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Category Archives: monotype

Monotype Magic class at MISSA, July 2017 - printmaking fun and exploration - student works, playing with ghosts and working a series


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Those Who Can Teach, Do!


Copy of 20170702_162012_HDR

Happy faces at the end of class!

The saying goes “those who can, do and those who can’t, teach”. This past July I rediscovered the immense satisfaction of teaching something I love to do. I taught a class at MISSA (Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts) at the beautiful Pearson College campus in Metchosin, BC for the second time. As with every class I’ve taught in the past, it was an exhilirating and inspiring experience. The class I taught was Monotype Magic. The magic, I discovered, was not only in the art making but in the teaching experience. The enthusiasm and enjoyment of my students was so infectious and their praise for the process and myself both gratifying and humbling.  I welcome anyone who can do something well, to teach it to others. Not only will your students benefit from your expertise but you yourself will learn from your students and find a renewed sense of purpose and enthusiasm for your craft. Thank you to my wonderful students for the opportunity to share my passion with you!

Below are some images of the artworks created during this workshop. More images can be viewed here.

Monotype Magic class at MISSA, July 2017 - printmaking fun and exploration - student work

Monotype Magic class at MISSA, July 2017 - printmaking fun and exploration - student work, pulling the print

Pulling the print

Monotype Magic class at MISSA, July 2017 - printmaking fun and exploration - student works, playing with ghosts and working a series

Many shades of blue, playing with ghosts and working a series

 

Monotype Magic class at MISSA, July 2017 - printmaking fun and exploration - student work, working a series and using multiple plates

Multiple plates

Monotype Magic class at MISSA, July 2017 - printmaking fun and exploration - student work

Abstract explorations

Much of the class time was spent developing series of works incoorporating the ghost imagery left on the plate. Below are my demo prints showing two of these ghost prints.

Monotype Magic class at MISSA, July 2017 - printmaking fun and exploration - teacher's demo, first of two ghost prints

Teacher’s demo, first of two ghost prints

Monotype Magic class at MISSA, July 2017 - printmaking fun and exploration - teacher's demo, second of two ghost prints

Teacher’s demo, second of two ghost prints

What about you – do you have a great class experience that you might like to share?


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A Bed of Lotus


A Bed of Lotus

A Bed of Lotus

Remember my sneak peak? Well here is the completed artwork, all finished and mounted onto board!

It’s a multiplate print measuring 18″x24″ and titled A Bed of Lotus. Creating the artwork was a fun challenge, especially the surrounding abstract section, which was worked over quite a bit. Mounting it was an even greater challenge due to its large size. It required precise trimming of the paper, brushing of acrylic medium on both the back of the paper and front of the board and then some very careful aligning of both elements and pressing down to ensure that all would be glued together with no air bubbles. I used some strong muscle with a baren over wax paper on the piece to push down the paper which continually wanted to curl upwards. Finally I weighted everything down overnight to firm the bond.

I painted the sides of the board prior to mounting the print and waxed them to seal afterwards. A close up of one side is shown below.

A Bed of Lotus, side view

A Bed of Lotus, side view

Mounting the piece rather than framing behind glass was a little scary, so much could have gone wrong, but the final result is very pleasing and impactful as there is no glass to blunt the view of the print. It’s a much lighter piece to move around as well! A few more details are below.

A Bed of Lotus, detail 1

A Bed of Lotus, detail 1

A Bed of Lotus, detail 2

A Bed of Lotus, detail 2

I intend to submit A Bed of Lotus to a show but if you’d like to save me the trouble I am offering it this week at $750.


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Tuesday Tales – We Are All Made of Stars


Stardust

Stardust

Starlight

Starlight

Starglass

Starglass

These three pieces are from a series of small, four inch square monotypes I made, using the ghost imagery of the previous work to build upon for the next. I created the works using two mylar circles of varying sizes which I inked and placed in different parts of the square whole. I used only two colors, black and yellow ochre in the pieces. The textures were created both by the printing process and the use of talcum powder as a resist. I liked the translucency achieved and from the first monotype I knew I would be creating heavenly bodies in space.

I once had the chance to chat with a Hungarian astronaut who had been out in space. I asked him about the light out there and he told me it was extraordinary yet hard to describe. It had a brightness and clarity that was not perceivable on earth because of our atmosphere, and it filled up space, with the dark areas serving as a wonderful foil to the light. I thought of this as I made these pieces, remembering that space was not dark and empty but a place filled with light and possibility.

I turned these pieces into the triptych below, wrapping the paper around wooden blocks, and called it Stars 3. The pieces are available individually for $50 each or all three for $110.

