Monoprinting

The little experience I’ve had with printmaking prior to starting my studies here has been pretty disastrous. 17 year old me sabotaged my first attempts at lino and the mandatory etching that I hadn’t completed for assessment hung over me for so long that it just pissed me off. But since starting the processed rotations I’ve begun to develop a real love for all things printmaking.

We were told at the beginning of the workshop that we would be using cyan, magenta and yellow for our printing. The tutor had premixed our inks with a translucent medium, meaning that where colours overlapped they would mix ie. yellow over blue would make green and so on. There weren’t many worries to be had on this occasion regarding the order in which I printed them, but it was tricky ensuring that the correct areas were removed and it was the first time I’d worked with more than one layer in a print.

I decided to translate a doodle I’d done the other day of a pair playing a game of poker. There were a few mistakes that were part of the learning curve, for example the ashtray in the doodle was accidentally rubbed out and I didn’t leave enough ink to give a significant impression of the smoke the cigarette is emitting. I’ve found with Monoprinting a real liveliness is created in the image by overlapping layers of ink. My favourite section of the image is where the gent is holding his cards and there’s a slight disconformity where the colours spill out the edges. Overall I’m really pleased with the outcome! It’s definitely a technique I’d like to revisit in the future.