Part 1: Project 3 - Two Coloured Masked Monoprints

This exercise was really challenging but resulted in some effective prints. I wanted to experiment more with colours and see how they came out.

I used  three types of papers; Winsor and Newton cartridge, Zerkall, and Strathmore printmaking paper, all really nice quality papers. The Strathmore is quick thick with a slight texture so was nice to use for my more cleaner prints and I like the thinness of the Zerkall as it makes lining up easier.

Before printing I did some colour swatch ideas in my sketch book to see which colours would work well together.

I did end up deviating a bit from these because sometimes I had ink left over and wanted to use that up before moving on to another colour. I wasn't able to get hold of a neon pink ink so I instead mixed a nice pink using the magenta, white and a touch of yellow.

Initially I struggled to get the alignment, I did try registering the paper but found it left a horrible fold and ruined the look of my paper because my Gelli plate is soft when pressed. After many attempts I finally got a couple of prints that were much more closely lined up.

First attempts

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Second attempts

Top left is the closest I got to lining the masks up without much of a gap.

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I really like how these prints came out, even the mis-aligned ones look quite effective. The colours and the bold images are what I like the most about this prints. It was quite enjoyable mixing the colours up to create the colours I wanted for these prints.


Double Positive Masks:

Using two lots of positive masks and printing them in different colours and then adding the background was an interesting experiment. I found that I was struggling to get an even coat on the background so I used it to my advantage and tried rolling in other colours to create more of a textured look. I like how the layered masks create a new colour where they overlap, this looks really effective.


Alternative Masks:

I then played around with different themed masks. I started in my sketchbook brainstorming ideas of what to do. Firstly I thought about leaves or cacti and then I thought about fruits and a tropical theme. I decided to go with the fruits because I wanted to continue my use of bright colours.

I created masks the say way as before but this time made several cut outs on one sheet to create more of a pattern instead of a single image.

I made some mistakes with these, forgetting to place them in the same way as the negative mask so the bottom left one came out messy and the bottom right one I tried printing without the mask on the second printing. I really like the top two even though they are a bit wonky. With further development these colour look like a fun, vibrant, tropical pattern.

Textures:

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It was quite fun seeing how these different object would turn out when pressed into the plate. I was pleased they came out so clearly and know they will be great to use for texture in my next prints.

Landscapes:

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I was initially a bit daunted by this task, wondering how I would approach it, but thinking about the textures from the objects I had I picked the ones I felt would make the most sense for a landscape. For my first landscape I chose a green hill with some sea in the distance. I used the scrunched tissue shreds for the clouds, kitchen paper, spaghetti, noodles, a paint tube lid and my finger for the texture of the land and bushes along the top. The sea area I drew with the spaghetti. I am so pleased with how this came out, the textures look so affective and I really like the overall look.

Next I tried a seascape. I wanted to show the sea with a horizon line and clouds in the sky. This one wasn't as successful. I don't think you can tell what it is as much as the first one.

Drawing and Texture:

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For these I used a mix of masks, painting with cotton buds, the end of a palette knife, pressing white into the background in blobs, painting onto the plate with black ink and also pressing objects into the area to be printed. This is was an interesting experiment and led to some fun effects.

Back drawing:

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Front Print

Back Markings

Front Print

Back Markings

I really struggled with back drawing. At first I used too thin paper and the pencil went straight through. The paper stuck too soon to the ink and created blotches in certain areas. I changed up the paper to cartridge and had more success but I still feel these didn't come out that well.

Reflection:

This section of the course felt huge and there was so much to experiment with. I enjoyed using bold colours, mixing colours and layering masks to create different effects. The landscapes were fun to create and were my favourite experiments so far. I am still learning to line up the paper better and need to practice getting an even coverage of the ink on the plate but overall I am pleased with how these prints have turned out.