Mono Prints

During the fall of 1988 (wow, 30+ years ago) I did a suite of mono-prints at Pondside Press in Rhinebeck, New York. Images were developed from photos and drawings during an earlier European trip. I have included a couple other mono-prints from that suite. 

A mono-print is a single print. An image is usually applied or painted generally using, an oil base medium such as oil paint, printers ink on a matrix that has a flat, smooth surface, such as a clean etching plate, or thick plastic sheet, (which is what I use). Once the image is developed, a sheet of damp paper is placed on the matrix with the painted image and run through a press to apply even pressure. The painted image is transferred from the matrix to the paper and thus a monoprint. Since the majority of the pigment is transferred from the matrix to the paper you are only able to get one good, clear transfer. However, there is often enough pigment left on the matrix to print a much lighter “ghost” image which than can be worked into by hand. In each case there is only one “unique” piece.