Stars 3

Stars 3

You can contact me at chiarina@chiarina.com to purchase or for further information.


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Tuesday Tales – Two In The Wood


Two in the Wood

Two In The Wood

Today is my birthday and as I count my blessings, not only do I run out of fingers and toes, but one of them stands out shining brightly. So I dedicate this post to D, who shelters me in his home in the woods and in his warm, abiding heart.

This piece was created several years ago when I first began exprerimenting with monotypes. It is primarily brayer and palette knife work with added collage of printed handmade papers. The contrasting light and dark elements is a study of opposites attracting and complimenting each other, allowing each to shine against one another. It has special meaning for me today as I was gifted with this beautiful quote.

“I will love the light for it shows me the way. Yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.”
Og Mandino

Two in the Wood, a 10″x12″ monotype on 15″x20″ paper, is offered this week at $200, unframed.


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Tuesday Tales – A Balancing Act


In Good Company

In Good Company

The Japanese love odd numbers and things off center. When I first lived in Tokyo many years ago I immediately fell in love with their pottery and china but couldn’t fathom why their tea and dinner sets came in groups of five. I thought how awkward this would be for entertaining. Do they have gatherings of two couples with a child or a single person? Is that last place at a table for six always left empty? Or do they buy double sets of everything? They didn’t seem to have particularly large families, or dinner tables for that matter. Quite the opposite. Most Japanese families were small and living in cramped quarters. I soon learned that the number four in Japanese is synonymous with death so that number is avoided. But why five and not six? I received no clear explanation on that. Some said it was to avoid divisible numbers, especially with gift giving, for to be divisible means to be more easily broken. Others claimed this was the ideal family size.

Then came the study of ikebana. I now had to learn to arrange flowers of vastly uneven lengths in odd shaped vases and tilted at extreme angles, all held together in the tiny circle or square of the sharply needled kenzan. While confusing at first, it developed my appreciation for the beauty and the delicate balance of its minimalist design.

In fact I Iearned that balance was key in many aspects of Japanese life, and it was not rooted in evenness or stability but in a dynamic interplay of all things. I brought those lessons to my own life and my own art, and I have learned that the greatest harmony and beauty is achieved not when we have our feet planted firmly on the ground but when we embrace the mutability and precariousness of life.

In the piece above I tried to infuse that sense of delicate harmony and pay tribute to my Japanese sensei. There are five cups but not all the same. The teapot is mirrored with the ghostly presence of another, for comfort is closely tied to the knowledge and memory of treasured traditions. The vertical elements are reminiscent of Japanese scrolls and banners. The colors in the piece are the subdued tones seen in much Japanese art both past and present.

In Good Company, a 12″x16″ monotype, is offered this week for $250, unframed. You can contact me at chiarina@chiarina.com to purchase or for further information.


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Tuesday Tales – Sea


Sea

Sea

Summer sweltering
Melting popsicles and dreams
August stars race past

Summer is still upon us, though these days it seems to be breathing its last breath. While the sun valiantly heats up our days the coolness in the shade augurs Autumn’s eminent arrival. Here on the west coast the evenings are always cool but while cloud and rain are the norm for much of the year, the summer skies are awash in stars in the summer months. And there is no better place to view the evening sky then by the sea where the stars and moon send down a rain of diamonds onto the water.

This print is an early one of mine, when I first began to experiment with monotype.  Monotypes are prints made from working paint on a smooth surface; usually plexiglass, metals or prepared mat board. The paint is then transferred to the printmaking paper through the pressure of a press.  A monotype is unique in the world of printmaking in that it is a unique, non editionable print, for once the paint is removed from the original surface there is no etched image left to create further prints. Why not work directly on the paper you may ask? The answer is that working on a plate gives you a sharp edge and indentation to the image, and more importantly, the process of squeezing the paint onto the paper with the press results in wonderful textures in the work unobtainable with direct painting. This print was worked mostly with a palette knife and brayer, with a bit of softening of edges with a brush. The little rectangle with kanji on the bottom left corner was a piece of mylar inked separately and layered on top. The kanji is “umi” which means sea or ocean in Japanese. I wanted to portray the shimmering light on the water from a night sky, though it just as easily can be seen as light after stormy weather. I hoped to render it abstract enough to let the viewer’s imagination take him wherever he sees. Where do you find it taking you?

Sea, a 10″x12″ monotype, is offered this week for $180 unframed.


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Tuesday Tales – When Moms Fly


Rain Dance

Rain Dance, detail

Today’s post is a guest post, written by my daughter while I’m up in the air off on an adventure. I’ve chosen this piece for her to write about in honour of Mother’s Day which is fast approaching. I thank her and look forward to reading what she has to say!

