When It Doesn't Work

"Not Alarmed Yet"

Pastel on monotype, Rives BFK

There are times when monotypes don't come out the way you planned and that can be a good thing resulting in a "happy accident" where you end up with something both wonderful and unexpected. However, this is not always the case with some monotypes, sometimes they just don't come out well at all. So what to do?

I had been taking all my failed prints (monotypes, etchings, woodcuts, etc) and storing them in a drawer with the hope that I would figure out what to turn them into at some later time. Perhaps tear then up and make them part of collages or paint over them and see if there was any more I could get out of them. But the pile in my drawer just kept getting bigger until I decided it was time to dig in and see what I could do with my failed prints.

I started experimenting with mediums that work on top of Rives BFK (the paper I use most for printmaking) and which will work on top of the oil-based inks that I use for my prints. I pulled out my pastels and started playing with layering color lines on top of one of my monotype ghost prints (a second print from a monotype plate that has already gone through the press once). I have been working towards loosening up my drawings and I thought I'd practice a bit with the pastel lines on this monotype. The result is what you see above. A loose pastel drawing that has a monotype "underpainting." I still need to work on this and I suspect I'll improve with practice, but I kind of like the effect that's achieved by using this technique. It also gives me hope that I will finally be able to do something with those "failed" prints stacking up in my drawer. I might have some future successes just waiting to be discovered in that stack.

Motion and Energy

One of my challenges as an artist is trying to depict the energy that comes from a subject in motion. Releasing my line to flow with fluidity and abandon is difficult for me at best. It's such an alluring trap to tighten up as I draw and there is always the danger that by doing so I can suck the life right out of my drawing. But if I manage to stay loose and let my lines be expressive, I can sometimes relay the energy and movement that I see in my subject. Sketching regularly helps.

I envy people who can draw with fluid and energetic (and sometimes seemingly erratic) lines while maintaining the integrity of the subject's essence and likeness. I marvel at artists like Henrich Kley who use such an expressive line and depict motion with ink line drawings. His compositions are fascinating and sometimes disturbing but there is no mistake about his imaginative, strongly individual style and vitality that he brings to his drawings both loosely drawn or tightly rendered.

Another amazing talent, my friend and mentor, Bruce Waldman, has taken monoprint drawing to a level all his own. He is an amazing etcher as well and has work in many public and private collections including the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. I aspire to draw with as edgy a line style and as beautifully as he does.

Yeah, I'm working on it...