Portfolio:
Mixed-Process Monoprints
Hand-printed one-of-a-kind original prints
by printmaker Douglas E. Taylor
Created with a combination of several printmaking processes, hand-printed by the artist:
I often combine processes such as collagraph, monotype, etching, wood-cut, Linoleum relief printing, embossing, dry-point, photocopy transfer, counter-proofing, and digital printing.
Monoprint:
A “monoprint” is defined as a one-of-a-kind print that has a repeating matrix on the plate, a surface character of the printing plate that will be with the plate and carry on from each one-of-a-kind print that specific plate produces. An example of this would be engraved or etched lines on the plate’s surface. Those marks will be repeated on every print the plate produces but each of those prints will have specific differences in ink, color, and plate tone…making each image unique but related to other prints but characteristics of the plate.
Monotype:
A “monotype” is a print produced by “painting” (usually with ink) on a smooth plate that has no surface characteristics on it. The plate is then pressed against the paper surface through an intaglio etching press. As with all hand-printed printmaking processes (except serigraph) the image will transfer in a mirror image.
Framed monoprints of Geese by Douglas E. Taylor displayed on wall
Swallows in Flight, linoleum relief print proof (unfinished) by Douglas E. Taylor
I built and designed my own motorized intaglio printing press to accommodate my artistic technical needs. The press bed is 72 inches long and 30 inches wide; the two rollers are 25 inches wide. The stainless steel bed that printing plates are placed on, along with the paper that is to be printed on, are run between two heavy metal rollers. The inked plate and heavy-duty printmaking paper are cushioned under three very special and specific woolen (felted and woven) blankets. There is almost two tons of resistant pressure pushing the relatively soft paper (that has been dampened to make it softer and more receptive) into the plate to transfer the image, from the plate to the paper. For each impression, the plates are usually re-inked.
Lisa Cuglietta Taylor and Douglas E. Taylor in their Montana art and printmaking studio
My printmaking involves many layers of printing and many processes of printmaking. The imagery results are rich, layered, complex and allow the viewer to ponder and engage in a very personal way. The imagery becomes about how the viewer interprets the mark-making, colors, and textures that create or suggest images of nature.
The overall size of my press is twelve feet long and three feet wide and is among the largest presses in the state of Montana. Traditionally, a press of this kind is hand-cranked with a large wheel to turn and drive one of the rollers. I made my press motorized to make a little more studio space. I’ve been printing with it since 1991.
My intaglio etching press is mechanically very similar to an antique “ringer-washing machine”. The stiff “bed” that the plate and paper rest on is squeezed between the tight space between two heavy rollers, cushioned with three specialized wool blankets. The blankets help create a smooth compression of the rag printmaking paper, pressing it into the printing plate; the specific ink transfers onto the paper. The top roller’s pressure can be adjusted.
Douglas E. Taylor, artist and printmaker, at his large motorized intaglio etching press.
Portfolio: Mixed-Process Monoprints
Hand-printed one-of-a-kind prints
by Douglas E. Taylor
Piece of Water (trout), mixed process monoprint
11.625 x 17.75 inches on deckled rag paper
$950 unframed
Water Floating (goose, trout, and aspen and cottonwood leaves) mixed process monoprint
20.75 x 29.5 inches, on deckled rag paper
$1,050 unframed
Felicity 23 (aspen leaf and poetry design)
Mixed-process monoprint: created with collagraph, drypoint and counter-proofs
on heavy rag printmaking paper
20.75 x 29.5 inches
$1,050 unframed
Felicity III (aspen leaf and poetry design)
Mixed-process monoprint: created with collagraph, drypoint, relief printing, and, counter-proofs
20.75 x 29.5 inches,
$1,050 unframed
Felicity I (aspen leaf and poetry design)
Mixed-process monoprint: created with collagraph, drypoint, relief printing, and counter-proofs on heavy rag printmaking paper,
20.75 x 29.5 inches, unframed
SOLD
Swimming Through Verses (trout and aspen leaves)
Mixed-process monoprint: created with collagraph, drypoint, relief printing, etching, and counter-proofs on heavy rag printmaking paper
20 x 34 inches,
$1,150 unframed
Goose III
Mixed-process monoprint: created with collagraph,
drypoint, relief printing, and counter-proofs,
20.75 x 29.5 inches,
$1,050 unframed
Goose #5
Mixed-process monoprint: created with collagraph, drypoint, and counter-proofs on heavy rag printmaking paper,
20.75 x 29.5 inches
$1,050 unframed
Goose #4
Mixed-process monoprint: created with collagraph, drypoint, and counter-proofs on heavy rag printmaking paper,
20.75 x 29.5 inches
$1,050 unframed
Goose #6
Mixed-process monoprint: created with collagraph, drypoint, and counter-proofs on heavy rag printmaking paper,
20.75 x 29.5 inches
$1,050 unframed
Goose #2
Mixed-process monoprint: counter-proof on heavy rag printmaking paper,
20.75 x 29.5 inches
SOLD
Goose #1
Mixed-process monoprint: collograph, dry-point, counter-proof on heavy rag printmaking paper,
20.75 x 29.5 inches
SOLD
Tahoe Vista (fish swimming in a stream of consciousness)
Mixed-process monoprint: created with dry point intaglio print with photocopy transfer
18 x 26 inches on cream rag printmaking paper
$450 unframed
What is printmaking?
