In Ellen's House

Ellen B and Mary P near Charleston

This is Ellen and I a few years ago in South Carolina.  Ellen has a stunning old kitchen house that is decorated in her Auntie Mame style. 

 A kitchen house for my french friends,  was an "out building" of a large mansion in the time when the residents kept slaves to work plantations. This was in the southern states before the civil war in the USA.  The food was prepared by slaves in the kitchen house and carried over to the main house adjacent to it . 

  Now on the walls of the kitchen house are quite a few of the paintings Ellen bought from me during her visits to Nice years ago.   I had forgotten them actually, so it was a tiny thrill and pleasure to see my friend and to remember painting them. 

Original Still Life by Mary M Payne

Original still life by Mary M Payne

Nude in Oils by Mary M Payne

Carafe and pear with grapes.   Original oil painting by Mary M Payne

Living room wall, Charleston S.C.   photo by Mary M Payne

I did paint a copy of this same Lempicka of the woman in the car on this wall, but I am not sure if she bought mine or that is still wrapped up in my archive.   

Here is looking farther into this sumptuous room. 

The nude on the right below is an early Lempicka that I copied and Ellen admired and put in her dressing/bath area. 

And this banana tree below is a series of three in different color ranges that Ellen grabbed right off my easel before the gouache was dry. 

 It is true that I , like most artists,  like to have my work go out into the world.   

Ask me about anything you see on this blog that strikes your fancy and maybe one day I will see a picture of it on your own wall or better yet, visit it again while seeing you.  

Reduction Printing Part 1

Finished greeting card with hand made envelope  by Mary M Payne

Recently,  I learned the process of doing a reduction linoleum print and since then it has become a fascination.   I decided that a series of greeting cards would be a welcome challenge and perhaps even useful.   Here is what I have found out.

A printmaker can choose many ways to make relief prints.  The artist might use one technique or combine them.   Usually wood or lino are the materials used as a base. 

 A print may be done with a press or burnished by hand with the use of a baren for hand rubbing.   I now have a small press in my studio and am busy experimenting with it. 

One of the techniques for rendering a multicolored print is called a réduction print or in French: 
linogravure a épargne perdue.   All the colors will be printed from the same block as it is carved away.  Each color is printed on top of the color put down before. 

 The technique is tricky as the entire edition can't be redone if there is a mistake.   I have made editions of 10 each and usually 6 are good ones.  I hear that this is average for an edition. 

 Let me show you how to get started with this technique.  

I always try to draw out my idea with watercolors, pencil and markers to come up with an idea and a color range.   Here are a few sketches I started with but soon realized that the first color must go over the next color without vastly changing the effect of the second color.  

Mary M Payne

That means of course, that one must put down the lightest color first. 

I'm afraid that this background blue would never go over yellow without changing the hue to a green. 

 This green on the leaves could go over the yellow ( but it would be lighter) and then what background color would work?

   With a bit more experimenting I went with black leaves instead of a black background which seems  too somber for this theme.  

Hand painted lino cut by Mary M Payne

 I decide to start with yellow as a background, my second color being the petals and the last color being black for the outlines and leaves.



I first had a masonite frame built at my local hardware store.  This was to insure that each pass of the print ended up aligned with the first one.  I would slot the lino into the frame each time.   I also did some pencil markings on the back of each card that matched those I had put on the frame.  These I could erase later on the cards.

Frame with a piece of white paper behind it.  

 The frame is a piece of masonite which is the same height as the piece of linoleum I am using. They both go smoothly through the press toether.  Notice the markings I use on the back to match with those on the paper.

Next I carve the piece of linoleum with woodworking gouges the reverse of what it will be printed on the page. I used carbon paper to transfer the drawing.

  Where I have carved away the linoleum, that part will print the color of the paper: white.  

 By the way,  It was a poor idea to use ink markers on the lino as I did in the photo.  I learned the hard way that this will transfer onto the print and may not get covered.  I had to do carve another. 

This is my first printing with my lightest color yellow. 

Reduction print, second color  Photo by Mary M Payne

Next I carve away everywhere that I want yellow to show through.

I print the second color which is a red- orange. Then I carve away all of the background and the centers of the flower petals leaving only the outlines and the leaves.

Reduction Print, third color  Photo by Mary M Payne

This is the block carved away after printing the first two colors.

Here is the result of the three color reduction process.   The red-orange faded with the yellow underneath it so I experimented with that color for subsequent printings.    

 For a follow-up post I will show you some other color choices of the same cards.  In the end, I decided to make three separate blocks for three colors so I could print the card again.  

Franck Rainaut: illustrator, draftsman, museographe

That's Franck with the blue sweater, the tall one.  photo of la vieille ville de Contes by Mary M Payne

Franck Rainaut is one of the bevy of artist friends that I have come to know since living in Nice.  

  I actually don't know Franck that well but each time I see him it is a pleasure.   Last month Thierry, Bouthaina, Patrick and I called him to say we were in the village of Contes where he has his studio.  He said come for lunch.  So we did.  

Here is what I do know: 

 I know that Franck attended Villa Arson in Nice for his artistic studies.   This is one of the regional art schools that is of the highest level in our area. 

I know that Franck is a dedicated illustrator and draftsman who often works in the museums of France. 

