Monoprinting!
A monoprint is a really great way to create a loose, painterly feel to an otherwise meticulously precise method of printing. It's a form of printmaking that can include collage, hand-painted editions and series of images that relate by reusing the same printing plate without washing it inbetween prints, therefore retaining the shadow image of the previous print ( and less cleaning!).
Monoprint's unique process creates only one of each print, thus its name. Typically executed on clear plexiglass, the artist can lift the clear plate to see what her image looks like before printing . Painting directly onto the plate, the process is immediate, visceral and unpredictable, often capturing the texture of the original brush strokes.
FMAA students studied the wonderful artist Georgia O'Keefe, famous for her desert skull paintings and intricate, oversized depictions of flowers. We brought in a vase of sunflowers to use as inspiration for color, texture, shape and composition. After perusing many O'Keefe images, the students painted directly onto plexiglass plates with the option of using the sunflowers as inspriation. It was great to see their faces after each print and witness the confidence and curiosity build with each successful attempt. The first image you see below is a portrait of Georgia O'Keefe followed by a few images of her paintings.
