I have been making monotypes for over 50 years. Making monotypes is one of my favorite medium, because it is easy to add ink or wipe it away, allowing images to quickly evolve, appear, disappear and transform, opening the door to the unknown. With it’s versatile properties, monotypes demand that I not just copy, but use this spontaneous freedom to find something interesting and meaningful. This requires taking the emotional risk of not knowing the outcome before you begin.

Monotypes are the perfect marriage of painting and printmaking. It requires the same sensibility as a painter, working in full color directly on the plate, yet the prints have unmistakable qualities that can only be achieved by printing the image on paper. I use all kinds of tools like: rags; Q-tip; my fingers; paper (to blot off ink, to cut shapes and edges to stencil or a mask an area); wood; razor blades, etc.

To make an edition of a multicolored lithograph, etching, or serigraph requires the printing of multiple color plates in order to produce the final print, and this is too slow for my sensibilities. For me, working with color is an emotional and experiential process; light waves and vibrations; tuning-in to subtle feelings and intuitions; and requiring me to be present and patient, yet ready to quickly act in a fleeting moment. Monotypes allow me to work spontaneously, in full color directly on the plate, similar to painting yet the qualities of the printed image are very different from what can be achieved with painting. There is some time restraint, as the thin layer of ink can dry out if you work on the image too long, so efforts must be implemented to either keep the ink fresh by misting; or repaint the dried parts.

Once there is an image on the plate ready to print, the plate is placed on the bed of an etching press, then covered with fine paper, woven blankets, and run through the rollers of the etching press, transferring the color from the plate onto the paper, and producing one unique mirror-image print. The plate can then be cleaned and a new image created; or the residual "ghost image" that remains after the print is pulled, can be reworked as a kind of serial evolution, creating a series of unique prints.

Monotypes, with its rich and versatile techniques, are conducive with my long-standing interest in gestural mark-making and rich textures. I always push the limits of this medium yet I feel I have only scratched the surface.