d&#8217;Arte Board

Anachronism

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, figurative, monotype, nude, oil painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags abstract, Art, figure, mixed media, monotype, nude, NYC, oil paint on monotype, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett on November 3, 2011 by Tom Bennett

I’m writing this on the 2 V’s, vicodin and vodka, as I try to recover from a kick-arse flu.

This is an oil painting on paper.

Anachronism, oil paint over printmaking ink on paper, 20″ x 16″

Mountains of the Bedroom

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, figurative, monotype, oil painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags Art, figure, nude, oil on paper, oil over monotype, oil painting, Painting, paper, printmaking, Tom Bennett on October 27, 2011 by Tom Bennett

oil into monotype on paper
30″ x 20″

Available for sale

Submissive

Posted in Art, figurative, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, technique, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags Art, dominant, figure, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil on paper, Painting, printmaking, submissive, Tom Bennett on October 20, 2011 by Tom Bennett

This is pending sale, pending on spending.

Submissive, Oil over monotype on printmaking paper, 20″ x 16″

new ways to think about art

Posted in Art, art on paper, block print, laelia e. mitchell, printmaking, rice paper, work on paper with tags Art, laelia e. mitchell, paper, printmaking on October 17, 2011 by laelia e. mitchell

i’ve been able to spend a fair amount of time in the studio this past week and what has been organically emerging is a distinct move towards other ways of expressing myself besides photography. while making images using light (the camera) will always form the foundation of HOW i see, how i EXPRESS what i see is shifting. the fun of exploring block printing with my “networks we love” series or my obsessively relaxing dots using sumi ink of japanese rice paper …these activities seem to provide a much needed re-jiggering to my studio practice. now, WHERE this is going is unimportant. i decided that the “studio practice” is what i’ll focus on instead of the hustle to show, however, the need to have a direction will emerge. WHEN … i don’t know, and HOW this will take shape … i have not the faintest idea. all i know is … i keep making dots, printing words using inks on paper wondering wtf it’s all about.

below is the 7th in the series “networks we love” a collection of wifi networks names gathered from my travels and from asking twitter, google+ and facebook connections. block prints : image is 4×6 printed on 9×12″rice paper. edition 5

Signed, Sealed and Delivered

Posted in Art, art on paper, art school, current events, events, exhibits, figurative, Miscellaneous, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, openings, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags exhibit, figurative painting, figure, fundraising event, mixed media, monotype, nude, nude woman, oil on paper, oil painting, Painting, paper, printmaking, Silvermine Arts Center, small paint, Tom Bennett on October 6, 2011 by Tom Bennett

Silvermine Art Center in New Canaan, CT is organizing a fundraising event it has hosted for 10 years now, Signed, Sealed and Delivered. It’s an art sale and auction designed for collectors and art lovers featuring over 500 small, 4″ x 6″ original works in all media for sale at $50 each, to benefit the Center’s programs and outreach.

I’m contributing these 3 tiny paintings, all oil over monotype on Rives BFK printmaking paper. I rarely, if ever, paint this small with oil and I find it to be a disciplined exercise in control and direct manipulation of materials and form. Hellzalotta of fun.

Tom

SSD 1, oil on monotype on paper, 6″ x 4″

SSD 2, oil on monotype on paper, 6″ x 4″

SSD 3, oil on monotype on paper, 4″ x 6″

4 Comments »

Paint, Print, Paper, Pigeon

Posted in Art, art on paper, figurative, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags Art, figure, monotype, monotype printmaking, nude, oil on monotype, oil on paper, Painting, paper, printmaking, Tom Bennett on September 22, 2011 by Tom Bennett

I’m continuing the exercise of painting over monotypes and I’m just exploring the application and reaction of the oil on printmaking paper. The paper is a medium to heavy weight Stonehenge brand and absorbs the oil paint and turps relatively quickly; the opposite of the method used in making the monotypes, since with the monos its about oil based paint and ink applied to plexiglass: no tooth nor absorption but simply a resistant glassy surface that the paint glides over. With painting directly on the paper, its about discovering the various lengths of time different paint films and colors tack up and how they interact with paint layers placed over them. I’m allowing and developing loose abstracted form with these early stages. Technically these could be called either paintings or monotypes, but you can call them anything you want. If it’s a four-letter word, I don’t really need to know about it.
Pigeon is old slang for a young woman, back when men were men and misogynist was a 10-letter word.
T.B.

Old Ruling Class Revise, oil on monotype on paper, 20″ x 16″

The original monotype:

there are many formal aspects of the print that I really like and have been changed and obliterated. Ah well. You must destroy to create to destroy again.

