A Wyeth Twist

“Stepping Forth” inspired from “Trodden Weed” by A. Wyeth. – Dark field monoprint on Kozo paper. © Katie Kath 2022. Do not use without permission

A long time ago I was fortunate enough to see a special exhibit on Andrew Wyeth at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and it was AH-MAY-ZING.

They had just about every scrap of painting and drawing the guy ever did, all collated into one, huge, fantastic show. The opening picture, smack in the middle of the wall when you walked in, was “Soaring.” I could almost feel the wind whipping at the feathers of the birds depicted in the surreal landscape, as I felt somewhat sorry for the hundreds (thousands?) of gallery-goers in various museums around the US, sadly staring up at blank frame-shaped patches of wall once holding these beautiful works, now displaying a “temporarily on loan” sign in their place.

Ah, well. C’est la vie. Meanwhile, I feasted my eyes.

Tonight’s monotype print was inspired by one of my favorite Wyeth pieces, a painting entitled, “Trodden Weed.” (Feet modeled after yours truly.)

One of the things I love about Wyeth’s work is how his paintings cannot help but make you feel.

So, I leave you with this question tonight: How does this monotype make you feel?

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Lora, Two Ways

“Lora” – trace monotype print, detail added. © Katie Kath 2022. Do not reproduce without permission.

You know how at some fine dining establishments they often have those dishes that are supposedly served “two ways?”

Well, here is my friend, Lora, who now appears on tonight’s blog in two ways!

The below image is a pencil sketch I made in order to create a trace monotype print (like the image from the last post), only this time I used standard Kozo paper (a good idea–the Strathmore was really too thick for it, and I knew that at the time, but I figured what the heck, why not give it a try?) and burnt sienna Akua ink to give the finished product a warmer tone.

“Sketch of Lora” – pencil. © Katie Kath 2022. Do not reproduce without permission.

I drew the sketch during lunch–dodging M’s spaghetti-flinging and meeting his rowdy, medieval tavern-esque demands for more milk–in the hopes that it would save me time on the printmaking end, which it did. Huzzah! This also means an earlier bedtime for me, DOUBLE-HUZZAH!

Until next time, folks, thank you and goodnight.

Tiny Bather

Y’all, I need some sleep.

M. has been waking up at those hours where no matter WHAT you do, you just can’t fall back asleep. (I’m looking at you, 3 and 4 am…) So, in light of this situation, all I’ve got tonight is just a simple, tiny bather, using a not-so-simple method.

There is a second kind of monotype printing process besides the dark field monotype (still my favorite) and I wanted to give it a quick go because why not?

In this type of monoprint, a thin layer of dark ink is rolled onto glass–much like what you do for a dark field–but this time, you delicately lay a sheet of paper down on top of it, practically letting it float on top of the ink. On top of this you can add a sketch, carefully tape it to the paper on top of the ink, and trace the sketch with a drawing implement (preferably a sharpened pencil or pen) bearing down upon the sketch so the paper underneath picks up the ink on the bottom. Peel away, and hopefully, the drawing comes out without too many smudges (or worse yet, just a big black blob).

These types of monoprint are really a pain. But I will say that they do give a very interesting-looking line effect that cannot be replicated by any drawing tool.

Get Your Friends To Sit For You

And I don’t mean babysitting!

“Connie Seated” – charcoal on Strathmore paper. ©Katie Kath 2022. Do not use without permission.

Many people erroneously think they would make terrible models.

“Oh, I couldn’t,” they say, and list off a myriad of excuses, “I’m not attractive enough. I’m too tall/short/old/petite, I don’t like my face/arms/flab/wrinkles/scars”…you name it.

But I’m convinced something magical happens when a person is drawn.

One of my college professors once told me about a figure drawing session in which the model, after taking a look at all of the artist’s studies of her, said, “Wow, is that me? I didn’t know I looked that good!” To which, everyone responded emphatically, “UM, YES! You do look that good!”

And guess what? The model was a regular person. not a swimsuit model, not a runway model, not a Maybelline model, not super young, not super fit, just….an average person with an average life.

