...and tigers, oh my

[wayfaringwordhack]

I decided to try out monoprinting with the kids the other day, and despite the tutorial stating bristol* paper was the best to achieve good effects, we were overall disappointed with the outcome.  We tried watercolor paper, too, and got marginally better results.  We also used different watercolors (two types of child-grade paints as well as my Winsor and Newton) and I later used some gouache as well, and one test with acrylic.  The artist also said that plexiglass could be used instead of glass but the plastic sheets we used just caused the paint to bead and were quickly abandoned in favor of glass.

After lots of frustration, I got out my Yupo paper and tried again.  Here is my first attempt, the print part being the green background, upon which I used to a brush and different colors to get lots of texture.  The result pleases me, but of course, it does not show monoprinting to its full advantage.

The next morning, I decided to try tiger portraits instead.  And despite thinking through the process and deciding to apply orange first, I forgot and applied black gouache stripes to the glass, applied Yupo paper, and then hand-painted the orange:

 >

 

 

The gouache dried so fast, I decided to wet a piece of bristol paper and then apply it to the glass. This was the smeary, yet cool result, again hand-painted and details applied with gel pen:

 

 

Then I went back and tried my original plan of orange print followed by black print on Yupo paper and got this:

 

 

All in all, a satisfying way to experiment with different techniques.  Do you have a favorite?

 

__________

* The artist giving the advice is based in Berlin, so maybe what is available to her is not the equivalent of what I am using in France

Comments

[asakiyume]

How interestingly frustrating a technique! And yet in spite of the frustrations, I like the effect you ended up getting: I think you were smart to do (a) foliage and (b) something with fur, because the smeariness of the process sort of imitates those things. In the last print, for example, it really looks like fur along the bridge of his nose. I think I like that last one best--I like the shade of orange, and I like the expression you got in his eyes. In the first two tiger portraits, I like the white hairs in the ears ^_^ Great detail.

[wayfaringwordhack]

And your comment reminds me that I forgot to add the gel pen whiskers, etc to the third attempt. :p

[asakiyume]

LOL! I thought that was a deliberate choice!

[wayfaringwordhack]

hehe. Nope, but it does work without them. Still, for consistency's sake, I shall draw some on. :D

[wayfaringwordhack]

How interestingly frustrating a technique!

That sums up my experience perfectly. :P The last tiger really showcases what the technique has to offer and the kinds of results you would want to use it for. :)

[asakiyume]

Yeah! It *can* do cool things. Go you for pushing at the edges of it and seeing what it can and can't do. Makes me curious to try. I even have a piece of glass lying around, heh.

[eller]

I think I like the last tiger picture best. It's so expressive!

[queenoftheskies]

I love the first picture. The textures are amazing.

It's neat to see how the different techniques affected the differences between the remaining pictures.

[wayfaringwordhack]

Yes, applying the different techniques was so much fun. It pushes you to want to try again and again. :D

[green_knight]

I don't like the first tiger picture as much as the others, but they've all got something to offer. What a great technique.

[wayfaringwordhack]

Yeah, the fascinating thing is that even if you try to get the same results each time, you just can't. Each piece will always be unique; add to that all the variations you can deliberately introduce, and you have so many possibilities!