Adventures in Monoprinting

Two summers ago, I was fortunate enough to attend a Gelli (gelatin plate) Printing workshop with Adria Arch at Western Avenue Studios.

Here are some of my monoprints from that session:

I loved how responsive the medium was and it made monoprinting NEW again. I purchased a number of gellies, but found the small sizes limiting.

A couple of weeks ago, I taught a seminar on Degas at Middlesex Community College. As I was preparing for this lecture, I found myself falling in love again with Degas’s monoprints and the experimental nature of them.

Feeling inspired, Thanksgiving weekend I made my own giant (18″x24″) gelatin plate to work on some monoprints at the studio. I used this recipe to create my plate (using all food grade materials). I doubled the recipe for my plate.

Once my box frame was delivered from Amazon, I was ready to go.

Here are some pix from the development of the gelatin plate:

Once I lugged the plate to the studio (18×24 of gelatin weighs more than one imagines), I was off and running.

For my paper stock, I broke out some Unryu paper that I had purchased and worked on some additive monotypes. I was afraid the delicate stock would not hold up to a subtractive method.

I worked on four monoprints, of which only two felt “right.” If I learned nothing else from Degas, it is that all is salvageable with the addition of other mediums.

Here are my favorite examples of Degas’s monoprints – the first a straight print and the other a second “ghost” print with some pastel enhancement.

Here are my two monoprints that I felt worked the best.