeds

I have so much art to share with you this season - my studio is stacked with it.

I've also returned to filming process to share details, supplies and art-making methods on my YouTube Channel.

And then there are crafting sessions with teenaged grandkids, camping friends who are up for any sort of RV kitchen table creative adventure, a continued fascination with the art of sewing, and a deeply satisfying dive into gardening.

I hope you're revving your creative engines, plotting and planning new art to create, and gathering source material and inspiration. Let's commit to getting busy this season. It's time to move some art supplies and settle into the meditative state that happens naturally when we work with our hands. High Five to us.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you in the next post -

Belinda

P.S. Here is an article by painter Emily Wassell on how to plan your creative time when life is busy.

Art Quote

Popular doesn’t mean better by any absolute scale. Popular simply means that more people like this thing than that thing. Popular isn’t an act of genius. Popular is either an intentional act (to serve a particularly large, homogenous audience) or a lucky break. The most direct way to become popular is to serve the audience that made the last thing popular. By that definition, popular almost always means ‘not better.’ It simply means that you found a large group and gave them what they wanted. The world likes popular, but it doesn’t have to be your goal. ~Seth Godin

The post Young Archer in the Snow Monotype Print with Watercolor and Colored Pencil appeared first on Belinda Del Pesco's Art Blog Belinda Del Pesco.

Exploring Watercolor and Colored Pencil on a Figurative Monotype Print

In case you're new to this blog, I should tell you I'm an enthused advocate for 1) digging through your own family photos for creative inspiration, and 2) adding watercolor and colored pencils to a monotype print.

The figurative monotype print in this post (above) was inspired by a photo taken by my father in the 1960's while I procrastinated on homework by gossiping with one of our siamese cats, Moutzee.

While creating this figurative monotype, and later, while adding watercolor and colored pencil to it, I was wading through memories, and forgot to snap process photos. So, I'll use the still life monotype process images below to illustrate the basics if you're new to monotype prints.

There are also helpful links to other blog posts on creating monotypes at the bottom of the post if you want to learn how to make a monotype print yourself. (Very Fun + Highly recommended.)

No Press and No Carving Needed

One of the lovely things about monotype printmaking is that you don't need a printing press, and there is no requirement for sharp tools to carve your image into a block of wood or linoleum.

This makes the process accessible at home, at the kitchen table, by gathering a few items. You'll need a reference photo as inspiration, a sheet of acrylic, glass or plexiglass to use as a plate, and some printmaking paper slightly larger than your plate.

Printmaking ink is preferred, as it stays wet longer, which gives you extra time to create your image. Barring that, you can use slow dry acrylic paint, or oil paints.

A brayer is optimal to roll a smooth layer of pigment on your plate, but you can also use brushes, and simply paint your image onto the plate.

To transfer the still wet ink on the plate after you've created your image, you simply lay a sheet of paper on your image in the ink, hold it steady with one hand while you rub the back of the paper into the ink with a spoon. Then pull the print, and voila, you've created a monotype.

Dark Field vs Light Field Monotype Prints

Monotype is a very painterly form of printmaking, using a smooth, un-etched plate (metal, or acrylic/plexiglass), and printmaking inks, or slow drying acrylic paint as your medium.

Here are two approaches; a dark field monotype begins with a plate fully coated end to end in a smooth layer of ink. With a plate fully covered in ink, you begin with a "dark field" and create your image in a subtractive process - basically "carving light" into the ink. I use cotton swabs, paper towel covered finger tips, paint brush ends and any tool that makes an interesting mark in the ink.

A light field monotype starts with a clean plate - or a "light field". You build your image in an additive process - with pigment on brushes, finger tips, tools and brayers. You simply paint your image onto the plate.

The description probably sounds like it's not different enough to be noteworthy, but if you make one of each - a dark field and a light field monotype - of the same image, you'll see right away that they do indeed have differing qualities once they are pressed to paper.

Start with Small Steps

While this process - monotype printmaking - is less dependent on access to a press, and a print lab, and assorted carving tools or acid baths related to traditional printmaking - it does take a few cycles to get comfortable. Like anything else you've never done before, go into this with your inner critic locked in a cupboard.

Start small and simple. Choose an inspirational image that's straight forward, with simple lights and darks. Avoid images of cut crystal vases with a dozen frilly petaled daisies, and a thousand halftones. You'll be discouraged and toss in the towel before you give yourself a chance to latch onto the basics.

For your first monotype, print it on cheap newsprint, and do no more than a quick line gesture drawing in the ink. Press it to paper and pull the print, lickety split. Re-ink your plate, and make another one - this time with a little more detail. By the third or fourth monotype, switch to printmaking paper as you start to get the hang of it. Build your skills on a ladder of gradual, small, familiar process steps.

