Let's try an " image transfer"

Journal page by Mary M Payne

Journal Page by Mary m Payne

One of the new techniques that I have't quite mastered is "image transfer".   I showed it to you in the last post but really this post was written first and put into my drafts.  So here is a bit of an explanation.  

  The idea is to take an inked paper such as piece of magazine or a print made from either laser or inkjet and transfer it to another page rubbing off the moistened paper with your fingertips after you have glued it down and it is dry.  This should leave  only the ink on the page. 
 Easier said than done.  There are a variety methods to try this.  Most include gels or special glues. Some even use Vodka. 

Here I reduced a photo of a large sketch I had done of a nude years back and tried to transfer it to my page.  It didn't work, possibly because I used an "inkjet"printer.   I resorted to outlining the transferred image in pen.   But even that added a 

"je ne sais quoi" that worked all right. 

That bright colored card is a laser copy of an inked page I once did.  It ended up in my scrap box.  The  butterfly and music note scrap are from a commercial paper that I now feel is too "crafty" for me but it does have just the right translucency for gels.    I prefer to find stuff in flea markets, old books or compose bits myself but I still fall back on craft supplies sometimes.  I am at heart, impatient and dare I say, lazy.  

The stamp pad lettering is the only set I have ever found of children's letters that doesn't leave a huge smudge around each letter pressed.  I found it years back in Seattle and the set has finally come in handy.   I have given at least two other sets I bought recently to kids I know who aren't fussed about smudged results. 
 And yes, I suppose stamped lettering is "cheating" too but I love the primitive look of it.

  

Paul Coelho quote

Journal page by Mary M Payne

Journal page image transfer:   Mary M Payne

  I found congruence in the simplicity of Paul Coehlo's directive and made that the base note. I threw in some stencil work, acrylic washes and an image transfer.      

This is a spread from my second journal, maybe the 3rd attempt with "image transfer" from a photo printed on an inkjet printer.   I am getting a bit better transferring the ink, even though I had to touch this one up quite a bit.    My photo was taken from an image by Danielle and Olivier Follmi in their book called Wisdom.  

I am starting to dare to use my own lettering on these pages.  It's surprising how scary it is for me  to mess up the page with my personal lettering.  If I were to need to start over it would be hard to correct the page without another layer of Gesso to obscure the "mistakes".   

    I guess creative lettering is another discipline altogether for those art journaling with words.   I can't seem to get away from my "school teacher" writing, but the wavy lines helped me to get creative here. 

Japanese Landscape: Third of a triptych

Before I go wandering off down other pathways, let me show you the third in the intaglio series I call Japanese landscapes.

At the end of my printmaking classes, I was still working on this acid etching in a series of three.  I only managed to finish a few of this one with the parent and child. 

    I did a couple with  the "chine colle´" technique  (a piece of Japanese paper glued to the receiving page) as the one below.   

 Again , I tried out my Chinese "chop" that I had hand carved in soapstone by Feng Zhuo, an engraver who boasts to be from Confucius' hometown.  His email is ideasforlife@foxmail.com and his ETSY ID is  Chineseseal. 

One of these stone seals says "pervasive moonlight".   The other has my name spelled phonetically.  

We interrupt this program:

By special request, I am leaving last years "academic" work for a bit and going back to my first journal pages. 

 I think free-form art suits me more than prescriptions from others but I need both my own explorations and the class.  

art journaling page,  mary m payne

Here is a page from my first explorations of journaling.  

That black and white line that pops ?  That's a black felt pen and some bandage adhesive. I love intensity of the black and white together. 

  I added a "found" motto  to the corner of my spread :" Embrace imperfection".  

These two words were waiting for me in a 4 page spread of random adhesive stickers I found in my first exploration of crafty items.     I found these two words on separate pages.  

 That's the fun of collage collecting. 

Art journaling page by Mary M Payne

The cast shadow, Lino-cuts

Linocut: "Shadow of a Shadow" by Mary M Payne 24x32 on BFK Rives

This next trio of prints are linocuts that I made for the Shadow Project.  I started with a cardboard cut-out of a shadow photo of the balustrade and the chair and cast the shadow again and took another photo of it so it is really "the shadow of a shadow".    That was the inspiration for two lino blocks that were carved and printed on the same page. 

Shadow of a Shadow, linocut by Mary M Payne 

I used regular oil based printers ink but used transparent ink to lighten one of the blues to get the affect you see in these last two.   I like the extra marks made by the wood cutting tools I use to cut linoleum.  That is almost always the sign of a linocut.  

  I think I could have gone further with different colors etc but I am so interested in new techniques now that "lino" printmaking has take a back seat for  now.  No pun intended

Linocut: Shadow of a Shadow by Mary M Payne

SHADOW; OMBRE PORTEE

Shadow :( card, bleach, ink, acrylics, wood) collage 24x32cm on Canson paper by Mary M Payne

This is the next series of mixed media experiments I did last year based on the theme that was given:  The Cast Shadow or Ombre Portee.    My instructor asked us to use the idea of "shadow" in our work in any way and with any medium.  

