Thursday, January 3, 2013

Sun Image, Handmade Monoprint

A Monoprint of a Sun  

This is a hand made print. Only one is made so it is called a mono-print. The sun is a popular and favorite subject.  


January Sun, monoprint, 1 of 1 made. 8.5x11 inches by Adron 

This was made in my basement studio on January 3rd 2013. I first rolled a square of yellow onto the paper. While that dried I cut a block, or in this case Styrofoam, and rolled ink over it then pressed the paper onto it. The outside shape was cut and he face was simply drawn in the soft material which depressed the Styrofoam and left the yellow underneath to show through. The raised image leaves the print of the image. 

It is always an adventure because you never really know what it will be like when it comes out. 

The ink I use is speedball water based ink. The paper was 20 lb paper. Which is a little lightweight for my taste but OK for making something for fun.

I didn't feel like going to great lengths to make different colors and try to get things to match up for more layers of color. So I kept it simple. 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Watercolor Painting of Sea Wave Crashing

This is a little study I did in watercolor to practice the technique. The wave crashing over the rock was my point of interest. It is always a popular subject. The sea is so powerful and restless one only wishes to capture it but never succeeds.

Water Color painting of Sea Wave Crashing.

The wave was done with a small brush and a very thin wash of ultramarine blue, cerulean blue and alizarin crimson. I dabbed and scribbled the pale colors over and did a little layering. The trick is to think ahead and plan what the water is going to do in the future stage of the picture so you have the little halo around the crashing wave.

I used a medium sized brush for the waves in the foreground. I was a little unhappy with the brightness of the blue water in the foreground. I didn't want to muddy the colors too much with greens and grays but wonder if it wouldn't have given a nice contrast.

I wish the sky was a little darker but it turned out OK.

In retrospect, I should have made the rocks darker but they were getting muddy.

I am happy with the composition the space between the rocks lead one to the wave crashing.
(c) Adron
____________________________

Thank you for visiting my blog. 
I hope you enjoy my art. 
If you want to see more just choose from the labels or the favorites in the sidebar. 




Use the buttons below to share this post with your networks.  Thank you.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Wind Nymph And The Life Preserver, Watercolor


Wind Nymph and the Life Preserver is a watercolor fantasy I painted last week, (12/20-12/25). It is of a Nymph, a mythical creature. It is completely different from anything else I do.

Wind Nymph and the Life Preserver, 11x15 Watercolor by Adron. 

I composed it to create interest and questions by the viewer.
     * Who is she?
     * Is it an illustration from a little known ancient myth?
     * Is it about death?
     * Is the life preserver from someone who perished or was it all that is left of a doomed ship?
     * Is it a shroud she is holding, is it to cover the dead?
     * Is she looking away from the life preserver in remorse, willful denial, or sorrow?
     * Why the dark sky?
I hope this picture engages the imagination of the audience.

I did this watercolor over a few days. The norm is to do large areas of wash laying down broad sweeps of lighter colors and building up details in darker colors. I only halfway followed the standard practice. I used a nervous dabbing brush stroke over and over to build up the sky, sometimes allowing the color to blend together and sometimes letting it dry before adding the next hue. I do not believe in using black paint but this time I made an exception and dabbed it in for drama in the sky immediately overhead; hopefully it gives closeness to the near sky and a sense of distance far away by the horizon.

The sea was dabbed in short horizontal strokes allowing layers to dry before adding a deeper hue. I had problems with the sea being two dimensional so I used clear water at the horizon and a paper towel to lift out some of the hue. The foam was added with acrylic to make it opaque.

I might have done more with the nymph but I wanted her lines clean and the uncluttered areas to be a contrast to the style of the other areas of my painting. I was afraid that I was overworking the project so I left her a little underdone.

I hope you enjoy my painting. Email me if you are interested in it.
Thank You

Adron
____________________________

Thank you for visiting my blog. 
I hope you enjoy my art. 
If you want to see more just choose from the labels or the favorites in the sidebar. 
Adron



Use the buttons below to share this post with your networks.  Thank you.
(c) Adron

Friday, December 21, 2012

Wind Nymph In Charcoal

This is a charcoal study I did to work out the composition and design of a watercolor project. I am contemplating.  In my resource material the pose was so simple yet dramatic, I could not resist doing a sketch of it. I changed the hair and clothing. I liked the lights and the darks caused by the light from the right. I toned down the paper a half shade to bring out the light against the front of the figure. The area behind the figure is so much dead space I felt it needed something so I added the smudging of the wind.

