Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
Homage to Barbara Hepworth - Hand Coloured Monoprints
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Message
Posted
I visited the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden in St Ives at the end of August. I loved the juxtaposition between the sculptures with the planting, which includes a lot of cacti and succulents - and took lots of photos.
At the end of last week I used a couple as the basis for some monoprints. I drew on clear acetate sheets inked on the reverse with water soluble black and white printing inks to transfer each image onto paper. The process is exciting and unpredictable, and these 4 were the only prints I chose to keep. Afterwards I worked back into a couple of them while the ink was still wet with a paintbrush, a brayer and my fingers.
I've hand coloured monoprints before with chalk pastels (which are dry and add colour without affecting the original image), and watercolour paints and pens (which move the ink around - sometimes with great results, sometimes not).
I'm thinking about using oil pastels this time, which I've never tried before. What do you think? Are there any other mediums you would suggest? - or are there any of these monoprints you would just leave as they are?
Posted
Interesting and I love all forms of printmaking.
An option is to incorporate your colours into the original and single monoprint, (mono in this instance refers to a single print, not a single colour) - less easy I know, than adding colour at a later stage.
However, try it and see how you get on, but if you want to add colour post-printing, a watercolour wash would be easier than using opaque oil pastels!
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
Thanks, Alan. I've never properly tried a multicoloured monoprint, but the idea sounds really interesting.
I learned to hand colour with pastels, watercolour and Inktense sticks at a mixed media workshop at Westhope College about 5 years ago. I want to keep the monochrome feel with these and just add colour here and there to highlight the shiny surfaces on the sculptures and the shiny leaves on some of the cacti. I'm aiming for monochrome with highlights!
I might have a play with the oil pastels on one of my scrap prints, just to see what happens. I'll work on these 4 prints over the next couple of days and share the results - good or bad.
Posted
I've finished colouring my 5 monoprints. I just used chalk pastels for these first two - a technique II learned at a mixed media workshop 4 or 5 years ago, and which I've used before. The first one is on coloured Mi-Tientes paper with some overpainting using the printing ink. The second one (my favourite of the original monoprints) is on regular white mixed media paper.
Posted
And these two were coloured with oil pastels, which was an experiment.
The papers I've used are quite different. The first of these two monoprints is on regular mixed media paper, and I've used thick watercolour paper with quite a lot of "tooth" for the second one.
I think the thick buttery nature of the oil pastel works well for the shiny bronze surfaces of Barbara Hepworth's sculptures; but the colours in the vegetation are more vibrant than chalk pastel or the water soluble brush pens. I can't make my mind up whether this is a good thing, and I'd be interested to hear what other artists think.