In this case I used a photo to make cut-outs of a rocking chair that was casting a shadow on my garden wall.  This photo is very deceiving as what you think is the leg of the chair is actually an arm.  WE don't see the legs and one of the rockers that we do see is that weird "blade" that appears on the slats.  ( See below.)   But this shadow translates as "chair" and that was good enough for me. 

I think the brain makes quick connections of what it wants to see.  And with this photo, I want to see CHAIR.

Photo of chair casting a shadow on the garden wall

Shadow of a shadow, collage on Canson 24x32cm by Mary M Payne

I used various backgrounds and materials and tools ( the background above is painted with a feather) to play with my chair shadow all the while experimenting with various kinds of paste and glue.  

I get the feeling that one of the biggest challenges for a collage artist is the search for the appropriate glue for paper, wood or any other choice of surface.    I  used paper here.  If the glue is too strong it will buckle the receiving paper,  if too weak it won't stick.   I have about 5-6 different glues and gels now that I use . 

Shadow:(, acrylic, pencil, ink , rubber stamp), 24x32 cm.  collage by Mary M Payne

Next  I used a photo of the cast shadow of our balustrade as a background to show another shadow effect.

Shadow : collage by Mary M Payne

And of course I placed the chair in various positions on the page .   Why not?

Shadow :( canvas, acrylics, ink):  collage by Mary M Payne

Shadow, ( japanese paper, acyrlics) collage by Mary M Payne

 Shadow,  collage by Mary M Payne

 Shadow , collage by Mary M Payne

This whole exercise felt pretty infantile, using scissors again and paste.... but I want to believe that the closer we get to our "child" artist, the more we work towards our authentic voice.   Well,  anyway,  that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. 

Cells: Final series

Cells by Mary M Payne, 24x32, Collage on Canson paper

In this next series I continued the idea of kitchen papers, looking for a thinner version of "wax paper".  The only candy and pastry papers I found for sale in France had logos or words on them so I found a package of thin sheets used to separate slices of hamburger and bought them from Amazon.co.uk.  


My mark making in this last series uses a stencil for the ovals in the backgrounds .  The cell-like shapes that appears on the sulphur square is made by touching down lightly with a roller full of black acrylic.   Then I glued the transparency onto a piece of light weight Canson paper so we can better see the piece. 

   The explorations of an artist are much like those of a scientist.  We try everything until we find an effect that pleases. 

 A few cell shaped cutouts add the final touches to these collages.   The substrate paper here is textured paper by Ingres.   

"Cells" by Mary m Payne,  24x32cm

Collage by Mary M Payne, 24x32cm

Collage by Mary M Payne, 24x32cm

Cells : First sets

Last year was the beginning of a new class called "pratique picturales".    I had heard good things about the instructor and after a long interview, I was able to gain admission to the group.   I feel lucky to be in with so many accomplished artists  who are "sympathique" as well. 

Collage:  marympayne, 32x24 cm mounted on 224gr Canson

 The idea of the course is for the teacher to give a theme and the students conceive of art based on that theme.  We can use any medium unless otherwise specified.  

For the first exploration into new techniques I chose collage.  I have long been fascinated with mixed media after so many years with oil painting  and printmaking.  So this approach is all pretty new for me.  

 The theme was "a certain white".  I haven't kept the prospectus on that first lesson so I won't try to interpret it for you.  But I chose the subject of the "cell", the smallest unit of an organism, as a choice on which to work and the instructor agreed that I was within the guidelines of the subject.  Here are the results of my study. 

  

Collage by marympayne 32x24cm., mounted on 224 gr.  Canson

For this second small collage above I used recycled paper and mono print techniques with acrylics.  The "cells" were conceived separately and then cut out and pasted on a piece of paper that I had smoothed out and saved from a package.   I worked the brown, re-cycled paper with acrylics for the background and glued on the "cells". 

Collage by marympayne, 24x32cm

collage by marympayne, 24x32cm

This second attempt including the two above, I used a substrate of shiny white paper I had in my stock.  I like the effect of white in the background and that blue acrylic ink. 

Collage by marympayne

Collage by marympayne 24x32cm

collage  by Marympayne, 24x32cm

collage  by marympayne, 24x32cm

In this third set I used transparent papers such as kitchen waxed paper and parchment for my backgrounds.  I used some pens and pencils for various marks as well. 

  P.S. Regardless of the tints of the background papers in these photos , I have again used Canson paper 227gr.  which is a light cream color and sets off most work very well. 

 In primping the photos on iPhoto, I chose to be true to the colors of the pieces themselves.  Maybe some "millennial" will come along one day to teach me a thing or two about iPhoto technology so the Canson paper rings true.