Josh Harriman Studio

Category: Lessons

  • Monotypes

    Monotypes are a great printing method for people who work in painting and would like to try printmaking. Monotypes are done by painting onto a plate surface, placing paper over the painting and then applying pressure. This transfers the painted image onto the paper. The nice thing about this method is that its made the same way a painting is made. But it also adds a level of chance through the printing process that makes the finished product more of a surprise than a product of direct painting would be.

    I started my process by taping my source image to my table surface to keep it from moving around. I chose to use a watercolor and ink drawing that I did of a nautilus a couple years ago. I then placed my glass plate on top of that image and added tape corners to mark the position of the glass plate. I did this so I can work in layers and this will let me maintain the image registration.

    After getting my plate in place I started painting the orange layer onto the glass.

    There are a couple things to keep in mind at this stage. Its important to be conscious of the brushstrokes. You want to try to think about the direction and the edges since these will show in the final print. You also want to work fairly quickly if you are using acrylic since it will dry out.

    You want to avoid having piles of paint like the one shown here. Because when pressure is applied this paint will spread out and form blobs on the print paper.

    After I was finished with the orange layer I placed my print paper over the glass plate face down. Using both hands I applied even, light pressure over the paper to ensure that it was secure. After that I increased the pressure. Before pulling up the paper I made tape corners to mark where I had placed the paper. This again will be useful for registration.

    This is what the print looked like after I pulled the paper off the plate.

    For the black layer I decided to work in phases since the paint was drying quickly. I did the right side with the stripe pattern first. Then I repeated the printing process, placing the paper within the tape corners I had marked in the previous print phase. This will ensure that the different parts of the image line up.

    This is how my image looked after printing the first half of the black layer.

    Here is my print after the third print phase where I added the other half of the black layer. One of the tricks to achieving good results with this print process is applying enough paint but also making sure its applied evenly. I like the combination of brushstrokes and solid paint that came out here, and would like to continue building the layers.

  • Masking and Working with Stencils (Part 3)

    In the last post I mentioned how you should keep the piece of paper that you cut out from your stencil. You can use it to block an area of paper by painting the space around it, a technique called masking. Using the same brush and paint as I did in my last post, I painted over the piece of paper I cut out to make the scissors shape.

    When I pull the mask away this is how it looks on the printed paper. The area underneath where the mask was should be almost completely free of paint. You can continue carefully painting the rest of the paper without the stencil.

    Once the red paint had dried I went back and put the original stencil over the scissor shape. I then painted that shape with the light red color. So with this process of alternating between the stencil and the masking paper I was able to apply two separate layers of paint and keep the stencil shape intact.

    Intermission (2 Recent Field Recordings)

    Using Found Objects

    If you’re interested in trying a more free form approach to masking off areas of your paper you can try working with found objects. For the next series I collected some fallen leaves and assembled them on my paper. Since these leaves are not sitting flat on the paper there will not be as clear of an edge to the shapes.

    The next step will be to apply the paint/ink. Since these objects do not sit flat on the paper I chose to use a small spray bottle instead of a brush to make the print. I filled the bottle with sumi ink, which is a water-based black ink. I sprayed the ink over the leaves, keeping the spray pointed in the same direction throughout.

    The 2 examples below are what I came up with using this technique. This process produced looser and more organic results than would be acheived with a paper mask or stencil.

  • 11/18/25

    Create a Cohesive Set of Shapes to Unlock a New Composition

    1. For this project select a set of objects from around the house. You will use these objects to create shapes that you will build a composition with. Try to select a range of shapes and sizes.
    2. After selecting the objects put the objects down on a sheet of bristol paper. Hold the object with one hand and do a light tracing of the outside of the object. As an alternative you can use the object to mask off the area that it covers, as shown in the example below.

    3. Once you have the shapes in place you can begin to shade in your composition, add texture, or color as desired. You can also add detail to the inside of the shapes.

    The goal of this assignment is to use found objects to create a set of shapes and have them relate to each other. The shapes can be modified, added to, joined, erased, and otherwise changed. But ultimately the goal of the assignment is to create a unified composition and to explore different shapes and how they relate to each other in that composition.