Eric Fischl -

"Ode to Eric Fischl"
digital drawing & fractal flame collage by Mick Mather

I've been a huge fan of Mr. Fischl for a long time and recently rediscovered a book of his monotypes that's been in my art library for almost as long. The works within were instrumental in pushing me into that form of printmaking not too many years ago. That said, this piece is closer kin to his formal paintings and I've been meaning to post it for a few weeks now. Enjoy.

Plannin' out a route -

"Toast #9"
monotype by Mick Mather

I've begun to hint about my upcoming vacation. From August 11th thru August 22nd I'm going to be doing other things than this blog. Maybe. I'm sure to check in here from time to time, to visit my daily reads and to mess around with an experiment or two without pressure, without expectation and no need to come up with anything spectacular. During that 2-weeks off, there may well be little by way of the usual writing to accompany the work and I'm on a search for short quotes that will serve there instead. We'll see and, for now, here's another monotype from The Toast Series. I have 12 pieces in the series and by the end of my vacation, the other 8 will be posted ... does anyone have a good quote about toast?

NEW from The Toast Series -

"Toast #6"
monotype by Mick Mather

I've been at a conference all day, same as yesterday, and I'm really strapped for time to get a few things done around the house. No time to eat either now that I think about it. My rumbling tummy says otherwise so, perhaps something quick and easy, like this hit 'n run post featuring another monotype from The Toast Series. We'll chat later, gotta run! :)

Another new series?

"Ghost #1"
digital collage by Mick Mather

It sure seems like this is the year for a diversity of new and related works. This piece is not the first of what is now officially being referred to as The Ghost Series, but it is the first one posted. In many ways, these images are tied to my monotype prints in that they're faint, ghost-like impressions of a more distinct layer. I use these to lighten or darken a piece and to add texture, patterns or shadows. Long story short, I have a number of such layers that can stand alone and, where appropriate, I'll begin to post them.

Illustration Friday: Primitive -

"A Primitive Geometry"
monotype by Mick Mather

I had a lot of great ideas for the theme of primitive, the word-of-the-week at Illustration Friday, but not enough time to develop any of them. In the end I decided to go with this monotype which is an early test while developing that series of prints called "A Square Peg and a Round Hole". No manipulation beyond resizing and a necessary bit of sharpening was applied. That said, I'm off for a well deserved round of cocktails after another long week. It isn't quite over yet since I'm one of the designated welders for a metal sculpture assembly early tomorrow morning. You know what they say, "No good deed goes unpunished!"

NEW from The Toast Series -

"Toast #5"
monotype by Mick Mather

Vacation is a wonderful thing except for the fact that a weeks worth of work is still waiting to be done when you get back. I'm struggling a little getting caught up and tonight I'm going to post something from the files that's been waiting for a day like this when I'm, once again, done in! As you can see, this is Number 5 from The Toast Series and it happens to be the most abstract of the lot. My thanks to Judy Hand and Lisa Sarsfield for assisting me with my thinking about the question-of-the-month. Well, boys and girls, enjoy - or: go do likewise!

NEW from The Telephone Series -

"Telephone #18"
monotype by Mick Mather

I'm still sick but managed to drag myself in here long enough to post another piece from The Telephone Series. Enjoy ... back to bed for me.

The Toast Series -

"Toast #7"
monotype by Mick Mather

As promised, here's one of the monotype prints from The Toast Series. As you may recall, this came about as a direct result of The Telephone Series - another example of which can be seen here at No Mather What Shape - The Archive. Basically, each telephone began as a shape that looked like a piece of bread and, after finishing all 26 telephones, I began to fiddle. Soon the layers began looking more like slices of toasted bread and a series was born! Once again, each image is iconic in nature - the toast posted here being the most stylized. They were fun to do but, since I continued using telephone book pages for the most part, I'm dissatisfied with them. There's another grouping of experimental, trial runs done on a variety of other papers that I was even less satisfied with and I may revisit these somewhere down the road. More to come ... eventually.

