Painted Monoprint from Life

The instructions called for two objects for a simple still life. I started by making a few sketches in my sketchbook of a sunflower from the garden in a vase. It was a very hot day (37 degrees outside). My sunflower was wilting very rapidly and I was struggling to create a pleasing composition. I also began to realise that the sunflower was perhaps a bit complex for my first attempt at a painted monoprint. I ran out of time and as I had to go to the UK for work the following day this idea was abandoned. (Sunflower images will no doubt be recycled at a later date) 

Sketchbook page

Sketchbook page

Sketchbook page

Sketchbook page

When I returned home I decided to keep the vase because I liked its unusual form, its smooth reflective surface and its colour. I hunted around the house for something from of a contrasting colour, shape and texture. I settled on a family heirloom tiny teddy. He is rather scruffy after being manhandled by several toddlers but I thought the texture of his fur would allow for contrasting mark-making versus the smooth surface of the vase. The actual still life arrangement doesn't have any particular personal or symbolic significance - the objects were simple chose for their colours, shapes and textures. The objects were side lit by a daylight lamp. 

I made several small scale sketches in my A3 sketchbook, each one emphasising a different characteristic of the arrangement (negative space, tone, colour, texture) I then enlarged the image to a workable size. The most challenging aspect of this was to make the vase appear symmetrical and balanced. 

I laid a sheet of perspex over the enlarged drawing in my sketchbook and painted with oil based ink (Hawthorn 'stay open' ink) which was diluted with liquin. Even quite diluted, I still found the ink quite difficult to work with. It will take some time and practice to get used to.

I first painted the the negative space in grey, leaving a large area unpainted for the white of the paper to show through in the most brightly lit area. I used a darker grey for the shadows. I then went on to paint the vase in a mixture of manganese blue, sap green and french blue mixed with varying amounts of white to adjust the tonal values. I tried to use few bold strokes to keep a reasonably smooth looking appearance. I took ink away from a couple of areas to serve as highlight.  I then went onto the teddy. I applied The yellow paint here with the tip of a hog's hair brush to give a rough stippled effect. I used cadmium yellow and cadmium yellow with white. The shadowed areas were stippled over the top with french blue. I used black undiluted inch with a small brush to try to het a dry brush pattern for the loose black threads of the ted's nose. 

The plate was too big to go through my little press. Given that I would have to pull the print by hand and, being my first attempt, it was not going to be a masterpiece, I decided to print onto thin, cheap newsprint paper. The advantage of this was that I could see that the print was taking as I burnished it. I was worried the the paper might tear as I lifted it but it stood up to the challenge. I was able to pull a second print from the same plate.

The results were OK - somewhat underwhelming. It was all a bit pale. I like the fact that the brush marks show. I also enjoyed the fact that the process requires a relatively rapid application of the ink (especially in hot weather) so the results are quite 'rough and ready'. 

I remembered that the instructions had called for the negative shapes to be painted in a contrasting colour. The grey I had chosen was not really providing much contrast so I decided to work back into the plate choosing alizarin crimson for the negative shapes and using french blue for the shadows. I worked on the vase with brushes and fingers. I applied the ink to the teddy by stippling again but then went over it with some crumpled up tissue paper which I had soaked in solvent and then blotted off.  This exaggerated the textural surface somewhat but it wasn't very precise so the texture extended into the background. 

I pulled two prints from the plate one fairly vivid and the second a 'ghost' but still with a reasonable amount of ink on the paper. I then re-inked over the ghost and experimented with applying ink more thickly and texturing it in various ways. This really wasn't at all successful - the ink was too thick so it just splodged in quite a random way. 

What I learnt:

• Painting a representational image with thick oil-based printing inks is very difficult
• Applying the ink thickly and applying a surface texture to the thick ink is not of value because it all just squishes out flat when you take the impression
• Therefore applying thin layers of ink is more appropriate
• Given the difficulty of the technique it is best to keep the design simple until you get more proficient

Things to do and try:

• Try other ways of adulterating the ink to make it flow more easily
• Or try other inks
• Try building an image up slowly:- you will need a system to easily re-register the paper on the plate- that way you won't be forced to work so quickly- you can see how an image is developing and react to that as it goes along (more like a drawing or a painting)