Monotype Printing

I have been spending some time at Wingtip Press this month working on a series of reduction monotype prints.  Going regularly is helping me get practice with the technique and better understand what tools I prefer to use.  I still need lots of practice in figuring out how much of the three primary colors to remove to get the final results and colors I would like.

Here is the stage on the second piece in the series where I have already printed the yellow and the red.  I forgot to take a picture of just the yellow, but most of the image has yellow so there was not much to see.

This is the plate as I am working on the blue layer.  As you can see, I have removed most of the blue ink.

And now we have the final print with all three colors.

Leaf Anatomy 2

three color reduction monotype

image: 8" x 10"

With this process, you only get one original print and maybe a ghost.  

I'm not totally happy with this print.  But I'm not exactly sure why.  It is very different than working in fabric.  This particular technique is better to use for softer lines, more texture and more blending, as opposed to the strong graphic lines that I like to use in my fabric artwork.

If you are wondering what happened to Leaf Anatomy 1, you can see it in this post, toward the bottom.

First Thursday

Today is First Thursday.  It's a busy one for the Boise Open Studio Collective Organization (BOSCO). Tonight is the opening of their exhibition, Opening Doors: A Glimpse into the Artist's Mind, at the Creative Access Arts Center at 8th St. and Myrtle.  The reception will be from 5-8 p.m.  Here is a sneak preview.

Artwork by Lisa Cheney and Marianne Konvalinka

In addition, BOSCO is also having a reception at the Artist-in-Residence space in Bodo at 404 S. 8th St, Ste182, which is basically across the street from the Creative Access Arts Center.  I am one of three artists that will be in the space for February.  Lisa Cheney and Bonnie Peacher will be sharing it with me.

I have one artwork in the Opening Doors exhibition and will have a couple of pieces at the Artist-in-Residence space even though I don't officially "move in" until this weekend.  I will be splitting my time between the two events this evening.  I hope to see some of you Boiseans there.

One more event that is not related to BOSCO is the Valentine for AIDS auction which opens today at the Boise Flying M Coffeehouse.  Silent auction bidding ends at 4 p.m. on Feb. 16th.

Here is the piece I donated.  It is a monotype print.

X's & O's

monotype print

image size: 10" x 8"

Available for bids at Valentine for AIDS

Another Monotype Monday

Monday evening I was back at Wingtip Press for Monotype Monday.  There is no instruction.  It is just a time to go to the studio and work on Monotype prints.  I went without having any real idea of what I wanted to work on.

I brought stencils and stamps and brushes; all different tools you can use in a monotype.  There are so many ways to do monotypes.  I know I have just brushed the surface (literally, ha).

A monotype is where you are working directly on the plate with inks (paint, whatever) and then you pull one print.  That's all.  You can pull a ghost if there is some ink left on the plate.  But then, you have to start over again.

The Wingtip Press studio.

 Brian Schreiner revealing his monotype.  This is the fun part when you get to see how it turned out.

I didn't have an idea to start with but once I start playing around, I usually can find some direction to go.  Here is one of my prints, probably the best one of the night. I used some stencils on this (so far my favorite technique) and the background is actually a ghost from a previous print. 

When you don't have a plan, obviously, you don't always get something good.  But you do learn.  This is probably the only one I like well.

More Monotypes

I've never really understood the different between a monotype and a monoprint until now.  Here is how wikipedia explains the different between the two.

"Historically, the terms Monotype and Monoprint were often used interchangeably. More recently, however, these are now used to refer to very similar types of printmaking which are somewhat different. Both involve the transfer of ink from a plate to the paper, canvas, or other surface that will ultimately hold the work of art. In the case of monotypes, the plate is a featureless plate. It contains no features that will impart any definition to successive prints. . . . In the absence of any permanent features on the surface of the plate, all articulation of imagery is dependent on one unique inking, resulting in one unique print.

Monoprints, on the other hand, now refers to the results of plates that have permanent features on them. Monoprints can be thought of as variations on a theme, with the theme resulting from some permanent features being found on the plate—lines, textures—that persist from print to print. Variations are confined to those resulting from how the plate is inked prior to each print. The variations are endless, but certain permanent features on the plate will tend to persist from one print to the next."

Rose Davies (the instructor of our monotype workshop) explained it more simply as a monotype starts with a empty surface (plate), whereas the monoprint starts with an existing printing plate (i.e. a carved woodblock).

I have been back to Wingtip Press to work on a few more three color reduction monotypes like we did in the workshop.  I was working with an image of italian prune plums.  Here is the resulting print and the ghost print.

I liked the ghost better and will see if I can work into it with some oil pastel or pencils.  The first print is just a little too strong graphically for what I was envisioning and the texture is also a little harsh.  

It was bothering me so much that I had to go back another day to try again.  I thought I knew what to do to make it better (for me).  Here is the second attempt and the ghost print.

