Michael McGuire: Monoprints

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Monoprints

I have been working on a series of monoprints that I have been making by using a couple very simple rubber stamps. I started by using a triangular shaped stamp and them moved on to the circular one this week. The prints are fun and geometric and I plan to continue the series in color eventually.

This morning I was into the studio early and jumped right into the prints when it occurred to me to make a mono-print off the plastic sheath that I was using as a pad for inking the stamps. I saw similarities to some of the Rothko Studies I had made earlier in the summer and began inking different areas in gray tones. I also varied the amount of printing ink I would use in areas and it was applied with a brayer, hence the somewhat rectangular arrangements. I ran through all 15 sheets of 16 x 12 inches hot press Arches Watercolor paper that I had on hand and some of the results are intriguing.

There was a dimple in the surface on my drawing table that the plastic surface I was using as my inking area soon began to show. A small dot appeared in many of the prints. Oddly enough if you read the prints as landscapes, the dimple becomes a mark that just might represent the moon in the upcoming solar eclipse tomorrow.Seems like a nice sort of synchronicity.