SILKSCREEN THE WATERCOLOUR MONOPRINT

Experimental addition to ‘Expression with colour’

May 2016

In an attempt to work with more subtle control and delicacy of tone rather than the application of block opaque colours, which has been the result of using acrylic colour for both my print and painted image, I tried using watercolour paint directly onto a silkscreen. I use watercolour paint in my work for both botanical and portrait studies and feel comfortable with handling this media.

 

Using a similar method as with my previous acrylic monoprints, I found that with watercolour, one can produce work which contains a much more ethereal quality and has the added interest of a ‘reticulation’ pattern which is created within certain areas of the print (particularly where more water is used to blend the pigment which, once dry leaves a gradation of opaque to transparent colour).

In addition one does not have to work so quickly as with acrylic monoprinting. It is essential that the watercolour paint dries completely. I used a hairdryer to speed up this process. Therefore it is the dried watercolour paint when combined with acrylic silkscreen print medium which created these delicate ethereal style prints.

I liked the haphazard, experimental nature of the overall print with areas of transparency and then unexpected blotches of bold colour. Using this technique it is possible to achieve about three prints of worth, with the first ‘pull’ more effective as the colour is stronger and the effect of the ‘reticulation’ more obvious to see.

I experimented by working with watercolour on some of my existing silkscreen printed single colour figurative keylines and with examples of the same figurative designs on plain paper without a keyline. Both examples were successful, although the addition of a keyline gave a more definitive context for the print.

My final prints have the potential to be used as background samples for my future ‘feminine’ portraits or as abstract patterns in their own right. I have produced a sample book made up of one A2 size print on proofing card which contains a combination of interesting sections - bright, opaque colour and more subtle areas. In my opinion, the overall effect is one of anatomical imagery – internal sections of the figure combine with macro patterns reminiscent of cell structures and blood vessels.

Everything I produce returns to the human form.