Doodlebug Dabblings: Jungle Monoprints

A very generous friend of mine, who also happens to be a very talented artist, gave me a couple of used plates from the local newspaper. They are happy to give them to her once they are finished using them to print the paper.

With a pair of metal cutters I very easily cut them into an approximate 5X7 size, then sanded the edges so they were no longer sharp. It took me about an hour to create a dozen plates ready for creations.

These are one of the best tools I have ever put into my studio and they have been used over and over the past couple of years.

Thank you Liane Varnam for being my friend and an inspiration! Check out her website here. Her work is also available at Seymour Art Gallery. http://www.lianevarnam.com

So I brought the plates to camp Jungle Jive through North Vancouver Arts Council and pulled out the Speedball block ink. Putting the most minuscule amount of inks on a container lid for each child, gave them a small paintbrush and a container of water and told them to start creating.

You do not need a lot of ink colors, in fact, just the primary colors will do since they can mix their own colors! I am just now starting to have to replace my inks, almost four years after I originally bought them, and I have used them with a multitude of classes on a multitude of different printing projects.

They looked at the paltry amount of ink and then looked at me like I was Scrooge himself until I explained just how far that tiny amount of ink would actually go on the plate. I also assured them that unlike the Scrooge, I would willingly give them more ink should they need it.

6 year old

Once they were happy with their painting on the plate, they ran a damp sponge over a piece of Bristol paper and placed the plate on top.

The kids then carefully flipped the paper over and with a brayer, rubbed the back of the paper. I told them to make sure they rolled the brayer over the entire plate and to be sure and add a lot pressure!

8 year old

(it's purple panda again! once the artist took a chance on "crazy color", she never looked back)

I asked them to call for me so I could do one last roll over the paper because what I have found is that children's definition of "adding pressure" might not in reality even squish a bug.

7 year old

Then they pulled the print.

Gasps, squeals, "ooooo's" and "aahhhh's" prevailed. It was like Christmas morning.

I then told them to take a ghost print of the leftover ink left on the plate. I explained they may get a lot of image or just a little, but that they are a great base for adding other mediums to create an artwork. Although I am not posting all of those here, each child took their ghost prints home to create on as they please.

Or just leave them "as is", it's up to them.

6 year old, ghost print

This project is so much fun, they all wanted to do it again. And again. And Again. The challenge for me is getting them to slow down enough to create a nice picture. I started getting all sorts of subject matter too.

Rainbows.

6 year old

Animal eyes.

6 year old

You name it. I will focus solely on the animal prints created, not because I'm being a Scrooge, but in hopes of keeping the length of this post slightly smaller than 'War and Peace'.