Monsieur Hulot - Collage and Cut Paper

I had a lot of fun creating this photo collage combined with some cut paper techniques. Both cut paper and collage were used heavily in dada and synthetic cubism. I have a special place place in my heart for dada and cubism, so I'm a big fan of photo collage. The technique for collage is pretty straight forward. It's essentially an assemblage of parts, combined to create a new image. In addition to photos, other items are have often been used, including newspaper clippings and other printed ephemera, wood, ribbon, and other found objects. These collages can also include paint and at times are even covered with varnish, causing them to almost feel as if they are painted on. I have a long list of favorite artists that have used collage and cut paper. Some of my very favorite are Kurt Schwitters, Saul Bass, and Alexander Rodchenko. For this image I used a photo taken by Life photographer Yale Joel in 1958 of French comedian and director Jacques Tati. The background and the rain drops are created by scanning in paper that I cut with safety scissors (intended to be used by ages three to five) and the line of the smoke and the type were drawn using a very soft 7B pencil. I really like how it all turned out.

Intaglio

Intaglio is a group of printmaking techniques in which an image is printed from a copper plate. A variety of techniques is used to create the image to be printed for the plate. One of these techniques is drypoint, in which an image is carved into the plate using a a metal tool. This leaves burrs on the edge of the line which results in a softer line. An image can also be created by etching in acid. To etch a plate, the surface is completely covered by a ground which will block the acid. If the ground is hard, an image can be scrapped out of it. If the ground is soft, the image is pressed into it. The plate is then immersed in acid. The acid then eats away at the exposed areas of the copper plate. Other techniques, such as aquatint, can be used to create fields of a more solid value. Once an image is created on the plate, the whole plate is covered in ink and the ink is then wiped. The areas that have been carved or etched out still hold the ink while on the surface their remains very little, if any ink. The ink in the plate is then transferred to paper by applying intense pressure on a press. Several posts down I attempted a digital recreation of intaglio on my "Orange Julius" image. On it I also imitated an additional technique used when printing intaglio called chine-colle. With chine-colle, when the print is passed through the press, pieces of colored paper with glue are also placed on top of the paper to be printed on. This results in the colored paper sticking to the print in a very flat manner, that often almost looks like paint. Some famous artists that used intaglio include Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt and Martin Schongauer

Train Lithograph

This is my another one of my attempts at recreating the look of a traditional process by digital means. For this one I imitated lithography and I really enjoyed it. I'll definitely have to use this process more often. Lithography is a method of printing that has been used since 1796 and is based on the principle that water and oil repel each other. To create a lithographic print you need to start out with a piece of Bavarian limestone (seriously, it has to be from Bavaria. Most other limestones just don't work) that has been made very smooth. An image is then drawn onto the stone with wax or another oily surface. The stone is afterwards treated in order for it to attract water more effectively. When printing, the stone is made wet. This water repels the oily ink that is used and the areas that were drawn on with wax (and therefore repel the water) attract the ink. This method is effective at accurately reproducing a wide variety of line qualities. For this train, I attempted to recreate the textures and lines that appear when a lithographic crayon is used to draw on the stone. Also, in lithography, each stone can print one color, however, unlike screen printing and relief printing, a variety of densities of color can be achieved. I limited the amount of colors used in this image to mimic the traditional printing method. Many of my favorite artists of the past used lithography including: A.M. Cassandre, Will Bradley , and Ludwig Hohlwein.

Campfire

Orange Julius Ceaser

This is a digital version of an intaglio print. Carla Jimison would judge me, but I like it. Laura came up with the name. She's a clever one.

Impasto

Impasto is a painting technique in which paint is applied very thickly to a canvas or other surface. It is most often done using oil paint, due to it's viscosity and the long amount of time it it takes to dry. However, it can also be accomplished to some extent using acrylic paint. In impasto, the strokes created with a brush or pallet knife are highly visible and at times even have a sculptural quality. Impasto is often used to catch the light in a certain way or to create other expressive qualities in a painting. It was heavily used by many impressionist and post-impressionist painters. Artists who used this technique include: Rembrandt, Monet, and VanGogh.

Screen Printing

Screen Printing is a method of creating prints using stencils. A screen is used to hold the sections of the stencil intended to block the ink. The screen is stretched tightly across a frame. The areas not intended to be printed can be blocked out in a variety of ways, including physically cutting material or through photographic processes. Ink is then dragged across the screen using a squeegee or roller and it forced through the openings of the screen on to a surface below. The resulting image generally has very clean defined edges and a high degree of precision is possible. Compared to digital printing there are however subtle inconsistencies to the line that are often quite beautiful. Sometimes the screen can also be evident in certain areas of the print. Screen printing carries many of the same limitations as relief printing (discussed below). A new screen must be made for each color printed, which leads to issues of registration. Many of my favorite artists have used screen printing heavily, including: Charley Harper, David Wiedman and Jason Munn