More Monotypes

Yesterday, I wrote about the monotype process I have been using to create a series of prints at Wingtip Press.  My friend Linda commented that maybe I was unsure how I felt about the first print because it was so "not" me.

This brings up an interesting topic that I have been thinking about for awhile.  Linda is right that this/these prints really don't look like the type of work I do with fabric.  Most all of the prints I have worked on in the last few years are very different in style than my fabric artwork.  Why is that? Good question.

I have been trying to figure that out.  Here are some things I have come up with.  One reason is that these are totally different media with very different processes.  In my mind (literally), it seems like very different brain processes, as well.  This particular monotype process is a reductive method where you remove ink to create the image.  Whereas, in fabric, I am adding pieces to create the image.

Printing methods in general, for me, seem like an easier way to work with a more realistic image as they are more like drawing or painting.

Also, this reductive monotype process seems to lend itself more to texture and softer lines as opposed to the strong graphic lines I get with a seam in fabric.  For that, I would need to use a screen printing process, which I do eventually want to try, too.

Although at this point my fabric art and prints may seem very different in style, I think the overlap is in the abstraction that I like to do in most of my work.  I think as I continue to work in both media, they may become more similar in style.  I also plan to explore merging the two processes together to where I am printing on fabric and incorporating that into the fabric artworks.

So here is a section from a large fabric artwork that I haven't posted yet.  Do you see any similarities between it and the print I posted yesterday?