"Reveal and Conceal" (Mono Printing Demo)

Today's posting is yet another Mono Printing Demo to show another way of using mono printed rice papers and texture stamps. The rest of the week I will be posting actual pieces (with a quote) using mono printed papers.

Printing techniques of any kind eventually end up with an inclusion of the oldest form of printing....rubber stamps. There are a myriad of different kinds of stamps on the market, but I suggest extreme caution about how they are used and what kinds are included. For fine art pieces, cute little stamps with hearts, flowers, little birds, etc. are not in the same category as fine art. Please save them for your scrap booking projects. 

The kind which will serve you well are the kind with all over texture or patterns. The one I included in today's demo looks like gauze with erratic tiny lines crisscrossing in both directions.

However, the mono printing was done first by placing app. 1/2 tsp of printing ink on the plate (a sheet of glass) and brayering that out in all directions until it sounds "squishy". I then sprayed that ink with  water and brayered over that again to create an erratic "pooling" of the color. Place the rice paper down in this mixture and smooth over it with your hand (wearing latex gloves) Lift it off and leave it on wax paper to dry.

I speeded up my drying time with a hair dryer and then brayered out some more color. I pressed the stamp into the color and began printing. Many areas were printed one on top of the other until the value was as dark as I wanted and yet you can still see a vague image of the mono print. It is also obvious that I left one rectangular area free of the stamping. That gives you an area for text underneath that will be vaguely visible or the inclusion of hand lettering or other elements. 

After drying all of this, I sprayed it 2x with spray acrylic coating and dried in between. One spraying is not enough for this amount of paint. The next step was to adhere a page of text on an 8" x 10" flat gesso board. I then adhered the mono print on top of that and then an ornate "D" printed on silk tissue paper.

The entire piece was dried thoroughly and then sprayed again with spray acrylic coating. Just an FYI....you will get a few bubbles with large areas of mono printed papers after they are adhered. I've created lots of pieces with this paper and this is quite normal. Just let it dry for several days...spray again....and then brush on a varnish 2x....drying in between. It will probably have a few more bubbles until it dries thoroughly. Over time it becomes very hard and I've had no issues. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"A Hymn"

(unavailable....4" x 6".....Mixed Media on 140lb. HP.....mounted on Masonite)

"The church bells rang and the voices sang a hymn to thee." I must be feeling nostalgic today because I remember the days when hymns were sung in church. I still remember most of the words to my personal favorites. In fact, a very special memory I have is my friend, Paula, taking me and a few other friends to a small church in Kennebunkport, Maine, where hymns were sung every Sunday with great vigor. A truly inspiring event for me.

This is a pouring medium piece done in a different way. Instead of pouring the medium onto the wet paper, the paint was applied with a palette knife. There was still some spontaneous movement of the paint, but not as much. It has a more painterly effect. The remainder of the piece is simply old book pages, rice paper, and one bit of a line engraving printed on silk tissue paper. There is also a lot of deconstruction going on to create some of those textures.

Even the colors in this piece reminded me of the Northeast Coast. It's only a 4" x 6" size so it's extremely easy to complete. The important thing to remember when doing these types of mixed media pieces, is to have as many selections in your "stash" as possible.

For instance, you could have a whole day of doing nothing but mono printing rice papers. It makes it so much easier when you already have that part done and all you need to do is go look through your papers to find just the right one.

I do use Speedball Printing Ink (water soluble) for this type of printing because you get a better print than you would if you used acrylic paint. Of course, you then need to spray it with Spray Acrylic Coating before it's ready to adhere to your support. 

You will not interrupt the flow of your creative process if you have these done in advance with all of the typical colors you use. I store mine in large plastic baggies and throw them into a plastic storage container. It's easier to dig through your plastic container of baggies than to rummage through a drawer and you will soon have too many of these to fit in a drawer anyway. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Textured Layering"

(unavailable)

"Textured layering with transparency creates depth." Technically speaking, all art is layering, but there is something about transparency that gives it more depth and more mystery.

