Monoprinting

I started an art class at Elgin Community College just for the fun of it and......its really fun! This is our teacher, Mary. She is demonstrating how to do mono-printing. Each week, Mary will be teaching us a new art technique. Last week we learned about using colored pencils. Next week, we'll be bringing the mono-prints back to class and embellishing them with chalk and colored pencils. 

Of course I couldn't wait to get home to play some more after class. Here's a little tutorial on what we learned.

First, gather all your supplies. I happily trotted over to JoAnns and bought a new set of watercolor paints. You will also need brushes, a piece of glass (from a picture frame works just fine), papers with different textures (different textured paper gives different looks (Some of the paper I used was from as old cookbook with recipes on them..see below), water, a paint tray and a spray bottle with water in it.

Begin by painting directly onto the glass. You can paint a simple picture or just place random color all over the glass and see what you come up with. I painted a simple flower.

You need to work fairly quickly as the paint dries fast. This is where the spray bottle comes in. If you lightly mist the surface of your painting, it will then be wet enough to transfer.

Next, place a sheet of paper over the top of your painting and press lightly.

Then, gently remove your paper and your image has then been mono-printed!

Very Cool! It looks so artsy!

(MFA will probably say it looks like kid art, but I will just stick my tongue out at her and blow raspberries  ;)

After it dries, you can embellish on top of it.

Here's some pears and eggplants I also did.The eggplant in the middle is on fabric...woohoo! One of the pears is on fabric, too. Let the embellishing begin!