Recent Monotypes

Clouds Over a Field, 2016, monotype, image 6 x 8 inches, paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches 

Although I have been missing in action when it comes to updating this blog, I still have been busy working on paintings and monotypes.  A number of things have been keeping me busy and the blog was put on the back burner for a little while, but here I am today sharing a number of recent prints I have worked on the last couple of months.   

A Lake in Rhinebeck, 2016, monotype, image 6 x 9 inches, paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches 

The monotype frenzy, the two year obsession which is now taking over a few artists I know, continues.  Perhaps the biggest reason for the excitement towards this medium is the immediacy of the creation of each print.  Things have to come together quickly, which means that I constantly have to keep coming up with ideas and sketches to feed this printing beast.  I work from sketches, compositions created from imagination or taken from reference photos of places I have been, this keeps me drawing constantly, which is an excellent way of exercising the brain.       

 

After Corot, Ville d'Avray, Thicket at the Edge of a Pond with a Kneeling Peasant, 2016, monotype, image 6 x 9 inches, paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches 

In the case with this print after Corot, things happened more impulsively.  For a number of years I have been wanting to do a copy after one of his paintings, but doing so can be intimidating.  His catalogue is too large and good, and his talent is unmatched that I would be making a fool out of myself trying to copy something of his.  I did feel more comfortable turning one of his paintings into a monotype because he did not make any prints, at least none that I have seen over the years, and the process would allow me to make it more my own while still working with his composition.    

 

Prospect Park Lake, 2016, monotype, image 6 x 9 inches, paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches 

I am also starting to make prints out of plein air paintings.  This is the second monotype I've made based from a canvas I completed recently.  That painting has not been posted on this blog yet but it's coming soon.  I thought it a neat idea that one day some of my plein air paintings could be shown side by side with prints based on them.  They each are so different but they will still maintain a special dialogue with each other.

   

Prospect Park Lake, 2016, monotype (ghost print), image 6 x 9 inches, paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches

If you are interested in keeping up to date with works in progress, news,  and other projects I'm involved with,  follow me on instagram, handle @luiscolanart.  I update there regularly.