Clay Mono Printing - Part 2

Sorry to all those who came here with most of the images missing~ I am not sure what happened but I do think the images are showing up now. How embarrassing. Thank you, CLC, for letting me know!

Here are individual images of the prints I pulled. You just get revved up when the class is over. We had one person who had taken a workshop last year and he said at the end of the weekend that he was finally starting to grasp the possibilities of what he could do with this medium. Mary Lynn said it took her at least 4 workshops before she developed her own style. I think I have a pretty good idea of the direction I want to go in the next class I take. It was a good break from oil painting and gave me a greater understanding of history and layering.

First Print

Here is the first print I did. I learned after this print to not jump right in and cover it up with kaolin. That there was a possibility I could pull either a second print or using scraps I could maybe pull sections from the plate into a new print. It is a learning process. In this one I used some plastic stars, netting, a foam bar with 3 holes to use as stencils. The blue swirl is called a transfer. You squirt the color onto newsprint; let it dry; then transfer it to your plate spritzing it with water to release the transfer. The dark yellow is also a transfer. The black is dried kaolin (ie chalk) grated through a strainer onto wherever you want it. It is such a fascinating way to work.

2nd print/plate painted on

2nd Print, three sections reprinted. Not as strong color

On these scraps I went back over the plate without adding anymore pigment. I wanted to see what would come up. I did not put but two coats of the solid color on top of my stencils. The more layers you lay down, the more you can get out of it. So notice on the third print over, the blue has come up from the first days print with the stars. It is crazy how the prior 'plate' comes through on successive prints.

On the second full day, I worked on two plates. Michael had prepared a second plate for all of us, but Mary Lynn was generous enough to share one of her 8x8 well used plates with me. With each use of a plate, history is being made. I will attempt to show you what that means. On my first try, I laid down ochre as the background. The plate came with that grayish mauve color. It doesn't look like I put down any layers of kaolin between that and the ochre. I then put that raspberry color over that and made the polka dots etc on top of the ochre. I printed without the plate being the correct dryness/wetness. This was way too wet. So it came out without any real crispness to edges and lots of the mauve coming through. along the edges you can also see different colors coming up.

8x8, printed while too wet

Here is the same 8x8 plate as I thought to recreate the first print I did, but I then went off on a tangent. You can see a few different patterns peaking through. I cut the circles out of newsprint as well as a frame and then went over it all with the white kaolin. Well, someone decided to help me and put a second coat of the white covering up my little newspaper circles. I had neglected to take a photo before adding the white overcoat so I would see where to look to pull up the circles! Hence the scrapes through the image as I tried to locate them. Yet, I think it needed those scrapes. The whited specs are from the clay coming up from these scrapes. I just added them back in to the mix.

8x8, second attempt, new background

8x8, second attempt; second print pulled

I can't decide which way I like this set of prints but you can see from this second pull from the plate how much is coming up from previous prints. Even in the scrapes I did, there is purple coming in! I did not use purple! And see the pink dots coming through from my first attempt on this plate that didn't come through on the print right above this one. It is so much fun to see what happens. It was a fascinating journey where you must leave your expectations at the door.

Now that I have had this little introduction I may just have to do it again. I now have some ideas on direction knowing a little more about the process. I am sure there is still so much to learn and experiment with.

Here is the link to sign up for the summer classes if you are so inclined. I am sure there will be more weekend workshops come fall.

Clay Monoprinting - Something completely different! pt 1

Father Brian with art displayed by a young artist who is also the receptionist 

I met this delightful woman who was coordinating an event at a local church. The young and energetic priest, Father Brian, decided to host an evening of celebrating beauty. It included four musicians playing chamber music (one of the musicians is in the parish) and artists displaying their work. Most of the participants of this evening celebrating beauty were either people who worked at the parish in some capacity or related to someone who works there. Except me. I have a friend who works there and she gave my name to the event coordinator, who is also an artist. Fr. Brian gave a short, maybe 20" talk on why beauty is important in our life and that we need to support those that create beauty, whether through their music, their art, architecture, etc. Wow! Was that ever a breath of fresh air. That beauty nourishes our soul. Indeed!

My table with St Joseph

Mary Lynn had clay mono prints displayed at her table. I was intrigued. I had never seen any print of any kind that looked like these. I could not wrap my head around what or how do you print with clay?? After the event I wrote her a thank you for her hard work and success and for including me. I also told her I would like to know more about this process if she would ever be willing to let me observe when she was in her studio doing this mysterious printmaking technique! I had looked it up online so I had a vague clue, but really more questions than answers. In response she sent me a flyer of an upcoming 15 hr CE credit workshop over three days. One spot was left out of the 3 weekends it was offered. I took the spot. Not surprising with CE credit being offered, most of the students were art teachers, taught by two retired art teachers.

'Blank' Canvas, or clay plate covered in kaolin

This is the start of our first full day. The evening before we had built the frame (16x20) and pushed the clay into the frame to make a flat surface. After getting the clay rather flat, 3-4 coats of kaolin (a clay often found in facial masks) was brushed on. Each coat had to dry before applying the next coat. It is now ready to apply color and texture and the tools are lined up for that. I did not take enough photos in between and for that I am sorry. So we jump from plain plate to showing the results down below of the first set of prints. Mine is the one with stars. I will provide better photos of what I produced in part 2.

Samples of first days efforts - in print

 In creating a print, I had no expectations. I had grabbed a pile of objects to create texture and patterns. I had mixed up the teal and raspberry pigments and then used colors from other students at the table. As newbies we always mixed more than we needed... Of which very little actually shows up in my print. I am showing Mary Lynn's demonstration below. She had her plate covered and is now adding decals. The whole thing will be covered in a solid color of white and the color will only remain where the decals or stencils are.

 The resulting print that Mary Lynn did is below in the upper left hand side.  The prints are printed on a plastic fabric similar to Pellon in texture and content. ie plastic. I could not figure out in the videos I watched when the called it 'fabric' yet it look and acted like a paper you would use in printmaking.

Also in the photo above is my second print done on Day 3. It takes time to build up the layers you need to pull a print. Each layer of color you put on has to dry and then be embedded. Any texture or pattern or decal or stencil all have to be embedded using your roller and newsprint. It is a process. Most of us had two plates we were working on so that while one was drying we could be creating on another. In the first image below I am considering doing what Mary Lynn had done in her demo using stencils I had made. Since my background was mostly shapes I made my stencils to recreate those shapes, remembering that where the stencils are, the original background will show through. Everything else will be covered. I used a denim blue as my cover coat on this one.

Did you notice the lined newsprint used in elementary schools is my stencil material?
I also used post it notes of varying sizes in the first layer.  

Here I am pulling my print after much rolling and pressure using the back of a spoon to get the transfer to be as much of the pigment as possible. The corners and edges tend to dry faster than the main plate so it takes much spraying of water and more pressure to get the color and edges to be as clear and sharp as the original.
What I learned is that you are only limited by your imagination! If this is of any interest to you there are some upcoming workshops. They do fill up fast. Contact Mary Lynn or Michael Cellan, who is the main instructor, Michael Cellan's Great Art Workshops, 2415 Tremont St, Colorado Springs, CO 80907. These workshops are held in Littleton, Colorado.