Monotype and Monoprint
Above: Rolling Hills, Rolling Water. Loaded with visual texture and color, this original is a multi-layered monoprint.
Creating Monotype and Monoprint work is an exciting way to explore image development. Back in art school, my focus was painting and printmaking, and I've always loved doing both. Working in the Monotype/Monoprint processes combines them.
A new slideshow/video about starting to make two lino-block monoprints
It's all about the experiment! Enjoy the process, challenges and all.
In this informal slideshow/video we're looking at some of the challenges in working with 2 linoleum blocks that are not entirely flat! Please note these are not "final" but rather a phase in development. I used three different types of paper in these various prints, for a variety of results. Big changes happen during the processes that might make the ways these look now almost unrecognizable in the final pieces--whatever they might become!
I hope you enjoy this brief, silent video about making an oil-stick monotype print.
What comes first: The Concept, or the Materials? While I do have to start with "something," often it begins with selecting the paper or other surface; having a sense of the materials I want to use to start the piece, and then developing a relationship with the surface and the work specifically. As in all my work, a theme or concept is often not the place I start. Frequently, this part of the process evolves through actually doing the work as I see the transformations that take place as it progresses.
Emerging Process...As with my methods of working in other media, it's an emerging process. I like to think of the processes of Monotype, Monoprint, and even Mixed Media as generational, by which I mean "evolving." Inspiration continues throughout the process, and figurative or conceptual ideas evolve throughout, as well.
News: Accepted as a member of the California Society of Printmakers!
What's the difference? Just simply think of it as "Mono" being the same in each, as in..."one of a kind." But "Monotype" typically refers to a truly one-off print, an organically developing artwork that has no fixed reference that would make it reproduceable. "Monoprint" includes the word "print," which typically means that something about the artwork is physically 'fixed' and can be used again even with a different set of colors, or additional images. So, prints that include things like linoleum block images, woodcut, etching, etc...include a physical form as part of the result. For my own work, I use both types and, even in the case of Monoprint, I sometimes add hand applied or digital color after the main print is pulled. But really both types offer an exciting and inspirational way to work, with many surprises along the way and in the final result.
Types of Monoprints I enjoy creating include these, each having it's own unique characteristics:
-Monotype with soy based inks
-Oil stick
-Solar Plate Etching
-Gelatin Plate
-Other plate types
-Katazome
-Linoleum and woodblock
When you visit our new online gallery at https://BarbaraPrints.com, you will see many options from small to mural-size, depending on the artwork shown. Enjoy checking it out!
Please contact me by email with any questions you have.
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