Wind Nymph Study in Charcoal.
Someone looking at it may say I did a bad job on the face, and they would be right, but this is just a study that I hope will lead to a bigger more satisfying project. This has no commercial value, it is just for my own amusement.

(c) Adron
____________________________

Thank you for visiting my blog. 
I hope you enjoy my art. 
If you want to see more just choose from the labels or the favorites in the sidebar. 
Adron



Use the buttons below to share this post with your networks.  Thank you.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Hand Made Print of Daisies Black

This is a handmade print of daisies I did with block print methods.

Hand-made Print, Daisies. limited edition of 18

The design started out as part of an art lesson I was teaching to kids where we were discussing negative space. The white areas create the composition. My study I did for the lesson looked like it would work well as a print. The idea fermented in my mind for a while and so I gave it a try. I think it turned out very well.

I used a foam material instead of the traditional wood or lino block. I am poor and have to make do with what I can find. I drew the image with charcoal on the foam block and then went over it in felt tip marker. I cut out the large white areas with a razor knife and added texture by putting pressure onto the foam with a pencil.

I use water based ink and was not happy with the way it beaded up on the foam. Most of the prints had to be gone over twice to get a satisfactory result; even still some have hazy areas. In retrospect, I think it would have looked nice with a blue or green background, but I didn't want to get into all the mess of registration and matching little marks up.

You can purchase one at my society6 site.

____________________________

Thank you for visiting my blog. 
I hope you enjoy my art. 
If you want to see more just choose from the labels or the favorites in the sidebar. 
Adron




Use the buttons below to share this post with your networks.  Thank you.

(c) Adron Dozat

Monday, December 10, 2012

The Lark, Handmade Print In Negative Line

The Lark 
limited edition print of 10

The Lark, Limited edition print of 10 
This is a handmade print in negative line. Negative line is the white of the paper showing through the black of the surrounding medium, it is a variation of negative space. 

I did several studies of the bird before I began the print. I am learning to take my time and work out the design with greater care. 

I etched the image in a sheet of foam then rolled the brayer over it with black ink. Foam is easy and cheap to work with but it is also fragile and many times one has an unwanted mark or a crease in the foam-plate. The foam was textured; I didn't realize this at the first and was frustrated with the results. The foam kept rejecting the ink, this made each image to be cloudy some more than others, I found it necessary to roll back the paper and check the image then roll more ink on to darken the picture. It turned out that they are each unique though true to the medium of ink block print. If I was not committed to black I would have done several colors in layers to maximize the effect. 

I printed about 16 of these but rejected 6, I am getting better I used to reject half of the prints. The illustration above is number 10 of the edition. 

The size is about 5x7. This is printed on acid free paper. The paper is eggshell white but the lighting in my work area is not ideal for photography. I will sell these unframed but mounted on foam core for $15.00 framed will be $40.00.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

How I Edited to Make a Nice Painting

When I looked at my resource material I was not impressed and almost decided not to paint this picture, but I did a lot of editing and made a nice watercolor landscape.


Rural Landscape with Floral Foreground


My resource materials did not have the flowers or the fencepost in the foreground I added them to give more interest. There were hills in the background but I added the distant mountain. There were many buildings in the resource material that I edited out, I moved the two I chose to give the picture a point of interest. I built up the road from what I had to work with so it would lead the eye into the picture in a pleasing way. I was concerned that the colors were all too cool. I struggled to warm it up a bit by adding warmer colors to the values. The trick with adding warm colors is that I didn't want to mute the red of the barn.

It is on a sheet of 9x11, 140 lb cold press watercolor paper.

I am very happy with the results of this painting and hope you enjoy looking at it.

____________________________

Thank you for visiting my blog. 
I hope you enjoy my art. 
If you want to see more just choose from the labels or the favorites in the sidebar. 
Adron 


Use the buttons below to share this post with your networks.  Thank you.

(c) Adron

Monday, November 26, 2012

Path Through April's Acres Watercolor

Path Trough April's Acres
This was a watercolor I did of a tree in early spring. The road was not so clear in the resource material so I built it up a little to give the composition more unity. A road that winds into a scene helps the eye find its way through the picture. It was a dark tree without any leaves but I was reluctant to use too dark of a color.  It was difficult to do the background and leave openings for the branches, it is not easy to paint around all the branches. I painted the background in several light watery washes and let the color blend on the paper. The fore ground was done with small brushes and layered.

This little watercolor was done on 9x11 cold press 140 lb paper.

(c) Adron