That day the aliens came – monotype

Description

That day the aliens came  is a monotype gel print  made with acrylic paint on paper. The title comes from my longstanding love of Science Fiction and a fancied resemblance to a common SF film trope of a huge spaceship hovering above a city, although the image was not made with any specific representational intent.

The print was made by gel printing with acrylic paints on paper and is about 30 cm square. It has numerous layers with a strong visual and physical texture. It is mounted on a cradled wooden panel with edges painted black and ready to hang on your wall.

This is one of a large series of gel prints made during lockdown. You can find more here.

What is a monotype gel print?

Monotype prints are made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. This surface, sometimes called the matrix, was historically a copper etching plate. In contemporary work other materials are often used, such as acrylic sheet. The image on the matrix is then transferred onto a sheet of paper by pressing the two together. This usually requires a print press. Monotypes can also be created by inking an entire surface and then, using brushes or rags, removing ink to create light areas in a field of opaque colour.

The specific process I used for this print was gel printing (or Gelli but this is a trade mark). The matrix in this case is a soft synthetic gel. I apply the paint are applied to the gel sheet with rollers or brushes. I often use stencils or masks to limit the area to which the paint is applied. The rolled out paints can also be drawn into or otherwise textured in various ways. This process is repeated until I’m happy with the image. of my prints made this way have over 20 separate layers. The process lets me make complex prints without needing a press, but the resulting print is still a monotype print or to be fully specific a monotype gel print