Part 1: Project 1: First Monoprints

Looking at the equipment list at the start of the monoprint section, I see I have most, if not all of the items already. All I need do is select my items for a still life.

For this Exercise, I chose items that had relevance emotionally as well as being interesting forms. I chose a sculpture of a singer which my sister had created for my last birthday; a framed photo of my partner which was taken whilst out walking in some woods; and a pine cone which represents my enjoyment of the countryside. These I arranged on an old table I had used as a painting palette. This which was scuffed and marked with paint splodges and coffee rings.

After some consideration I decided to replace the hard edged photo frame with a Buddha head which my brother had rescued from a skip one day on his way to visit me. I found this object to be more sympathetic and complementary with the other two remaining items.

I had prepared two pieces of perspex for this experiment, but I wasn’t completely happy with the edges of these as they were rather irregular. I wanted nice crisp straight edges to my print so used some copper plate I’d forgotten I had which I found languishing in the bottom of a drawer.

I chose my three colours – bluish purple, gold and green. The first print I took from the inked plate barely registered on the newsprint as the ink had dried before I could lay the paper on top.

I reapplied the ink and took a second proof. This was an improvement, but I feel that I will use oil based ink next time as it is slower to dry. However, the test prints were useful in that I was able to see the effects of the brush stroke textures and imagine how this method could be effectively manipulated to interesting effect.

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I think I shall also choose more complementary colours for the next experiment. Perhaps gold, turquoise and pink. Also, the paper could have been more central and level on the print plate. But I am pleased that I managed to avoid leaving smudges or finger marks around the edge of the paper. I had taken the advice to wear gloves which I cleaned between occasions of touching either the plate or the paper using sanitizing gel. This seemed to work rather well.