We artists see the beautiful in the average. So go ahead, artists: talk your friends into sitting for you in a drawing session. They may be pleasantly surprised.

A Monday Monotype With Food For Thought

“Yia-Yia’s Cat” – Dark field monotype print. © Katie Kath. Do not reproduce without permission.

I know I do a lot of pieces in black-and-white.

Sometimes I even say to myself, “Seriously? Another black-and-white drawing?”

“Yes. Got a problem?”

There is something I really love about black-and-white. No matter how many color pieces I do, black-and-white is like that one boyfriend who you just keep going back to, not because he’s a sleazy hunk and a cheap date, but rather because he’s a romantic. He’s the boy next door who maybe everyone else failed to notice but you–and every time you come back, golly he just gets cuter.

In fact, a former professor was once singing the praises about the virtues of black-and-white art-making, saying that, “It’s really all you need. All of the visual information you ever need is there.”

I remembered this phrase, interestingly, on the heels of browsing one of my favorite textbooks by Martin Salisbury, where he states (and I paraphrase): “The important thing (about drawing) is whether or not the approach serves the drawing’s purpose.”

So. Let a drawing serve it’s purpose. i.e.: Show only what needs to be shown. Get rid of the weeds. Don’t overly complicate a piece if it shouldn’t be complicated, WHICH INCLUDES not adding color if it isn’t necessary.

I love black-and-white. So there!

Neocolor Nite

“Bather – neocolor crayons and charcoal

I love using Neocolor crayons because 1. I have an absolutely MASSIVE amount of them, thanks to a gift from a dear friend, and, 2. because they are considerably less messy than soft pastels.

I don’t really mind a messy art evening, but after a long day the prospect of cleaning up large amounts of paint-dust and little finger-printy bits that have been accidentally stamped everywhere by yours truly isn’t a very enticing one. Maybe one of these evenings I’ll be feeling some soft pastel love, but not tonight, I’m afraid.

Although this one did turn out much tighter than I’d really have liked, what I wanted to focus on most was playing around with color. So: I had my fun, mission accomplished. Consider this blog entry posted.

The Beauty of The Lowly Pen

“Joy Ride” – Pen and ink on Strathmore paper. © Katie Kath 2022. Do not use without permission.

For today’s sketch I turned to a favorite go-to implement: a smorgasbord of pens.

Simple but mighty, ink pens are one of my top choices for sketch materials. In fact, when teaching Drawing I or Intro classes, the first thing I do is banish pencils (at least, mechanical or similar types with erasers. Charcoals and chunky, non-erasable pencils were allowed, but I digress) much to the chagrin of the students. The “no pens allowed” rule is actually a technique I stole from a former Drawing I instructor and it’s one of the best ideas I think anyone has every had.

The reasoning behind this is that it’s easy for the eraser to become a crutch to any artist. Obsessing over details and the tendency to focus on “mess-ups” instead of what is truly important about a piece–composition, technique, a conveyed emotion or feeling–can quickly overtake an artist and thus sabotage the visual integrity of a drawing.

So there you have it, folks! A quick, frizzy sketch of two kids and a bike in motion, no erasing, using several of my favorite pens: Zig Mangaka 2, Sakura Microperm, gray tone Mildliner, and Le Pen, all from my absolute-favorite pen shop: The Goulet Pen Co. They even include a DumDum pop with your order! (At least, they used to.)

Rainy Day Dark Field

“Caught in the Rain” – dark field monotype print. © Katie Kath 2022. Do not use without permission.

Today I was out on an excursion (read: errands) and as I was completing my transaction I watched the outdoors become an increasingly menacing shade of gray. Luckily I managed to load up everything and stuff my son into his car seat just as the first humongous drops were starting to pelt at the windshield.

And then: le déluge.

Frantic shoppers were dashing out of the store in that awkward jog that happens when you realize that splashing around too much will ruin your shoes, yet if you don’t book it pronto you’ll arrive at your car as a drowned rat.

The scene was just screaming to be turned into a dark field print, since these prints lend themselves so beautifully to rough-sketch, textured atmospheres. The final result is from my imagination, but inspired by what I saw from the car in the parking lot.