Hot Off the Press 2

Goodwin Park, 2016, monotype, image 6 x 8 inches, paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches 

It has been an exciting week of monotype printing, a week that not only allowed me to make six landscapes but also allowed me to share the experience with my friends Robert and Kyle (both painters).  It was not a surprise to find out they both enjoyed it so much that they came multiple nights to the Salmagundi Club to crank the handle of the press.  I had warned them that it can get very addicting, I don't think they were ready to find out just how much this statement would prove to be true!

Evening Reflections, 2016, monotype, image 6 x 8 inches, paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches 

Robert tried it once lat month and has not been able to talk about anything other than monotypes. He even bought a press and is eagerly awaiting it's arrival in April. He took the addiction to a whole other level!  I guess we can say he was ready for this one week long marathon of printing nights.  

Tuscan Landscape, 2016, monotype, image 6 x 8 inches, paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches

This week also allowed me to familiarize myself with sepia color ink.  On the first night I remember being scared that the prints would not turn out as I imagined them. When applying the ink to the plate it would go down very thin, the transparency was making the color read more like a transparent orange iron oxide, which in oil paint is a great color for glazing but when printed on paper I thought it would come out bright orange.  To my surprise it did not. The printed color was just what I was looking for.

 

Eel Creek Salt Marsh, 2016, monotype, image 6 x 8 inches, paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches 

The sepia ink retained the moodiness of my previous monotypes but I believe it has also added a certain glow that I was not achieving with black ink.  Using a light grey paper also helped neutralize the color of the ink while it's complementary blue undertone helped the print come alive.

  

Evening Reflections, 2016, monotype, image 6 x 8 inches, paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches

Hot Off the Press, the event at Salmagundi, has set the tone (no pun intended) for the rest of the year.  Cheers to a 2016 of monotypes!