Three Stages of a Monoprint

One monoprint of the garden in three stages.  November 2014.


Monoprints (or monotypes) are one of my favorite kind of prints because they are easily made at home with no larger tools needed than a kitchen sink or a garden hose.  The print is made by painting either oil-based or water-based block printing ink on a sheet of glass or plexiglass with a brush, then placing it against cotton printmaking paper that has been dampened under the hose or in the sink or bathtub.  Using a rubber brayer or a spoon, the paper is then rubbed against the glass.  When the paper is carefully peeled away from the glass, the ink has adhered and made a print.  Sometimes I can get several prints from the same image on the glass.  I've never managed to get more than three successfully, though, and the last tends to be pale and ghostly, although I like that quite a bit.  To me, it looks as though it is disappearing or appearing out of the paper much more than the previous, more high-contrast pulls.