PICTURE PLANE AND FORMAT SHAPES

 

Picture Plane shapes  and  format shapes, as an Alternative Approach to the Conventional Square or Rectangle.

I would suggest a beginning artist try thinking about Picture Plane Shapes as an approach to designing a new piece of art. For practical reasons, most art work is rectangular, either horizontal or vertical. There is also the square, and the diamond, as well as the Circle and Oval. There can be other geometric shapes, rhomboid shapes, and irregular shapes with angles. Another option is to look at the picture plane itself as a potential for organic shapes cut out of plywood. Shields, of various types are possible as well. Not that you will want to try all of these many possible shapes. Just think about them. Once in a while the shape may convey a special idea because it is so unique, and worth the work.

Next think about putting unusual shapes inside the picture plane. I will use the term format shapes  to differentiate between the outer shape or picture plane and the shape that falls within it. Sometimes the inner shape is defined by the subject itself, especially if it is silhouetted within the picture plane. Refer back to the post of July 18, 2014 to see a composition designed to be presented in a format shape.

There are many innovative ways to present your creation as a different shape, than simply to mat the art work within the rectangle you started with. The format shape may even be presented as an organic shape with no mat.  Although the above illustration is somewhat realistic, the arch and lower rectangle boundaries of the image do suggest the possibilities of using format shapes in your art work, whether non objective or realistic.

This topic was also covered on Mixed Media Abstract Art, another of my blogs. Also on this blogsite, published prior to this one, a collagraph print using a format shape was featured.

Images and Writing are the copyright © of Ruth Zachary

COLLAGE BY A PRINTMAKER.

Collagraph Printmaking is a form of relief collage, which uses collaged materials adhered to a background or plate, and which is hardened to make print editions, using a press.

The above collagraph print started with making a casting of actual plants and leaves. They were covered with aluminum foil, and run through a press, to make the mold. The aluminum relief (where the leaves were) was filled on the back side with acrylic modeling paste until it hardened. The acrylic casting was glued to the masonite arch and rectangle. They were printed from the combined intaglio and relief surfaces by inking the different levels using the viscosity method.

This was shown in this sequence to introduce the next step- Picture Planes and Format Shapes.

Writing and Collagraph Image above is the Copyright © of Ruth Zachary.

MAKING COPIES FOR COLLAGE

Atargatis, a Mature Goddess Figure Connected with The Sea. B & W Copies on Rice Paper,  Chine Colle. © by R. Zachary

Copies for Collage

This piece, created in the late 1980s, was planned to be run as a limited edition, and was adhered to Stonehenge Printmaking Paper using a press, in a process known as chine colle. Flour based paste was used to bond the wet papers as one. Artists were just beginning to try new technology, and I had a new Canon Copier.

Chine Colle is a process very similar to Collage, and I am showing it on this blog in connection with this Collage Series, to remind people that it is still possible to extend the use of limited imagery by making copies, either with a copy machine, or with a computer. Note the ability to repeat images by making multiple copies, and how repetition creates movement and carries the eye as a compositional device. 

Once the copies were made on acid free rice paper, I cut the pieces out and they were arranged into the composition. Then the image was adhered to rag paper in the press, using the chine colle method.  Because images are brought together and adhered to one surface, it is both a collage and a montage

While you are at it, you might as well make the copies on good paper. I recommend using rice papers, mulberry paper, and for ink jet prints, Epson lightweight matte paper. Epson inks are more colorfast than many other printing inks. These papers retain images well when used with acrylic medium and varnish.

Some copy images are adhered to paper by wax emulsion and heat. This type of image will not run when wet.

Some rice papers will cause pigments to run because these are not treated to keep the inks in place on wet paper. Again an accident can be a bonus - I sometimes use this quality to create watercolor effects on collage papers. One way to slow down this runny characteristic is to spray the image lightly with spray varnish or lacquer. Let it dry in the open air before using it in collage.

Experiment first, by taking a small sample and adhering it to mat board. Prints on Epson papers don't move, but tend to turn more intense and dark, so the original used needs to be somewhat lighter in value to have the desired result in the collage. 

 The Scanner or Copy Machine Used as Camera:

Below is another limited edition print I made using the copier as a camera, I made copies of my printmaking apron, my  crocheted homemaker's apron, pictures of my lady shoes, and of my print maker's boots which I wore in my studio. 

I was torn between being a wife, mother, and artist, and wanted in some ways to cut the apron strings. The mother bird with the brood was symbolic of needing to care for family needs first. Although I love abstraction, I also love realistic imagery because of things I want to say, when images are used as metaphors. Note: This image was used previously on 2-28-2014 on this blog. The brown tones were a feature of the Canon Copier.

Apron Strings, 14x17". Chine Colle.  Using Copier as a Camera                                        © by Ruth Zachary

All Images and Writing are the Copyright  © of Ruth Zachary and are not to be reproduced without written permission from the Artist/ Author.