Cats Again! This time with monotype process

It's been a couple weeks at least since my last post. Using as much of my time as possible in the studio, I decided to make some monotypes. It was a good diversion from the aluminum foil etching process I'd been experimenting with (see my November 17th post.) The end result was a lot of small monotypes, all similar in subject (cat), but all different in various ways.

I started by painting a simple, stereotypical sitting cat image on a piece of plexiglass. I used a type of tempra paint that is non-toxic and under the brush it has the feel of fingerpaint -- sort of "slippery" even on paper, let alone a plexiglass surface. All of the monotypes in this series were executed with a sable brush. The paints are water-base so they dry fast. That meant decisive, quick work on my part. But I enjoy working that way so this was actually a very relaxing process and the immediate results captured my interest and enthusiasm. The session only ended when I had to hunt the studio for more paper to use!

Once I had my painted image, I placed the paper on top of it and hand-rubbed with a baren to pull the print. I tried different kinds of paper and also experimented with pulling prints from prints that had larger amounts of paint on them. Some of those prints are among my favorites. I also pulled some second prints from the plate image if there seemed to be sufficient paint remaining.

I did not remove the paint from the plexiglass between prints. Instead, I allowed it to build up and found that it provided a better "tooth" for subsequent layers of paint. Also, I did not enslave myself to the exact contour of the image from one print to the next. At some point it occurred to me to put more control on the direction and pressure of the baren and in that way I could indirectly manipulate the way some of the paint contacted the paper.

Here are the top 25 monotypes -- the ones I decided to mat and offer in my art shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/PoppengaArtStudio. Not all of these are currently listed at the etsy shop but eventually will be. All of these are for sale, so if you see one here that you'd like to purchase but that is not yet listed at my etsy shop let me know. I've put numbers next to each print shown below; use the number to refer to the print when you contact me. Each print is matted as shown. Some are printed on a kind of Japanese Rice Paper, and so in those particular ones you can see some "waving" that gives a textile feel to the print.

1.

  

  

2. SOLD

3.

 4.

5. 

6.

7. SOLD




8.

9.



10. SOLD

              11.SOLD

      12.

    13. 

   

14.

             15.SOLD

16.

      17.SOLD

 18. SOLD

19.

20.

21.

      22.SOLD

23. SOLD

         24.SOLD

       25.SOLD

Number 1 has an oriental feel, I think. Number 25 was among the first ones printed. See if you can pick out the ones in this group that are "second pulls" or "mirror pulls."  Most of the prints are sort of generic cats of the kind commonly referred to as domestic short-hair, which is what my cat is. However, there are a few that resemble the Maine Coon breed. My mother has a Maine Coon and so I suspect that's how that interpretation got from my visual memory to the paint to the paper. One does, after all, paint what one is familiar with.