Tastes like Chicken

Posted in Art, art on paper, figurative, monotype, nude, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags abstract, Art, cape cod, chicken, hunger, monotype, monotype printmaking, printmaking, Tom Bennett on September 15, 2011 by Tom Bennett

I’m in Cape Cod this week and kind of stuck without proper art-making materials as I work fixing up a beach shack. I’m lying here while a chicken is cooking in the kitchen and the smells waft into my flared nostrils. I’m hungry and you’ll just have to deal with this older monotype from the pompously named “archives”.

Tastes Like Chicken (formally titled Untitled Figure #2), monotype, 14″ x 9″

In the Auerbach of my Mind

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, figurative, male nude, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags abstract, Art, figure, Frank Auerbach, monotype, oil paint on monotype, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett on September 8, 2011 by Tom Bennett

Another reworked monotype. I was thinking about Frank Auerbach, the great british figurative expressionist. He’s one of the painters floating in the back of my head; his aggressive paint-slathering is of such a unique character it has hammered itself there into my sub-brain. My application isn’t mimicking his nor is it close, it’s the attitude he has with working and reworking this viscous medium until it practically destroys the surface and has to be scrapped down and rebuilt all over again. I’m having a great deal of fun exploring and tripping along with these old prints I made back at Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking workshop in Manhattan.

A Nod to Frank, 1993-2011, oil paint on monotype on paper, 24″ x18″

Dark Trade: New Coat of Paint for Old Print

Posted in Art, art on paper, figurative, gesture, male nude, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags abstract, Art, art on paper, boxing, figure, male nude, monotype, oil on paper, oil painting, Painting, paper, printmaking, Tom Bennett on September 1, 2011 by Tom Bennett

I’m continuing to take old and not particularly successful monotypes and reworking them with oil paint. It’s not quite working here perhaps because I haven’t resolved the relationship of the figure and its treatment with the breaking up of the picture plane. The shapes are not jiving, but I do like the figure.

Extended right, oil paint on monotype on paper, 1992-2011

post irene : pre studio move

Posted in Art, art on paper, block print, laelia e. mitchell, printmaking on August 29, 2011 by laelia e. mitchell

well, this past week was full one …the first part spent visiting my new studio (i receive keys sept.1) and chatting with studio mate as to how we were going to build some wall stuff. the second part of the week i worked for money (thankfully) and the weekend was spent preparing for the storm. this entailed a day trip to vermont to put stuff in the barn and talking with neighbors up there about the impending potential disaster. vermont has been hit badly with flooding recently and irene could potentially be disastrous for many folks up there. mama nature has a mind of her own. * update: vermont was hit hard. many towns under water lots of devastation and a couple of deaths. irene took a path unexpected and left destruction in her wake.

i did, however, buy some art supplies to start lino cut printing. it’s such a basic form of the print, that exploring it is relatively easy. i’m anticipating having some samples for next weeks post. for now, here’s a picture of the current state of my desk along with the new supplies. be well

Insomniac Oil on Paper

Posted in Art, art on paper, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags Art, figure, insomnia, oil on paper, oil paint on monotype, Painting, paper, printmaking, Tom Bennett on August 4, 2011 by Tom Bennett

Late the other night while I was half asleep I was slogging through my dungeon studio making monotypes. I pulled the final one which I decided had some interesting passages. A few days later I realized it was only salvageable by working back into it with more materials. I painted into this with more oil paint and varnish medium as well as various paint sticks of different viscosities. It’s not working completely; I’ll look at it again later in the week. She’s someone to take home to mom, huh?

The torpid stare is how I felt the other night in the dank sweltering basement, so maybe it has some validity after all.

Insomnia, oil on Stonehenge paper, 20″ x16″

detail

Pussy Cats and Dead Girls

Posted in Art, art on paper, Drawing, figurative, gesture drawing, monotype, nude, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags Art, Drawing, figure, ink and pencil, monotype, nude, nude and cat, sketch, Tom Bennett on July 7, 2011 by Tom Bennett

That sounds like a good title for a hard-boiled pulp detective novel by someone named Max Phillips, doesn’t it?

Nude and Cat
mixed media on paper, 12″ x 9″

Figure and Cat
mixed media on paper, 12″ x 9″

Sea Creature

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, figurative, gesture, landscape, monotype, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags abstract, Art, bay, cape cod, figure, low tide, monotype, printmaking, sea creature, seascape, Tom Bennett on June 9, 2011 by Tom Bennett

It’s the beginning of what many climatologists say is a long period of climate change and hot summers in this hemisphere. Its hot here in New York and I wearily prepare for the heavy clammy dampness and the heat and the high electrical bills. So this image is a mild counteractive to that. I am thinking of Cape Cod Bay and its temperate tone , yet the warm yellow may mitigate even this attempt at the cool.

