Printing Life Beneath the Waves

This week I spent time doing some light-hearted monotype printing. Fish!

Sometimes simple projects can be a good recharge. I’ve been physically and emotionally immersed in the details of the large quilt I’ve been working on, and I needed a break. And, as I begin to think of what projects I want to work on next. Playing with some organic forms in pleasing colors is a good transition.

I cut a fish stencil that I liked. (Actually, I cut two stencils. The first one was just awful. A few prints convinced me that I needed a plan B.) I like the simplicity of this one, and the contrast between the large solid fish body and the delicate appendages.

I did all of my printing in a single color – a dark black blue. I mixed up phthalo blue with black about 50-50. I pulled a few scraps from my previously printed stash. They provided nice contrast.

The yellow-brown pattern is a sheer polyester. That brown pattern was printed as a linoleum block print.

The bright lime green is a piece of shiny sateen. The blue-green piece is cotton muslin. Each of these had been previously painted.

A few nice rediscoveries from this printing session:

Transparency: I love the way a thin coat of acrylic allows just a hint of what’s printed underneath to show. Here’s a sample of that on the piece printed blue/black over the yellow patterned fabric.

Contrast: Creating effective monotype shapes really depends on good contrast. On the yellow prints, the overprint is a good contrast both in hue and value. On the blue-green fish, the hues are all in the same family, but the value of the blue/black is different enough that the shape shows well.

I decided to make the yellow printed fish into a paper collage.

I added some other fabric scraps, mixing up sheers and muslin. Everything is collaged with matte medium onto a sheet of 140# watercolor paper

Then I added a few hand-drawn elements.

Here’s a detail

The finished, matted collage is on my website, HERE. I hope you’ll take a look.

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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Magical Transparency

I’ve been looking at a small fabric collage in my studio this week, and seeing in it some of the magic properties of transparency.

In creating fabric and rice paper collaged pieces, there are a few transparency tools in my toolbox. First, is using fabric that is itself transparent. (Generally, I use polyester sheers.) Second, is using the acrylic paint in a transparent way – usually by mixing it with matte medium. Finally, printing wet is a watercolor-like way to get transparency.

Here’s some of what I’ve been looking at. This is a section of the collage that I rust-printed onto polyester sheer.

This section is made of several separate pieces collaged on top of each other. The transparent fabrics blend beautifully.

Next, I added an overlay of transparent acrylic over the rust-printed fabric, along with a section of monotype printed rice paper next to it.

I have to admit, this just makes me crazy with excitement. The warm orange adds a wonderful depth to the fabrics beneath it. When I am unhappy with this method, it is almost always because I mixed the acrylic too opaque. Here, I felt that I got it right. Even the interesting print marks on the rice paper show through the orange acrylic.

Here, the orange transparent acrylic is printed over a section of opaque muslin.

It does not have the same luscious effect as when printed over other transparent fabric. But, I think the effect is interesting, and works to create some variations in foreground-background.

This section of teal fabric was printed as a monotype, and I kept everything pretty wet.

Variations in wetness are in the printing plate, the fabric and the paint itself. Thinning acrylic with water creates a different effect than thinning it with medium.

Here’s the composed collage: “To find the breath for song.”

 If you’d like more information about this collage, it’s on my website HERE

I enjoy mixing my studio practice between creating large, quilted wall pieces and creating smaller pieces mixing paper and fabric. What I learn in each kind of work always opens up doors to seeing something new when I return to the other work.

COUNTDOWN! i’m looking forward to exhibiting in three outdoor festivals this Fall. To readers near Central Florida, I hope to see you there!

Winter Park Autumn Art Festival… October 12-13
Maitland – Rotary Festival Under the Stars… November 8-10
DeLand Fall Festival of the Arts… November 23-24

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,
please subscribe here:  BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories,
as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts,
I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.
You’ll hear from me by e-mail about once a month.

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