Oil Monotype of Dark Purple Iris

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This is an example of the type of monotype that is painted with

diluted oil paints on a zinc plate. I have done many of these in my

life, and with this medium have created some of my favorite

images. It is a fairly demanding medium, because you have to

dilute the paint to just the right consistency; you need to use

Turpentine, which I really can't stand (it gives me migraines,

even though I grew up with it because my mother was a painter

and used it constantly); and to manipulate the image, it has

to be semi-dry, or "set-up" to exactly the right state. At that point

you can take a pointed sable brush that is damp with solvent

and push the paint around on the plate - remove it, shape it,

add more, etc.. Then, it is printed on a dampened and blotted

piece of fine printmaking paper. The wonderful thing about

it is that oil and water don't mix, so that the oil image floats

semi-mysteriously, forever, on the surface of the paper - kind

of like a watercolor - but not. People ask my why I make these

instead of doing watercolors. That is why. They are not the

same in ANY way. You make a lot of losers, but when you make

a keeper, it is like nothing else. This isn't even one of my favorites.

Those are things I will never part with.