Personal Best: My Favorite Monotypes of 2012

So in this set, I will talk about my favorite Monotype Prints of 2012. Monotype Prints are a process where ink is put on a solid surface then paper is pressed on to it. I like monotyping because it provides a quick and intense piece. With this printing style, the ink appears to sit on the page. I like playing with this effect and often will go back into the monotypes, adding ink and colored pencil to the print.

Above is Darkness Monotype #1. It is part of a series that showed at Ong King Gallery in Honolulu during the month of July. I started with an ink drawing of a deep sea jellyfish. I then added the print of extensions of its tentacles. I then used a colored pencil to connect the print and the ink image. 

I find the play of the tentacles in this piece very interesting to look at. It amazes me how well some of the ink images and also like the effect the water on the plate created on this, distorting the ink and creating pooled ripples in the ink. I started to play with the water on the plate effect later, especially in the next series.

Above is Forms in the Ink II. This series was five prints where I made abstract shapes then reworked the print with colored pencils. Of the five this is my favorite.

I do like the central red shape in this. It looks like a rose or a spiral galaxy. I like the play between the definition of the shapes in the spiral and the lack of focus in the rest of the print. Its almost like a vortex pulling the focus and attention there. 

Above is a portrait of Chris Martin It is part of the series of prints I did of my D and D group.

Chris is always in black so I wanted a black on black design for the stuff I reworked in the print. There is a spiderweb design on his shirt and the shape is echoed in the corner of the page.

I do think there is a pretty good likeness, although I think I made him look a little older then he actually looks. It is the first time I drew Chris in a while and it is a great print. 

Above is Darkness monotype number 9. I think of the series, this is my favorite of the prints. Although I have not heard that echoed by many people viewing the pieces.

I think I like it because of the rhythm created between the ink drawing and the monotype and the drawing in watercolor. There is a similarity in shapes between the seaweed that looks like an angry Audry II  and the extension of those shapes created by the monotype. It is then echoed again in the anatomical drawing of the muscles in the hand.

I also like the areas I reworked in the light colored pencils that bring the shapes of the original drawing back into prominence above the monotype. Again showing the play between the borders and shapes,.

Above is a really close for my favorite print of the year. It is of my friend Marc with a bear on his head.  It was part of my Friend 2012 Monotypes.

There are so many things I like about it. The likeness is there as well as the overall feel of the print. I smile whenever I look at this print.

Looking through my Monotypes, I'm a little unhappy with the number of prints I did. I really want to make an effort to do more of these in the up coming year.

"Hard work often leads to success. No work seldom does."

 ~ Harvey Mackay

Friend Monotypes: All together

On December 30th we celebrated Chris's Birthday in Waikiki. I originally planned to make this series of monotypes as a Christmas gift for this group of friends. However, I waited for them all to be together to get this photo of them holding their portraits. It is a great photo of all of them. Very pleased.

"Smile your best smile at everyone you see. 

Think about all the things you have to be thankful for... 

and smile. 

The world will smile with you."

 ~ Frank Bettger

Friend Monotype 2012: Chris

The last in this particular group of monotypes.  Chris Martin is one of my oldest adult friends.

He is like Johnny Cash, a man in black. I worked had to have a black on black on black theme for this print. He is a Final Fantasy addict and ran a D&D game for this group of friends we all still speak fondly of to this day.

Friend Monotype 2012: Brandon

This is a monotype portrait of my friend Brandon. This is not the first of these I did for Brandon.

So Brandon is my War Machine guru and the man ho got me into that little miniature game. He is also one of my few friends from this circle that I can routinely rope into a Camarilla game, though he very soon realizes his error.  Brandon is always game for a dorky card game, board game or session of an RPG. He also has a ridiculous collection of dice.

Friend Montoype 2012: Ryan

So this is monotype portrait of one of my friends. This it Ryan.

Ryan is the accursed bearer of the orange dice of doom, which will has the unfortunate knack of always rolling 3. Ryan is an aspiring Japanese linguist and the crafter of the Micheal Jackson D&D game that still lives in infamy amongst this group of friends. 

Monotype Portrait 2012 - Sarah

This is the second of this group of Monotypes that I have created as portraits of my friends. These are fun for me to do.

This is Sarah, my good  friend Justin's sister. She is also a teacher, herb grower, waterpark enthusiast, and the only one capable of dragging our group out to Haunama Bay a couple time a year. Very resourceful woman.

This print came out very nicely. It's a pretty good likeness of Sarah, and the print is pretty crisp.

"Like a snowflake we are the beauty of one." 

~ Kathleen Arnason

Monotype Portrait 2012 - Marc

So the next set of Monotypes I am working on is another set of monotype portraits of my friends. Last year's monotypes can be seen here. 

This new set, I want to do a little more then just faces. The Prints are smaller then the last set, but I want to see how much detail I can carve out of them.

This is the first one of this set. This is my friend Marc, our resident computer programmer, AIM enthusiast, video game aficionado and Orc named Kantolin. His favorite color is blue so thus blue is the dominate color.

He thought it a great idea to pose with a stuffed bear on his head. I though so too... 

Forms in the Ink V

This is print 5 in the series of Forms in the Ink. I did this one trying to highlight the swipe motions in the Monotype Print. I like the areas I chose to focus on. It creates a nice movement to the print.

