Hand-Coloured ‘Trace Monoprints’

In April, I enjoyed making a small batch of these monoprints using a technique I’d only touched on in the past. Using one of my earlier efforts as a starting point, and keeping to the same subject matter, I experimented with the drawing and amount of ink on the printing plate.

I guess ‘trace’ monoprints are so called, as you can, in theory, trace an image drawn on the back of a piece of paper, so that it appears in ink on the front (in reverse). Got that!? In any case, although I used this method, I decided to draw directly onto the back of the paper, rather than trace an existing image. I thought it would produce a more vibrant, energetic line.

As you can see in the photos, some of the initial drawings came out really heavy. I soon realised that less is more when it comes to the amount of printing ink on plexiglass.

After the one-off monoprint is pulled, the ink is left to dry, before painting each one with fluid acrylics or watercolour. Some of the monoprints were created on pages from a Greek book… this is an idea I may explore more in the future, along with continuing to develop the plain paper monos.