Katherine Bull | Monotypes
A selection of an ongoing series of watercolour monotypes created by Katherine Bull (since October 2016) during the Monday Night printmaking sessions offered at Warren Editions. Bull creates unique prints using as source material short mobile phone videos taken while traveling in and around Cape Town. She paints onto two plates simultaneously using her left and right hands while watching the moving image play looped on an iPad screen; a hand for each plate. Through the medium of printmaking she can layer the two images to merge into a single printed impression.
The plates are registered and printed in sequence onto a damp heavyweight paper with tight pressure on an etching press. For watercolour monotype the 0,5 mm PVC (plastic) plates must be prepared with a thin layer of gum arabic (in South Africa known as gum acacia), by buffing it with a soft wide weave cotton rag until dry and barely visible. The layer of gum arabic acts as a release agent when the dry watercolour pigment makes contact under high pressure with the damp paper as it runs through the press. The watercolours used are a combination of Windsor and Newton pan and tube watercolour and handmade watercolours made at Warren Editions.
