monotype

Large Art Prints

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Large Art Prints in Progress, Stephanie Khattak.

I’ve started working on larger monotype prints, which is fun. It takes a little bit of problem solving, since I don’t have a large format printer and wouldn’t want to spend money to have something printed professionally that’s just going to be a reference piece. So, in order to get the photo large enough, I open Adobe Acrobat and print as a poster, which enlarges across multiple sheets of paper. I put them together sort of like a puzzle under my large plate (or plates if the finished product will be larger than 16X20.) It is a little extra work, but I love how these look at a larger scale when I can bring out more of the entire scene.

Lucy Ann

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“Lucy Ann,” Acrylic Monotype by Stephanie Khattak.

This portrait is of Lucy Ann, my great-great-great aunt, who lived between 1866 and 1958 in Huntington, Texas.

Portraits are a bit of a challenge for me, because faces are big enough to not look right left “blank,” but the print process makes it tricky to get the details right and still maintain the abstract look that I am going for. I am happy with the way this one turned out.

Print Portraits

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Acrylic monotype print in progress by Stephanie Khattak
Acrylic monotype print in progress by Stephanie Khattak

My mom came for a short visit a few weekends ago, and brought another stack of family photos. It included these 1940s-era portraits of my grandmother and great-aunt, both of whom I was very close to.

Creatively, I thought that the portrait style would work well printed from my round Gelli plate. Personally, I enjoyed making these because it gave me the opportunity to remember my MiMi and Auntie, and think about what their lives may have been like when they posed for these photos and all the hopes and dreams they had for themselves at that time. My Auntie outlived my MiMi by 32 years, but I think they both had really good lives that they enjoyed and were proud of. That’s comforting to know as I am painting and printing their portraits and thinking of them, and still missing them, too.