Magenta Man

I attended a meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association this weekend, in London Town (which is just south of Annapolis). Just to see what they were all about. They are all about oil painting. Oh well. But the demonstrations and panel discussions were interesting and the people were very nice. I added my name to the e-mail list for periodic "paint out" field trips in the DC area. Maybe I can sneak in among them with just my sketching paraphernalia. Maybe camouflage it in a jazzy pochade box. Maybe pretend with my watercolors or gouache.

Above is a Metro sketch done on a piece of paper that I had splotched months ago with a watercolor monotype, very abstract. I liked the colors so I cut the paper to size and bound it in my everyday sketchbook. The man looked very solemn and abstracted. So it's a fit!

Motto-of-the-Day: Incorporate indeterminacy.

Monoprint from Max

This is an experiment using a few original images made by my very good friend Max Hesser, age four and a half. I copied Max's drawings onto plexiglass with an engraving point on a Dremel. Then I printed that drypoint image on top of a monoprint. (I got the idea for this image from the demo in the Akua DVD entitled Safer Printmaking with Akua Water-Based Inks.)

Lessons learned: Getting a suitable under-image monoprint is difficult. I experimented with different mixtures and thicknesses of the inks, but was satisfied (well sort of) with only the version above. I was also surprised at how quickly the drypoint image lost it's wonderful mooshy and furry line. Just a few "pulls"! Must plan ahead better in the future!

I love my new little press! There are so many possibilities it's tough to decide what to try next. I really like the look of the drypoint line, however, and will continue to experiment with that.