Time Passes, Surprises happen

Something happened in September which made me stop painitng, stop anything smacking of art. And then my friend Laura and I met , she showed me her monoprints printed on gelatin, right knox gelatine. Well I have to say after the second meeting and seeing as many more of her stunning prints I felt the twinges of getting my hands messy and digging out some acrylic paints, printer ink anything I could find. Now on the same day I met Laura in Portland I came home to a book from Amazon in the mailbox. One i did not even know had been  written. Man with Blue Scarf, On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucien Freud authored by Martin Gayford. He is the man with the blue scarf and what a read. I knew LF took a long while to paint portrats but this following along from August 04 to April 05 was extrodinary. And from that read and those prints I began a foray into the gelatine area.

The first ones were too messy to even take photos but the 3 heads I rather like. The 2nd one is what is called a ghost print after one print is already made there is still ink on the plate, enough to make a ghost print. Often they are delicate and have an evocative feeling that is wonderful.

The first night my dyslexic tendencies got square in my way and I had to email Laura to have her make me a map of sequences. For that first try after getting frustrated I ended up just drawing into the gelatine which are the above heads. Then back again for a next go.

 
Having tried with a small pan of gelatine I am now ready to make a larger cookie sheet to try this facinating process. This all wetted my juices that have been doing nothing in the paint realm for ages. So I got a piece of this super paper that Laura also got for me and put it on the wall and got the mirrow out and charcaol, pastels and began an exploratory mixed media drawing using myself loosley as model. Its a bit blurry as I had to move furniture to get to my drawing wall and then to take a pic was not easy. Ok Google is being uncooperative will load alter when it has calmed down. Seems to be happening a lot lately to a few bloggers...