I feel lucky that I started my Monoprint project at RMIT studio before all this COVID-19 situation. I had the chance to start my prints using a decent press machine which made my prints foundationally better and richer to continue later with a handprint on top of that at home studio. For this project we were given three themes to choose from; place, colour, and materiality. I chose a place theme thinking of some old artistic forms I could remember from ancient middle-eastern style pottery motifs [check here].
By this work, I will try to recreate visual memories of object patterns or themes of place, so to speak. Since I was a young girl, I was fascinated by Iranian pottery motifs and how they evolved during different eras. I thought fruit-ware motifs with animals and human figures beautifully simplified on them should be a good starting point. So, I got the initial composition and images to work on my stencils.
If you search for “Iranian pottery motifs”, probably what you will see most would be a composition of circular patterns of bowls and plates in a square background.
To create the base circle, I started with printing a circle in the middle of my paper. I used various techniques and methods such as stencil, ghost print, various papers with the different glossiness and so forth to create a different texture and effects.
The first colour I chose was a mixture of blue, brown, and white.
My second choice of the colour pallet was a mixture of blue, green, brown, and white. The outcome colour is something like the colour widely used in traditional Iranian ceramics.
One thing that I like about monoprint is that I can try different objects and textures to see their effect on my work right away.
Another experiment that I had in this project was using black paper and printing a light colour on top of that. It was like going against my usual way of dealing with colours and I should say I liked the effect and contrast created.
An artist that I had just learnt about is MELISSA SMITH. Her intaglio collagraph prints engage the viewer strongly, they look very simple though. The monochrome colours that she uses for her works are fascinating. Actually I am hugely fond of monochromatic works and her works are great to study.
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