A glossary of print and printmaking terms and process information
Printmaking is any art form that involves transferring one image, from one surface to another. Most often this includes a "printing plate" or some kind of matrix, being pressed onto paper.
Various printmaking methods that I have investigated in depth include:
intaglio: etching acid techniques such as line, aquatint, soft ground, lift ground, embossing; Non-acid techniques include: engraving, dry point, mezzotint, crible
relief: wood engraving, wood cuts, linocut, rubbings, etching, collagraph, embossing, stamping
stencil or serigraphy: Silk screen, screen printing, stencils and rubbings are the only printmaking methods that do not involve working in a mirror image (backwards). Screen printing involves creating a stencil that will block out ink being pushed through a fine fabric screen. The screen is stretched over a frame. A stencil design is adhered to the screen and a thin layer of ink is pushed through the screen with a squeegee. Serigraphy is a fine art term for screen printing.
intaglio print: Refers to many processes involving incising the printing plate with lines or shapes. The image is cut into the plate by the use of acids or tools. When the image is complete, the artist/printmaker applies an ink to the surface of the plate, pushing the ink into the lines and crevices of the plate. Next, the ink remaining on the surface is wiped off carefully to prevent ink from being lifted out of the plate’s recesses. The plate is then pressed onto printmaking paper which transfers the image. Usually this printing requires an etching press to provide the intense and consistent pressure needed to push the soft rag paper into the recesses of the plate to lift the ink out.
relief print: Relief printing is the opposite of the intaglio method. The top surface of the plate is inked, and ink is omitted from the groves and therefore the indented areas do not print with color. The top surface of the plate makes contact with the paper and transfers the image. Rubbings can be created from most relief plates. Simply place a thin piece of paper over the plate surface and rub the side of a drawing stick(s) (crayon, color pencil, charcoal, graphite).
monotype: A painting on a smooth plate and pressed and transferred on to printmaking paper. This allows the artist to manipulate the ink differently and in many more ways than if they applied the ink directly to the paper.
collagraph: Collagraphs are created by collaged (adhered) textures on to a printing plate, usually made of Masonite or mat board or plexi-glass (acrylic sheets). The surface is inked, usually as an intaglio plate but also can be treated as a relief plate. The textures are receptive to ink in various ways and a wide variety of surfaces can be created.
monoprint: Monoprints are one-of-a-kind prints that have a certain characteristic that is inherent in all the prints it creates. If an artist creates monoprints from an etching plate for example, each print should be treated very differently with the use of inks, ink colors, masking or use of other plates in combination to create a "unique" print. Other techniques or processes may be involved to make this print different from all others.
edition print: This involves creating many prints with the same plate(s) that create virtually the same image. Each print will be very consistent in technique and method. This group of prints are numbered in consecutive order and signed by the artist in a limited edition. You will notice two numbers, one above the other. Example: 14/75. This would represent the fourteenth print of an addition of seventy-five prints.
“Mixed-process” printmaking is a phrase I created to describe my innovative process of making prints. I combine several processes in one print, usually about six different processes. These printmaking processes may include:
various etching techniques, dry-point, monotype, collagraph, various relief processes such as woodcut, Linoleum, and collagraph (as a relief surface), stenciling and masking, and a special offset technique related to “counter-proofs”, photocopy transfer, embossing and digital printing.
Counterproofs were used extensively by Edgar Degas in conjunction with his famous monotypes. Degas discovered that he could make good use of his time and energy with the unique qualities of the printmaking process. A freshly printed print can be virtually used as a printing plate. He would place another sheet of printmaking paper on top of the freshly printed print. He would run the sandwiched papers together, through the rollers of an intaglio printing press. The fresh ink would transfer a ghost (slightly lighter) image onto the new print paper, in a mirror image. The reversed image would help in accessing the composition, seeing it backwards as in a mirror. Awkward or unbalanced features would show up and be more obvious to the artist. Degas would often work (draw) over these counterproofs with masterful dry pastel layers. Many of his beautiful pastel drawings are drawn on top these monotypes.
- Douglas E. Taylor 1995, 2020, 2021 ©