More monoprints from the monoprint class

These guys were described as "thumb people" by my students when I made them last.  I was demonstrating basic monoprint process to some artists new to the medium, and then spent my downtown reworking and printing the ghost (the residue of ink left on the plate from the previous print) and printing on scraps of paper.  The shop I work in has been around for a few decades now, so the scraps of paper have built up considerably.

I have a million of these little demo prints from the monoprint class I teach every other Saturday and now I'm starting training to take over the etching class as well.  I have no idea what to do with them all. Suggestions?

Monoprint Workshop

I run a monoprint printing session at Josephine Press, and last weekend I had a  couple of new people, so I got to do some mini demos of the basic techniques.  To the left, the first image is demonstration reductive inking for the figure, additive inking for the blue background, and stencils for the halo.  Next to it is the ghost print.  A ghost print is a print when only the residue left on the plate is printed. It always takes artists used to working painting on canvas and panel awhile to get accustomed to painting on plexiglass for monoprint, but at this point in my career, I'm far more adept at using the plexiglass.

I'm trying to get people to work more with multiple plate printing, so the second print I demonstrated I made sure to use two plate.  The green background and the figures body were printed first, followed by the hands and face for the second print.

Last picture are the stencils I cut. 

In the corner

This print (or this diptych of sorts) exists both as a 2D regular print, and as a 3D relief print on fabric.



Perception of scale operates in such a funny way. Seen two dimensionally, the figures are imposing, frightening in their strangeness and read as large, even looming. But three dimensionally, when they are in our space with us, they are pathetic, the viewer suddenly wishes to protect them.

Redemption

Last week while the students were busily working on their monotypes, Brian and I sporadically painted on a large plexi inbetween helping the students. At the end of the day, we tried to print it but by then the ink had just totally dried out and was so sticky it tore the paper instead of transferring. Brian said we should just throw it away, but I had just that very morning told the students to hang on to their crappy old prints so they could rework them later on. I couldn't just throw it away now!

The paper was so torn that I needed to layer washi all over it to maintain any structural integrity. The paper was originally BFK cream, and I chine colle-ed two large sheets of white kitti katta over top when I printed the image, done in black and Payne's grey. The image is from a drawing of people falling through space done while flying back from NYC to LA. I must be a wonderful seat mate for long flights.