You asked for it ... again -

- click to view larger image -

"Telephone # 20"
monotype by Mick Mather

I know that I promised to show at least one of the images from this series of monotypes. I'll likely show a few more since listening to something that my friend, Lisa Sarsfield, had to say in a comment recently. To briefly recap, my thinking was that these were not quite there as regards perspective and, for me, even the composition feels a bit forced. I've since changed my mind a bit because of the iconic nature of this series, The TV Dinner Series and The Toast Series yet to be shown. As before, stay tuned. :)

You asked for it -

"Thumbs from The Telephone Series"

monotype prints by Mick Mather

Just a small peek at another series of monotypes. I don't like the way these turned out and I'd do them differently if I had the time to pursue the project. As with The TV Dinner Series these were created using inexpensive tempera paints. Each telephone was painted on a plastic sheet and then transferred to a page from the telephone book. Each image was accomplished in alphabetical order and corresponds to a telephone directory booklet page where each monotype was tipped in (the little black letter tabs can be seen in each of the thumbnails above). One good thing that came out of this work is a second series that immediately followed. It's called The Toast Series and I'll show a few of those in the days or weeks ahead.

You're Invited -

"TV Dinner #50"
monotype by Mick Mather

An exhibition of my monotype prints - The TV Dinner Series - has been on display at gallerY at the Downtown Syracuse YMCA since February 15th and will remain on display until April 1st. An open artist reception will take place on Thursday, February 21st from 5:00pm to 9:00pm as part of Th3, Third Thursday, where over a dozen Syracuse art spaces open for a grand party and gallery crawl. Well, you wouldn't actually know that I have an exhibition on view by visiting the Y's web site, but it has been in the papers. Anyway, it's a very nice exhibition space located on the 2nd floor of the YMCA Building at 340 Montgomery. It's right across the street from the Onondaga Historical Association, just across Columbus Circle from The John H. Mulroy Civic Center and just around the corner from one of my favorite restaurants and watering holes, The Mission. You're all invited!

Connections -

"Basic Series - A Square Peg and A Round Hole #5"

monotype by Mick Mather

I was noodling around with another image this morning that ended up as the weekly post at my Sci-Fi blog, Outer Dust Rings. As it happened, it turned into a revived, digital version of The Basic Series, which is actually an altered book project that became impossible for me to continue. More insight and a few more examples of these works-on-paper in book form can be found at No Matter What Shape - The Archive. As I contemplate moving forward with these works as digital paintings it seems like a good time to show this piece and take a peek back in time while looking to the future.

A somewhat hasty experiment -

"Ayres Rock: A Dream Walk"

digitally manipulated monotype & satellite image

I've had a number of monotypes in my files for years now. Experiments for the most part where, after many layers of paint were built up, I drew into those muddy layers with a toothpick before it was completely dry. The result was interesting to me but I could never quite get my head around any further concept with this particular piece. The other day I happened upon a photograph of Ayres Rock - Uluru as the Australian Aborigines call it - and something clicked. I began to manipulate the scanned monotype while considering how to juxtapose a real image of the ancient rock formation. As I say in the introduction, this was an experiment, quickly tossed together. What can I say? I like it.

An old monotype -

"The Trimmed Hedge"
monotype by Mick Mather

As a break from the constant experimental work with the new graphic software program I've been fiddling with, I went back through an old stack of monotype prints and scanned them for use here. For those who've never tried this method of printmaking, what you do is create a painting on a piece of glass, plastic or metal - in my case, one of those 3M Mylar transparency sheets that go through an office copier to make overhead projections of documents - then lay it to paper and burnish with a spoon, barren, fingers or the heel of your hand. In the end you've transferred the painting, resulting in a single print (hence the prefix "mono") on whatever paper you happen to be using. In tonight's post, I've used a rather thick and porous piece of handmade paper. Most artists use oil based printmaking inks or oil paint...I've spent years learning to use water media instead, a long, hard road to a successful print since so many of them are failures. I do like this one well enough to show, so, here 'tis, a break from my usual work.