Tag: monoprint

Maggi Hambling: Parallel Project

Post author By lindamayoux
Post date August 3, 2018

Maggi Hambling was the artist and printmaker chosen for my Parallel Project.

Life Unleashed: Movement in the Art of Maggi Hambling

considers the different techniques she uses to communicate movement in her drawing, painting and printmaking and some of the learnings for my own printmaking practice.

Book References

Hambling, M. (1993). Towards Laughter. Sunderland, UK, Northern Centre for Contemporary Art.
Hambling, M. (1998). maggi & henrietta.
Hambling, M. (2006). Maggi Hambling the Works and Conversations with Andrew Lambirth. London, Unicorn Press Ltd.
Hambling, M. (2009). The Sea. Salford Quays, The Lowry Press.
Hambling, M. (2009). You Are the Sea. Great Britain, Lux Books.
Hambling, M. (2015). War, Requiem and Aftermath. London, Unicorn Press Ltd.
Ramkalawon, J. (2016). Maggi Hambling Touch: works on paper. London, Lund Humphries and British Museum.

Maggi Hambling website

Exhibitions

Attitude towards death and relationship with Henrietta Moraes Evening Standard 1999

Tags etching, monoprint, political

Landscape Media

Softfoam

(further experiments and details planned)

Softfoam is a very cheap soft material that is used for children’s crafts. (click here for pictures and types).

I first used it for the Japanese landscape series ‘Stepping Stones’ in Printmaking 1. I really like the hazy effects.I used one softfoam plate inking several sheets with the same layer, but re-inking with different shades of a similar colour – starting with yellows then going to browns and then blues to produce a range of different prints. Although using softfoam in this way limits the amount of colour contrast that is possible, it does build up beautiful subtle tone and colour variation.

The focus of the assignment was on contrasting markmaking – I combined wiping out for the stones, scratching out with a screwdriver for the bamboos. I also used a drypoint tool on its side and with its point to get a range of different marks. A key issue though was how to make the stones recede into the background through making the outlines and contrast reduce in sharpness towards the back. I managed to achieve a range of dramatic contrasts in the marks from soft edged stones to very fine lines and bold sweeping lines.

Japanese landscape

I then used softfoam with Schminke water-based inks in Assignment 1: Willows.

I started with experimenting with different markmaking. The ink was quite clumpy at the beginning, but this gave interesting misty effects.

Willows 3 Moonlight crop

Willows 2 Dawn crop

Willows 2 The Gloom crop

Willows ice experiment

Willows ice moonlight draft

Tags monoprint

Inspiration Media

Monoprint inspiration

!!In Process

See also Monoprint Technique for an overview of the different types of monoprint and my own explorations

History and development

Hercules Seghers (1589-1638), a Dutch painter and printmaker, was one of the early artists who experimented with printing in color, on unusual papers (and linen), and with unusual horizontal formats to emphasize the horizon, called. He experimented by using different inks and papers, but reworked his prints by adding accents by hand. Most of his images differ widely from impression to impression, and most are preserved in only a few sheets.

Rembrandt in the 1650s often retouched his plates with drypoint, burin or by burnishing areas to delete some unwanted parts. He also inked and wiped the plate each time differently, reworking some areas by moving around the ink with rags, fingers or paintbrushes. This enabled him to render flames, smoke and rich areas of shadow, creating dramatic darkness and light contrasts. Each impression was virtually different from the previous one.

Benedetto Castiglione (1609-1664) devised a new printmaking process by drawing images directly onto an unetched plate and then pulling a unique impression; he drew white lines with a stick, created tonal areas with his fingers, rugs and brushes, then printed the plate using a press, just like we do today.

William Blake (1757–1827) started experimenting with monotypes. He painted with oil and egg tempera onto a copperplate or piece of millboard from which he pulled prints by pressing the dampened paper against the paint. He then retouched his works by hand with ink and watercolor. Some of the monotypes were used as a guide for overpainting in another media.

But the medium failed to become popular because of its limitation to one print and also because it depended too much on accidental effects and uncontrollable properties of ink when subjected to the heavy pressure of a press.