Learn More About How to Make Monotype Prints

• Here is a monotype print tutorial that will introduce you to the basics of making a dark field monotype print without the need for a press.
• After you create a monotype print, you often have enough ink left on the plate to pull a second, faint version of the first monotype. These soft, transparent siblings of the original image are perfect candidates for colored pencil or watercolor enhancements, and they’re called monotype ghost prints. 
• Here is a still life monotype post relaying details about some of the colored pencil brands you can use to repair Monotype Prints.
• This post outlines a monotype print portrait scuttled by the use of older printmaking paper compromised by exposure to air, and then repaired/revived with colored pencils.
• In this color monotype print portrait of a young girl and her dog, the details were lost in the print transfer process, so once again, I used colored pencils to rescue the art.
• Here is a monotype ghost print of a bathroom interior still life with flowers, and the values were so washed out, it was a perfect starting point for colored pencil repairs.
• If you’re on Facebook, be sure to join the Monotype Printmaking Group, and scroll through lots of helpful posts, inspiring images and shared How-To’s.
• Extra Tip: For the past two decades, I’ve used a mix of Prismacolor Pencils, and Caran D’Ache Luminescent Pencils on my monotype prints. I have pencils from the original set I bought in 1999, and all these years later, they still adhere beautifully and brightly to most printmaking inks. They are one of my favorite art supplies for enhancing monotypes and watercolors. (Here is another post about using colored pencils to repair watercolors.)

Monotype Printmaking - Try It

I hope you'll give monotype printmaking a try. There are many ways to make these prints, and Ive barely scratched the surface here. If you'd like to peruse a tutorial playlist of methods, here is a line up of instructional monotype printmaking videos on my YouTube channel.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you in the next post -

Belinda

P.S. There have been a few books focused on printing monotypes using gelatin plates rather than a sheet of glass or plexiglass, like this one. Also, try a monotype from a Gelli print!

Art Quote

You become what you give your attention to. ~Epictetus

The post Exploring Watercolor and Colored Pencil on a Figurative Monotype Print appeared first on Belinda Del Pesco's Art Blog Belinda Del Pesco.

Gelli Plate Monoprint Still Life Ballpoint Pen Drawing Transfer with Colored Pencil

Here are step by step images of a gelli plate monoprint still life ballpoint pen drawing transfer, with colored pencil added. I know - that's a real mouthful to describe the process, but that's the best way to describe it, I think. I added a list of previous posts on this process below if you're curious to learn how to make one of these monoprints.

What I love about this process is speed (you can make a pile of them in just a few hours), plus there is no carving or sharp tools, and you don't need a press. You also don't need printmaking ink; the transfer works perfectly with standard acrylic paint (like this stuff).

Links to Gel Plate Drawing Transfer Monoprint with Acrylic Posts

If you’re new to this process, there are five previous posts in this series of Ball Point Pen Gelli Plate Drawing transfers:

• The first gel monoprint post features a girl on a sailboat and all the links where I learned how to make one, as well as the basic supplies necessary to get started.
• My second gel plate and ballpoint post is a monoprint of a girl practicing at the piano, with process photos and a bit of inspiration from other printmakers around the internet.
• Then, the third gelli plate monoprint post is a still life around a dinner table, with process tips to take note of, based on a few of the hiccups I tripped on.
• The fourth monoprint gelli plate with ballpoint is a couple of dogs, in a smaller format, with encouragement to stay the course with this printmaking process, till your efforts start to really bear fruit (it is totally worth it and so fun).
• The fifth gel plate ballpoint drawing transfer is a little larger, and its a portrait of a dad twirling his little girl in the backyard, with links to some inspiring essays and videos that are art-related.

Gel Plate Monoprint Art Adventures

Quite a few of you have tried this printmaking method and written me enthused emails since I started sharing blog posts detailing the process.

If you're in the camp of intrigued-but-still-pondering, and you haven't tried it yet, I hope you take the leap soon.

Supplies you'll need (and I bet you already have most of these) are a reference photo you'd like to transfer, sturdy printmaking paper, a bold tip ball point pen, a gel plate, acrylic paint, a brayer, and some heavy books.

Stop by and let us know in the comments how your Gel plate monoprint adventures turned out. Carry on. Be brave. Have a go at it.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you in the next post -

Belinda

P.S. Read Shawn Smucker's essay titled Please Use AI (which is a different call to action than you might think).

Art Quote

We make, I've come to understand over many years of experience, not simply to produce objects, but to care for ourselves - to connect to our humanity, to one another and to the long lineage of makers who came before us. Handwork grow=unds us in a world that moves faster than we can comfortably process, offering rhythm, resistance and meaning. Learning something new, such as language or a craft, rewires the brain and broadens our sense of what we're capable of. ~Melanie Falick

The post Gelli Plate Monoprint Still Life Ballpoint Pen Drawing Transfer with Colored Pencil appeared first on Belinda Del Pesco's Art Blog Belinda Del Pesco.