I am much happier with the second attempt. It has a softer look to it.  Although now that I have "fixed" it, the first one is starting to grow on me.  They are just two different looks of the same image.  

Which one do you like better?

Three Color Reduction Monotype - Last Day

Monday was the last day of our Wingtip Press workshop with Rose Davies.  Rose will be giving a talk this Wednesday evening at Wingtip Press, 6:30 p.m., if anyone would like to attend.

The first few days of the workshop, my subject matter was representational images.  Amy asked me why I didn't do something like the more abstract stuff I do with fabric.  I had been thinking about that, noticing that when I am doing some kind of print, I mostly pick more realistic things. Why is that?

My thoughts are that the two mediums are so very different. So, my brain thinks about them differently. With the fabric, I can get a strong graphic line with a seam and have geometric shapes of color.  A linocut has a nice strong graphic line, but with this technique of monotype, you really have to work at getting a strong crisp line.  It lends itself better to more blending and softer lines.

However, Cassandra worked abstractly the first few days and inspired me to try something abstract on this last day.  (She did something representational on the last day.)  Below is one of her abstract prints.

I also did two prints instead of one.  Here is the yellow layer of one of them (it's upside down) and the other one was just all yellow.

Here is the first one with the red layer on top.  We used a little bit different ink this time and I think we were able to get more color on the first print.

Here is my second print with the red layer completed.

Then, we had a little tea break.  

Rose had made some Welsh cakes in the morning and brought them for us to try.  Very delicious.   

Afterward, it was back to work finishing up the blue layer.  Here is my second print completed.

Here is Cassandra's finished representational print.

I forgot to get a picture of my completed first print, but you can see it (along with the ghost prints) on the near end of the table in this picture where we have laid out most of the prints from the workshop.

When we had these laid out on the table, I noticed that my prints from the first two days had a similar palette of mostly greens and blues.  Whereas, the last day when I went abstract with the prints, the palette is mostly yellow and red (and very bright).  I think I would like to mess around with the stripes some more and the other abstract idea as well.

I'm really glad we had several days to work with this process.  As with most things, it helps to practice and it helped cement the concept into the brain.  I hope to do some more of this.

Reduction Monotype Day 2

Saturday, we spent another day at Wingtip Press working on a second reduction monotype.  This time I chose a simpler subject, canning jars, but it was harder to work with.  I learned some things from the day before and hoped it would make today's print better.

Tyler and Rose working, with the press we used in the foreground.

Once again, we started with yellow.

Then comes process red.  This is my plate lying on top of the paper that was already printed with yellow.  It's ready to run through the press.

Here is Gale's print with the red printed.

Blue is last and you never know how it's going to turn out.  This is my final print.

After running the first print and the ghost prints with the blue, I decided to just run the blue plate through the press on a new sheet of paper.  I really like this ghost.

Here's Gale's final print.

And Carl's final print with the ghost print.

As I was working the different layers on mine, I realized, too late, I had made some mistakes.  I am not going to point them out to you.  But it is just more learning for me.  I am happier with my second print.

And here is some used up scrim that I thought looked pretty just lying on the table.

Reduction Monotype

Yesterday was the second day of our workshop.  We worked on a three color reduction monotype.  Using a light box, we put our drawings or photos under a piece of plexiglass for reference.

First, you start by covering the plate with a layer of yellow ink (we used a litho process yellow mix with plate oil).  Then you start removing the ink with items like q-tips, scrim, brushes, chopsticks, etc.  Here is Rose demonstrating with her drawing.

Since we only used yellow, process red (magenta) and process blue, you really have to think about the areas where the colors will be mixed.  Not only do you remove all the white areas from the yellow but also any area you want pure blue, pure red, or purple.

When it's completed it looks something like this.

Then you put it on a piece of paper and run it through the press.   Since this is a monotype you will only get one print.  But a ghost image can be run through the press with a second piece of paper.

The plate gets cleaned off and you start the process again with red.  Below is my plate in the process of removing the areas where I don't want red (magenta).  I didn't want a lot of red so I ended up cleaning most of it off.  Where you leave all three colors you will get a black.

The red is printed on top of the same paper with the yellow.  So you have to be careful to register the plate very well for the second and third run through the press.  Here is my red printed over the yellow.

The last step is the blue and you really don't know what the print is going to look like until this very last step of running the blue through the press.

Here is my final print.  I'm not that happy with it as it turned how quite a bit different than what I had envisioned.  But now that I have been through the process I have a better idea of how the layers work together and the different ways to remove the ink.  

Here is the ghost print.  I could use this as a base to go back in and use colored pencils or pastels.

It is also good to see what others used and how they did theirs.  We all had fun watching each other pull their prints and watch how the different steps built up.  It was always a surprise at the end.

Here is Cassandra's finished print, which I love and is totally in her style.

Here is Tyler's finished print.

And here is the instructor's finished print.

I'm glad we get to do another one today and on Monday.  I think I need some more practice.