A release of some kind

I have been wanting to make a trace monotype since I discovered what they are. Maybe it was a few years ago that I saw one on Instagram. The medium entered my consciousness. Something about the smudginess of the ink and the fuzziness of the line seems very attractive.

I’ve had some kind of block – not sure what that was all about. Some kind of fear? I’ve made other kinds of monoprints (can never remember the difference between monoprint and monotype), but trace monotypes seemed too daunting.

Today, I just did it. It was easy. I made a whole pile of them on sheets of torn newsprint. Now I can refine the process and maybe even start to make some on the pages of my handmade book.

The first try was done by drawing blind on the back of the newsprint with a stylus. That’s a pear, a persimmon, and a face.

On my second try, I worked on a face with more detail – still couldn’t see what I was doing. I ended up with a print that really looked like a face with a dark stare

For this one, I copied an 800-year-old ink painting that’s on view for a short period of time in San Francisco (screenshot). I pressed my finger into three of these orbs to transfer ink; the masterpiece I took as inspiration has four darker ones. I also failed to realize the image comes out backwards on the print.

I made a series of drawings of petroglyphs. For this one, I used a pencil to draw on the back of the newsprint, so I could see what I was doing. Also taped the corners down for more stability and fewer smudges. The next two are the ghostprints – second and third impressions – from this image.