This, of course, is another mixed media piece. Yesterday, I went into detail about the basic steps of how this particular process was created. Today I would like to touch on the particular techniques that create transparency. 

The most obvious transparency has to do with the materials. Rice paper is a wonderful paper because it was made for printing techniques and it has a wonderful translucence that can turn into transparency by gently rubbing over the surface, especially if it has just been glued to the support. There is just enough moisture in the top surface to "pill" off as you gently rub it with your fingers. 

The silk tissue paper (gampi) is also a beautiful material because it is totally transparent as you can see in the line engraved print of the leaves. Unusual color notes can be achieved by placing mono printed rice paper over the background, followed by the printed tissue paper. 

Deconstruction is also a way of achieving transparency by brushing gel matte medium over an old text page or a mono printed rice paper and then placing it over a section of the piece. Letting it sit for a minute or two and then removing the paper will leave behind an imprint of either the color or the text. It can be taken a step further by also rubbing over the deconstructed text and removing even more of the paper to create the transparency seen in the leaves and in the green color notes at the bottom.

This is a richly textured surface and even more can be achieved by working larger and introducing a more varied range of mono printed papers. It's extremely addictive, but I heartily recommend it as a way of show casing your personal drawings by printing them on silk tissue paper and including them in this type of mixed media setting. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Love, Truth, and Innocence"

(unavailable)
"Nostalgia is a longing for the return of love, truth, and innocence." Events can go very wrong in life, but there is always the nostalgia of praying and longing for redemption. Love, truth, and innocence can return by using the same power of choice that caused them to leave.

This piece contains colors (especially the rose color) that create a feeling of nostalgia. Like I've been saying again and again, the process of creating artwork with fluid acrylics and pouring medium gets a bit wild! Learning how to bring order and stability to the drama of all of that moving color is a challenge. (And you might choose to simply enjoy the end product with no additions whatsoever.) I have opted to stabilize this piece by stamping with a grid like pattern on blank 140lb. HP before adding the pouring medium mixture. And because of the nostalgic look, I also added some Baroque images of leaves created with line engraving. They can be found in the art section of many bookstores. This one is a Dover publication entitled Baroque Ornament and Design. The images are copyright free and because the designs have a lot of open areas...you have the advantage of seeing the background color through the drawing. Silk Tissue Paper (Gampi) will give the desired transparency. Your own personal drawings printed on this transparent paper would also be a nice touch.

There are other ways to control this process of moving color. For instance, if you have a tendency to pour too much of this mixture on the paper at once, try storing your different colors in a bottle with a pointed tip. This will automatically assist you in controlling how much color is being used.  (It will keep for months in these bottles.)  And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Remembrance"

($60.00......6" x 6"......mounted on a 1.50" depth clayboard)


"Remembrance leads our thoughts to the eternal." This quote is a veiled reference to communion where believers in Christ stop to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by partaking of the symbolic unleavened bread and wine. Every day is a good day to stop and remember.

This piece shows the complexity that can be achieved in mixed media. The first layer was erratic ink lines on a black sheet of Rives BFK. Black Speedball Printing Ink was applied over that with a brayer in a very select area going edge to edge. The third layer was white gesso applied with a credit card. That technique formed the veiling effect over portions of the black and the very think lines of texture.

My experience in kiln formed glass guided me through the layering of the collage and the decision to include one opaque section with two pieces that were printed on silk tissue paper. This is the same effect that happens when combining opaque and transparent glass in a three layer collage. (Check out the website of Kari Minnick to see the beautiful effects of contrasting opacity with transparency.)

The piece was then prepared for lettering by spraying with Krylon Spray Acrylic Coating and then (2) parts water and (1) part gel matte medium brushed over the surface.   You might also be interested in how the opaque piece of collage was created. I created a monoprint on Rice Paper and then printed the imagery over the monoprint. The ochre color created the warmth needed to contrast against all of the black. This is an example of the power of combining techniques and lots of contrasts to create a piece with depth and complexity. So there you have it. Just a few more things to try or think about.


Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.