Stranded

I had some black ink left on my ink rolling plate so I decided to try to make a quick monotype print. Monotype involves laying a piece of paper (here I'm using an old, slightly yellowed, roll of lining paper) directly onto an inked surface and then using a simple marking tool (in this case the wrong end of a paint brush) to trace out a design on the back of the paper. The traced line picks up ink on the face of the paper with a soft, slightly blurred quality. Tonal areas can be added by pressing onto the paper with your fingers. This was my first ever attempt at monotype and I'm quite pleased with the result. Its the first of several cetacean-themed prints I have in mind, prompted by the stranding last week of five sperm whales on east coast.