Archive for the monotype Category

Doc Watson

Posted in Art, art on paper, current events, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, obituary, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2012 by Tom Bennett

The great and legendary blue grass guitarist Doc Watson died this week at the age of 89. I saw him perform once about 10 years ago at the Village Vanguard in the west village and it was a truly memorable performance. This is a painting I did over an old monotype of a dog, which I suppose is apropos, considering his blindness and the hang dog blues he sometimes played on his Gibson. It’s a distorted image and not a great likeness, but here’s to Doc.

Doc Watson

Doc Watson, oil over monotype on paper, 10″ x 18″

Titanic

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, monotype, nude, oil painting, printmaking, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on May 3, 2012 by Tom Bennett

small painting on paper.

In the Hold

In the Hold, oil painting into monotype, 20′ x 16″

Unfollow

Posted in Art, art on paper, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2012 by Tom Bennett

The title is a reference to the non-committal online connections that pass for friendship bonds today. The whole concept is silly and sad. That said, please don’t un-follow me or I’ll cut my ear off.
With the paint into monotype I’m continuing to explore a guarded, nuanced and neutral palette with some higher hues thrown in. Here the cool grays got too blue and of course the yellow blares out a bit. The figure may have pronounced itself rather more than was intended, but I’m ok with it.

Unfollow

Unfollow, 2008-2012, oil into monotype on paper, 18″ x 12″

Basketball and Sex

Posted in Art, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 19, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Jeremy Lin is the the cinderella story of the NBA this season. He was a no-one who came out of Harvard and was on the bench for the New York Knicks when he was chosen to come on the court where he went on an electric run to rejuvenate the team. I had made a couple of monotypes dedicated to him but both were unsuccessful, poorly formulated attempts. Here I took one of these flat prints and I’ve begun the process of reforming a composition with a slightly sexualized nude, utilizing bits and pieces of the underlying marks and forms. It is only fitting, I think, to honor this injured basketball player, who has had surgery on his leg and will be out the rest of the season. Baseball and sex are the usual analogies, but I’m throwing up a three pointer and lets see if it misses. This is a work in progress.

Guarded Sin WIP

Lonely Girl, First Stage

Posted in Art, art on paper, expressionist, figurative, monotype, nude, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , on April 12, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Ugh, been working nonstop for the man. The marketing man who thinks what he does is art, is rock & roll. It ain’t. I squeezed out a monotype the other night and I’ll be slathering paint onto the this soon. Keep you up dated.

lonely girl

Lonely Girl, monotype on rives BFK, 16″ x 20″

Cluster Fluck

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, current events, events, exhibits, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, Toni Tiller, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 5, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Yesterday Toni Tiller posted about the show Its a Small, Small World, also called Cluster Fluck, an open show at Family Business, a 10′ x 12′ foot space curated by a very funny Hennessy Youngman. Entertaining art happening. There may have been maybe 100 artists represented; here’s the little piece I had in it. It was in a good spot. On the other hand, when you’re talking about 120 square feet, any spot is a good spot.

drunken silenus 1

Drunken Silenus, ink and graphite on paper, 11 x 8

Below is a recent Monotype reworked with oil.

April

April, oil paint into monotype on paper, 24″ x 18″

I Like Cake

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 15, 2012 by Tom Bennett

I admit it. I’m a sweet junkie. I was brought up in an old school household with an Irish Catholic mother with a thing for chocolate and just about every other great sugar treat. Her mother had ancient recipes for a slew of desserts from fried donuts to tollhouse cookies, to brownies you want to shoot up in your veins. The tradition made it to my oldest sister Debbie, who had a passion for baking pies and cookies and cakes while I would assist, at the age of 5, by licking the mixing bowl of uncooked batter and butter frosting. Invariably it would be pasted all over my face and dungarees. Jeans were called that back in the 18th century.

I buy a chocolate cake and tell myself I’m ok with my high cholesterol and I store it in what I pretend are places my girlfriend can’t find and of course she finds it. It’s right there on the top shelf of the fridge or in the bread box with an electric arrow pointing at it. Cake is love. It’s sensual. So is sex. Therefore, cake is sex.

eat it.
Tom Bennett

Perfectly Good Cake, 2012

Perfectly Good Cake, oil over monotype on paper, 18″ x 14″

WIPWIPWIPWIPWIPWIPWIP

Posted in Art, art on paper, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , on March 1, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Unfinished study oil over monotype on paper, 14″ x 20″

WIP B&W dance

WIP

Posted in abstract, Art, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 23, 2012 by Tom Bennett

This is a bad photo of a work in progress. I’m going south for a couple of days.

Tom Bennett

WIP

WIP, oil into monotype on paper, 18″ x 24″

Nod to Basch

Posted in Art, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , on February 16, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Here I’m publishing the 1st stage – an original monotype – and the finished overlaid painting. Looking at the two images now I can see what choices I would make differently. The energy of the 1st state has been redirected distinctly.

I’m working on some monotypes dedicated to Jeremy Lin, the phenom of the NY Knicks. I hope to post the results later.

