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, oil over monotype on paper, 18″ x 28″
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, oil over monotype on paper, 28″ x 20″
The Fat and the Thin, oil over monotype on paper, 20″ x 16″
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, oil into monotype on paper, 22′ x 16″
Lauren’s Underbelly, oil into monotype on paper, 18″ x 12″
This piece has a photographic feel and Kodak is on its death bed. That’s a sad thought.
Ektachromoplasm, oil over monotype on paper, 20″ x 16″
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, 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
figure 1993, monotype,
Final stage:
Figure 1-11-12, oil on paper, 2012,
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, monotype reintroduced with oil paint, on Rives BFK paper, 24″ x 18″
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
Nice and Easy, oil on monotype, rives bfk paper, 20″ x 16″
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, 2003-2011, oil paint over oil based monotype on paper, 24″ x 18″
Happy Thanksgiving.
Age Before Beauty, 1993-2011, oil study into monotype on paper. 20″ x 16″
Leafing through the archives of not-quite successful prints, I came across a good candidate. I didn’t document it in its original stage, as I haven’t really done for most of the pieces in this series, but suppose I should. I will, however, search for a slide of it, which I am almost positive I have catalogued somewhere in the cave I call my studio.
I’m not isolating the printmaking paper with hide glue or gesso or anything. It should last at least until a meteor hits the earth, destroying civilization as we know it.
Hedwigs’s Spread Spectrum, oil over monotype on paper, 20″ x 16″
digital collage
Because of things and stuff, I spent far too much time this week. I spent it and now it’s gone. If time were money, I’d be broke. I have no idea what it means in this context that I AM broke. Anyway, as you can see,I fucked around with pixels instead of paint.
That’s it.
-Steph
p.s. I love Crooked Fingers. Mine are, too, crooked I mean.
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″
oil into monotype on paper
30″ x 20″
Available for sale
This is pending sale, pending on spending.
Submissive, Oil over monotype on printmaking paper, 20″ x 16″
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″
This was an very old, unresolved monotype I’m painting back into and as it’s developed, I realized that a bit of my father’s design sensibility had creeped in; the Dante series to be specific. I’m not quite sure about the lower portion with abstracted stalagmite ink streaks. I wanted to have an area to strike a tense balance down there. What do you think?
A Bow to Purgatory, oil over monotype on Rives BFK paper, 24″ x 18″
detail
Below is a painting on monotype from last week.
The queen in the Afternoon, oil on monotype on paper, 20″ x 16″
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.
Oslo
india ink, benzyl ink, pencil, graphite and gouache on paper
Another quick sketch between lunch and the next thing.
I’m thinking about the cottage and the lobster and the sea. Not that this image necessarily says that.
mixed media: pencil, graphite, ink, benzyl ink, gouache on paper; 9″ x 12″
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″
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