Click the picture to see a larger version.
Some art projects start with a “What if…” question. This morning I wondered, “what would happen if I used a retarder in acryla gouache to slow the dry time enough to use it to make a multi-color monoprint”? So, I made this little monoprint as a test.
I started with the blue sky. I mixed acryla gouache with acrylic retarder to slow the dry time directly onto the plate and spread it around with a cotton swab. I then switched to a clean swab and wiped the white cloud areas away. While the paint was still wet, I placed a dry piece of printing paper over the plate and rubbed the back of the paper with a soft rubber brayer. This transferred the wet pigment to the paper. I then cleaned the plate with a moist paper towel. By the time I was finished cleaning the plate (less than 5 minutes) the printed color was dry to the touch and I could paint another color on the now clean plate and print it over the first color. I used registration pins to align the paper to the plate. I did this same cycle for five more colors.
If I had used traditional inks, this monoprint would have taken a week to print because each color would need at least 24 hours to dry. Acryla gouache has other advantages too. It is opaque so you can cover up mistakes. When dry, it is permanent and will not lift into subsequent layers. It drys to a nice flat matte finish, and it comes in a wide range of mixable colors.
I learned a number of things from this little experiment. You have to work fast. Even with retarder acrylic paint dries fast. You need to use the right amount of retarder. I used one part retarder to two parts paint. If you use too much, the paint takes too long to dry, and if you use too little, the paint will dry too quickly and will not transfer properly.
On the second layer, the light green, I added a little water to the thin the paint. This was a mistake. The paint spread out into unwanted areas when I printed the layer.
I cut a six inch square stencil out of another piece of overhead transparency and sandwiched it between the plate and the paper during each printing pass. I was hoping it would mask the edges so I would get a clean edge. It didn’t work. Some paint always squirted over the top. A better solution would be to use a piece of plexiglass cut to the size of the print instead of trying to mask a larger plate.
Apollo Write-On Transparency Film, Holbein Acryla Gouache, Golden Retarder, cotton swabs and 1/2 inch flat brush, printed on Scratch Art SUBI Block Printing paper. Image is 6×6 inches (15×15 cm).
Jim
