Part 1: Project 1: Day 3 of Monoprinting

I started the day by looking at yesterday’s notes. The most successful print so far has been the following:

The gold ink did not register very well though. Also, I am having trouble learning to line up the paper with the edge of the plate so that it is central and with parallel margins on each side.

For today, I have been using purple, orange and green oil based ink. I brushed this onto the same copper plate marked with a black Sharpie pen.

My first print was promising, though the colour combinations appeared a little toxic. However, I had unfortunately missed an area down to the right hand side of the plate (on the left of the print in front of the Buddha’s head). This gave a weird misshapen look to the print. I decided, the next time I drew this still life, I would line up the box with the edge of the print plate. Seems obvious to me now. Doh.

I brushed ink onto the missed area, then took a ghost print:

The ghost print would have been ok, only I inadvertently picked up an errant spot of green ink, thereby spoiling the print.

This third attempt perhaps taught me the most about colour, contrast and tone. From this print, I later drew the following thumbnail:

I shall return to this tomorrow with renewed vigour, having learned these important points:

• Remember to leave blank /white areas for effective contrast
• Use bold/complementary colour choices
• Be selective in inking areas that are “key” such as shadows and necessary outlines.
• Keep work area, gloves and hands very clean
• Make angles approximate to plate edge actually line up with the edge of the print plate

Not a bad days effort – though I’ve yet to produce a print I’m really happy with. But after today I feel I will at least have achieved that aim by the end of this week.