Oil Liftout--Let it Rain

Hmm... I'm happy with the piece and I think it did turn out a whole lot like the oil liftout traditional projects I've done (though it's kind of dark), but the meaning of the painting turned out to be a little more clouded (haha, get it?) than intended.  Basically, it was supposed to be a little more positive than it looks, with people being upset about the rain in the background while the foreground man roughs it out dripping with a smile.  You can be positive in any situation, no matter who you are--something like that.  I was kind of going for irony, because it's the rich looking people who look unhappy and the ruffian who's fine with it.

Splash-Lithography

I might change the color of the water.

Lithography

Lithography is another method of printing that usually involves a smooth surface like limestone and a wax or oily crayon drawing used to transfer ink onto a page or another surface, a weak acid, gum Arabic and water.  It’s different from intaglio or etching or other printing processes because no engraving of any kind is required.  Instead, it’s more of a chemical process where the image is simply drawn on the stone with the crayon (the litho crayon can be colored or non colored, it matters not) and then the weak nitric acid is applied over the stone.  The acid reacts with the places where there is no wax crayon drawing and creates a thin hydrophilic film of calcium nitrate salt and gum Arabic that will accept the water instead of the ink (on account of the ink being greasy).  When the drawing is put into a specific ink and water mixture the ink is attracted to and sticks to the greasy litho crayon drawing and the water is attracted to the negative spaces between.  The wet stone then gets run through a press where the image is transferred (backwards) onto the paper.  That is the traditional way of doing it, of course.  There are more modern ways of lithography, some of which involve offsetting and is used commonly now for posters, books, maps, newspapers, etc.  The process uses mylar, photosensitivity and ultraviolet light to get the image, but that’s another story.

The limestone used for lithography has a unique porous  but smooth surface and the texture often feels more natural than metal or plastic plates.  With stone, it’s easier to create a more versatile range of tones and textures.  One can even scratch or dig into the surface of the stone to give the plate itself the added texture and feel.  The main problem with using limestone though, would probably be the price, great weight, and tendency to crack.  Metal plates can occasionally be used for the process, but it’s not really the same. 

The mark a lithograph makes on a page is unique, as would be expected.  Because the image was drawn on with the litho crayon, the drawing tends to look like something drawn by a crayon or pencil, and as with a pencil or crayon different effects can happen depending on how you drag it across the stone.  They can look a lot like original drawings.  A good range of detail can be accomplished, and although monotone is the usual, color can also be achieved.  

One artist, Janet Wissmann, is a modern stone lithographer I admire.  She seems to specialize in monochromatic but highly detailed pictures of animals like birds and bears.  She uses the straightforward process, but also uses other media to add texture—like in the puffin picture she uses spatterings of liquid mask to keep some areas completely white and scratched or scraped the stone with a razor blade for other textures.  

Honore Daumier is another lithographer in the modern age but he uses a bit of a different technique with a couple of his prints.  Instead of leaving the drawing monotone, he goes over it with contemporary hand coloring and heightens it with gum Arabic.  The drawing itself though is typically lithograph quality—and looks much like a drawing.

The last artist I found was Thomas Hart Benton.  I really like his style, because although it is monochromatic, the values achieved by the grease crayon are very varied and smooth textured transitions.  His drawings look very classical and detailed, while maintaining a wonderful balance and contrast of dark and light.  He appears to use a nice style of crosshatching to create that unique texture of value.

Will

Well, it looked better when I was half asleep...

You Can Run...

I don't really like this one...

Scumbling and Drybrush

Dry brush and Scumble techniques seem pretty straight-forward to me.  Basically Dry brushing is using a very small amount of paint (usually acrylic) to brush lightly over a textured surface, allowing only the peaks of the texture to be covered in paint and letting the texture valleys to show through.  It’s a popular way to blend color or add softening effects with acrylics because acrylics dry so quickly and the technique can be layered one coat over another dry one to create some interesting and beautiful effects. It can also be used in some subtle lighting effects. Scumbling is similar in a way, but kind of the opposite.  Instead of lightly brushing over the surface, the brush (preferably one that is not too expensive or new)is scrubbed into the textured surface so that the valleys get paint in them as well and those parts of the texture turn out darker than the surface texture because it has more paint.   There are many artists that employ this technique, one way or another, and it’s not only acrylic that is used—for example, the technique can be used on indoor house walls for some fun texture effects.

One artist known for his scumbling techniques is Rembrandt, who everyone should know.  He was a master artist—one of the greatest in Dutch history and still one of the most well known of the European painters.  He did many portraits and Bible scenes, and one of the techniques he employed to create the amazing affects he did was scumbling, particularly in some of his self portraits and in this painting of a man regarding a bust.  Instead of acrylic he used oil, but the effect was similar in some ways.

Another more modern artist I found that uses the technique of scumbling is Tom Hughs, a portrait, landscape and figure painter.  He uses scumbling often in his paintings, giving them a very loose, nicely textured feel.  It seems dry brushing and scumbling are nicely suited to landscapes as it lends the painting a way to feel dimension and distance.  Adding a scumbling change of value to distant objects makes it easier for the viewer to see atmospheric perspective.  Using it with figures makes the painting seem somehow homely or nostalgic. 

The last artist I researched that uses scumbling was Tim Bowers, from Granville, Ohio.  He is another modern artist who regularly employs dry brushing in his work, thus giving his illustrations a lot of charming texture and character.  He uses a thicker gesso to create the initial texture and then adds many layers after that that over the top, as well as washes, with acrylic paints.  Each layer allows the previous ones to show through a little.

Ride a Breeze--Silkscreen