Daniela here.  Of course, I am publishing my Mother’s Day tribute post a day late, so this week I have a Wednesday Tale to offer.    I usually make my mom pancakes for Mother’s Day, but this year she will have to endure the unsalted bread she has condemned herself to while on vacation.  Some of the ingredients she will enjoy would undoubtedly make me cringe (porcini, nero di seppie), but for the most part, I am jealous of all the food she will have access to.  My approach to food, along with many other habits, has undeniably been influenced by my mother.  Today’s piece, Rain Dance, makes me think of how much I am like my mother, how much more I notice all the ways that I have inherited her.  The way that the son and mother in Rain Dance mimic each other’s stances, the way their right feet are both crossed and their heads both face down, reminds me how much I have learned to copy from my own mother.  The way I sniff, sigh in annoyance, hate packaged soup stock, or love science fiction, for example, are all borrowed from her.  These preferences and habits that have defined me among my friends are also what connect me to my mother.  I will realize that a quirk I have which I thought made me unique is really just a second-hand habit, a tribute.  I will realize that I am inescapably becoming my mother, but sometimes, she also becomes me.  Our shared appreciation of Linkin Park (many, many years ago) is proof of that and is something I think we both try to forget.

So Happy Mother’s Day, Mama, I told everybody that you like Linkin Park.

 

Rain Dance, an 11″x14″ mixed media monotype, is offered this week at $250 unframed, or $300 framed.


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Tuesday Tales – Boston Calling


Through The Darkness

Through The Darkness

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post today. The news of yesterday’s tragic bombings in Boston have left me terribly saddened. While any act of terorism and violence is abhorent to me, the fact that  it was directed at a running event brings it just a little closer to home. I have friends who have run the Boston marathon. I run in races myself all the time. These are events that have no political or social agenda. Rather, they are a celebration of human endeavor, spirit and community. It seems especially cruel to have targeted the finish line, the place where feelings of accomplishment and elation should have run high, and the place where families and friends gathered to cheer on the participants. Instead, a shadow of sorrow will forevermore haunt this place and those unfortunate families who were hit hardest with the blasts.

I have no words of comfort for them. There are no reasons that make any sense of such tragedies, other than in the twisted minds of those responsible. The world is as dangerous , and as beautiful, a place as it was two days ago. Only once again we are reminded to pay attention to our lives, our loved ones and our dreams. To be kind and giving and charitable. To try to make the world a better place in whatever way we can. Only then can there be any good out of such tragedy.

The monotype above, measuring 5″x5″, is a demo I did for a class. It is the kind of abstract I like to do that references light and passages, time and space. I thought it would make an appropriate offering for today. It is priced at $60 unframed for this week.

I have also found this video to be a wonderful balm for the spirit. May it bring you peace today and always.


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Tuesday Tales – A Question of Time


Time races forward

Streaming tendrils of the past

Gossamer weavings

A few years past I took part in a show with the theme of Interleaving.  Interleaving is a term traditionally used to describe translucent, protective papers between the pages of an often illustrated  book.

Thinking about the nature of the interleaf, of how it protects precious text and illustrations and of how its translucent fabric gives the smallest glimpse of what lies below, I began to see how time works in the same fashion. For time is the ultimate interleaf, acting as a shifting veil between past, present and future.

The passage of time is something I think about often. I view my life in distinct blocks of time, defined mostly by the places I have lived, which have been numerous. I see these as the building blocks from the past that determine who I am in the present. Yet I notice how time fades memory, eroding these blocks into weathered ruins that I revisit and treasure. My creative outpourings then become my interleavings, stemming the tide of time, forming a protective barrier to the inevitable loss of memory that it brings.

Sometimes my musings about time find their way into my artwork in unintended ways. The monotype illustrated here is an example of that. Done as a demo for a monotype class, it illustrates the projective power of abstract imagery. Working quickly and instinctively, my mind inevitably chose to follow a well worn path.

Ruins

Ruins

Beginning with the ‘ghost’ imagery of a previous monotype, most evident in the top left quarter with the faded leaf and crumbling pot, the reference to memory and left over objects in far away spaces is apparent. The roll of rich, dark, broken color across the bottom half takes on the shape of an ancient bridge or aqueduct, alluding to past worlds and cultures. The pale strip of land beyond and the veils of color on the right speak of distance and time and its obscuring effect. The addition of delicate leaves and thin blades of grass growing at the base of the ‘aqueduct’ bring us to the present, from which we ponder over our fragile connections to the past. The piece is titled Ruins.

Ruins, a monotype, measures 5″x7″ on 10″x11″ paper, and is offered this week only at $60, unframed.

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