As a creature of habit, trying new things can be frightening. Doubts, fear, and nerves always taking over whenever I embark on a new project. Regardless of my unease change is needed to aid growth. At some point you have to try something new to get you to the next level, and I found that change in Monotype printing.
I had tried Monotype printing in college, during a time when I was very interested in painterly aesthetics, and was told that this type of printing lent itself to that. I soon learned why out of all printmaking techniques this was the favorite of painters. The process was shorter and the outcome more immediate.
(Touching up a monotype after printing)
Years have passed after that one semester at the Hartford Art School, to be honest I forgot about that short period of time when I experimented with Monotype printing. Then, early last year it all came back after attending my first Monotype party at the Salmagundi Club. At the moment I was hungry for something different and was also in need of a little socializing among other artist while making art in the same space.
On my first night excitement and nerves were all there as I looked at this zinc plate covered in black ink. What happens now? My first experience with Monotype years ago was more of an additive process. It was easy to lay down colors to create abstract compositions that created a dialogue with the large abstract paintings I was working on at the time. But the subtractive process of Monotype was new to me. What sort of image could I come up with in this little 5 x 7 inch plate?
Looking through my sketchbook for ideas I came across a drawing of a moonlit landscape, an idea I had for a series of small 9x12 paintings. It seemed like the perfect image for this type of technique, and so I began to take away ink with q-tips, creating clouds and and moon as I revealed the reflective surface of the zinc plate. It was quite magical to see an image come to live by taking away ink. Even more so after the plate was put through the press and the paper pulled away form it to reveal a print.
From that night I have been hooked, and once a month I go back to the Salmagundi Monotype Parties to take away ink from a plate and put it under the drum of the press. Every time a new print surfaces I want to do more.
I think I have a found a new passion, one that it's very different from painting, but also one that will help the creation of my works on canvas. It will be nice to see both paintings and prints next to each other and see how they talk to each other.
Images of my Monotype prints coming in the near future. Stayed tuned!
For more images on past Salmagundi Monotype parties, and other events, please visit
The Salmagundian.
Comments