At the end of 2018 I had extensive surgery on my spine, which meant I could not bend to take macro photographs of wildflowers: the basis of my digital art. Nor could I use the computer to create surface design patterns for fabric and scarves. Thankfully I am part of an arty community. I spent time with friends, just chatting and drawing. Our community was also successful in gaining a grant to run art workshops, and I joined most of them. I also began to play with techniques and mediums, inspired by YouTube.

This art practice was invaluable in finding peace and enabling me to feel creative while my body healed. So I thought an appropriate kick off to my art blog in 2020 is a review of my 2019 explorations. The first of these is my experiments with mono-printing.

Mono-printing

I came across the concept of mono-printing on YouTube. The idea of using simple stencils and found objects, such as leaves and bark, to make patterns appealed to me. It was quick and did not require a lot of effort when I didn’t have much stamina. Initially, I had a 5 x 5 inch gel press, which I used with acrylic paint. The results were simple, but pleasing. In particular, I enjoyed playing with leaves from the Pincushion Hakea. This is now one of the designs on my Redbubble page. I’ve bought the coasters for my own use and I love them so much. They always get comments too. See them here.

Over time, I developed my technique to include layers, multiple colours and photographs, including my own photographs of local trees.

I’m still developing my process for mono-printing, and I am really enjoying it as a form of artistic expression. The feature image for this post is one of my recent prints “Ancestral Imagining 2′