2019-10-01_In_The_Moment_

Words: Pragya Agarwal

monoprinting

CalmCalmMMomoment.coment.com 7777

Y

ou don’t need to be a professional artist

to make a monoprint – it’s perfect for

anyone, particularly those new to

printmaking, even if you don’t consider

yourself to be artistic. It’s relatively

simple and experimental and allows us to break out of

traditional boundaries, play with light and shade, and

see myriad possibilities. The best thing about

monoprinting is that there are no hard and fast rules.

Everyday objects can be used as stencils and

templates to create imprints, marks and textures

in the ink and you don’t need any sophisticated

tools to get started.

A monoprint is a printed image created by making

marks in a layer of rolled ink, then placing a sheet of

paper over the top and applying weight to create a

one-off print. It is not to be confused with a monotype

• a similar printing technique through which you
  never get exactly the same image twice. In
  monoprinting, several images are created from the
  same template, with natural variation between them;
  but the image you get from a monotype is more
  ephemeral. When you transfer paint or ink from a
  gelatin (soft) plate onto paper it can’t be repeated as
  the paint has been transferred and the original image
  no longer exists on the plate.
  There is no recorded history of monotype or
  monoprinting, but many great artists have used these
  techniques. From Picasso and Rembrandt to Jasper
  Johns and Tracey Emin, artists have used this almost
  painterly form of printing to explore lines and forms.
  Influenced by the presence of contrast in photography,
  Edgar Degas revived the practice in the 1860s, using

rags, brushes and even his fingers to paint onto a

metal plate. He was so enthralled with the process

that he created almost 400 monotypes capturing the

spirit of human life.

Nature, as always, is a great source of inspiration

for printing. In this case, it’s a wonderfully practical

resource too – beautiful botanical forms make

Beautiful

botanicals

Capture the calming inf luence of the natural world in a simple

print made with leaves and blooms collected on a mindful wander

Pragya used thick card and

glue to create a textured

plate to add interest to the

background of her print.