This is the last of the Forms in the Ink series. I think if I revisit this series, I will try to fill the print with many little alterations to play with where the print begins and ends.

 I have begun a new set of Monotypes portraits of my friends.

Forms in the Ink IV

So this is the fourth of my series of Abstract Monotype Prints. In doing this, all sorts of wonderful things come forth. I had a lot of fun with the upper corner. I had a lot of fun accentuating certain aspects of the print.

"Children learn more from what you are than what you teach."

 -- W.E.B. Dubois

Forms in the Ink III

So this is another in my series of Forms in the Ink: A set of abstract monotype prints in black and red.

There is a landscape format to this piece that I find rather interesting. I also enjoy the arch-shape that descends through the center of the page. The shape is first created by the ink. As it enters the center of the page, it is then created through the positive shape of the colored pencil. Its end being made by the negative shape of the ink and colored pen.

This is an interesting print. I had a little difficulty deciding what to do with it. The water on the print created a flower petal like shapes near the top of the print that I really enjoyed.

I tried to make my additions with the colored pencils look similar to the marks made with the print. I find this to be a neat exercise in composition and form.  I also find that a lot of the changes I made are very subtle and blend nicely with the print.
 

"Love is a constant source of inspiration, surprise, and wonderment."

 ~ Gloria Estefan

Forms in the Ink II

I like this print so much I decided to make a series of them. I had the prints completed a few weeks ago and now begin the process of working back into them to add the extra layers of details.

There are three points to this print series:

1. The original print had a mistake that created a neat effect. There was some water on the plate before the print was pressed. So all the prints have some water placed strategically on the plate before they were pressed.
2. There is the juxtaposition of the of watercolor and the Monotype.  The blended watercolor contrasts so nicely with the sharpness of the Monotype print.
3. I also want to keep the prints free of figurative shapes. I want to play with the edges of the print and create new shapes with the colored pencils.

This Print started with the red circle. It looks like an abstracted rose or swirling whirlpool. I then worked on the shape on the left. I like how the off white pencil plays with the ink.There is a nice flow to this print. This should be a fun series.

Forms in the Ink I

 

I am very happy with this monotype print and need to work on some others similar to it. It has a number of things I really enjoy about this process.

There is the overall crispness of the print. I then used some water on the plate to create the watery effect on the lower part of the print. I then worked with color pencil on the upper corner. There is a neat push-pull with all the things going on in the print. I enjoy this print a lot and will have to do a few more of them.

Montypes - Jason Dancing

So awhile back, I was working on a group of monotypes. I prepped the plate and watched a man outside doing something similar to Tai Chi, but actually seemed more like a crazy person dancing in the park. There was a frantic chaos to his movements. It was a lot of fun trying to follow him.

I thought these prints came out rather neat looking. Some of the figures look like calligraphy. I do like a lot of the line quality and the crispness of the prints.

I enjoy the fun of creativity.

Matt

I cannot believe I forgot this one of the monotype portraits I did last year. It is actually one of the better ones of this series of Monotypes.

This is of my good friend Matt. It actually has a great likeness of him.

This print came out really crisp. I obviously had fun with the paint scrapper working on Matt's always-present overshirt. I like how I played with the two tools in this print: The hard paint scraper and the soft rubber pen.  The scrapper's crisp streaky shapes juxtaposes nicely in this piece with the soft scraper and the finer lines it creates.

Darkness Montypes 6-10

 So I did 5 more of these darkness monotypes. I really think these are better then the first 5 as a group. I really like the one of the sea anemone and the hand I think that's my favorite of this set. 

Darkness Monotypes 1-5

     I have been working on some monotypes for a show I'm trying to get into. The theme of the show Dark and Disturbing. So maybe I have Cthulhu on the brain but I am kind of creeped out and terrified by ocean creatures.
     I asked a favor from Ashlyn, my marine science friend, to send me weird pictures of sea creatures. I then took them as inspiration for these monotypes.

Am I on to something?

Brandon

Brandon Monotype, Monotype Print, 14' x 16"

"A man's friendships
are one of the best measures of his worth."
~ Charles Darwin

Looking contemplative, that is my buddy Brandon.

A soft print, but I went back into his hair and shirt with a wash to strengthen things up. 

Ashlyn

Ashlyn, Monotype Print, 14" x 16"

More with the monotyping portraits of my friends. I am so happy to create one-of-a-kind prints of my one-of-a-kind friends.

This is Ashlyn, our local cat girl and my go-to person when I need to clean areas of my house.

This is a pretty good Monotype. I like how clean her features came out and there is quite a good likeness.

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. 

Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.”

 ~ Dr. Seuss

Chris

Chris, Monotype Print, 11" x 14"

"True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends,
but in their worth and choice."
~ Samuel Johnson

Again in this series of my friends.

This is Chris, even clad with a key around his neck.

This print came out awesome. It's really clean and sharp. I think it came out great.

Justin

Justin, Monotype Print, 11" x 16"

So a little while ago I worked a series of portraits of my friends.

This one is my buddy Justin.

I really like how the scratched away areas float on the surface of the print. I took a wash and covered the background. It made a nice flat tone. The features were a little distorted in the pressing, It almost ends up looking like a Picasso portrait.