Tom

Pilgrimage, 2011, monotype, 16″ x 20″

Monotypes from Life, Indirectly

Posted in Art, art on paper, Drawing, figurative, gesture drawing, monotype, nude, printmaking, technique, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags Art, art on paper, bestiality, cat, figure, life drawing, monotype, monotype printmaking, nude, printmaking, Sleep, Tom Bennett on May 19, 2011 by Tom Bennett

To be clear, if one is making a monotype from life, working from a an inanimate subject like a still life doesn’t pose many problems. working from a live landscape is more challenging in that one requires a press(if one is using a press) to be nearby, and working from the live model is only problematic if the model becomes uncomfortable since the process can be a stop and start, dragged out thing. The monotypes below were made from life “once removed”, in that I drew the model in a sketchbook first and then created the monos from the drawings.

Tom Bennett

Rex and Rabbit 1, monotype, 16″ x20″

Rex and Rabbit 2, monotype, 16″ x 20″

Commitment and Non-Commitment

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, figurative, monotype, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags abstract, Art, figure, monotype, monotype printmaking, nude, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett on April 28, 2011 by Tom Bennett

Two recent monotypes and a painting. The painting is in a stage of quasi-resolution in a process.

Tom Bennett

Spring 2, 2011, monotype, 16″ x 20″

Spring 1, 2011, monotype, 16″ x20″

Non-Committal, 2011, oil on panel, 18″ x24″

The Old Ruling Class 4 and Art of the Northeast

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, events, exhibits, figurative, homage, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags art exhibits, Art of the Northeast, exhibit, monotype, nude, Painting, printmaking, Silvermine Guild, Tom Bennett on April 14, 2011 by Tom Bennett

I haven’t been in my printshop in weeks so when I found myself with some time the other night I crawled into my basement, where the etching press is located and made some images. I used some lower grade oil paint along with the professional grade inks and came up with an almost realized print. When it was dry I went back into it with oil sticks. I’m placing it into the series of nudes I started a couple of months ago.

The Old Ruling Class 4, monotype, 20″ x16″

Art of The Northeast

The annual regional survey “Art of the Northeast”, representing artists from New England, New York and New Jersey, is up again at The Silvermine Arts Center in New Canaan, CT. http://www.silvermineart.org/about-silvermine/directions.cfm

I have this painting in the show. It’s a take on Caravaggio’s The Crucifixion of St. Peter.

The juror this year is Tom Eccles, Executive director, Bard College, Curatorial Studies Program.

The opening is this Saturday, 4PM to 7PM

Pete’s Going Away, 2011, oil on panel, 40″ x 30″

In the Pines

Posted in Art, art on paper, contingent art, figurative, monotype, narrative art, printmaking, Tom Bennett, work on paper with tags abstract, Art, bluegrass, figure, lead belly, monotype, music, narrative art, printmaking, Tom Bennett on February 17, 2011 by Tom Bennett

I was listening the other night to the classic old folk song “In the Pines”, or “Black Girl” sung by the blues great Lead Belly. Here are 3 monotypes that were influenced by it.
Listen to the audio I posted at the bottom, its beautiful.

9″ x 12″

12″ x 9″

W.I.P. #2 And White Square Project

Posted in Art, digital, Links, monotype, printmaking, Toni Tiller with tags Art, landscape, Links, monotype, printmaking, Toni Tiller, tumblr on February 9, 2011 by Toni Tiller

I am working the same source image as last week and am about half way through this one, two runs through the press so far, and at least one more to go. I have realized recently that one of the real benefits in using fabric is that it can be soaked and re-soaked as many times needed without breaking down, an option paper doesn’t offer. What I am learning is that because fabric is more selective about what ink it wants to grab multiple printings gives me an opportunity to build values slowly and gives me more decision making options. So far I like where this one is going, hopefully I won’t fuck it up.

In other news I was contacted the other day by the friendly people over at The White Square Project, a fun participatory Tumblr blog. Every two weeks they give people a new theme and a 250 x 250 pixel square to fill. The current theme is color, and this was my contribution*:

I chose a digital piece, but they accept all mediums, so come on over and play!

*confession – I wish i knew how to quilt like JD because I would totally quilt the hell out of this pattern.