Print making Day 1 monoprints

After biting the bullet and enrolling in a short course at Arts University Bournemouth in creative printmaking last year, I was chomping at the bit to get stuck in. I was very pleased to find out that the tutor was to be Jan Bullas whose work I have admired for a long time, especially so as she is an expert in collographs which was the area that I am particularly interested in. It is lovely to be a part of a group of creative people and finding out about all their different paths in their creative journey. There was a buzz in the print studio that is something I really miss working on my own.

Monoprint I   ©2015Lisa Le Quelenec

We began with monoprinting these are three of the prints I completed. I was pleasantly surprised at the results. This one began as an inked up acrylic plate that I 'drew' into with a brush and toothbrush. I used paper to mask out the two white shapes at the bottom. The mask paper was very absorbent and I expected some of the ink to work its way through and show onto the print but it wasn't quite absorbent enough. No matter, it gives me a good starting point for working into it with other materials. I could also go back and do a further print on top later... something to think about.

Monoprint II ©2015Lisa Le Quelenec

Anyway this is the second printing from the same plate as before. I took off the paper masks which had soaked up some of the initial inking and added in a little more ink to the underside of the wave shapes with the toothbrush. (I love the scratchy marks that they make). I think this print is much more successful and I like the subtleties of the tones.

Monoprint III ©2015Lisa Le Quelenec

I thought I would push my luck and try for a third print from the same plate without adding or subtracting any more ink. Technically called a ghost print, they can be a bit hit and miss. Luck was on my side this time though and I managed another subtle print with some nice qualities to it. I think I will scan this one, print it out and work into it with other media as an experiment.

The plate from the monoprint ©2015Lisa Le Quelenec

This is the plate after the third pass through the press. It only had the tiniest whisper of ink left on but there were some lovely passages of colour from previous printings. I always seem to fall in love with the plates.














There was also time at the end of the day to try a tiny dry point - a quick taster for the etching that we will do next time. How exciting!