The addictive Nature of Monoprints

Paper Moons, Monoprint on Kitakata paper, 53 x 42 cm

This week, I've thought a lot about monotype printmaking. I have taught a workshop introducing some of my favourite monotype techniques and have also been part of an exhibition of mini prints at Albatross Print Studio in Watchet, contributing a monotype. It amuses me to think back to my time at university on a Fine Art degree, that when a tutor explained that monotype was the most painterly of print techniques, and that you only got one print from each piece of work (As opposed to an edition), and that it involved painting on a bit of glass that you then pressed a bit of paper on to, that I felt it sounded like the most pointless exercise you could ever think of. Why wouldn’t you just paint a picture? Why paint on to glass and press some paper on to the glass and intentionally get your painting back to front?

Well, 20 years on I’m pleased to say I can confidently explain why. My love of monotype is largely attributed to my love of printmaking in general, and the element of the unexpected - the happy accidents, and the portions of risk. To say you only get one print out of the marks you put on to a piece of glass is a little misleading - what you really get is one, plus a ghost, plus the hankering to add a bit more ink on to the traces of previous prints, then the urge to re-roll areas and add a stencil…on and on, rinse and repeat, until you realise you have 20 prints and the smallest hint of a sense of direction, and a much bigger hankering for a sandwich as more hours than you ever conceived have passed in the creative melee of an addiction to making prints. 

Kilter, Monoprint on Kitakata paper, 53 x 42 cm

My absolute favourite approach to monotype printmaking is with the use of stencils, which technically is a monoprint technique (the difference is that the stencils could be used for multiple prints, so that makes it a monoprint, while monotypes utilise marks that can only be put on to paper once, such as marks applied by a brush or a pencil). Recently I’ve been making stencils out of newsprint - thin, non-archival paper that is often used for proofs to see how a print looks before you print the edition. I like it because it is so thin that it’s easy to get crisp edges from your stencilled shapes without the use of a press, and I love how tactile and sculptural it feels to make a print without a press. You can cut or tear stencils - I like to cut mine with scissors, letting the shapes I cut happen intuitively, without much pre-thought. You can use the inside of the shape or the outside of the shape that you cut. I usually roll out 3 different colours on to three plastic plates and place the inner shape on one colour, the outer shape of a stencil on another colour, and place them randomly, or try to position them so that when i press my printing paper on the various colours in turn, the coloured shapes will line up with one another. Because I tend not to do this in any precise way, the printed colours are mis-registered and little overlaps appear, often creating colour mixes on the paper. This I love, as it brings the element of surprise to the process. Then, the process dictates itself. I might feel a need for a softer shape in the top right, so I might pick a used stencil from the ink and print the underside of it onto my print. The image may require some drawn lines, so I’ll place the print on the ink and draw with a pencil on the back of it, the pressure of the pencil picking up warm fuzzy lines on the image. 

Here are 3 recent monotypes that I am really keen on. I would feel directionless and unconfident making an abstract painting or relief print, but by working in this way it feels completely natural. The resulting images are a surprise to me and speak to me with their bright colours and hints at recognisable forms. That said, I am keen to see what happens if I do try to create representational images using this technique next.

If you’re keen to try monotype printmaking, I recommend Naomi Frears’ YouTube video; it got me started and hopefully it will set you on the monotype path too.

These prints are all made using Caligo printmaking ink on Awagami Kitakata paper and measure 53 x 42 cm.

Last Light, Monoprint on Kitakata paper, 53 x 42 cm