Monoprints with Watercolors
Materials
Gelli Plate - Brushes - Drawing Tools - Liquid Watercolors - Palette - Water - Watercolor Paper
Stencil
I used a plastic stencil of an aspen tree trunk. With the volatile nature of watercolors on gelli plate, this type of stencil did not work very well. The plastic did not create clear defined lines. This method may work better with a stencil of a different material like paper.
Two Color and Drawing Tool
For this print, I first used the brush to paint the blue and the red areas of the gelli plate. I used a fork to created lined texture on top.
The emphasize the use of two colors, I chose red and blue so the warm and cool colors would contrast greatly.
More Paint, Less Paint
Below is an example of two pulls from one gelli plate. The lefthand side was the first pull, when more paint was applied. The right shows the result of using less paint or trying a second pull.
Dipping Color in Water
Below shows an example of how the print changes when the paper is pre- dipped in water before printing. I enjoyed the results from dry paper more, especially when bubbles and lines were created. However, the dampened paper creates a more blended, tie-dye like effect.
Classroom Application
Monoprints would work well with younger students, especially using watercolors due to their washability. They would be a great activity around holidays like Mother’s/Father’s day or any occasion where students could create their own stationary to write a card.
Working with watercolors for monoprints would also be a good way to introduce the medium, particularly with experimenting the effects of using more or less water and in learning how the colors interact.