Jane Cooper

A “monotype” is often referred to as a “painterly print”. In the simplest form- it is painting, a single impression. My monotypes are executed on plexi, copper, and silk acquaint plates- using etching inks, brayers, brushes, glazes, mediums, solvent and often hand-applied leaf. The painted plate is placed, image up, on an etching press, with damp or dry paper on top. It is then run through the press- resulting in a hand pulled monotype. Most often the plate is re-inked and layered on the existing monotype, slowly building the image to create a sense of distance and atmosphere. The process of a “monoprint” differs in that it entails the use of a plate with a repeatable matrix; in which one part of the image remains the same.

Painting is like theatre. In my life, the two are inexorably linked. They are worlds I move between. Process, character and light. Color, form and performance. For me, it’s blue, I cannot leave it aside. Blue pervades all memory. The blue of Delft, the murky indigo of the creek by our house, the lakes of Michigan, the aquamarine of my daughters’ eyes. My mother’s eyes. Water and sky. Water which my thoughts crave and imagination fears - losing sight of land. I view the tangibles and the vastness of nature in abstract. My imagery seeks to delineate form and alter focus, creating an atmospheric sense of place and time.