MONOPRINTS, GHOSTS AND PRINTS

 "Cake"
30 x 22" 
Monoprint
2007

True monoprints are made by painting with oil based inks or paints on glass, and then placing paper ( usually prepared by soaking in water to best take up the inks) on top and either running both glass and paper through a press or using a wooden spoon or other tools to press down on the reverse of the paper.  Here is an example of this kind of monoprint which I made using a press at Brooklyn College. 

"Shroud"
8 1/2 x 8"
Watercolor on Napkin
2007

My ghost series are actually based on a version of mono prints, as the first ( and sometimes final) stage of the ghost is an imprint of another gouache paintings.  This technique originated when I was trying to figure out something to do with overworked gouaches.  I had previously noted the reverse of the paper towels or rags I was using to blot the wet paintings was often more interesting than the painting blotted.   

"Fan"
7 4/5 X 7 2/5" 
Gouache and Block Printing Ink
2013

The works that I have in the " prints" category that list "Gouache and Printers Block ( or Relief) Ink" are another form of modified mono print, but further removed from the traditional form.  For these I roll out printers ink, then place dry paper that may have existing imagery on it and draw on the reverse of the paper.  As a result, the drawing appears on the front based on the pressure of the pencil, but additional ink is picked up where my hand inadvertently presses down, as well as where ink may be blobbed or runny.  It is intended to be a messy and unpredictable process.  After this print-drawing process I may go back into/on top of the image. 

CURTAINS

TOP:
"Green Curtains"
8 1/4 x9"
Gouache on Matt Board
2013

BOTTOM:
"Pink Curtains"
6 x 9"
Gouache on Matt Board
2013

TITLE / NO TITLE

TOP:
"Betsy, Tacey and Tib"
5 x 7"
Oil on Panel
2010

BOTTOM:
"Ugly Tree" 
5 x 7"
Gouache and Pencil on paper
2010

I've never been one for titles- I don't consider them crucial for understanding or enhancing my work and more often than not the basic descriptors that I use to identify digital images ( i.e. " girl, yellow." "head") end up serving as titles.   Sometimes I wonder if I'm missing out on a great opportunity.  I'll scheme up some plan to title the work, for example, calling each by the title of the song I was listening to when I considered it finished, and leave others to puzzle out the connection.  These plans inevitably end up seeming trite, pretentious or even plagiaristic to me.

Occasionally a true title will come to me, or I will work on something with a title in mind.  However, the more personal and specific it is to me, the less likely that a title will expand or enhance an artwork. The picture of a girl looking in the mirror is called " Ugly Tree"  from the insult " fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down."  While I consider this a title that is vague and odd enough to be intriguing, it may actually do nothing for a viewer.  The painting of the three girls started my on-going interest in the myth  "The Judgement of Paris" and my fascination in what transpired between the three goddesses as they waited to be judged. However, once they were painted these three girls became to me " Betsy, Tacey and Tibb" after a series of children's books written in the 1940s.  

Though I rarely title works, I maintain a  list of potential titles.  Some are overheard or read phrases like "song of bitch devotion", which a young woman was using in conversation with another, words that I am particularly fond of for both sound and meaning, such as " the gloaming" and others for their multiple meanings, such as "dwell" and" clutch".  Below are some titles of paintings, words and phrases that I have gathered like images and which inspire and goad me on, though I may never actually use them as titles.

Bear baiting; Please remove rabbit before handing in hat; We easterners; Hello from far away; Even demons believe; She retold others stories as her own which I in turn retold as mine; Consolation prize; Hungry ghosts/lotus eaters; Acts of remembrance and acts of oblivion; The night is a shadow

LITTLE STAGES

 “…I'm confounded by the rectangle, so prudent and yet so infinite. I like to think of each rectangle as a little stage. Sometimes I put on a show; sometimes I just set up props.” 
- Ginny Casey