The word monotype means “one print” and normally to make one you would draw and/or paint on a clean plate or other smooth surface and then print the image. With no matrix to hold the ink, a second print cannot be exactly the same. At Crown Point, we try to reserve the designation “monotype” to mean there is really only one print.
Sometimes, after printing there is ink left on the plate and we can pull another, lighter version. Sometimes artists pull the first image, then paint back into the plate and print again. In those cases, the medium description of the second work becomes monoprint. Sometimes the artist draws or paints on the surface of the print itself. We do not call that a monoprint. We designate it a “hand-worked print.”
