This monoprint workshop held at Denbigh Library with the artist Glenn Ibbotson was a real inspiration, and got me thinking again about texture in my work. I usually find that it’s good to have a break from digital, which is why I go to these traditional workshops (when I can afford it!) I find that you come away refreshed, and looking at your work on screen in a different way.
I don’t have much experience in printing, but Glenn and his partner Carole, who is also an artist, took us through the process and helped us as we went along. There were only four of us, but that was actually rather nice as it meant that we could all get quite a lot of prints done. I chose to follow a sea theme, underwater scenes and the sea itself is something I find fascinating. I was thinking about maybe a coral reef, but resolved eventually on life underwater, with jellyfish and a whale “fluking” as my subjects. We used oil based printing ink on a thick polyvinyl rectangle to make the plate, either covering the plate entirely and removing ink to create the image or painting the image on with brushes and using bits of cardboard, kitchen towels and rags to create the texture. I preferred the painting method, and had immense fun with all this getting as much ink on me as on the plate! The paper was soaked in a bath for half an hour, the excess squeezed out and then rolled through the etching press with the painted plate. I made six prints, and each one turned out differently. I love creating unique things – one looked quite graphical, one pointilised, one very soft. I’ve shown them to different people, and they’ve all had a different one as their favourite – ah, more proof if it was needed that art and design is a subjective experience 
What next?? Well, Glenn recommended that I could tint them by hand with watercolour paints, or immerse them completely in a bath of ink. Who knows, they might even make their way into Photoshop….
