Monoprinting

There is something wonderfully liberating about monoprinting.

To call this printing is to tell only half the tale. Yes, this is a direct transfer technique, but each and every ‘transfer’ or print is an absolutely unique imprint of the painting that has been created with brushes, rollers and fingers on the printing plate which, in this case, is usually a sheet of glass or acrylic, or melamine or smooth metal.

You have done the work, considered your colours and composition, decided on your motif, inked up your sheet of glass that serves as your printing plate (making sure that the ink is neither too dry nor too wet), done your best to make honest, mindful marks, taken care to lay the paper over it without smudging anything, and you have also been conscientious in how you have applied pressure to lift the image onto the paper. But there can never be any certainty about the outcome because none of the above elements can be absolutely controlled. So chance will always intervene, and that is the joy of monoprinting.