I reiterate - a print is a work produced by a person, usually pulled one at a time, often from a small etching press. A REPRODUCTION is a commercially produced print, done in editions numbering in the hundreds or thousands, on a commercial offset litho press, usually, by a professional printer. Often, the image is photographically reproduced from some original painting. Often, the artist sees maybe the first few repros, and then no more of them. They are shipped off to be sold in some art "shops", and nearly always numbered and often signed (sometimes that is original, too, in pencil - but sometimes it too is a reproduction!) These are most often sold as valuable collectors' items to unsuspecting members of the public, who usually pay more for these than they would for an ORIGINAL WORK OF ART done by a local artist! I put exclamation marks because I am totally astonished, and dismayed that this type of scam (I hope this doesn't get me a lawsuit for libel!) is perpetrated on the public. If those increase in value, I will eat a few. I would do this kind of merchantable artwork if I could bring my morals around to that level, but I cannot.
On to more pleasant things! Here I will be dealing only with individually hand-pulled prints, done almost always by the artist herself. It is really an exciting undertaking, because the outcome is never quite what one expects. Monotypes and monoprints are not new kids on the block, contrary to popular belief. Some of the most renowned masters of etching, engraving, painting and other traditional media did them.
A monotype is a non-repeatable image produced by painting on a plate, such as a copper, zinc, or now, acrylic sheet, and then putting a piece of paper on it and, either burnishing it by hand, or running it through the press, to get the image onto the paper. Different painting media can be used. I find the entire process to be much more spontaneous than painting, actually, because the paints will get all muddy if they are mixed or run together on the plate. Speed is important. Lithographic inks are oil-based, and are really brilliant. I have been told that they are opaque, but all my books say they are transparent. Now, lately, I have been reading, I think in my Dan Smith art supply catalog, that the opacity, or lack of it, is dependent on the individual color. Lithographic inks require the use of solvents to clean the plate, brushes, palette, etc.
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