Part 1: Assignment 1

To sum up my experience of monoprinting, if I’d had more fun with it, rather than cursing my lack of a perfect print, then this part of the printmaking module may have produced more positive outcomes.

For Project 1, I am submitting the following prints:

These were produced by painting ink onto either a glass plate or one of copper. Clockwise from top left, these are printed on cartridge paper, newsprint, 120gsm Zerkal and basic A3 photocopier paper. The objects include a birthday gift of a sculpture from my sister, as well as the head of the Buddha – a rare gift from my younger brother – who found it in a skip on his way over to visit one day years ago. These objects have some degree of emotional attachment for me. Generally speaking, objects don’t hold emotional value for me particularly, though I do possess a lot of interesting objects in my flat. The pear is an ornament I picked up when out charity shopping with my partner, an example of a fun activity which we were once able to do freely.

For Project 2, I offer the following outcomes:

These are printed on white A3 photocopier paper, and on 140gsm black paper. From top left going clockwise they consist of a simple positive print from a negative mask (albeit white ink on black paper, just to confuse the issue), followed by a rare spotless positive print in yellow oil based ink on white paper. The next one is based on a sketch of the head of the Buddha and is a positive print from using a negative mask (again, somewhat confused by printing white on black). Finally, bottom left shows a negative print using a positive mask where the f holes in the violin have been cut out to show that extra detail.

The initial sketch of a violin was inspired by an instrument I have been practising for 3 years now. I am just starting to make actual music. The shape is particularly well suited for this exercise as it is so easily recognisable.

For Project 3, I developed layers of positive and negative prints. Here I used bubble wrap to give texture to the background of the violin (bottom left). I was not entirely successful in registration of positive and negative prints in my outcomes, but I feel the effects are good enough to submit due to the colour combinations I have chosen to use. All of the above are printed on A3 photocopier paper using oil based ink. The print top left is my attempt at a landscape. Here I have used a brush to paint onto the plate as well as back drawing the clouds, thatched roof, and ploughed field.

There was a delay in awaiting a fresh order of supplies. I had a set which should have included oil based yellow ink, but in fact had 2 x black tubes instead. This was somewhat frustrating as I had to wait for my order to be delivered. But I am very pleased with the quality of the ink from Jackson’s. Needless to say that, in future I shall not be buying little sets on Amazon.

Finally, I am still working on Project 4. Please see previous blog post for the story so far. I shall update in due course, ever mindful that it needs to finished and dry for posting tomorrow (Thursday 14th Jan ’21) before noon.

Update:

This morning I have spent time attempting to finish Project 4 of Part 1, however the outcomes were not as good as I’d hoped. Rather than ask for another extension on this first assignment, which would be very last minute and not really on having already spent 3 months dithering I’m going to send what I have regardless.

Project 4:

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On reflection:

Although not ideal, I feel that to get a perfect, or near perfect, outcome with the monoprinting method is a tall order. I could spend six months on this and still not come up with anything I’m really happy with.

I am looking forward to the next part of this module where we are lino printing. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to put what I have learned so far into action in Part 2. I will not abandon monoprinting entirely, especially if my tutor directs me to rework my assignment. But it has been a largely frustrating experience. I’ll be pleased when I can move on.