2016 #9 Printed Collage {by Pam Thorburn}

 2016 Topic 9: Mono Printing

Hi everyone, It's Pam Thorburn here. 

Tonight I'd like to share with you this evening with a post about using your mono prints to make a collage. Anyone who owns a gelli plate knows how addictive mono printing is. It is such fun applying paint, experimenting with different colour combinations, stencils and stamps, that in  no time at all we end up with a stack of prints and wonder what to to do with them all.

So it was with in mind that I decided that my project for the mono printing theme would focus not so much on the printmaking but instead on something to do with your stack of prints. I have used a stack of blue prints to make a portrait collage.

Step One: The first step to making this collage was to make sure I had a stack of prints. Since I wanted to make my collage monochromatic I used only shades of blue. The great thing about making a collage is that prints do not need to be perfect, since they are going to be torn up. This suits me as I tend to be quite slap dash when I create! 

All my prints were made the same way: brayer on paint, stamp onto the gelliplate, picking up the paint and stamping it off onto another sheet of paper. (You can use this paper to print on later.) Continue stamping until your gelliplate is covered with pattern, then take a print.

  I used Emma Godfrey's EEG15 stamps for this project and a range of blue Fresco paints: Smurf, Mermaid, China, Blue Glass and Southern Sky. To lighten the colour I used Snowflake and to darken I added Little Black Dress. You need a selection of darks, lights and mid tones for this collage. I used ordinary printer paper. I like this paper because it takes the colour well and is nice and thin for tearing into strips for the collage and it adheres well with gel medium. 

EEG15

Fresco paints are very fast drying, and while this is generally a good thing, for printing it helps if you slow down the drying time. You can use the Paperartsy Drying Retarder for this, but it's still necessary to work quickly. Just as well you don't need to be too precious with your prints! This is what my plate looked like before one of my pulls. As you can see my stamping is slap dash, but that's OK!

Step Two: To start the collage I drew the face and used some coloured pencils to colour in the dark shadows,  and the mid tones, and left the highlights white. When that was done I started building some background colour. I brayered  some light blues onto the gelliplate and then placed my page upside down on the plate to pick up the colour. I used the gelliplate as a stamp pad and stamped onto my background for some subtle pattern. I wasn't too worried about paint getting onto the face or hair, as this would all be covered by the collage pieces eventually.

Step 3: When I had some background colour I started my collage. I started with my dark blue prints and tore them into long strips. These were adhered using gel medium on the darkest part of my drawing. It looked very freaky at this stage!

Step 4: I continued building up my collage working from darks to lights. I tore the pieces rather than cutting as I think this gives a more subtle change of tone, and the torn edges blend into each other better when glued.

Step 5: When all the collage pieces were stuck down I began to use pen to add detail. It's the pen work that pulls the collage together and gives the face its expression. I've outlined the lips, and added some shading with fresco paint. I've draw in the eyes and added some definition to the nose. The rose in her hair is a spiral rose, again using one of the gelliprints.

Step 6: I used a Uniball Signo white gel pen to add some lines to her hair to give some sense of movement. And finally I added some more stamping. I really love some of the little mark making stamps in the EEG15 set-the scribbles lines and squares, but especially the little spiral dot groups. (I've used this set a lot in my art journals!) I used Snowflake and Blue Glass Fresco paint for the stamping.

I was really happy with my collage, and I love how using monoprints has given the collage some lovely texture and pattern.

I want you to know you don't need a gelli plate to make mono prints like the ones I used in my collage. The beauty of a project like this one is that your prints can be messy or imperfect-it doesn't matter! Years ago I taught monoprinting to a class of 8 years old and had them paint directly onto the laminate table tops and pull prints that way. You can also paint your craft sheet and use stencils, stamps, or junk to add pattern to your surface before taking a print. I chose to use a blue monochromatic palette for my face, but you could used a selection of  bright colours for a different take. And don't think you have to stick to a human face. You could make a collage of your dog, or your favourite teddy bear!!

I hope you enjoyed my collage and do hope you will have a go yourself!

Pam 
You can find me at Waltzing Through Life

Wow Pam, this is fabulous. I love all the shades and tones and subtle patterns that have all merged into this portrait, so very clever. As you say the humble pen brings it all to life. Torn strips of pattering look totally differnt to a full sheet, opens up so many posibilities for using them.~Darcy

We would love to see how you interpret this Mono Printing topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #9: Mono Printing, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas,  particularly if you were inspired directly by their post. All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Mono Printing link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, May 15th 2016. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.