Monotype of a Terracotta Pot at Nero's Villa on Capri

NFS
This is an example of how accidents sometime work
to our advantage in art. This is an oil paint monotype,
which I painted on a small zinc plate (4" x 5"). Actually,
I used this same plate over and over again.

This is the view from the patio of Nero's Villa which is
on the very top of the island of Capri off the coast of Naples.
It is said that he used to throw hapless people off just to amuse
himself.

Anyway, the procedure for this consists of drawing an
image onto the plate with a 6B pencil, and then painting
the image with oil paint diluted with turpentine. For some
reason turpentine works the best, which is a shame, as I
have developed a tendency to develop migraines if I get
anywhere near it. The paint isn't as thin as watercolor,
just "thinned", and it can be manipulated with dry brushes,
and also with brushes that are wet with solvent and then mostly
dried off. Apparently, during this process a bit of turpentine
got away and dribbled down the front of the terracotta pot.
But, what a happy accident! It's really doing a marvelous
imitation of the characteristic surface of these aged pots.

This was from a series called "Italian Geometrics". They were
all 4"' x 5", and they were all oil monotypes. I have two others.
One was used as a book cover once. I felt so lucky.