Monotypes

Yesterday I dropped off three framed monotypes at the Old Town Arts and Crafts Guild gallery in Cutchogue, NY. This small gallery features local Long Island artists working in a realistic style. My monotypes are abstractions of real objects or landscapes. I like to use a lot of color in these "squashed paintings." My monotypes are done using an etching press, painted first on a Plexiglas plate, then transferred to dampened paper under pressure. Here are the three on view this month in the gallery.

This pitcher is one that I have used often for still life monotypes. I like the shape. The leaves are leaf-prints, placed on the paper before it goes through the etching press. The color is put on with a brayer. The print went through the press multiple times.

This small monotype evokes the wetlands around Long Island. It is "painted" with etching ink using a brayer. 

Although the colors are the classic primaries: red, yellow and blue, the ink has been modified to present less brilliant forms of hue. I used yellow ochre, one of my favorite yellows. This outdoor scene represents wildflowers growing on the bank of a pond in the fall. Eastern Long Island has many beautiful small ponds.