Tom Bennett

Nod to Basch, 1st stage, monotype, 18″ x 28″

Nod to Basch stage 2

Nod to Basch, oil over monotype on paper, 18″ x 28″

They Might be Giants

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, gesture, monotype, narrative art, Painting, printmaking, technique, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , on February 9, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Unless you’ve been having a pedicure under a rock the last few days, you’ll know the football NY Giants beat the NE Patriots to win the superbowl for the 2nd time in 4 years. Without going into an analysis of the season and the game itself and bore most of you, I’ll just say, as a New Yorker, this team is cardiac-arrest-fun with its habit of coming back from the dead and pulling out a win at the last minute.

Mario Manningham came up with, arguably perhaps, the game-changing catch along the sideline. The play was expressionist in its execution.

Tom Bennett

Uploaded with [URL=http://imageshack.us]ImageShack.us[/URL]
Manningham, monotype, 20′ x 16″

.

.

The Fat and the Thin in the Corner

Posted in Art, art on paper, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, technique, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on February 2, 2012 by Tom Bennett

More paintings made from monotypes. These two pieces I finished a couple of days ago and I’m of two minds about them. The first, In the Corner, may be a tad too defined in the figure. I’m not sure I’m pushing the abstraction enough. The second painting I’m on the fence about as well. How’s that for mixed metaphor cliches?

Tom Bennett

In the Corner

In the Corner, oil over monotype on paper, 28″ x 20″

The Fat and the Thin

The Fat and the Thin, oil over monotype on paper, 20″ x 16″

Hidden Defect and Lauren’s Underbelly

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, technique, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Two more explorations in the current series. The one called Lauren’s Underbelly got its title from the happy little fact that the underpainting/monotype was a portrait of a pregnant woman. She apparently gave birth to this painting. It’s a girl!

Hidden Defect
Hidden Defect, oil into monotype on paper, 22′ x 16″

Lauren's Underbelly
Lauren’s Underbelly, oil into monotype on paper, 18″ x 12″

Ectoplasmic Monotype/Painting

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, technique, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 19, 2012 by Tom Bennett

This piece has a photographic feel and Kodak is on its death bed. That’s a sad thought.

Ektachromoplasm

Ektachromoplasm, oil over monotype on paper, 20″ x 16″

Basement in Baltimore

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, figurative, monotype, Painting, printmaking, technique, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 12, 2012 by Tom Bennett

I’ve been in Baltimore caring for my parents for a week and have been painting in the basement of the house I’m staying in. Here are some of the results.
I had the opportunity to take advantage of my father Harry’s experienced eye for design. He’s 92 years old. I asked him what he thought of the 1st piece below while I was still working through unresolved stages. He looked at it, covered an area with his hand and said, “get rid of this shape. These things don’t mean anything.” A title was born.

Tom Bennett

These Things Don't Mean Anything

These Things Don’t Mean Anything, oil on monotpye, paper, 18″ x9″

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Below, I’ve posted a photo of an original monotype and the subsequent over-painting.

First stage: Original monotype on paper
Stage 1: figure 1993

figure 1993, monotype,

Final stage:
stage 2: figure 1.11.12

Figure 1-11-12, oil on paper, 2012,

First Two Stages

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, Drawing, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, technique, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , on January 5, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Photos of the first stages of the process I’m exploring with these current reworked monotypes-to-paintings.
The monotype is an ancient relic from the early 90′s. Drawing over the image and reintegrating the underlying forms with the new marks, I then bring in paint of varying viscosities with brush and knife. The recontextualization of form may be overtly reconsidered or more likely metamorphosizes ‘organically’ (for lack of better pompous phrasing). Here much of the original is obliterated yet structurally the new image is recognizably built on form that is now rendered abstract. I’m away from my studio this week and won’t be reworking this until I get back, so this current unresolved stage will have to ferment like a soft wheel of gouda, also known as my head.

 

stage1male-female-1.jpg

 

 

 

stage2male-female.jpg stage 2

Injected Meaning

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 29, 2011 by Tom Bennett

My apologies for the mediocre photo, I left my equipment in Baltimore over the Christmas holiday and was forced to use my iPhone.

Happy New Year. If you get wasted, hope its a good time.

Tom Bennett

Injected Meaning

Injected Meaning, monotype reintroduced with oil paint, on Rives BFK paper, 24″ x 18″

Nice and Easy

Posted in Art, art on paper, expressionism, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, technique, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on December 22, 2011 by Tom Bennett

When taking monotypes and working back into them with other media, I intend to allow the under-print to be an integral part of the process and have a dialogue with the fresh mark making. With this piece I fear I have pushed to far with the paint and the literal form. The most overt area revealing the print is the space on the right with amorphous cell-like blobs. That said, I like the spotty abstracted relationships and may accept this as sort of a red-headed step child, even though she’s a brunette.

Tom Bennett

Wrong Turn

Nice and Easy, oil on monotype, rives bfk paper, 20″ x 16″

Work in Progress: Konja

Posted in Art, art on paper, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , on December 15, 2011 by Tom Bennett

A monotype currently being revisited. Something about this makes me think of, remember fondly, my experiences in Turkey. I can’t tell you why.

WIP-Konja

WIP: Konja, 2003-2011, oil paint over oil based monotype on paper, 24″ x 18″

Cave from the Archives

Posted in Art, art on paper, expressionist, monotype, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , on December 8, 2011 by Tom Bennett

The last week and a half has been a blur of illness and commercial work. I have nothing new finished to post. So here’s an older monotype from the archives.

Deep South

Deep South, 2009, monotype, 18″ x 12″
Private collection

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,671 other followers