In the late 1860s when the young impressionists became interested in the creative use of inking. These printing experiments seem to have been influenced by early developments of photography with its black and white contrasts and interplay of positive and negative imagery.

Edgar Degas (1834-1917) found monoprints gave him a great deal of artistic freedom. He used the ‘dark field’ method and created very dramatic chiaroscuro effects.

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was one of the artists who became interested in monoprinting after Degas exhibited his prints in the third Impressionist exhibition of 1877. Through experimentation and accidents he created a series of unique impressions, turning his imperfections to his advantage to create effects of light and texture.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) worked independently developing his own unique technique called trace monotype. His method consisted of inking a sheet of paper, laying another sheet over it, and drawing on the back of fresh paper thus transferring the ink creating an image in a linear manner.

Paul Klee (1879-1940) experimented and mastered this method a few years later in his inventive drawings.

Maurice Prendergast (1859-1924) used this method extensively. He was influenced by Japanese prints. He described his way of making monotypes : “Paint on copper in oils, wiping parts to be white. When the picture suits you, place Japanese paper on it and either press in a printing press or rub with a spoon till it pleases you. Sometimes the second or third plate is the best.”

Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) produced hundreds of richly colored monotypes pressing the paper by hand or with a roller on a previously inked and painted metal plate.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Chagall, Miro’, Dubuffet, Matisse and many other contemporary artists produced hundreds of exceptional monotypes, too.

Contemporary Monoprints

Georg Baselitz
Tracey Emin.
Maggi Hambling

Bibliography

Ayres, J., (2001) Monotype: mediums and methods for painterly printmaking, New York: Watson-Guptill Publications.

Brown, N., Tracey Emin, London: Tate Publishing.

D’arcy Hughes, A. & Vernon-Morris, H., (2008) The Printmaking Bible: the complete guide to materials and techniques, San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Grabowski, B. & Flick, B., (2009) Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials and processes, London: Lawrence King Publishing.

Hambling, M., (2009) The Sea, Salford Quays: The Lowry Press.

Hauptman, J., (2016) Degas: A Strange New Beauty, New York: MoMA.

Hayter, C. E., (2007) The Monotype: The History of a Pictorial Art, Milan: Milton Avery.

Martin, J., (1993) The Encyclopedia of Printmaking Techniques, London: Quarto Publishing.

Merck, M. & Townsend, C. (eds.) (2002) The Art of Tracey Emin, London: Thames & Hudson.

Newell, J. & Whittington, D., (2004) Monoprinting, London: A&C Black.

Ramkalawon, J., (2016) Maggi Hambling Touch: works on paper, London: Lund Humphries and British Museum.

Stobart, J., (2001) Printmaking for Beginners, London: A&C Black.

Woods, L., (2011) The Printmaking Handbook: Simple techniques and step-be-step projects, London: Search Press.

Exhibitions and galleries

British Museum

Maggi Hambling – Touch: works on paper (8 September 2016 –29 January 2017)

Fitzwilliam Museum

Degas: A Passion for Perfection (3 October 2017 – 14 January 2018) prints in various media

Maggi Hambling: The Wave (27 April – 8 August 2010) monoprints and etchings

National Gallery

Maggi Hambling: Walls of Water (26 November 2014 – 15 February 2015)

Tags monoprint

Media

Monoprint Techniques

What are Monoprints and Monotypes?

A monoprint is a single impression of an image made from a reprintable block. It involves the transfer of ink from a plate to the paper, canvas, or other surface that will ultimately hold the work of art. Monoprints are known as the most painterly method among the printmaking techniques; it is essentially a printed painting. The beauty of this medium is in its spontaneity and its combination of printmaking, painting and drawing media. Monoprints may also involve elements that change, where the artist reworks the image in between impressions or after printing so that no two prints are absolutely identical. Monoprints may include collage, hand-painted additions, and a form of tracing by which thick ink is laid down on a table, paper is placed on top and is then drawn on, transferring the ink onto the paper. Monoprints can also be made by altering the type, color, and pressure of the ink used to create different prints.

monotyping: plates have no permanent marks that will impart any definition to successive prints. Imagery is dependent on one unique inking, resulting in one unique print. At most two impressions (copies) can be obtained
monoprinting: plates have permanent features on them that can be reused, but not to produce an identical result. Monoprints can be thought of as variations on a theme, with the theme resulting from some permanent features being found on the plate – lines, textures – that persist from print to print. Variations are confined to those resulting from how the plate is inked prior to each print. The variations are endless, but certain permanent features on the plate will tend to persist from one print to the next.