I know that Franck is the main designer for the graphics of the small regional museum of Contes where he has his studio. 

I know that Franck has a lovely "joie de vivre" and that extemporaneous lunches are often the most fun.  

Atelier de Franck Rainaut  photo Mary M Payne

Atelier de Franck Rainaut , Contes  Photo by Mary M Payne

Illustration by Franck Rainaut,  photo by Mary M Payne

Picture of  the wife of Henri Carpenter at the left for an exposition of  the famous chef...   Illustrations by Franck Rainaut.     photo by Mary M Payne

 Now Franck's exposition of Henri Charpentier ( "from Contes to California" ), the well known chef who conceived Crepes Suzette, is visiting NYC with all of Franck's drawings.   Congratulations, Franckie. 

Illustrations by Franck Rainaut,  Contes    photo by Mary M Payne

Thierry with a kitty from Contes

Nice old town: linocut

I am very fond of this photo that my brother took when he visited us in Nice.  It shows the typical architecture of the old town which dates back to the 19th centuries built upon an older version of "la vieille de ville" de Nice . 

 I have rendered this photo almost directly as a lino cut engraving.  I debated whether or not to add the electrical boxes.  A couple of friends voted against them and I edited them out mainly as I thought they took the eye away from the graceful lamp arm but I kept some of the wires for their graphic playfulness. 

Photo of Nice Old Town by John R Puckett

Linocut by Mary M Payne: Nice Old Town

This is the first attempt I rendered in umber.

Hand painted Linocut:  by Mary M Payne

This next attempt is hand colored with watercolors

Chine Colle and lino cut by Mary M Payne

This one has a piece of fine Japanese paper behind the ink print.  See my post called "Chine colle"  for the technique.

Two- colored linocut by Mary M. Payne

I think my favorite though is this mustard colored ink that I put down first before I rolled the lino cut of the house siding. Perhaps it's too dark but it has a grizzly feeling that I like. It brings out the rustic scratches of the gouge markings and echoes the burnt oranges of the area.  

 As Monsieur always says: "There's an ass for every seat".  Take your pick. 

Egg Shells: Aquatint

Aquatint briefly explained is the use of resin and acid to etch a metal "plaque".    In our case at EMAP ("ecole municipal d'art plastics) we have a cabinet that disperses resin onto the plaque when we activate a bellows system.  Some artists apply resin by hand with a net of cheesecloth or tarlatan. 

After 10 minutes in the cabinet, the engraver "fixes" the resin with a heat gun held under the plate and then covers the lightest area with varnish so it won't be affected by acid. 

 Then the artist places an adhesive on the back of the plate.  This adhesive prevents the back of the plate from being affected which would unduly dirty the acid bath.   I use the rolls with sticky backing that one buys to put in kitchen drawers.  It works a dream as the heat gun doesn't destroy it. 

 It usually takes "siccatif" varnish about 10 minutes to dry so I always have several projects going at the same time. 

First comes the idea.  My idea of egg shells was furthered by a a photo I took using our old mango wood table .    I made sure I had some shadows because that was what I was going for....that and the grain of the wood.

Photo by mary m payne

Next I drew up an idea of the design and transferred it onto a cleaned, decreased copper plate that I had covered in a wax like varnish  ("vernis ultra flex" by Charbonel ).  The plate had already had all of the edges beveled to prevent cutting the blankets.  A good blanket( and there are three).... can cost $100. 

  Then with a stylus I faintly drew the design onto the "plaque".

   I consequently was ready to place the plate into the acid to etch the outline of the egg shells.   When it came out, I cleaned off all the varnish and degreased the plate again to get it ready for the resin cabinet.  There was a faint line already etched on the plate delineating my design. 

Here is a look at my "bite" times for the different values after the resin was applied.  On the sketch I put a #1 where I wanted pure white.  After the resin, the # 1 area was covered with fast drying varnish to prevent any bite in this area.   I put a #2 for the lightest gray which I left in the acid for two minutes before I removed the plate and covered the #2 area with varnish.   In this design I have 6 different values that I will execute in the same way.  That is 50-60 minutes of drying time for the stop-out varnish alone. 

Photo by Mary M Payne

The black area of the etching received 22 minutes of acid.  I continually needed to check the bite to see if the "tooth" was still there.  I did this with the aid of a magnifying "loop". Too much time in the acid could mean destroying the resin and having to start again with that step.

After the process of biting each value, I cleaned the plate with white spirit and a mixture of 90 percent ethanol and 5 percent methanol ( added so it can't be used to drink) which in France is used as a cleaning aid and is marketed as "Alcool a ménager". The latter alcohol cleans off the resin, the white spirit removes the varnish 

Then I was finally ready to print my first "triage". Patience, Mary. 

  Here is the finished print.   Tilt your screen a bit if you want to see the different values.

 Before it was finished, I had to burnish out a few areas that were too dark and redo some areas that were too light. 

 I suppose the delight of this process is that each print pulled is different according to how one wipes the plate and that there is usually another step to make the print better. 

 I say usually.  Sometimes I just don't like the concept after all after I see it realized .  But that's what makes a good print a singular, "happy making" experience.

I have found out also, that the last effort is usually the favorite.   Now why is that?

  

Original Aquatint by Mary M Payne