Monday, June 13, 2011

A FEW NEW CROW PIECES


I finally had a few hours to paint and play.  I was in the mood for some more crows. 

These are all pretty small. 




One painting on Twinrocker paper called Little Crow.


Two watercolor monoprints on BFK Rives paper.


One called Things are Looking Up (not great but I thought I'd share anyway).




I don't have a press so rolled the prints onto the soaked paper with a hand roller.  On the first, the bird was too pale and splotchy (like the sky and ground) so I went back in with watercolors and added color.  BFK Rives is soft so you can't do much additional work to it, hence the soft look.




The second one, called Bird Bath Crow is also on BFK Rives.  I left the crow alone (put a lot more pigment on the plate before transferring the image to the paper).













And then playing with just splattering paint on paper and rolling the treetrunks on (with paint on a piece of cork pierced with a thick needle so it rolls).






Just calling this one Green.  It's 1/4 sheet and I was just playing around, nothing in mind, lots of splatters.

After so long not being able to paint anything new, it was fun to play and see what happened.






This is what it became.  Could use some more darks, I think.

6 comments:

Gretchen Bjornson ART said...

Love the use of textures and absolutely love the blues and greens.

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

Good to see you back with your crows and sounds like you have joined a very worthwhile society. Just scrolled down and found your FALLEN ANGELS painting on YUPO. If you check my latest post I have just painted what we call here in England ANGEL'S TRUMPETS - also painted on LANA VANGUARD!! both so different. What a coincidence!!

Jane said...

Rhonda, what do you use for a plate?
Jane

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Gretchen :)

Joan, thanks! I saw your datura/angel trumpet on the blogroll but didn't get over to comment yet. You've been doing some beautiful work on the Lana Vanguard (which has to be just like Yupo by another name).

Jane, I used a piece of plastic made for home printing - think I got it from Dick Blick. I roughed it up a bit using a Mr. Clean Eraser (you don't want it slick) and then you have to put gum arabic or dishwashing liquid (not with moisturizers) over the plate as a release before painting on it. If you don't do the roughing up and release step, you have problems getting the paint from the plate to the paper when it's time to "press" it.

Pam Johnson Brickell said...

Good to see you are playing with paint! Love the first crow and my hat is off to you with the other process. I never could warm up to all the extra work. I like the effects, though. Your greens are 'happening' :)

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Pam. It was fun and energizing. I enjoyed the printing but it's not something I'd do all the time - just a good warm-up when you're playing. You never know how it will turn out!