When I think of printmaking I go back to the 7th or 8th grade which was the last time that I really had an art class
When I think of printmaking I go back to the 7th or 8th grade which was the last time that I really had an art class. I remember learning about printmaking but it was not a category that I remember everything about. I have heard about this process before through old art teachers when we did projects in this area. I have also heard about relief painting which I remember doing a linocut/linoleum cut of a city that you had to draw and carve first, ink the block of linoleum, put the paper down on the ink, and then do the printing. Popular processes that I have also heard of are lithography and serigraphy. Andy Warhol is an artist that I think of right away when I think of screenprints/serigraphy because of his Four Marilyns piece which is often shown in art classes because I do remember seeing this when also doing pop art. What I find most interesting about printmaking is that a tool is used along with pressure to place an image on a matrix. Images are then moved to a material that is like it or to a piece of paper. Then the image is usually inked and depending on the matrix depends on what kind of tools are used. The technique that appeals to me the most is lithography and mezzotint and the technique that is least appealing to me is monotype.
Lithography and mezzotint appeal to me the most because of the way they are much more detailed than the other prints. The way lithography is done on a limestone and then is etched, inked, printed, and then pulled of the limestone to create a lithograph. They remind me of charcoal drawings and the message that I get when I look at how these lithographs are augmented by the piece of works clarity and straightforwardness. I love the way the lithography and mezzotint images look, They do not look too simple to me like monotypes do. Mezzotint appeals to me because of the tones and light and dark values. The technique for both did not really affect whether they appealed to me. Monotype is least appealing to me because I just do not like the painterly look. I feel as though I just do not connect or get a feeling when I look at the images. It reminds me too much of just painting. Printmaking and the processes have definitely evolved.
