Prints Unforgotten

I've got a huge stash of print 'seconds' in my studio, a large boxful. This is one of the issues of being a monoprinter - for me, there are many more unsuccessful prints than successful prints that I frame and sell.

Recently I came across a few prints of wrens that I did back in 2012.  Most of the series has been sold but the last few remaining prints I feel need 'something' to resolve them.  So I decided to dig out the paper stencils I used in that series -luckily I'm a bit of a stencil/paper hoarder so I still had them, and more importantly, knew where to find them!

So I recomposed the images using the original prints which I cut down to bleed prints (that is, no blank paper margin). I then used the stencils overtop of the prints to create a new scene, ensuring that the stencils extended beyond the background image. I feel that this gives a fresh dimensionality to the original image.

The prints are now rehomed in new raw wood frames with fresh mats, and ready to go back into the world and find new homes.

Moral of the story:  Never ignore your past work.....perhaps just rethink it in the context of your current art practice.

The original monoprint

The stencils used to create the 'Dance' series -
the monoprinting process transforms paper stencils
 into beautiful collage pieces

Recomposing the original print by adding stencils -
looking at colour, shape and balance.

The new work 'In the Shadows'.

Detail of 'In the Shadows'

Adding to my art toolkit

In the past month, I've been adding to my art tool kit.  Not new brushes, inks or papers (I've got more than enough paper!), but adding to my printmaking skills.

Last weekend I hosted Jet James from Yeppoon for a workshop exploring creative approaches to collagraph plates.  He uses a PVC plate which gets around the problem of having to seal the plate with multiple coats of shellac as you would with book board etc.  It also allows the use of some ingenious materials and drypoint techniques.

I enjoyed the creative process of creating the plates using a combination of embossing, drypoint and collage, giving a variety of marks and textures.  The 'busy-ness' of imagery on my plate is what I really like when I'm doing my monoprinting.  I can see that I can combine my monoprinting techniques with these collagraph plates, and am looking forward to playing more with it in the coming months.

During the workshop, we also had a play with inking using more than one colour, which gave beautiful images but in a workshop situation of a group of 10 keen printmakers was very messy!

My bee print.  I've explored this bee image in drypoint and
lithograph, so its interesting to see it in a variety of
techniques.

Wren print, multicoloured inking.

The Wren plate and print in blue-black ink.

The chaos of multicolour printing.......

Show and tell at the end of the workshop.
Great prints, great group of people!

Monoprinting as Therapy

There's nothing like immersing yourself in a week of printing, even if interrupted by daily distractions....

After spending a week at Geelong teaching monoprinting, I was determined to not pack away my inks but set up my print studio and have some fun with my little Xcut Xpress machine.

I dug out my favourite wren stencils and got to work....

Inked plate and objects ready to print on the
bed of my Xcut machine.

Revealing the print after printing.
I used tinted Stonehenge, dampened and torn to size to
print as bleed prints.

My ink stations - printing on my own means
I need to chose my colours carefully as I only put
out three colours.  Less to clean up at the end of the day.

A feather print in progress, just for something different!

One of the successful prints, but not every print works.
I used my favourite Kangaroo Grass in this series,
I love its feathering appearance.

Another of my favourite wrens.  The pattern at the
bottom was from some mesh that was
gifted to me - a real treasure!

I had to trace around the outline of this wren
after the print was dry to make him
stand out a bit more.

But wait.... there's more......wren monoprints

Yesterday I was playing around with my little wren stencil, this time printing on postcard sized papers.  Simple and fun to print, these wren monoprints will make great Christmas presents and stock for my outlets.

I used four colours - black, aqua, brown, and dark purple.  The process of printing the monotypes mixes these colours to create hybrids and plenty of interest.  Some of the printmaking papers I used were beige coloured which also tones the ink colours in the print.

All papers were soaked for 10 seconds and worked with damp.

When I have a printing session, I like to stick with the same colours and objects for the whole day.  I just play around with composition and the order of colours, letting the objects and plate mix the ink to create complexity of marks and colour.  That's where the magic happens, even in something as simple as this wren series.

Some of these wren prints will be framed in cute aqua frames I found at a home decorating store, others in basic beige frames.  I bought the frames first, then sized the print papers to fit.  I find that's the most economical way to work as framing can be so expensive.

An afternoon of printing...lots of little wren prints

One of my favourites... I love the whispy effect of the
Kangaroo Grass

This one is pretty interesting too....

One of the first prints, not as much detail,
but a greater intensity of colour

This one will need more work - I think the wren blends into
the background too much.  When the print is dry,  I'll use a fine coloured
marker to trace around the wren to bring him back into focus.

Wren Monoprints

Last weekend, I had the luxury of spending a few hours monoprinting at the Toowoomba Art Society with members of the Saturday Printmakers.

Using some wren stencils from a previous series, I created a small series of monoprints with a circle shaped plate and a few plant materials including some Shephards's Purse weed.

I titled the works 'In My Garden'.  Its a bit of wishful thinking, as I unfortunately don't have wrens in my garden, but really wish I did!

Below are photos of a selection of the series of 9 prints.