Monotypes: 101
 
"I like the excitement...that you don't really know what you've got until you pull the paper off the plate...and that lack of control in seeing what happens within is what I find exciting..." Margaret Petterson

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What is a Monotype?


In the simplest terms, Monotyping is the process of painting an image onto one surface, and then transferring it to another. A monotype is a one of a kind, completely original work. There is only one press of the painting (hence the prefix "mono-"). Margaret Petterson's monotypes are "mixed-media," because after she creates the image with the oil-based printer's ink, she then applies watercolor to the blank areas. The resulting monotypes are thus a combination of the deliberate and the spontaneous...the opaque and the transparent...

 
 

 

Step by Step: The Making of a Mixed-Media Monotype:

 

Step One

Step Two

Step Three
 
 

Before I go to Tjelda's print studio,there's a sort of training involved...I make sure I am fresh, rested, and ready to work! When I arrive, I begin by laying out all of my photos...all of my ideas...Then I have to choose what size plate I'm going to use...

"I then have to mix the paints to get the colors that I want...I start with primary colors and mix them...over the course of the day those mixed colors start mixing with each other, and I have this wonderful palette that has, in a way, taken on a life of its own..."

"The plexi-glass plate that I paint on is backlit, so that I can accurately see the composition of the developing monotype. The oil-based printer's ink is thick and gooey, so many times I use a roller to apply it to the glass..."
 

"The best work I do is that which is organic,
that flows, and has a rhythm...It's not like I plan the colors from the very beginning...as you paint, you determine what a painting needs..."
Margaret Petterson

 

Step Four

 

  After I apply the ink to the glass, I then "lift" ink from the glass to add details such as blades of grass, reflections on the water, or the fronds of a palmetto tree. I use anything that works for me: pieces of matte board, q-tips, or even sometimes just my fingers... Here are some blades of grass... Q-Tips!
  Step Five Step Six Step Seven
 
 
Tjelda takes the freshly painted plate and
aligns it on the press. Carefully, she
lays the watercolor paper down over it, covers it with heavy blankets, and prepares to run it through the huge, heavy printing press.
600 pounds of pressure are applied so that as much ink as possible is
transferred to the paper...the emerging monotype is a reverse image of what I've painted.
 Before adding watercolor to the monotypes, I usually wait a few
days...I can't rush with it. I have to let things "marinate" for a while.I bring the new monotypes back
to the gallery, and eventually begin to add
the bright, soft watercolors.
 


"The watercolor part is more delicate, more deliberate...it's the total opposite of the work I do in the print studio...The inks in the studio set the design...the watercolors provide the highlights, the fine tuning. When you look at one of these monotypes, it is actually the watercolors that you see first...even though they make up a smaller part of the whole process..." Margaret Petterson
  Step Eight   Step Nine
 
 

The watercolor paper easily soaks up
color from my brush, while the oil
based ink repels it.

"I think of these not as grasses...My aim is not to make them look like blades of
grass, but interesting pieces of color,
like ribbons woven through, or like fireworks bursting from the edge of the marsh...it's more abstract and more emotional than just "a marsh."

When I am satisfied with my work, I name the monotype, sign it, and away it goes to our framer. Then it waits for the perfect person to see it, and give it a happy home! This one is called,
"A Dance Along the Edge"

 

 

"For monotypes, I usually choose organic subjects...when I'm working with natural subject matter, I don't have to plan as much...I can work more from my heart...Since I've lived in the coastal wetlands of South Carolina my whole life, it is what I know...it's just in my blood. I suppose I could paint a rendition of Paris or a rendition of a mountain scene, but I wouldn't be capturing the soul of those areas...."
Margaret Petterson

 

 

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