WEEK 2 : MONOPRINTING

Tuesday 5th March ‘13

For the 2^nd Future Artists Nottingham workshop we decided to work with technique that the girls had never tried before- MONO-PRINTING; a simple and very effective way of printing using inks and the act of mark marking, to create fantastic sketch like images. This process can be repeated many times which results in a multitude of images being produced very quickly; brilliant for their sketch books!

Using the drawings made during the workshop last week, we wanted to show the girls that once a drawing is completed it didn’t have to be put away and left, but could be used again by cutting it up, working into it or Mono-print for example! We began by showing the girls the techniques of mono-printing; rolling the ink out, layering newsprint on top and their photocopied drawing over the newsprint and then using a pencil or the opposite end of a paintbrush to carefully go over the lines of the drawing, reminding them to be careful not to lean on or touch the rest of the paper!

 The girls got straight into it! They were much braver than in the previous workshop; opting for the larger sized paper and using their initiative to mix colours appropriately of their own accord. It was exciting to see them produce so much work so quickly, to see the moment of truth when they lifted their print from the ink to see the result. It didn't always work out, but it was easy enough to pick them up and let them try again!

We talked the girls through various other techniques as the lesson went on, showing them how to producing a negative from the ink and also drawing directly into the ink and then printing from that. From talking to the class at the end of the session it was clear that some of them still felt a little out of their comfort zone, however many really enjoyed the session, and liked it because “it’s not the same, it’s unusual.” (actual quote!)

I think for F.A.N what was most enjoyable about the workshop was the knowledge that these girls would never have got to do a technique like mono-print without us. By bringing them out of their comfort zone we have allowed them to create abstract images a world away from the precise and detailed drawings in their original sketchbooks. The teacher remarked saying; “If I had asked any of them to draw only a small section of their object in such abstract way they would have never have produced anything like this.” I think the speed at which mono-prints can be produced, made the girls feel at ease to just have fun with the colours and the mark marking and began to care less about the detail. A success for us in changing their attitude in the way they see art!