Gulls 3 - monoprint & collagraph

Gull   collagraph   15x21cm   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

A round of collagraph monoprints. I used a cardboard plate with textures made from different acrylic mediums. The aim wasn't to make an edition of prints but rather to see how many different ways of using the plate I could come up with before the plate was destroyed in the process.


To begin with things didn't turn out in the way that I expected in that some of the acrylic mediums had sunk into the cardboard plate as it dried and I probably should have sealed the board to begin with to avoid this...lesson learned for next time. However this added to the need to be inventive with ink application and made it even more flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-exciting!




You can see in this first print that I took that the tonal contrasts in the background are a little too similar and more definition was needed. No matter the texture in some areas made them beautiful to work into with mixed media. I added watercolour and coloured pencil.The oil based printing ink resists the watercolour and provides a nice tooth for the pencil so further texture results.

Gull   collagraph and mixed media15x21cm  ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

After a few inkings and taking some more prints in this way I started to add some extra gull shapes using separate pieces of board inked up and also by gouging into the baseplate to trap the ink. The gull shape below was cut from a piece of medium weight paper and then inked up by brushing on the ink. I liked the idea of the bird flying out of the frame.


After a couple of hours of playing with these very simple materials I have more and more ideas to work through and a lot of thinking to do. Just where will I wonder next?

Gulls   collagraph and mixed media15x21cm  ©2017LisaLeQuelenec