Monoprinting at Kenilworth

This week I spent 4 days in rural Kenilworth on the Sunshine Coast hinterland running a monoprinting workshop, using both my etching press 'Thumper' and gelli plates to create images.

I had a small class of 4 students - Kylie, Robyn, Denise and Wendy, plus Morag for one day of gelli plate printing.

The resulting prints were spectacular and varied, showing off the individual art talents and styles.

Its always great to have several days in a workshop to help everyone to embrace the new techniques and different ways of creating images, and this really showed in the prints the girls created.  Well done!

Denise's Banksias.
She used a lot of objects in this print,
 but the repetition of the banksia shape
 and the horizontal and vertical lines make it all work together
in a vibrant and energetic image.

Denise at the press with her plate and a print

Kylie's Fern print - beautiful lines and colours.
The detail of the middle fern is 3-dimensional and
together with the rich colours,
it gives the print its WOW factor.

Kylie at the press working on her Magpie series,
lots of work to construct but worth it in the end

Robyn's delicate print,
Subtle colours and repetition of
line and shape, with the zing of the red
ginkgo leaf popping out from behind.

Robyn's fern print on music paper,
created via a gelli plate.  This one was created by
printing the fern onto the plate then onto the paper.
Also lots of washes and delicate background colours to
set the main image off without overpowering it.

Robyn at the press, with her print and plate

Wendy's gelli plate fern print - lots of
layers and interesting marks.  The white fern is a ghost print,
very carefully orchestrated to provide a focal point
 on a busy background.

Wendy's print - I call this 'Steam Punk',
a very industrial but earthy print.
It works well with a variety of shapes, textures and lines.

Wendy at the press with one of her final prints -
gorgeous colours and textures.
Her 'graduation' print I think!

"Legs up!" for the group shot after 4 days of printing,
showing off their favourite prints.
I managed to do a couple of prints as well just for fun.