Squarification . . .

This image (called "Dotted Squares") was created by using some of my hand-painted monoprints and then juicing them up a bit in the computer. I like the warm tones and the repeating square thingies (made by using the rectangular end of a makeup sponge).

I usually also see if the image can be turned into a square. Sometimes a square is better, sometimes it's just different, and sometimes it doesn't work at all.

In this case, I like the square version better, but it doesn't really matter. I'm fond of my whole concept and this gives me two images to upload to Fine Art America, not just one.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

What I'm Working On: More Monoprint Mania

When making my monoprints, I’m usually using 9x12 drawing paper, which is larger than my 8x10 Gelli plate, so there are often empty white spaces here and there on the paper which I don’t particularly care for (as you can see in the first photo). What to do?

When I bring the print into the computer (either by photographing it or scanning it), I can crop the monoprint so that the white areas off to the sides don’t show. But I can also use a Photoshop technique called “Content Aware Fill,” and Photoshop will arbitrarily fill in those white areas using the surrounding pixels of color as its guide, as you can see in the second photo.

If you’ve never used “Content Aware Fill” in Photoshop, look it up! It’s an easy and useful tool that I use all the time, so much so that I created an action for it which enables me to simply select where I want the effect to appear, click the action, and hoo ha!

But back to the monoprint. I don’t think it’s all that wonderful, frankly, as it stands, but I may make an envelope out of the physical print and it’ll look pretty good. As a framed physical print? Nope. It’s not interesting enough to me. But wait!

In the computer, using Photoshop, I cropped the image down to a square format and added some circles (third photo). Okay, now that’s better. This is worthy of sending off to Fine Art America for sale. But there’s even more.

Using Photoshop, I copied my original layer, flipped it, and applying two different blending modes created the two zig-zag versions you see in the last two photos. Not bad. And they could even be sold as a series along with the one with the circles. They would also look good as throw pillows, don't you think?

So there you have a peek into my little world, where I’m using paint, glue, scissors as well as computer technology to bring everything together. And you wonder what I do with my time? Well, this is a big part of it.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

What I'm Working On: Monoprint Mania

I'm having so much fun playing with creating monoprints. This is something I made yesterday using various colors (blue, metallic copper) and various handmade stencils. I've uploaded it to Fine Art America -- let's see if it sells!

Speaking of sales, they've been dreary this month. There was an adrenaline rush when someone purchased FIVE images last week, but then came back a couple hours later and cancelled the order. Sob. It's hard to not take that personally!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

What I'm working on: Monoprints Part 2

Last Friday I posted about making monoprints and how much fun I'm having with the process.

Here's the link to the post:

http://carolleigh.blogspot.com/2015/01/what-im-working-on-monoprints.html

The way I’m making these things is by using a brayer to apply paint to a Gelli Plate, a flexible silicone pad. I paint the Gelli Plate, make some marks in the paint, then press a piece of paper onto the plate. I rub the paper so it picks up the paint, then pull the paper off the plate. Easy.

Here’s the link to the Gelli Arts website, which contains a LOT of excellent information and tutorials:

http://www.gelliarts.com/ 

What kind of paint? I’m using acrylic paint, from cheapo craft paints in plastic bottles to higher-priced and highly pigmented Golden (brand) acrylics. I’ve also used fabric paint, but that takes 24 hours to dry.

What type of paper? I’ve made prints on old Japanese book pages, rice paper, deli paper, and ordinary drawing paper. The process won't work on coated or glossy paper because the paint doesn't stick to it very well.

 I get the drawing paper from Dick Blick. It’s 9” x 12” and comes in a ream of 500. (I know — redundant. A ream is 500 sheets.) The paper is really heavy, so I wait until they have a “free shipping” offer and then order a lot of it. (Three reams arrived here last week. The paper is just $13 or so a ream.) Here’s the link to the paper I use:

http://www.dickblick.com/items/10209-1033/ 

I’ve created patterns and designs on the painted Gelli Plate using string, rubber bands, cheesecloth, stencils, embossed paper, and my own cutouts. I’ve even pressed the tops of dried poppy pods into the paint to make a design. Here you can see what I did with some rubber bands.

If you wish specific instructions on making monoprints, the best advice I can give you is to go to the Gelli Arts website (above). You’ll find a lot of tutorials there. Do a Google search for the words “gelli art” and you’ll find a whole lot more. The process is fast, easy, surprising, and fun to do. You can’t really make a mistake.

 I know my posts are straying a bit from photography, but then, so am I to a certain extent! More posts about what I’m working on (WIWO) to follow, so fair warning!

©Carol Leigh

All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

What I'm working on: Monoprints Part 1

Thought I'd share with you what's going on (artistically) here in the studio. I'm currently infatuated with making monoprints! Look at all the ones I've made so far. And this is just a small selection. What I love about the process (more about that in an upcoming post) is the element of surprise. I'm never sure how these things will turn out, and that's the fun of it.

But what the heck am I going to do with all these? First off, they're great textures for me to photograph or scan and then use in my photomontages. But you already knew that.

The ones I printed onto soft, thin rice paper make interesting wrapping paper for gifts.

Other prints will be torn and cut and used in physical collages.

I'm also thinking of gathering up a stack, cutting them all the same size, and binding them into a journal/book.

And finally, maybe some of the more artsy images can be mounted onto watercolor paper and framed.

What does this have to do with photography? Remember my online macro class where we talked about the importance of backgrounds? Well, voila! Here you go. Make your own unique backgrounds in the colors you wish. And when you tire of using them, cut 'em up and make notecards or postcards or, if you're like me, consider making a little book of your art.

©Carol Leigh

All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!