First printing

 

 

So, here is my first attempt at monoprint making.
Image 1 is a drawn biro sketch of my Cloud Pruning trees photo from Japan (the image I want to concentrate on). It was quite difficult to draw and I didn't finish it but I decided to just use the shaded in tree for my painted prints.
Image 2 - to the right of the picture is my first print - I made this with a large wide flat brush very quickly and decided to just use one colour to start with. I realised I hadn't used enough paint and so repainted over my original image on the printing plate with more ink and a smaller round brush - this gave a stippled 3D effect quite like a real life tree. It also created holes in the image also like a real life image of a tree so I was pleased with both of those outcomes.
Image 3 - I decided to add shadows with another colour. I repainted my image the first colour again with the small round brush and thick paint and then used a small flat brush to add the red under the pods of branches - I just did this roughly and quickly and the outcome was ok but I didn't want so much shadow as it came out. I decided to print a few more ghost images from the same plate in the middle first then the left - I quite like the second ghost image as it looks like there are branch networks on the left side of it.
Image 4 - this is a picture of my used plate after the ghost images.
That is all for today. I may experiment with other colours and try to paint some more of the trees into the image to get a fuller picture later this week.

Update

I haven't painted anything yet but I have now gathered all of the materials that I need to start making monotypes. Took a little while to find an appropriate printing plate and decided on just using a plain piece of plastic cut from the cover of a book I had.
I have chosen to use oil paints and have selected only a few colours to start with.
I have started sketching the image I wanted to concentrate on (Japanese Trees) and would like to complete that before I start painting.
Here is a plan of what I want to do over this weekend:
1. Finish sketching Japanese trees in biro.
2. Paint just one of the trees roughly into my sketch book.
3. Paint the same tree onto the printing plate and create a monotype print in my sketch book.
4. Take images of all of these and post here.
5. Write notes on all of the images - thoughts and feelings, what I expected and next ideas.


Also just clarifying terminology: monoprinting is a type of printing done using a plate with has some type of
                                                permanent feature, e.g - lines, textures.
                                                Monotype printing is a drawing or painting which has been created on a
                                                smooth non-absorbent surface and printed once, possibly twice but as a
                                                ghost image - the second use of the image can be amended with additional
                                                painting, e.g - shadows, extra colours - so that it is not exactly the same as
                                                the first.