Textured and Combination Monoprints: Urban or Industrial Landscape - 2nd Attempt

I was inspired to look at industrial landscapes by Cath Brooke. Viewing her work made me nostalgic as she does a lot of her sketching and searching for ideas in the industrial landscape around Redcar and Teeside which is where I grew up. There was nostalgia for my youth and sadness for the fact that a lot of the heavy industry in that area is no longer functioning. 

I started by looking for photographs for reference material online and made a few sketches in my sketchbook. 

Sketchbook page: Industrial landscapes
sketched from photographs

I also looked at some industrial landscape monoprints by Kate Dicker R.E. Click Here to view Kate's Website. I love the textural quality and the atmosphere created by the colour in these monoprints. I think they have been made in multiple thin layers painted directly onto the plate. There are marks made by the flicking of solvent present as well as wipe marks and there is a great balance in the relative prominence of light and dark shapes.

Sketchbook page: Visual Research
Industrial Landscape Monoprints
Kate Dicker

The project called for a multiple techniques so I decided I would attempt to create a multilayer print using masking or stencils for the main shapes of the buildings and textural elements for the fiery, smokey , sky in the background with perhaps a bit of backdrawing. 

I created positive and negative masks of industrial buldings based loosely on my coloured pencil sketch. I printed the buildings in black using the negative mask on dampened Somerset paper. I then used the positive mask to print the sky. I planned four layers, pale yellow, sonic orange, red and a dark purple. 

I printed a uniform pale yellow over the sky and then sprinkled talc over it. I overprinted subsequently in orange, red and purple. Unfotunately, by the time I got to the purple layer, the paper was almost completely dry despite having laid it between some sheets of damp newsprint. This, combined with the fact that I had put too much linseed jelly in the purple ink meant that the purple hardly printed at all - instead of covering some of the areas of orange and red and providing tonal contrast to balance the dark shape of the buildings at the bottom, all it did was create a pale stain which made the underlying ink look slightly duller - this was not the intended effect.The large amount of talc I had put on the plate also didn't help because it ended up on the paper and dried the ink on contact making each subsequent layer more difficult to print. I also practised a bit of back drawing adding some further industrial shape in the background. I had two attempts at this but wasn't satisfied with either result. As well as the problems with the purple ink not taking, the registration wasn't satisfactory. 

Multilayer masked and textured monoprint.
Industrial Landscape

Multilayer masked and textured monoprint. 
Industrial Landscape

I decided to try again pulling a print by hand onto thin Japanese paper. I used the same masks but developed the sky differently by using additive and subtractive painterly monoprint techniques. I added ghostly back drawing for more distant buildings and structures  I used a dry brush technique quite extensively and this gave an appropriate smokey and dirty feel to the landscape. Unfortunately I then ruined it because I thought it needed some flashes of vivid colour like my sketch. I applied far too much of the sonic orange and pink without using any transparent base. I had also made the edges of the paper very dirty with fingermarks and smudges of ink so had to trim the paper down. 

Multilayer masked and textured monoprint. 
Industrial Landscape

I was starting to get frustrated with myself and considered abandoning this subject at this point but I was determined not to let it beat me. 

What I learnt

• I need to keep the paper wetter if overprinting in multiple layers on thick paper
• Too much talc is not a good thing - it will make ink transfer in subsequent layers more difficult
• Dry brush techniques can add interesting texture
• There is a risk of going too far and adding too many layers if you get carried away. 

Things to do and try

• I need a better way to keep the paper moist
• Try working faster
• But at the same time learn restraint - know when to stop- use judgement and discernment - this will take a long time to learn!