Willows Moonlight Crop 9

10: One Mouth Kissing

Abstract from Frankenthaler

Rothko experiment 2

2_Schminke

I used different monoprint techniques in:

For ways in which other printmakers and artists have used and innovated with monoprint see Monoprint Inspiration.

Monoprint process

Preparing the plate

Plates can be of any type, as long as they are non porous: plexiglass or thin sheets of metal such as copper or zinc, heavyweight vinyl, mylar or acetate, masonite, discarded thin litho zinc or aluminium plates, cardboard sealed with gesso or acrylic spray or glue, glass (only used when handprinting), styrofoam, polystyrene.

Some of my work uses softfoam.

Prior to drawing, the plate to be used (usually plexiglass) needs to be finely sanded and the edges bevelled. This will allow color to fix better on the plate and make drawing much easier. Using a sponge or small brayer apply a thin even coat of hand soap to the entire printing surface and allow it to dry. The soap will perform as a releasing agent and allow the colors to lift during printing.

2) Inking the plate

Inks include water-based inks (eg Akua-Kolor or Schminke Inks) or oil-based inks (eg Caligo water-washable inks of Hathorne inks), or paints like Holbein Duo water-soluble oil paints or watercolour paints and pigments. Other water-soluble materials such as crayons, watercolour pencils or watercolour felt tip pens can also be used.

Applicators and wipers include brushes, rollers, sticks, rags, fingers, palette knives etc

Monoprints can use one or more of the following inking processes:

Painterly approaches: adding ink

Draw directly onto the surface of the plate with the water-soluble materials, letting the color dry for a few hours prior to printing.

Gesture experiments

Willows 1 Dawn monoprint

Subtractive techniques

Inspiration: Castiglione Degas

Torso

One Mouth Kissing

Masking

Using thin plastic or paper shapes to produce positive and negative space images in one or more colours.

Willows ice moonlight draft

Inspiration: Matisse cut-outs

Trace drawing

Also known as back-drawing or back-tracing. Inking up a plate and then drawing on the back of the paper with different instruments to produce a line and shading- pencils for sharp lines, flat or soft objects for tone. This gives a very angular and nervous line. There is no limit to the number of times you can back-drawn a print and different colours and textures can be built up.

Project 4.2 Self-portrait reflected

Self Image

Inspiration: Gauguin, Klee, Tracey Emin

Textured prints

Using textured materials to make marks in the ink and/or act as a mask between the ink and the paper.

Salt

Schminke ink reactivated from dry plate. A2

One Mouth Kissing

Collage monoprint: materials are not glued on the surface but are used on the paper either inked or not inked (only used to produce embossments on paper). Materials often used are cut or torn shapes from textured papers, lace, cloth, thin vinyl sheets, leaves, and even metal grating.

Rosie in green and red

Rosie in red and white

Special effects can also be achieved dabbing solvents such as mineral spirits or turpentine to your inked plate, allowing the solvent to dissolve the ink so as to create beautiful reticulate marks.

Printing the Plate

Paper can use thin or thick papers, watercolour paper, and cheaper papers like newsprint etc

The paper to print on should be damp, but not excessively wet unless you want the colors to “run”. When printing, the moisture in the paper will reactivate the drawing materials, allowing for the transfer of the color to the paper. Run the plate through the press with moderate to heavy pressure. This will give you the best impression. Prior to removing the printed image. Check the impression quality by lifting the corner of the print and checking the image. If the impression is not satisfactory, lightly spray/sponge the back of the paper with water and run it through the press again. Repeat this until the image is of acceptable quality.